Sandro Salsi’s Blog

You may have heard that CRM software, which stands for customer relationship management, is the secret weapon of successful enterprises or that companies are using CRM systems to manage their clients, record data, cut costs, avoid mistakes and focus their marketing efforts.

What you may not have heard is that most businesses spend between $250,000 and $1 million just to get set up with these organizational systems, not including upgrades, customizations, maintenance and IT expenses!

CRM systems
Yet the features and functionality varies with every leading CRM provider.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM is the CRM software used by over 750,000 enterprises, including the Government of Dubai, Polaris, Banca Transilvania, Mitsubishi Caterpillar Forklift Europe and Nikon.

Microsoft CRM not only has strong company support, but also a strong partner channel of consultants ready to help you integrate, upgrade and maintain your system. Executives can easily synchronize the system with Microsoft Outlook, for instance.

There are many hosting and CRM solution options and it’s all economically priced for budgets big and small. Dynamics CRM is a well-rounded front office system that includes top-notch sales force automation (SFA) functionality, decent marketing functionality and sufficient customer service functionality for the average small or midsize business.

CRM systems
One drawback is that Microsoft is relatively new to the SaaS (software as a service) industry, so it may be difficult to separate the reality from the hype. In fact, there are several noteworthy features lacking, such as sales process management support, win/loss analysis and partner relationship management.

The latest Oracle CRM product finally competes with the likes of www.salesforce.com and other top software as a service (SaaS) systems. This CRM software primarily attracts large companies looking for a stand alone sales force automation (SFA) application.

The Oracle CRM On Demand has easy integration with back office ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems, which is done using pre-built templates. The SFA area is strongest with CRM Oracle, enhancing sales team productivity by tracking contacts, activities, leads, sale opportunities and orders.

One drawback of this program is its limited marketing management functionality, which requires costly add-ons from the Siebel consultant group to provide features that most other programs already come with.

One of the early leaders in CRM software has been www.salesforce.com, which hails itself as a poster child for SaaS in general.

CRM Oracle
No matter which CRM systems a company chooses, pre-planning is most important to successful implementation. Far too often, executives throw money after this idea because “everyone else is doing it, without really thinking through what data needs to be collected, how it will be analyzed, who will present it and how the results will affect decision making and other processes.

In this competitive world, CRM systems are about so much more than just data gathering or data organizing. If the sales, marketing and executive teams are not onboard, then any software system will be a flop.

Visit my FREE NICHE MARKET FINDER