CRM Suites Shopping List for SMBs

CRM Suites Shopping List for SMBs

Jim Berkowitz, CEO of the consulting firm CRM Mastery Inc., and Steve Raye, executive vice president of the consultancy eVergance Partners LLC, offer these five tips for small and midsized businesses (SMBs) that are considering customer relationship management (CRM) suites.

  • Think integration. Generally it's a mistake to purchase just one part of a CRM suite -- the sales module, for example -- and try to use it with existing applications.

  • Compare workflows. Some customer service processes in Oracle On Demand, for example, take six screens to accomplish, which may not be manageable for a small company with only a few customer service reps.

  • Investigate SaaS options. Some Software as a Service providers offer full CRM applications for a per-user monthly fee, which may be faster and cheaper than deploying an in-house project.

  • Know your capabilities. Different packages offer varying configuration and customization tools, including scripting languages, so consider your staff's skills.

  • Budget for change. You may need to adjust your CRM application after it's up and running, so budget for a few hours of work each month.

For more SearchSMB.com buying tips, go to www.searchsmb.com.

This was first published in April 2007