Hello, Habr! On April 22 this year, I wrote an article on Habr about discounts on CRM systems. At that time, I thought that price was the most important criterion for choosing, and everything else I could easily solve with my brains and experience as a sysadmin. My boss was expecting quick results from me, employees settled in to work from home, COVID was on the rise around the world, and I was choosing my dream system. Today is August 25, and the system is still not chosen, although the favorites have been identified. A couple of colleagues and I have gone through a few dozen presentations, megabytes of emails, chats, and voice traffic. And I unexpectedly came to an interesting conclusion: CRM does not exist. Not a single one. That’s right, friends. And this is not a clickbait title, it’s an analytical observation.
Watch closely
My, which was written in April, yet feels like yesterday.
A hell of a job, only working from home lockdown gave me a bit of extra time — but not because I was working less, but because I’m not spending an overall three hours on the road. The question of what to do didn’t arise — I continued to test CRM systems with manic perseverance because my boss wants to emerge from the crisis fully automated and work in a new way. I certainly share his ambitions, but digging through a dozen and a half programs is not exactly entertaining. Therefore, to diversify my life, I decided to approach the selection from various angles and periodically write about my observations here on Habr.
Since the list of CRMs I have studied has changed, I will add and update my list of heroes. However, a CRM has not yet been chosen and all notes mean almost nothing — all nine are excellent, and everyone did well.
- — were removed from the shortlist due to high cost and the need to purchase several connectors for Russian accounting
- — were removed from the shortlist due to excessive cost and the need to buy an additional version for a couple of functions
- — in the shortlist
- — in the shortlist
- — in the shortlist
- — in the shortlist
- — were removed from the shortlist due to modest functionality and some technical peculiarities that I did not like
- — were removed from the shortlist because it lost to competitors from its own 'league under the wing of 1C'
- — in the shortlist
There were about five more CRMs, but they were really... well... not up to standard, just raw solutions that lose their appeal at the very first glance + two imported solutions fell off due to poor localization. But if you think that having five systems on the shortlist makes life easier, you're mistaken — I already know that the agony of choice will stretch on, because the demands keep growing and I, realizing that these contenders have a lot to offer, decided to go through a few more negotiation rounds.
So, my new observation: CRM in Russia... no! Based on the strict definition of CRM systems, there are none in my list.
In fact, I’m being a bit disingenuous: none of the chosen solutions can be called either ERP, CRM, or BPM. They are universal solutions with a vast array of features.
In short, let’s get to the point.
The image of CRM in a vacuum
What is CRM?
Let's take the definition from Wikipedia: customer relationship management system (CRM, CRM system, short for Customer Relationship Management) — application software for organizations designed to automate strategies for interacting with customers (clients), particularly to increase sales, optimize marketing, and improve customer service by preserving information about customers and their interaction history, establishing and improving business processes, and subsequently analyzing results.
That is, we can highlight several typical signs of a CRM system.
- It automates the strategy — that is, it replaces some routine processes with programmed machine actions and provides interfaces for fast and productive work across the entire customer interaction cycle.
- It focuses on 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 the CRM.
- It retains accumulated information — a database accumulates, processes, and preserves information about transactions, clients, key events, and more.
- It is directed towards analyzing results — due to the accumulation and preservation of information, the CRM system provides analytical functions.
Well, you see how cleverly I formulated all this—it’s because I listened to a dozen CRM presentations, read half of the internet, and immersed myself in the topic. All the solutions mentioned have these features, but in most of them, it's just a small part of the overall functionality.
How I viewed CRM before diving deep into the topic
In my company, the salespeople and managers are quite passive regarding software—it's not something they care much about. Therefore, our requirements were pretty average: I practically had to extract them from my colleagues by force. However, my boss and I clearly saw: a client came in, they were added to the CRM, then we received a call from the CRM, documents were attached somewhere, we checked how many stages they went through, and closed the deal. Then we analyzed the stages, rewarded those who needed it, scolded those who needed it, and optimized the process—hooray. For us, the CRM was a sales system.
