Watch your hands
My first post on Habré , which was written in April, but it seems, yesterday.
As the list of CRMs I've studied has changed, I'll add and update my heroes list. But CRM has not been chosen yet and all the marks mean almost nothing - all nine are great, all are great.
- Microsoft Dynamics CRM - dropped out of the shortlist due to the high cost and the need to purchase a number of connectors due to Russian accounting
- Sales Creatio - dropped out of the shortlist due to excessive cost and the need to buy an additional version for a couple of functions
- Bitrix24 - shortlisted
- amoCRM - shortlisted
- RegionSoft CRM - shortlisted
- CRM Simple Business - shortlisted
- Customer base - dropped out of the shortlist due to modest functionality and some technical features that I didn't like
- — -, .. « 1»
- FreshOffice — -
There was CRM-ok from the heels, but they are generally ... well ... by no means, just damp solutions that lose their attractiveness at the very first review + 2 import solutions fell off due to the localization curve. But if you think that 5 systems in the shortlist make life sugar, then you are mistaken - I already know that the throes of choice will drag on, because there are more and more desires and I, realizing that these applicants can do a lot, decided to go through a couple more rounds of negotiations.
So, my new observation: CRM in Russia ... no! Based on the strict definition of a CRM system, they don't exist on my list.
In general, I'm being cunning right now: none of the selected solutions can be called ERP, CRM or BPM. These are universal solutions with a huge range of possibilities.
In short, to the topic.
CRM image in a vacuum
What is CRM?
Let's take the definition from Wikipedia: a customer relationship management system (CRM, CRM system, short for Customer Relationship Management) is an application software for organizations designed to automate strategies for interacting with customers (clients), in particular to increase sales, optimizing marketing and improving customer service by storing information about customers and the history of relationships with them, establishing and improving business processes and then analyzing the results.
That is, there are several typical features of a CRM system.
- It automates strategy - that is, it replaces some of the routine processes with programmed machine actions and provides interfaces for fast and productive work throughout the entire customer cycle.
- It focuses on sales, marketing and support - CRM works with all aspects of a company's business. It is important that all three departments have access to information in CRM.
- It stores the accumulated information - the DBMS accumulates, processes and stores information about transactions, clients, key events, etc.
- It is aimed at analyzing the results - thanks to the accumulation and storage of information, the CRM system provides analytical functions.
In, you see, how cleverly I formulated it all - all because I listened to a half dozen CRM presentations, read half of the Internet and delved into the topic. All of the listed solutions have these features, but in most of them this is only a small part of all the functionality.
How I saw CRM before I dug into the topic
In my company, salespeople and managers are rather passive in terms of software - this is not a lordly business. Therefore, our requirements are mediocre: I knocked them out of them practically by force. But my boss and I clearly saw: a client came, he was entered into CRM, then they called from CRM, attached documents somewhere, saw how many stages he went through, closed the deal. Then they took, analyzed the stages, who should be awarded, who should be scolded, the process was optimized, hurray. For us, CRM was a sales system.
How I see CRM after almost 5 months of analytical work
Perhaps, had I started with amoCRM, I would never have known what was happening with the CRM market, because it just fit into my ideas. I would buy it, then the My Warehouse license, then a couple more add-ons and consider myself to be hurt by some kind of automation. Moreover, without interruption, the calling partners of this system literally do not allow thinking about other solutions.
But somehow it turned out that I started with Microsoft Dynamics CRMand this decision, despite the difficulties and prices, set a slightly different level, or rather gave birth to the first thought: "What if I don't need to buy a warehouse program as well?" And I found solutions with a warehouse "on board", as many as four! And then, after listening to the presentations of other CRMs, sitting behind his colleague, I realized that modern CRMs are quite multifunctional systems that can do a lot. But ... is it CRM? Will hyperautomation work for a business that was waiting for sales automation, but got everything at once? Do you need this kind of automation? My head is full of thoughts - in all my admin and managerial life I have not thought so much about software!
If anything, I choose CRM not for some corporation, but for a small company that is engaged in the wholesale of boring goods in B2B. There are only 17 of us, but everyone needs CRM - for different reasons. Why then do I dig for so long? I admit, on my own initiative: I want to find a really optimal solution at a normal price and with a minimum of modifications. Dreamer!
Here are some CRMs - not CRMs, I singled out.
Rather BPM with CRM features
In general, I tried to avoid solutions with BPM on board, especially in BPMN notation. Firstly, I don't really see how we can build business processes in the company, and secondly, my staff is like this: me, the chief and the crowd of the sales department and salespeople who are not like BPMN, - Excel is like fire, afraid. However, during the testing of CRM (and there were already 17 of them, some just dropped out at the first call), I realized that there should be processes in a CRM system (not CRM?), Because it greatly simplifies the life of managers: imagine, you know clearly what needs to be done, who and when should do it, all this is written down, reminds and sends letters. A wonderful story to wrap any deal, contract, hiring and training process, shipping, promotion, whatever you want.
And yes, there are business processes in their good implementation in several solutions on the market. Of those that we pick, there are processes in BPMN 2.0 notation in Sales Creatio , in various native forms I liked the business processes in RegionSoft CRM and Bitrix24- they are, figuratively speaking, human, intelligible. No, I have no hope that fertilizer sales manager Ivan will cope with them, of course, but I am sure that he will calmly figure out how to work with customized chains in systems. By the way, amoCRM consultants are actively promoting the idea that a sales funnel is a business process - well, you can't argue with that, but this is one process, you can't build all the others on this, you need to buy an expensive third-party solution and half a liter to it to figure it out , well, or partners will set up the processes in this thing themselves, but at a cost.
