Caller feature to be disabled in September.

JoelC
JoelC Member Posts: 4 VERIFIED MEMBER
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I have heard that Pipedrive is going to disable the Caller feature which we have not long discovered and it is really good. Pipedrive please keep it. :-) @Marvel Piik @Evelin Kaarma @Iiris Issak @Mike van der Valk @Jana Waldschmidt_66

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  • Manuel Oliveira
    Manuel Oliveira Admin Posts: 1,320 COMMUNITY MANAGER
    1000 Comments 250 Likes 25 Answers Third Anniversary

    Hi @Joel Craig , the Caller feature is scheduled to be discontinued, and our product team will share more details on this matter soon. There is a range of recommended alternatives that integrate seamlessly with Pipedrive, and are already available on our marketplace page. Have a look here.

  • Amit Sarda (AmitSarda.xyz)
    Amit Sarda (AmitSarda.xyz) Member Posts: 1,608 VERIFIED MEMBER
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  • Admin unilegion
    Admin unilegion Member Posts: 14 VERIFIED MEMBER
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    To whom it may concern:


    We too are absolutely dumbfounded to learn of this planned decommissioning of a VITAL and INTEGRATED aspect of Pipedrive functionality.

    To only now learn that this mistake has been in the pipeline since last year is absolutely flabbergasting.

    We had previously investigated alternatives to Caller (even the highest rated ones) and none of them delivered the seamless integration that we favor so strongly.

    Context:

    Our team placed far more than 300k calls/call attempts via Caller.


    Whatever the rationale for this decision, which has not been shared (again, rather poor communication to active and heavy users): It is for the worst.

  • Sophie
    Sophie Pipedrive Team Posts: 203 PIPEDRIVE TEAM
    Third Anniversary 100 Comments 5 Answers 5 Likes

    Hi there,

    Thank you so much for sharing this feedback, I will pass this along internally for review. In the meantime, I would like to give some further context to the sunset of the caller feature, hopefully, this helps to clarify a bit further the rationale behind this decision.

    After careful evaluation, we’ve decided that while Caller offers users essential calling capabilities, partnering with dedicated calling solutions will provide better value, a wider range of high-quality features, and a more seamless customer experience. Natively we will be unable to maintain the Caller feature as needed. Additionally, Pipedrive’s billing system is changing and our new system will not support one-time payments. To streamline this change and give us a more consistent, efficient billing experience, we are deactivating Caller credit top-ups from August 31.

    However, we have some great alternatives in our Marketplace. As an example, JustCall and CloudTalk, which were recently integrated more natively with Pipedrive. You can check here a demo of the JustCall and CloudTalk integrations.

    For additional information, check out what JustCall and CloudTalk offer, or contact their representatives at jason@saaslabs.co for JustCall and chris.hoang@cloudtalk.io for CloudTalk.

    If you would like to discuss any specific details regarding your account, we recommend you reach out directly to our support team via in-app chat or email at support@pipedrive.com and we would be more than happy to assist. Communications will continue to be sent out via email with any updates and important information regarding this.

    We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and hope you understand. Thank you!

  • Josh Buesking
    Josh Buesking Member Posts: 222 VERIFIED MEMBER
    Fourth Anniversary 100 Likes 100 Comments 5 Answers

    I don't use caller but to log in and see a pop up advertising "projects" that's no longer being developed and only maintained after 6 months of being released shows the trend of where pipedrive is heading.

  • Admin unilegion
    Admin unilegion Member Posts: 14 VERIFIED MEMBER
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    Thanks for the context, although it seems a bit constructed with the main argument that this is due to a "new" payment system not being able to handle one-off payments, see also the side note below.

    Any customer interview or even thinking about the experience by actual designers would have quickly surfaced the idea of AUTOMATED TOP-UPS and/or monthly payments to be warmly welcomed by Caller users.

    The need to manually recharge is an unnecessary nuisance. Could have easily made it a rule-based (e.g. "if lower than XX Euros, then automatically recharge to XXX Euros and add top-up amount to next billing cycle").

    Et voila, no more "one-time payments". And no need to remove Caller.


