Hey Habr! On April 22 this year, I wrote an article on Habr about discounts on CRM systems. Then it seemed to me that the price is the most important selection criterion, and I can easily solve everything else with my brains and experience as a system administrator. The boss expected imminent miracles from me, the employees sat down to sit back and work from home, covid went around the planet, I chose the dream system. Today is August 25, and the system has not yet been chosen, although the favorites have been determined. A couple of colleagues and I went through a couple of dozen presentations, through megabytes of letters, chats and voice traffic. And I suddenly came to an interesting conclusion: CRM does not exist. None. That's right, friends. And this is not a clickbait headline, this is an analytical observation.
Watch your hands
My, which was written in April, but it seems like yesterday.
Hellish work, only from home, self-isolation gave me a little extra time - but not because I don’t work much, but because I’m not stuck on the road for a total of about three hours. There was no question of what to do - I continued to test CRM systems with maniacal persistence, because my boss wants to get out of the crisis automated to the teeth and work in a new way. Of course, I share his aspirations, but delving into a dozen programs is so-so entertainment. Therefore, in order to diversify my life, I decided to approach the choice from ambiguous sides and periodically write about observations here on Habr.
Since the list of CRMs I've learned has changed, I'll add and update my hero list. But CRM has not yet been selected and all the marks mean almost nothing - all nine are magnificent, all the good fellows.
- - dropped out of the shortlist due to high cost and the need to purchase a number of connectors due to Russian accounting
- - dropped from the shortlist due to excessive cost and the need to buy an additional version for a couple of functions
- - shortlisted
- - shortlisted
- - shortlisted
- - shortlisted
- - dropped out of the shortlist due to modest functionality and some technical features that I did not like
- — dropped out of the shortlist, because lost to competitors from its own "league under the wing of 1C"
- - shortlisted
There were CRMs from the heels, but they are generally ... well ... out of the blue, just raw solutions that lose their attractiveness at the first review + 2 imported 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 agony 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 do not exist on my list.
In general, I'm being a little cunning now: none of the chosen solutions can be called either ERP, or 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?
Take the definition from Wikipedia: 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, optimize marketing and improve customer service by storing information about customers and history of relationships with them, establishing and improving business processes and subsequent analysis of the results.
That is, there are several typical features of a CRM system.
- It automates the strategy - that is, replaces some of the routine processes with programmable machine actions and provides interfaces for fast and productive work throughout the entire cycle of working with clients.
- It is aimed at sales, marketing and support - CRM works with all aspects of a company's commercial activities. It is important that all three departments have access to information in CRM.
- It stores the accumulated information - the DBMS accumulates, processes and saves information about transactions, customers, key events, and so on.
- It is aimed at analyzing the results - thanks to the accumulation and preservation of information, the CRM system provides analytical functions.
In, you see, how I cleverly formulated everything - all because I listened to a dozen CRM presentations, read half 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 the entire 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 master's business. Therefore, our requirements are mediocre: I knocked them out of them almost 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, looked at how many stages he went through, and closed the deal. Then they took it, analyzed the stages, who should be awarded, who should be scolded, the process was optimized, cheers. For us, CRM was a sales system.
How I see CRM after almost 5 months of analytical work
Perhaps if I had started with amoCRM, I would never have known what was going on with the CRM market, because it just fit in with my ideas. I would buy it, then My Warehouse licenses, then a couple more addons, and consider myself an automator. Moreover, without interruption, the calling partners of this system literally do not let you think about other solutions.
But somehow it turned out that I started with and this solution, despite the complexity and cost, set a slightly different level, or rather gave rise 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 my colleague, I realized that modern CRMs are quite multifunctional systems that can do a lot. But… is it CRM? Will hyper-automation work for a business that was waiting for sales automation, but got everything at once? Is it necessary, such automation? My head is full of thoughts - I have never thought so much about software in all my admin and manager life!
If anything, I choose CRM not for some corporation, but for a small company that is engaged in wholesale sales of boring goods in B2B. There are only 17 of us, but everyone needs CRM - for various reasons. Why then am I digging so long? I confess, 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: I, the chief and the crowd of the commercial department and sales people, who are not just BPMN, - Excel, like fire, afraid. However, during the testing of CRM (and there were already 17 of them, just some dropped out on the first call), I realized that there should be processes in the CRM system (not CRM?), because it greatly simplifies the life of managers: imagine, you clearly know what needs to be done, who should do it and when, all this is written down, reminds and sends letters. A wonderful story that you can wrap any deal into, the conclusion of a contract, the recruitment and training process, the shipment, the promotion, whatever.
