Sotbit: CRM tools. What are CRM systems and how to choose them correctly? Licensing: Open Source or Proprietary Architecture

V modern business the need to automate various processes has become commonplace. It is already becoming difficult to imagine warehouse or accounting without the use of specialized software, sales representatives use special applications for placing and sending an order to the office directly from the tablet or mobile phone, a fairly large part of orders comes from the site already in the form of documents ready for processing. But at the same time, relationships with customers, at least in medium and small businesses, for some reason very often are conducted without the introduction of automation and sufficient attention to accounting.

I observe all this quite often, since as a business consultant I am in constant contact with small and medium-sized businesses. And every time I have to tell my clients how to automate relationships with clients, how CRM systems work, what they are, and why in a particular case it is worth choosing one or another system.

What happens if the work of the sales department is conducted without an accounting system? Each sales manager works in the way that is more convenient for him, records calls, other types of interaction with clients at his own discretion: someone on paper, someone in Excel spreadsheets, and someone does not consider it necessary to record the process of his work.

It is very important that the data import is fast, simple and transparent. Without a convenient automatic transfer of all contacts and other important information for work, the launch of the system, most likely, will end in failure. Of course, you can enter all the data manually, but this is very long and inconvenient. And if you enter this data in parts, then the risk of duplication of customer cards increases, as a result, confusion and overlays await you.

Personally, I really like the option of transferring data from an Excel spreadsheet, this option is universal, quite visual and convenient. Excel can be downloaded from almost any system, including 1C. And loading data in this format into the system is also quite fast and convenient.

Localization availability

This parameter is not the most relevant today, since most of the powerful widely known CRM systems have long had Russian localizations. But, nevertheless, when choosing software, you should always pay special attention to this parameter, since without Russian localization, you and your employees may have difficulties in their work. In addition, I believe that there is no point in depriving yourself of your comfort at work if you can avoid it.

Licensing: Open Source or Proprietary Architecture?

The difference between Open Source and proprietary architecture is that in the first case you get an open source system, and in the second you get a closed one. It is clear that here we are talking about licensing options for Stand-Alone software products, since any Saas system is closed source by default.

Proprietary (closed) architecture is mostly sold by large developers. In this case, you get a powerful system in which you can make changes within the limits indicated by the developer. I personally do not see anything wrong with this, because, as I wrote above, for medium and small businesses it is extremely rare that some atypical solutions are required at all.

The Open Source license (open source) distinguishes developments created mainly on the basis of some kind of CMS. In this case, you get extremely wide opportunities for integration and work with the site or other system. On the other hand, such CRM modules are in many ways inferior to large CRM systems specially designed for accounting for customer relationships.

Contacts and contractors

When choosing a CRM system, pay special attention to how the directories are implemented, what is their structure. So if you only work with individuals, then one level will be enough for you - this is a contact (client). In this case, in principle, any variant of the structure of the contacts directory will suit you.

It's another matter if you work with legal entities... In this case, your contact is the organization. But on behalf of this contact, they can call different people, for example, accountant, supplier, storekeeper, manager, etc. It is very important that the CRM system provides for the ability to create a card for each contact person (counterparty) separately, as well as combine them into one common contact, an organization. This is very important, because otherwise it will not be possible to organize a sufficient level of automation of control over work with clients.

System cost

Any businessman, before introducing a particular software solution, asks himself the question, how much will it cost? When determining the price of CRM, you need to understand that the numbers that you see on sites in the "product cost" or "license cost" section are only a part of the total costs. Therefore, it is worth figuring out what it consists of full cost implementation of a CRM system.

The total cost of a product consists of several parts:

License (acquisition) cost. This can be a payment for access for "cloud solutions" or the cost of 1 copy.
Transferring data to the system. You will definitely need to transfer contacts and other data in some way. Therefore, the presence or absence of a ready-made module, as well as the complexity of the preparatory preparation of data for import, will also affect the final cost.
The cost of revision. Even if you bought a "boxed solution" or access to the saas version, some improvements are still required. You will need to configure access rights, reports, tasks, etc.
Escort cost.

In addition, many are missing another important, but not so obvious point. These are financial losses during the transition period. You need to understand in advance that during the transition to a CRM system, some problems may arise, due to which you may lose some leads, untimely work them out, etc.

When implementing any software, some difficulties arise. Even if the seller software product tells you that it is enough to make a payment and you can immediately start work, anyway, in practice, problems, malfunctions, overlays arise due to human factor(employees do not yet know how to use the new system or are not good enough, etc.).

There are also indirect costs during implementation. So, your employees, instead of performing their direct duties, will devote some of their time to training and testing the system. Also, the manager will have to devote part of his working time to solving issues related to the implementation of CRM, as well as to control the work on solving this problem.

If you understand in advance that the costs at the implementation stage will certainly be there, if you are ready for the need to allocate time and effort to implement a CRM system, if you prepare for possible overlaps, then all these costs can be minimized, and the process itself can be made as simple as possible and painless.