How I perceive CRM after nearly 5 months of analytical work
Perhaps if I had started with amoCRM, I would not have realized what was happening in the CRM market because it perfectly fit my expectations. I would have bought it, then the licenses for 'My Warehouse', then a couple of add-ons, and I would have considered myself a fantastic automator. Especially since the partners of this system calling constantly hardly let you think about other solutions.
But it somehow turned out that I started with and this solution, despite its complexities and costs, set a whole different level, or rather sparked 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', a total of four! Then, after listening to presentations from other CRMs, while sitting behind my colleague, I realized that modern CRMs are quite multifunctional systems that can do a lot. But… is this a CRM? Will there be hyper-automation for a business that awaited sales automation but got everything all at once? Is such automation really necessary? My mind is full of thoughts—I have never thought so much about software in my entire administrative and managerial career!
Just so you know, I'm choosing a CRM not for some corporation, but for a small company that deals in wholesale sales of boring goods in B2B. There are only 17 of us, but each of us needs a CRM for various reasons. So why am I taking so long? I admit it's my own initiative: I want to find a truly optimal solution at a reasonable price with minimal modifications. A dreamer!
Here are the systems I consider CRM — or not CRM.
More like BPM with CRM features
In general, I tried to avoid solutions with BPM onboard, especially those in BPMN notation. First, I don't see how we could establish business processes in the company, and second, my staff consists of me, the boss, and a bunch of sales and commercial department employees who are scared of Excel as if it were fire, let alone BPMN. However, during the testing of 17 different CRMs (some were discarded after the first call), I realized that processes in a CRM system (or not a CRM?) are essential because they significantly simplify managers' lives: imagine you clearly know what needs to be done, who is supposed to do it, and when—all of this is recorded, reminds you, and sends emails. It's a wonderful thing that can wrap around any deal, contract signing, hiring and training process, shipment, promotion, whatever you want.
And yes, there are implementations of business processes in several solutions on the market that genuinely do it well. Among those we've been exploring together, there are BPMN 2.0 processes in , in various native forms I liked the business processes in and — they are, to put it figuratively, human, clear. No, I don't have high hopes that the sales manager Ivan will master them easily—but I am confident he will manage to work with the configured chains in the systems. By the way, amoCRM consultants actively promote the idea that the sales funnel is itself a business process—this is hard to argue with, but it's just one process; you cannot build all the other processes on it without buying an expensive third-party solution and half a liter of it to figure things out, or the partners themselves will set up processes in this setup, but for a high price.
Therefore, in this category, I give the palm to — this is a solution specifically tailored to business processes, which includes ready-made structures. In fact, the product was previously called bpm’online, so there’s no doubt about its focus on processes. Unfortunately, it’s a very expensive system that is also inconsistent in its versatility — for example, the marketing solution is a separate, costly system.
Rather, an ERP with CRM functionalities
Here things get complicated because versatility reaches an absolute peak, but questions arise about how to handle this solution. The first impression is like buying a Dodge RAM-3500 and then wondering how to navigate narrow streets in the Ostozhenka district, for instance. But this also brings opportunities and new wide possibilities, so it’s not all that straightforward. So, if you didn't know, an ERP system is software that helps integrate operational activities, manufacturing, personnel management, financial management, etc. The overall data model in such systems helps optimize and timely replenish resources and build processes. Being a complete ERP system is challenging because it involves bureaucratic tenders, complex productions, long-term phased implementations, etc. To be honest, I personally wouldn’t want to deal with an 'exhausted ERP specialist' accustomed to this. However, I wouldn’t mind a warehouse solution, and possibly manufacturing as well.
