Other IT Consulting and SI
$10,000 to $49,999
July - Dec. 2020

1.0

Quality: 2.0

Schedule: 1.0

Cost: 0.5

Willing to Refer: n/a

“The project has come in over budget and it’s underperforming.”

Dec 28, 2020

CCO, Compliance Solution Company

Anonymous

Other industries
Raleigh, North Carolina
1-10 Employees
Phone Interview
Verified

Catalyst Connect was hired to implement a new Zoho CRM for a compliance company. Their work was supposed to streamline the sales lead pipelines and unify systems with best practices.

Catalyst Connect’s work failed to meet expectations. The project was poorly managed from the start and the team did not communicate crucial requirements. Although their CEO apologized profusely for this performance, the team never recovered and did not deliver this project to their client’s liking.

A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief compliance officer and a partner at a HIPPA compliance solutions company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Catalyst Connect?

We needed help setting up our new Zoho CRM.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were tasked with setting up our new CRM. We wanted to be able to take a lead from a website or webinar and track that deal throughout the sales process. We also wanted to clean up the data and unify our system with best practices.

What is the team composition?

We worked with one developer and also interacted with their CEO.

How did you come to work with Catalyst Connect?

They were actually recommended to us by Zoho as a gold partner. They impressed us in the interview.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $10,000 with them. They’re about $5,000 over budget and haven’t incorporated all of the bells and whistles they promised us.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2020, and we wrapped up in December 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

The project has come in over budget and it’s underperforming. I pulled their CEO aside and told them that the team was underperforming and things improved for 1–2 weeks before returning back to the same state. Our assigned developer didn’t seem to have a lot of experience and they weren’t as proactive as we would have liked. All I’ve gotten from their CEO are apologies and those are a bit hollow considering the lack of execution.

They’ve slowed down our sales because I’ve had to pull resources from my other teams to support them. It’s been an incredibly frustrating and difficult project.

How did Catalyst Connect perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a portal through a WordPress site that they manage. They seemed to be waiting for us to do things and we were waiting for them to do things. There was a lot of miscommunication on how things were supposed to proceed. They just billed us without showing a history of tasks completed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their initial sales process is a strength. They impressed our entire team with their presentation. That being said, the project wasn’t done as well as it should have.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve on communication, project management, and in their price estimates; they need to be more realistic about what they say they’ll deliver.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to have a strong project manager to help you move things forward. It’s easy for project creep to come up without a clear plan.

RATINGS

1.0

"It’s been a real frustration."

Catalyst Connect

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