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CRM Software Review...
Posted by tdunks on Mon, 08/06/2009 - 09:14
Salesforce
ReallySimple Systems
Netsuite
MS CRM V3
I've read lots about Cloud based providers, can anyone shed any light on the pros and cons of On demand and On Premise.
We're looking at a 20/25 user license.
Any help gratefully received.
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CRM thoughts
All of these packages will probably provide the functionality, and some the customization, for your sales force/customer contact automation and tracking functions. The question as to whether you would prefer to 'rent' or 'own' such a function is probably based on your company's financial outlook and incumbent IT skills. To butcher the metaphor - IF you are going to need to operate an automobile (CRM) for an extended period, then maybe buying and owning this function makes sense assuming you will be dealing with customers for as long as your company is in business; long depreciation against purchase. IF however, your company needs capital currently (like what companies don't these days?), doesn't have any skilled 'auto mechanics', and needs increased sales/customer service improvement immediately, than renting/leasing makes more sense. One 'human engineering' consideration might be that salesforce.com is SO widely used by very large organizations that finding customer service and sales personnel who are already quite familiar with it's functionality is easy now and will only get easier in the future.
View from above
I would suggest that before you look at the technology you take a good hard look at what is important to your current and prospective customers...CRM is a lot wider than just your specific sales force and marketing team, it is a way of doing better business and should reflect your brand values. The software you have outlined can do a lot of things for you, but, when it comes to flexibility, helping you make your way of doing things better or different, on-going improvement or reflecting your specific processes and needs then, they can fall a little short.
There are a few companies, ours being one, where you can have it all, we develop bespoke web software that can be hosted or on your premises, no user licences, you own the development and it is built around your management and organisational needs.
The weather is fine up here, but, make sure that you know where you are going before you set off.
http://www.pebbleuk.co.uk
App first, delivery second
Have a read of the following article:
http://www.mycustomer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=133908
But any, sound, CRM software vendor should advise you to look at the problem you want CRM to 'solve' before turning to how it's delivered.
Jo
The cost you can see?
The crux of the On Demand and On Premise discussion for many companies is the cost of ownership and degree of flexibility required
to respond to their businesses changing demands. Procurement of an On Premise COTS (Commercial Off The Shelf) product, follows
with ongoing support costs at an application support, software license and Infrastructure support level. The human element of which
is seen as a driver for the increasing cost of ownership. A business case based on this model will always lends itself to supporting
an On Demand option. Where initial CapEx (Captial Expenditure) is offet by OpEx (Operation Expenditure) over year(s) of service.
Just be aware that extending the initial On Demand service to include those changes for the business may come at an increasing
"Add-on" cost to OpEx that may not have been budgeted for. Even increases in bandwidth for integration to the On Demand service
as the amount of data held for your company increases, could come at an "Add-on" cost.
So maybe it comes down to how much control the Business and the IT support organisation within that business want to apply. For
many small businesses, the economic realities mean On Demand may be the only commercial viable approach. Especially with seat
prices ranging from $7 (SugarCRM.com) to $70 (Oracle Siebel CRM on demand), before "Add-ons".
CRM Software Review
Interesting question. We're a salesforce.com implementation partner and CRM consultancy firm just to put my post in context up front.
The other posts are absolutely correct - the answer should ultimately be driven by the busienss benefits that you're aiming to generate.
Assuming you're looking at CRM systems from a sales and marketing perspective rather than, for example, customer service & support, organisations that we deal with are typically aiming to address some or all of the following issues:
- lack of visibility of the sales pipeline
- need to increase sales team effectiveness and performance
- lack of a consolidated customer view or effective account management appoach
- inability to deliver targeted or segmented marketing campaigns
- poor quality management information that's also time consuming to produce
- inefficient and ineffective business processes
My view (and as I say we're a salesforce.com partner) is that salesforce provides the solution that enables these issues to be addressed most quickly. It's flexible and scalable and provides an intuitive user interface. That said, its also the most expensive.
Many organisations find the MS offering because of its perceived integration with Outlook and other MS products. However my experience is that its complex to set up and doesn't function well for users that are in disparate locations. We've a number of clients that migrated from MS to salesforce. That said, it'll be interesting to follow the salesforce vs MS shootout if they manage to get it off the ground
http://the56group.typepad.com/pgreenblog/2008/04/the-shootout-is.html
NetSuite offers less pure CRM functionality than salesforce but does have merit if you're also planning to replace other back office applications such as accounting systems.
ReallySimply Systems I must admit I dont know about!
Gary Smith
www.2020management.com
Hosted is best
For a 20 to 25 user deployments I would vote for a hosted crm solution every time. The costs of looking after a system locally with remote access and proper resiliance will make the hosted crm system the more cost effective option.
I have to declare an interest as I am the MD of a CRM Software provider but I can't really see the point of having the extra costs not to mention the hassle of self hosting.
The key is a simple hosted solution that makes your teams jobs easier. If you can achieve that then you have a good chance of a sucessful deployment.