Everything I need in terms of 'give me a piece of ERP' I found in two systems: and . The Microsoft solution adapts well to various tasks, but this adaptation, as it turns out, requires significant funds because the CRM/ERP is universal for international standards, while in Russia, there are many specifics that require customization, for which you have to pay partner companies. When you are a small business and realize the scale, it feels like you are about to be crushed. Well, maybe it was just my quarantine mood. — an interesting solution that is almost an ERP on its own (it exists separately), but it seems to me more and more that this is a story for large companies or international businesses. I encountered their solutions of this class for the first time and was pleasantly surprised.
And here, surprisingly, It effectively meets the needs of small businesses (I think it also applies to medium and large businesses, but who cares about them — let’s think about ourselves…), as it’s simply structured, clearly linked across modules, and includes everything: KPIs, inventory, production, some financial accounting, project management, multi-currency accounting, cash register, loyalty cards, and more. In short, it has everything — absolutely everything you would expect in a modern business system. However, all these features are only fully available in the 'advanced' version, which costs more than the basic package — although some may find the less sophisticated editions sufficient. Ultimately, it’s significantly cheaper than Microsoft — that’s one point, and it's fully tailored for the Russian market, without connectors (though some customizations may be necessary, I think — I haven't reached that yet). What I found lacking (since we’re heading towards universality) is personnel management — there seems to be KPIs, planning, and employee cards, but there's no comprehensive HR tracking.
I would probably also refer this to — it clearly evolves towards universality, although it's a bit limited functionally.
This branch of evolution towards ERP seems to me the most logical and correct for CRM systems — small and medium businesses need robust universal solutions.
Rather, it's a corporate portal with CRM features.
— a very complicated story in the CRM world, a real phantom and shapeshifter. While I can say about other systems that they are CRMs with add-ons or super CRMs, I would rather describe Bitrix24 as a corporate portal with a CRM module and social network elements. Do you feel the difference? In other systems, you need to work; in Bitrix, you just sit and oversee all aspects of the operations. On one hand, the universality here is substantial; on the other hand, all these corporate portal tools distract from work, and you might not even get to using the CRM.
By the way, I have some bad news for you: the free Bitrix24 is a very limited thing from which a company quickly outgrows in the testing phase. But seriously, if you need Bitrix24 to do more than just store something, and function as it is intended, then you need the Team plan, or even the Company one. That is, if you were pondering the idea that you can go far with the free version.
However, among corporate portals and work social networks, this is a strong solution, so if your focus is specifically on internal communications, this solution might be suitable for you.
Rather, CRM…?
But what about the others? The others were there too. I'll highlight them in this group. , , . These are sales CRM systems, with amoCRM strictly adhering to the concept of a system for working with customers, while the other two are on their way to becoming universal solutions and to the ERP level: Simple Business has evolved a bit further, while K.B. is still at the beginning. By the way, amoCRM can be upgraded for a fee with addons, plugins, and integrations, but I find such enhancements costly and complicated — as a system administrator, I'm not mentally ready to be responsible for such a mess, payments for it, etc.
It seemed like they were finally here, almost classics, just buy your CRM and that's it, Ivan. But! After the solutions mentioned above, I really don’t want to settle for the same money (or even more).
Of course, I don't consider myself the smartest, so I looked at other people's lists, reviews, and ratings. However, I got the impression that 90% of them are rubbish, because the top spots are not occupied by Microsoft, amo, or bitrix24, but by some CRMs that haven’t even been advertised to me in the last 5 months. I checked them out, even went through their presentations a couple of times… Seriously? Who do these inflated and paid ratings think they are fooling? Oh well, we need to think for ourselves.
And I continue to think and analyze. In front of me are selections of CRMs that are not really CRMs, but rather hyper CRMs or ultra CRMs. And this 'hyper-functionality' is a great savings for a company because you get everything in one place. On the other hand, there's the risk of getting confused and lost… I was tasked with implementing a CRM during the quarantine, as it's a great crisis management measure, almost a magic bullet, and I even understand why. BUT! I got lost. I'm looking for a way out. I'll stay in touch.
Source: habr.com