Therefore, in this category, I give the palm to Sales CreatioIs a solution that is directly focused on business processes, among which there are ready-made structures. Well, actually, the product used to be called bpm'online, so there is no reason to doubt the processes. The bad news is that this is a very expensive system, which is also inconsistent in its versatility - for example, a marketing solution is a separate, expensive system.
Rather ERP with CRM functionality
Here everything is complicated, because universality reaches its absolute peak, but questions arise how to deal with this solution. The first impression is how to buy a Dodge RAM-3500, and then think about how to drive through the narrow streets in the Ostozhenka area, for example. But these are also prospects and new broad opportunities, which means that everything is not so simple. So, in case you didn't know, an ERP system is software that helps integrate operations, manufacturing, human resources, financial management, etc. The general data model in such systems helps to optimize and replenish resources in time, to build processes. It is difficult to be a full-fledged ERP system, because this is a story about bureaucratic tenders, some kind of complex production, long-term stepwise implementations, etc. To be honest,I myself would not want to contact the "tired erp-guy" who is used to this. But I would not refuse a warehouse, and perhaps also from production.
All that I need from the point of view of "give a piece of ERP", I found in two systems: Microsoft Dynamics CRM and RegionSoft CRM . The Microsoft solution is well built for any task, but this alignment, as it turned out, requires a lot of money, since CRM / ERP is universal for international standards, and in Russia there are a lot of specifics and, as a result, improvements that need to be paid for partner companies. When you are a small business and you realize the scale, it seems like you will be crushed now. Well, or I was in such a quarantine mood. Microsoft Dynamics CRM- an interesting solution, which in itself is almost an ERP (it is also available separately), but it seems to me more and more that this is a story for large companies or for international business. I first encountered their solutions of this class and am pleasantly surprised.
And here, surprisingly, RegionSoft CRMwell covers the needs of a small business (I think, both medium and large, but what to think about them - who would think about us ...), because it is simply arranged, clearly connected between the modules and includes everything in general: KPI, warehouse, production, some that from financial accounting, project management, multicurrency accounting, cash desk, loyalty cards, etc. In short, there is everything - in general, everything that can be seen in a modern business system. True, absolutely all of this is available in the "older" edition, which is more expensive than the basic configuration - and for some, less sophisticated editions will probably be enough. But in the end, it is much cheaper than Microsoft - this is once and is 100% sharpened for Russian business, without connectors (but something with modifications, I think - I have not yet reached that). But what I lacked (since we row in the mainstream of universality),so this is personnel management - there seems to be KPI, planning and an employee card, but this whole type of personnel accounting is not. By the way, this is a complaint to everyone.
Probably, I'll also include FreshOffice here - it is also clearly evolving towards universality, although somewhat poorer in functionality.
This branch of evolution towards ERP seems to me the most logical and correct for CRM systems - small and medium-sized businesses need strong universal solutions.
Rather, a corporate portal with CRM functionality
Bitrix24 is a very complex story in the CRM world, a real phantom and a werewolf. If about the rest of the systems I can say that this is a CRM with add-ons or a super CRM, then about Bitrix24 I would rather say that it is a corporate portal with a CRM module and elements of a social network. Do you feel the difference? In the rest you need to work, in Bitrix you need to sit and control absolutely all aspects of the work. On the one hand, the versatility is at the level here, on the other hand, all these corporate portal tools distract from work and the matter may not reach CRM.
By the way, I have a sadness for you: free Bitrix24 is a very truncated thing, from which the company grows already at the stage of testing the system. But seriously, really, if you need Bitrix24, which doesn't just store something there, but works the way it was intended, then you need a Team tariff, or even a Company. Well, this is if you suddenly thought that at zero you can go far.
But among corporate portals and working social networks, this is a strong solution, so if your focus is on internal communications, this solution may suit you.
Rather CRM ...?
But what about the rest? The others were there too. In this group, I will single out amoCRM , CRM Simple Business , Customer base . These are CRM systems for sales, and amoCRM strictly "observes" the concept of a system for working with clients, but the other two are already on their way to the versatility of the solution and to the ERP level: Simple business has evolved a little higher, design bureau - at the beginning. By the way, amoCRM can be upgraded for money using add-ons, plugins and integrations, but such bells and whistles seem expensive and complicated to me - as a system administrator, I am morally not ready to be responsible for such a zoo, payments for it, etc.
It seemed as though they were, almost a classic, buy your own CRM and calm down, Vanya. But! After the solutions listed above, I do not want to be modest for the same money (or even more).
Of course, I do not consider myself the smartest, so I looked at other people's lists, reviews, ratings. True, I got the impression that 90% of them are bullshit, because in the first places it is not Microsoft, not amo, not bitrix24, but some kind of CRM, which even did not get advertised in 5 months. I watched them, even went through the presentations a couple of times ... Well, is that serious? Who are they counting on these boosted and paid ratings? Well, okay, you need to think with your mind.
And I keep thinking and analyzing. Before me are options for selected CRMs, which are not CRM, but rather hyper CRM or ultra CRM. And this "hyper-functionality" is a great savings for the company, because you get everything in one place. On the other hand, there is a risk of getting confused, getting lost ... So I was instructed to implement CRM for quarantine, because this is a cool anti-crisis measure, almost a magic pill, and I even understand why. BUT! I'm lost. Looking for a way out. I will be in touch.