TL; DR: Bitrix24 is a free all-in-one social collaboration, communication, and business development suite trusted by more than 6 million businesses worldwide. Available via the cloud and on-premises, the multifaceted technology includes a CRM, site builder, contact center, and project management tool, among other resources. By providing centralized space to work on tasks and manage clients, Bitrix24 effectively boosts operational agility, streamlines workflows, and serves as an ideal contingency solution in times of crisis.
Businesses and institutions are grappling to cope with a new reality as a global pandemic casts an uncertain future over populations worldwide. But awkward elbow bumps aren’t our only survival option in these unprecedented times — remote work is on the rise, and it’s making a significant impact in slowing the spread of COVID-19.
Businesses small and large are taking drastic measures to do their part. Google has recommended that employees in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa work remotely. As of March 11, Twitter made working from home mandatory for all global employees, and many small businesses are following suit.
But transitioning to remote work without a contingency plan isn’t easy, and frankly, people are struggling. That’s why it’s so refreshing to see companies like Bitrix24, the provider of an all-in-one social collaboration, communication, and business development suite, put people over profits.
As of March 3, Bitrix24 announced that it would temporarily remove a number of user restrictions on its free Bitrix24 plans, making it possible for an unlimited number of users to leverage the software.
“Unfortunately, only a small percentage of businesses and institutions had a contingency plan that allowed for remote collaboration and working from home,” the Bitrix24 team stated in a recent press release. “The fact that our free plan now comes with an unlimited number of users means you don’t have to go through budgeting and procurement committees in order to have a ‘plan B’ as quickly as possible.”
Trusted by more than 6 million businesses worldwide, the multifaceted technology includes a CRM, site builder, contact center, and project management tools, among other resources. By providing a centralized digital space for working on tasks and managing clients with operational agility, Bitrix24 serves as an ideal collaboration solution — even in times of crisis.
A Tech-Based Company Enabling Global Communication Since 2012
Bitrix24 was launched in 2012 by Co-Founders Sergey Rizhikov and Dmitry Valyanov. Though the company is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, it first made waves in the Russian market, Vlad Kovalskiy, U.S. Marketing Manager at Bitrix24, said.
“When we came out with the first version of Bitrix24, which at that point was a basic messenger and collaboration tool, there weren’t too many competitors — especially in the Russian region and throughout Europe,” Vlad said. “We quickly became widely recognized in Russia, where nearly every small business now uses our platform.”
But Bitrix24 wanted to make a global impact as well. So, early on, its leaders began to market its services worldwide. Today, the self-funded company operates in North America, Germany, and Russia.
“We have been growing quickly,” Vlad said. “We now provide more than 6 million organizations in 187 countries and territories with our free project management platform, which is available in 18 languages.”
In its earliest stages, Bitrix24 was aimed primarily at enterprises and was available via a customizable on-premises installation. But the company saw early signs of a cloud-computing boom, and its leadership prepared to act accordingly by transforming the software into a cloud-based solution.
“We made a big jump, knowing that the timing was right — we were a little bit ahead of the game,” Vlad told us. “In cloud form, we were able to bring Bitrix24 to not just enterprise businesses, but every team and small business that needed it to fuel growth — no matter their size.”
Users can still choose between the company’s cloud and on-premises versions — the latter of which comes with source-code access and can be installed on the user’s server.
File Sharing, Project Management, Calendars, and CRM Solutions
Bitrix24 provides several tools for client management, tasks and projects, customer support, internal communications, and e-commerce. Businesses can use it for organizational purposes: to share documents, track and assign tasks, manage customer relationships, maintain calendars, and streamline product management.
Teams can also use it to create free sites, landing pages, and online stores that can be integrated with the platform’s CRM and marketing automation tools. Free help desk tools and contact center solutions are also available, empowering users to communicate with customers over chat, email, phone, and social media channels.
With seemingly countless use cases, it’s easy to see why millions of people are drawn to Bitrix24. Vlad said the platform’s all-in-one nature is the cornerstone of its success.
“What we did with Bitrix24 is simplify everything and bring it into one place,” Vlad said. “For example, we took our CRM to the next level with collaboration tools so you can not only manage relationships with your customers, but you can also manage relationships within your company.”
Vlad told us it’s just as important to streamline internal processes as it is to ensure healthy customer relationships — but internal concerns often get swept under the rug.
“In the CRM world, people are always concentrating on leads and closing sales, and that’s understandable,” he said. “But a lot of leaders find that even though they’re closing sales, their company isn’t growing at the rate it should. That always comes down to the collaboration within your team and how well you’re organized.”
Facilitating Operational Agility and Streamlined Workflows
Vlad told us one of his favorite aspects of Bitrix24 is the platform’s knowledge management software, included within the CRM tool.
“Knowledge management is simply how you store and provide access to company data,” he said. “Let’s say you’re always onboarding new people or have a lot of freelance workers: You can create different knowledge bases within our product that store all your documents, and you can configure the access points to control who can view or edit that knowledge base.”
With Bitrix24’s knowledge management solution, users can also set access levels for every team member. For example, if a company wants to display important company information to new team members, it can build a companywide knowledge base and grant access to everyone. Or, a manager could create a knowledge base where freelancers could access relevant information and documents.
The free software also allows users to design knowledge bases starting from scratch for the ultimate in personalization — or by using intuitive, customizable templates.
“Whether you want everybody to access your schedule or find instructions on how to clean the office coffee machine, Bitrix24 offers a simple place where you can store and distribute all the information and documents that are crucial to your company,” Vlad said.
The tool can also provide employees with one universal source of truth for vital information on topics like contingency planning in the case of an emergency.
Continued Expansion Across Markets Worldwide
Moving forward, the Bitrix24’s team’s primary goal is to get the platform into the hands of even more users around the world — especially with the recent increase in remote employees.
“We’re trying to expand into different markets, whether it be the U.S., Brazil, Spain, South America, Mexico — we want to make our products available to everyone, all over the world,” Vlad said.
Bitrix24’s on-premises solution is currently gaining popularity in Vietnam due to its affordable price point and abundance of features. The company is also concentrating on traction within Africa.
“We’re trying to get into every single market, make some noise, and get people to use the product because it’s one of the best tools available, especially for the price,” Vlad said.
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