Impartial, knowledgable and CRM

There has been a lot of talk lately about the benefits (and risks) of SaaS, Cloud Computing and Open Source software.

Some of the problems with these concepts are that the definitions aren’t static, they are not absolutes, and that every consultant wants to own the definition and provide you with the “best solution” – which, unfortunately, is the solution they just happen to sell.

Now, because I no longer own any IT businesses but am IT literate, I regularly get asked for impartial advice. The problem is with impartial advice though, is that it may not necessarily be knowledgeable – ie. it’s impossible to have a depth of knowledge about everything in ICT.

Therefore, when I recently got asked about Cloud and SaaS based solutions for CRM I tapped a colleague on the shoulder – Luke Grange of Knowledge Solutions to get his point of view.

Luke’s response was so good, I thought I would share it around.

A couple of assumptions just to start off:

1. There is no offline component
2. You require one vendor to provide the necessary components
3. One location initially until a critical mass is reached then scaling to multiple locations
4. All locations have reliable broadband connections

This is a question which a number of companies are grappling with, and planning is the key component. I never approach developing a business solution by looking at the technology first, so I am simply considering this an exercise and not me consulting on the appropriate solution per se.

It’s imperative to develop an approach whereby you assess the objectives you want to achieve first then look at what technology is available. I assume you have done this already and that you are now at the vendor selection phase.

Let’s break the CRM modules down into what you are requesting:

• Document storage (content management) – not sure if concurrent document updates will occur.
• Contact management.
• Lead management/account management/campaign management – tied into email audit tracking.
• Sales pipeline and opportunity management.
• Sales reporting.
• Staff Collaboration system incorporating security levels, task assignment and shared calendar.

If this is an online business you may also like to consider tying a customer profiling aspect into your website process and customer service side as part of your CRM strategy. This way if your site is revisited you will have a more personal approach and conversion rates will be higher.

There are three vendors which you may like to consider, who provide a solution offered as SaaS (Hosted, On-Demand).

Salesforce

The first of these and the most likely one-stop-shop would be Salesforce.com.

They have delivered a good range of CRM modules for a number of years as a hosted offering. Their free introductory offering is called the ‘Personal’ edition. This can offer a contact management system but little more than this in reality and the reporting functionality is poor. It’s free for one user and would only give you a feel for the product given your circumstances.

This edition does have an email component for tracking correspondence, but lacks so many features it’s not worth pursuing unless you are a single proprietor who is simply looking to track conversation. Anyone heading down this road can be reassured that this version can be upgraded to more advanced versions of Salesforce.

The next level up is the ‘Group’ edition which adds the aspect of lead handling and is a multi-user system. At roughly $99 per user per year it’s a great option. Just check the limitations on document storage depending on the demand you want to place on it, as it is rather limited in its capacity.

There is no campaign management and reporting is rather limited. You don’t have access to externally developed add-ons (Appexchange) as you don’t have API integration. One important external add-on often needed after a few months is the ability to update all records with one or two new fields you may have incorporated and populate these fields.

You would need the Mass update module which is external and bolts on through the API, only available in upgrade editions. I have, however seen Salesforce customer services being obliging enough to open it up for a day if that’s all that is needed.

I won’t go into too much detail on the ‘Professional’ or ‘Enterprise’ editions of Salesforce as you can read all about the differences at their website. One thing to bear in mind is that the more you pay the better the reporting facilities, the better the reporting facilities the easier it is to migrate all your data out of Salesforce into another system.

All this said, I do feel that Salesforce will meet with all the module requirements you have deemed necessary.

SugarCRM

The second option I wanted to put forward was SugarCRM. I will openly admit I have not personally used or implemented the solution. I have, however researched it thoroughly.

They have an Open Source option which is also offered as SaaS (Sugar On-Demand) and hosted securely by the company itself. The functionality is supposedly very similar to Salesforce, however customisation is less intuitive and more in-house expertise will often be required to get the project completed.

That said, it does offer all the modules you require and is typically bought by budget conscious companies of 50 or less employees. Remember though you will have to be prepared to put up with certain functional compromises (these functions may not be critical to your application of CRM). A number of clients who have moved from Salesforce to SugarCRM have subsequently moved back to Salesforce which is rather worrying.

VTiger

The third and final option I would pose is VTiger, which is also another Open Source CRM solution. The solution is offered as SaaS by third party hosting companies who specialise as ASP (Application Service Providers) and deliver the functionality offered by the solution.

I would point out here that from a risk analysis perspective you must consider the security of the hosting with this option. Given the fact that it is easy to host the VTiger solution there are a number of hosting partners popping up all over the world. Make sure you get some sort of Service Level Agreement and reference sites if you were to take this option.

I have implemented this solution and have collaborated with the VTiger staff in India, who were very helpful indeed. They were incredibly responsive and even called me back when they said they would. The solution is rather basic but given its pure Open Source roots I believe it would be open enough to migrate easily as you scale upwards.

The old adage you get what you pay for will always apply, however as you most probably have worked out, the SaaS option allows you to pay on a subscription basis which means paying less upfront. Over roughly a period of six years on average the On-premise and SaaS will even out in relation to overall capital expenditure. However, given the rate at which certain businesses grow out of solutions I would highly recommend the SaaS option, which is what you are exploring.

Now I may be biased, but I thought it was an impartial and knowledgeable response.

Thanks Luke.

Brendan Lewis is a serial technology entrepreneur having founded : Ideas Lighting, Carradale Media, Edion, Verve IT, The Churchill Club, Flinders Pacific and L2i Technology Advisory. He has set up businesses for others in Romania, Indonesia and Vietnam. Qualified in IT and Accounting, he has also spent time running an Advertising agency and as a Cavalry Officer with the Australian Army Reserve.