License cost

Depending on the type of CRM system you have chosen, there are various options for purchasing a license. You can:

Buy a perpetual license.
Buy a license (subscription) for a specific period (month, year, etc.)
Buy a copy of the program for installation on your own server.
A perpetual license is purchased once and is valid on a permanent basis. This is convenient, but the amount to be paid right away is usually quite significant.

Subscription implies the purchase of access to the system for a specified period. The subscription cost is usually low, but you will have to make regular payments to renew your access to the CRM system.

When comparing the cost of licenses, one should also take into account the marketing moves that sellers often resort to. So, very often sellers of CRM systems on the site advertise the minimum price for a package of services, which will be valid only under certain conditions. In reality, you will have to pay more for this system.

For example: on the page describing the service package, the price is $ 40 per user per month. But if you carefully read the entire text, including the callouts and notes, it turns out that this price is valid only if you purchase at least 10 licenses at the same time for a period of 1 year. And if you only need 9 licenses, the price will be different.

These kind of marketing tricks are very common in the IT market. But I plan to talk in detail about the tricks of licensing in a separate article. And now it is enough just to remember that you need to be attentive to the conditions of price formation in order not to be deceived in your calculations.

If you purchase the program, you pay once for an unlimited number of licenses. You will not need to pay for access to the program either periodically or in the event of an increase in the number of employees. But any updates for your program will be paid.

Improvements and launch of the system as part of its cost

Work on setting up, finalizing and launching software should also be taken into account when calculating the total cost of a CRM system.

You will need:

Install software (when purchasing a program, you will need a large amount of work, setting up a server and much more; in the case of Saas solutions, you may need to install client programs on computers, tablets, mobile phones)
Set up user groups, set access rights for all groups of employees who will work with the CRM system.
Integrate the CRM system with other services and programs (set up the exchange of information with the website, 1C databases, with telephony, etc.)
Transfer data from other systems and programs.

Very often, when calculating costs, users forget to take into account the data transfer, which is a serious mistake. Data transfer is one of the biggest startup costs. Data needs to be retrieved from the existing system, process, standardize, correct errors in them, and only then this data can be loaded into the CRM system.

For example, I usually offer my clients a service like fixing a phone. This is a very common problem: in the cards of 1C counterparties, in Excel tables and in many other programs, customer phone numbers can be written in an arbitrary way. As a result, some of the entries are in the "+ 7 ..." format, some begin with an eight, some are city numbers without a city code, etc. In order for these phones to be correctly entered into the CRM system, they must be standardized, given in a certain form (most often in an international format).

It is also important to understand that you will need improvements in any case. Even if you purchase a completely turnkey boxed solution, you will most likely need to modify something. It is better to be guided in advance by the fact that you will also need to pay for the services of a specialist in this matter.

What should be improved if a Saas solution is chosen?

On the one hand, when using a Saas solution, you do not have access to the code, and therefore there is nothing to modify by the programmer. On the other hand, Saas platforms provide a fairly wide range of customization options. different forms and reports, business processes, user rights, appearance your working system, etc. This work should also be entrusted to a specialist.

In addition, you will need to integrate your CRM system with a website, 1C programs, telephony, etc. This work is also performed by a specialist, and therefore its cost must be taken into account.

Standalone solutions require additional investments: buying or renting a server, setting it up, purchasing additional software, etc. It is important to understand that when you buy a Standalone solution, you just buy a copy of the program. And all further costs associated with its installation, configuration, and its use, you assume.

Escort

You need to understand that failures occur in any system, and first of all it concerns Standalone solutions. And support is the work of a specialist, and it should also be paid for.

When choosing Saas solutions, you may not need support or it will cost the minimum amount. More often than not, a once configured solution works great, unless, of course, you try to experiment with the settings yourself.

Why Saas systems don't require ongoing support:

Such systems are usually very well debugged, and specialists constantly monitor the performance of the software.
The functionality of such systems is quite severely limited, since it is designed to solve a certain range of tasks and nothing more.
The interface is usually intuitive and does not require specialist assistance to complete most operations.

Let me remind you that for small and medium-sized businesses, I usually recommend Saas solutions for the implementation of CRM systems. And saving on implementation and maintenance is by no means the last factor.

Epilogue

In this article, I did not set myself the task of describing in full and in detail CRM systems... I wanted to clarify the following questions: what is it, who needs it and why, and on the basis of what parameters it is best to choose a CRM system for small and medium-sized businesses. I hope that I was able to help you understand these issues. A lot has already been written about the variety and features of various CRM systems, perhaps I will also return to this issue more than once. And here and now I have tried to explain the basic things with which acquaintance with any CRM system begins.

At the same time, the process of implementing a CRM system itself is practically no different from the implementation of software. I wrote in detail about how this happens in the article

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