Zoho CRM takes aim at Salesforce.com

Zoho is tempting Salesforce CRM customers with a free 15-day trial

Web application specialist Zoho is looking to take on software-as-a-service pioneer Salesforce.com in the customer relationship management (CRM) market.

Zoho has launched a campaign dubbed Zwitch which attempts to lure Salesforce.com CRM customers with a free 15-day trial of Zoho's own service.

The company said that it will provide free consultation and migration services to minimise the issues of switching over for the trial.

Zwitch is part of a larger update to Zoho's CRM service. The company introduced an email subscription service on Tuesday which allows users to access and manage Zoho email contacts and conversations within the CRM service.

The company hopes that the move will help establish Zoho CRM as the "other" web-based CRM, according to Zoho marketing director Rodrigo Vaca.

"We have taken great care to streamline the migration and ensure that users can see for themselves how Zoho CRM provides the robust functionality their business demands at prices the current financial situation requires," he said.

Zoho's challenge could put Salesforce.com into the unfamiliar position of competing with a smaller upstart.

From its days as one of the first enterprise on-demand services, Salesforce.com's hallmark has been its aggressive campaigns against larger firms, such as Siebel and SAP.

The firm has been very successful, and Salesforce and its flagship CRM service have become industry giants in their own right, logging more than $1bn (£611m) in annual revenues.