And yes, business processes in their good implementation are available in several solutions on the market. Of those that we are picking, there are processes in the BPMN 2.0 notation in , in one form or another, I liked the business processes in и - they are, figuratively speaking, humane, intelligible. No, of course, I don’t have any hopes that Ivan, fertilizer sales manager, will cope with them, but I’m 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 here, but this is one process, you can’t build all the rest on it, you need to buy an expensive third-party solution and half a liter to it to figure it out , well, or the partners themselves will set up the processes in this contraption, but at a cost.
Therefore, in this category, I give the palm to is a solution directly tailored to business processes, among which there are ready-made structures. Well, actually, the product used to be called bpm'online, so there is no doubt about the processes. It is bad that it is a very expensive system, which is also inconsistent in its universality - for example, a marketing solution is a separate expensive system.
Rather, ERP with CRM features
This is where everything is complicated, because universality reaches an absolute peak, but questions arise how to deal with these decisions. 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 not everything is so simple. So, if you didn't know, an ERP system is a software that helps to integrate operations, production, human resources, financial management, etc. The common data model in such systems helps to optimize and replenish resources in time, build processes. Being a full-fledged ERP system is difficult, because it is a story about bureaucratic tenders, some kind of complex production, long-term step-by-step implementations, etc. To be honest, I myself would not want to contact the "tired erp-shnik" used to this. But I would not refuse from the warehouse, and from production, perhaps, too.
Everything I need in terms of “give me a piece of ERP”, I found in two systems: и . The Microsoft solution is well aligned 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 to partner companies. When you are a small business and realize the scale, it seems that you are about to be crushed. Well, I was in such a quarantine mood. - an interesting solution, which in itself is almost 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 was pleasantly surprised.
And here, surprisingly, well covers the needs of a small business (I think, both medium and large, but what to think about them - who would think of us ...), because it is simply arranged, clearly connected between modules and includes everything in general: KPI, warehouse, production, some what of financial accounting, project management, multi-currency accounting, cash register, loyalty cards, etc. In short, there is everything - in general, everything that can be seen in a modern business system. True, absolutely, absolutely all this is available in the "senior" edition, which costs more than the basic configuration - and for some, less fancy editions will probably be enough. But in the end, it is much cheaper than Microsoft - this time it is 100% tailored for Russian business, without connectors (but with some improvements, I think - I haven’t gotten to that yet). But what I lacked (since we are rowing in line with universality) is personnel management - it seems that there is KPI, planning and an employee card, but there is no such type of personnel accounting. By the way, this is a complaint to everyone.
I'll probably take it here - it is also clearly evolving towards universality, although it is somewhat poorer in functionality.
Such a 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 functions
- a very complex story in the world of CRM, a real phantom and werewolf. If I can say about other systems that this is CRM with add-ons or super CRM, then about Bitrix24 I would rather say that this is a corporate portal with a CRM module and social network elements. Feel the difference? In the rest, you need to work, in Bitrix - to sit and control absolutely all aspects of the work. On the one hand, versatility is at the level here, on the other hand, all these corporate portal tools distract from work and things may not reach CRM.
By the way, I have a sadness for you: the free Bitrix24 is a very cut-off thing, from which the company grows already at the system test stage. But seriously, really, if you need Bitrix24, which not only stores something there, but works as it is intended, then you need the Team tariff, or even the 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.
More like CRM...?
But what about the rest? The rest were too. In this group I will allocate , , . 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 the way to the universality of the solution and to the ERP level: Simple business has evolved a little higher, KB is still at the beginning. By the way, amoCRM can be upgraded for money using addons, plugins and integrations, but such bells and whistles seem expensive and complicated to me - as a system administrator I am not morally ready to be responsible for such a zoo, payments for it, etc.
It would seem that here they are, almost a classic, buy your own CRM already and calm down, Vanya. But! After the decisions listed above, I don’t 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 place is not Microsoft, not amo, not bitrix24, but some kind of CRM, which even didn’t throw me advertising for 5 months. I looked at them, even went through the presentations a couple of times ... Well, is this serious? Who do they rely on these pumped and paid ratings? Well, okay, you need to think with your mind.
And I continue to think and analyze. Before me are options for selected CRMs that are not CRMs, but rather hyper CRMs or ultra CRMs. And this “hyperfunctionality” is a great savings for the company, because you get everything in one place. And 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. I'm looking for a way out. I will be in touch.
Source: habr.com