Ease of Use

CRM systems should be intuitive, period. Every user likely has experience creating a Rolodex or tracking contacts in spreadsheets. At the core level, a CRM system should fill that void. Clients should prioritize their requirements and look at a system’s usability factor with a focus on the following:

a.      Simplicity: An organization should be able to have common fields and data points available for entry or look-up. Items that don’t have relevance to the firm should be able to be hidden so there is no confusion.

b.      Accessibility: In 2018, “Anywhere, Anytime” is the expectation. The right CRM system needs to have a mobile application that ties right into a user interface (UI) similar to the desktop version. Also, all interfaces should change in tandem. A field update to one layout will cascade over to the other interface seamlessly.

c.      Speed: CRM systems are used daily to interact with customers in real-time. A customer doesn’t want to hear a Call Center Rep, or Agent tell them to wait because their system is slow. Cloud-based systems need to recognize when you are using a slower network and modify the interface if needed to provide information quickly.

Ability to Scale

With the shift to cloud-based CRM solutions, it is easy to say that scaling the platform up or down only requires a change in the number of user licenses your organization pays to the vendor. After-all, the provider now handles the increased bandwidth and manages the technology behind the scenes. However, it is more complicated than the number of users and hardware requirements. Organizations need to think about growing internally and how the CRM package will adapt. For example:

• Additional service lines may require different ways to sell products and services. Is the software able to handle multiple lines with one instance of the software or will additional costs or changes be required?
• Can the data be used for multiple purposes? Some CRM systems are great for direct sales, but the tool doesn’t do an adequate job in managing a call-center or serving as a Marketing tool
• If the firm grows through acquisitions, can the CRM merge data from multiple sources

Ability to Modify

There is a big difference between a system that is configurable and one that can be customized. Sometimes an application can be modified so that fields can be turned on or off; also, some products allow for field names to be changed so they will align with an organization or industry lingo. These are configuration updates and usually don’t go far enough to allow for clients to marry their requirements to the system.

Customized systems are far more flexible. They allow users to modify core functionality, logic, or make major changes to the user interface. These can get the application to exactly how the client envisioned when it determined the requirements, although it then requires a lot of testing because each instance of the system will be completely different from the others. There are much higher costs required to maintain a customized system since it likely included code changes outside the application’s standard set-up. Since fewer resources understand a custom system, it will cost the client a greater amount to make any additional updates.