From Chaos to Clarity: The Ties Program Reimagines Operations with Zoho One
The Ties Program, led by Ben Kaanta and his wife, provides transformative heritage travel experiences for adoptees and their loved ones. Facing administrative chaos from scattered systems and data silos, the organization turned to Amazing Business Results to implement a custom Zoho One system. The result? A stress-reducing, streamlined platform that centralized operations, improved communication, and empowered the team to focus on what truly matters: life-changing emotional support for their clients.
Founded in 1994, the Ties Program has helped over 4,000 adoptees travel to 20+ countries to reconnect with their heritage. When the original founders handed over the organization to Ben’s wife—a PhD in identity development of adoptees—they knew the mission would be in expert hands. But operationally, things were still in the spreadsheet era. That’s when Zoho and Amazing Business Results stepped in to help.
Ties is more than a travel agency—it’s a therapeutic journey. The organization provides adoptees with guided trips to their birth countries, accompanied by U.S.-based adoption professionals such as therapists and social workers. Clients also include parents, partners, and loved ones, creating a supportive ecosystem. Their services are deeply emotional, complex, and personal—making administrative simplicity and efficiency critical.
When Ben and his wife took over, they inherited an organization running on spreadsheets and fragmented tools. Constant Contact was used for emails, but there was no CRM. Information was disorganized, billing was inconsistent, and workflows were not scalable. The real pain point: scattered systems that didn’t talk to each other, making every process—from onboarding to invoicing—time-consuming and error-prone.
Armed with an operations and engineering background, Ben conducted a structured vendor evaluation. He needed a solution that was HIPAA-compliant, non-technical-staff friendly, and cost-effective. Zoho One fit the bill. What made the difference was ABR’s ability to not just implement Zoho, but translate Ben’s complex needs into practical workflows—especially for dynamic use cases like conditional forms by country, personalized journeys, and complex relationships between travelers.
Working with ABR, Ties built an integrated CRM that pulled together billing, communications, forms, and contact history into a single source of truth. They replaced forms with Zoho Creator for more customization, integrated Zoho Sign, and even created workflows that route inquiries by country to the correct team. Staff resistance turned into enthusiasm as they realized the platform was built to make their lives easier. Stress levels dropped, productivity rose, and the team started suggesting new features.
Their Constant Contact A/B testing, led by ABR’s CTO, validated that Constant Contact had better engagement—so ABR created a custom integration to keep using it while maintaining CRM-driven automation.
Today, Ben envisions building a full customer portal for clients to track forms, communications, and invoices—a plan set in motion with ABR’s guidance to roll out foundational systems first.
What would you publicly say about Zoho?
“The stress on me is a lot less. There’s one source of truth. One place to go. That’s a big deal.”
“At first, the team resisted change. But now, they’re asking, ‘Can we also do this?’ They see how much better this makes their lives.”
Lior Izik, owner and founder of Amazing Business Results, is a Zoho Premium Partner, a Certified Zoho Developer and a Zoho Apps Trainer who knows the system inside and out.
For over 15 years, he’s built hundreds of CRM systems for his clients to help them automate their processes, save money and manage their businesses with less stress.
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