Gartner Magic Quadrant for SFA – 2009

Posted by Steve Chipman on August 20, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

It seems that for 2009, the Gartner Magic Quadrant has been culled down to what we in the SFA/CRM trenches dub “the usual suspects”.  In previous years, as employees of a CRM VAR that get exposed to a lot of different SFA applications, we have collectively scratched our heads while looking at some of the names in the Niche Players quadrant. Read more

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Cloud CRM vs. On-Premises CRM vs. Data Center CRM

Posted by Steve Chipman on February 26, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

data-center1

Courtesy of BenBen on Flickr

For companies that are looking to purchase a CRM solution, here’s a brief synopsis of the three, major CRM deployment options.

Cloud CRM

Cloud CRM is hot, especially in the current economic environment. Read more

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Leasing Options for CRM Buyers

Posted by Steve Chipman on November 6, 2008 · Leave a Comment 

Leasing CRM Software, Hardware and Services

For companies that are looking to own their CRM software, but that would like to spread out the payments over time, leasing is an option worth considering.  While leasing has been traditionally associated with equipment acquisition, there is a class of leasing company that will bundle CRM or email marketing software, server hardware, and implementation services all into a single monthly payment. One of those companies is Blue Street Capital. Read more

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Buying CRM – The Deployment Quadrants

Posted by Steve Chipman on July 8, 2008 · Leave a Comment 

In the mid to late nineties — the “early days” of CRM — the prevailing technology was such that CRM was something that a company purchased and installed in-house. Server software was installed on a dedicated server machine and client software was installed on each user’s desktop or laptop.

A synchronization architecture allowed remote users or offices to upload their changes to a main server and then receive changes made by others back to their local database.  When it came time to upgrade, machines had to be corralled from all over the continent and sometimes all over the world in order to have the latest version CRM software installed. Read more

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Buying CRM – Tips for CRM Success

Posted by Steve Chipman on July 8, 2008 · 1 Comment 

Are you embarking on a CRM implementation for the first time? Even if you’ve been through it before, here are some tips that can make your CRM implementation a little less stressful and hopefully more successful.

1. Identify and Prioritize Key Functionality

CRM Solutions incorporate a wide range of functionality. Identify the key business issues (pain) driving the project, and determine the areas of functionality that will address those business issues most effectively. It will be tempting to expand the focus, but doing so could overwhelm new users and therefore jeopardize end-user adoption. Read more

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CRM – Determining ROI

Posted by Steve Chipman on July 6, 2008 · Leave a Comment 

With CRM, you’ll never have a vendor tell you that the return on investment (ROI) for your CRM investment is going to be 7.5 months. The ROI on CRM implementations can be difficult to quantify ahead of time.  Fortunately, there are multiple approaches to determining potential ROI for your company.

The sooner in the process that you begin to think about the value justification for a CRM investment, the sooner that you will get management buy in for a solution. Read more

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Buying CRM – Avoiding “Ready, Fire, Aim”

Posted by Steve Chipman on May 31, 2008 · Leave a Comment 

If you are ready to invest in a CRM solution, we recommend that you temporarily put your checkbook away and get out your dry erase marker.  If you haven’t done at least a little legwork, your company may not even be ready for CRM.  The CRM planning process is important and often overlooked.

Before jumping into the technology side of CRM, it pays to look inward at your organization.  This means thinking about every aspect of your company, from marketing, to sales, to support, to billing and determine if you truly know your prospects and customers and have programs in place to foster your relationship with them. Read more

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Buying CRM – Cost Components

Posted by Steve Chipman on May 1, 2008 · Leave a Comment 

There are three things that are certain in life – death, taxes and the fact that most companies underestimate the life cycle cost of a CRM deployment. Let’s look at some of the cost components.

Purchase Considerations

When you purchase CRM software outright, you’ll typically need to buy a server license and a client license for each user. On top of these one-time fees, the vendors (or their resellers) normally charge an annual software maintenance and annual technical support fee, the cost of which is approximately 20% of the total cost of the software. Read more

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CRM and Mac Compatibility

Posted by Steve Chipman on April 16, 2008 · Leave a Comment 

CRM Software Options for Macintosh Users

Corporate Macintosh use was one reserved for only certain types of companies – ones that required the unique graphical and design capabilities of the Mac platform.

However, there is increasing Macintosh adoption across all types of companies – due to factors such as lack of Vista adoption and the general popularity of Apple products.

What does the increasing number of Mac users mean for companies that are planning to invest in a CRM solution? Read more

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