What to look for in a CRM Tool

chWhile you deploy a CRM tool, you may need to consider the following options that could be helpful in the long-run.

Customisation
One of the features of CRM is that there is much more variance in the way the systems are set up and used than there is in, say, an ERP (accounting) system. Not only do differing types of business have significantly different ways of dealing with their customers but even within the same industry sales, marketing and service approaches can be markedly different. So when you start looking at CRM packages it is unlikely you will find one that is a 100% match for your requirements and the way you want to work. It is essential that you review how much flexibility there is in the software you are evaluating – not just for the requirements you have identified now but those for the future that you don’t yet know about. Some of the key areas to look at are considered below.

Screen layout
Usually if you install a system ‘out of the box’ the screens it will present you with allow you to do that you might not necessarily need. Typically you want the ability to remove fields that aren’t going to be used and move things around to reflect what is important to you and the way that you work.

Security
Most CRM systems will allow you to restrict the screens, reports or data a particular user can gain access to. Unless you have a very limited number of users this is essential and allows proper segmentation of people’s roles and responsibilities on the system. Data fields. Whilst a significant number of standard data fields will be provided with a system you won’t necessarily want or need all of them and more importantly there may be some information that is essential to you but can’t be recorded on the system as standard. In these circumstances you should be able to add the new data fields you want and ideally define what values can be entered in them.

Reporting
Many people, when considering a new system, will start by looking at the reports that can be produced and work back from there. Yet, it will be rare that the reports provided by the system are the ones needed by management or staff. In nearly every CRM implementation you will need to write a number of reports to meet the needs of the business so you must choose a system that allows this. You should look for a report writer built into the system or, better still, be able to use standard third-party report writers to access the data in a secure manner.

Workflow
Some advanced CRM systems incorporate a workflow engine which dictates a sequence of events that should occur with relevant people being notified by the system when they need to perform an action. If you have a large, sophisticated system planned you may need a method to modify and adjust these workflows to match your business processes. The degree of flexibility you get varies greatly from one system to another in each of these areas but generally it is the more expensive solutions that provide the greater customisation options.

Although this is not a comprehensive list, major considerations for the features the CRM tool in question offers are from these categories.