    Side note:

    It seems like a weird decision to move to a new payment system that is actually much more restrictive. less capable and less flexible that it leads to the removal of core and fully integrated functionalities.

  • JoelC
    JoelC Member Posts: 4 VERIFIED MEMBER
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    Well put!! I agree Caller needs to be kept, as who wants multiple third party add ons just to make it capable of the bare basics.

  • Andrew Klotz
    Andrew Klotz Member Posts: 32 VERIFIED MEMBER
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    edited August 2023 #9

    Just weighing in to say that this change is super disappointing and a big step back for PD.

    Caller is a high value feature, well built and seamlessly integrated into PD's desktop experience for recording, logging calls, and more. It has everything we need for our outbound workflow and call recordings are extremely helpful for coaching and team collaboration. After we used it more heavily, we discovered that Caller is an essential part of our sales workflow. I see that others seem to agree, which leads me to ask, did the PD product team actually poll any power users about making this change?

    Now, PD customers are forced to turn to third party tools, which promise but never properly integrate, are expensive $$$ ($1000+ per year for a few users), questionably rated, and a hassle to manage licenses (another damn license to activate). With Caller in Pipedrive, everything is in one neat package. Turning Caller off is not supporting PD's core persona - salespeople, the sales managers or company admins.

    I'd be really interested to know what is behind this decision, and why it wasn't considered to keep as part of a premium package, or as a monthly add-on. This is a feature that other CRMs like Hubspot offer, and alongside email it seems to be an integral part of PD's value prop.

    It feels to me that this decision is simply to cut services and squeeze more profit from PD's userbase...

    😥

  • JoelC
    JoelC Member Posts: 4 VERIFIED MEMBER
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    Pipedrive please reconsider this change.

    If caller was marketed properly so it is a well-known feature, it would be used by the masses, just like HubSpot have done. I stumbled across PD caller by total accident, if only id know about it earlier.

    Third party apps are not an easy fix and have to be triple checked these days to ensure they have the necessary cybersecurity protocols.

  • Pipedrive User 164
    Pipedrive User 164 Member Posts: 163 VERIFIED MEMBER
    100 Comments Second Anniversary 25 Up Votes 25 Likes

    Please tell me that this is not true. I will no longer be able to use pipedrive in my browser to initiate a call on my mobile phone without a 3rd party application? This is total insanity if true. The biggest strength of pipedrive over its competitors is being able to create a good workflow with less friction. Losing that feature is going to add friction to the phone prospecting process! Not cool man. Logging calls is one of the most annoying things for salespeople.

  • Kreete K
    Kreete K Pipedrive Team Posts: 350 PIPEDRIVE TEAM
    Fourth Anniversary 100 Comments 25 Likes 5 Answers

    Hi @Brad Krause

    You are still able to initiate a call from Webapp - Web to Mobile calling is still available. However, the call in this case is made from your own SIM card / provider. We no longer support the Caller feature, where we were able to offer calling from a linked phone number, but using credits purchased in Pipedrive.

  • inacyakup
    inacyakup Member Posts: 179 VERIFIED MEMBER
    100 Comments 25 Likes 5 Answers First Anniversary

    Hi everyone,


    The classic caller problem of big companies.A new integration, a new invoice tracking, a new training process, new agreements, new contracts.... We have already started looking at different CRM alternatives. I'm sure there are many companies like us in this way. A big disappointment

  • Pipedrive User 164
    Pipedrive User 164 Member Posts: 163 VERIFIED MEMBER
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  • Andrew Klotz
    Andrew Klotz Member Posts: 32 VERIFIED MEMBER
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    Hi @Kreete K , are recording capabilities available in web to mobile?

  • Kreete K
    Kreete K Pipedrive Team Posts: 350 PIPEDRIVE TEAM
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    Hi @Andrew Klotz

    In this case, no. Web to Mobile calling just allows you to efficiently work on the webapp and start calls for mobile. We have no call recording available for this feature.

  • Pipedrive User 164
    Pipedrive User 164 Member Posts: 163 VERIFIED MEMBER
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    @Kreete K I wasnt sure if @Andrew Klotz meant audio recording or simply recording a record of the call by automatically making a call activity record. It does not do audio recording but it does create a call record in activities.