Sectoral CRM solutions for business: “box versions” or custom software?

According to ESG Global research, in 2019 about 60% of companies increased their expenses for IT support of business. The same forecast is also relevant for 2020. At the same time, about 49% of these companies direct the majority of investments into products to improve relationships with customers. According to analysts, such trend is caused, first of all, by necessity to correspond to GDPR regulations. Besides, 65 % of the companies, according to Innoppl Technologies, have noted increase of level of sales and performance of plans after introduction of systems of automation.

If you belong to that category of business which plans to order business processes and contacts to clients thanks to investments into IT products, you precisely have a question of a choice: base CRM-solutions or development of systems under individual business tasks.

Boxed CRM systems and custom software: what are the differences for the user?

Basic (boxed) CRM-systems is a set of standardized tools and channels for solving a limited number of typical business tasks, similar in all companies and industries. Today analytical company Gartner divides the market of boxed solutions into 2 categories: development of software for sales department automation and creation of systems aimed at attracting customers.

But if you pursue goals other than those mentioned above? That's right, individual software.

Industry-specific self-written systems - a set of tools for solving problems specific to narrow business areas or individual companies with complex organizational structure to optimize processes.

Criteria for selecting IT solutions for business tasks

According to BuyerZone, today more than 91% of companies with 11 employees have already implemented various types of CRM. What does it say? That the business does not carelessly strive to earn (and spend), but to optimize for improvement (not only profit).

The main question to which the businessman should answer for itself:

Can you improve business performance if you do not measure it?

And then the next one appears right away:

Which indicators and processes should be measured and optimized?

If the list for your company is not different from hundreds of others - implement boxed versions of CRM-systems. 

But if your processes, additional channels, services, business procedures differ from competitors (so it should be to win the market) - implement software solutions to the specifics of your company.

Cheap - does not mean qualitatively

Adherents of box decisions always press on "world" experience and "cheapness" of the client software. But is it so cheap to install basic CRM?

The components of the cost of "boxed" versions: 

1.  Number of users (types of licenses for companies).
2. Availability of auxiliary channels of access to system (mobile, remote, partially offline). And, cost of the additional channel can make, as well as the basic system at cost.
3. Introduction of additional functions. If your processes in the company go beyond the "linear" path of the client and the corresponding service processes, making changes to the logic of the system and interface refinement will require optional investments.
4.  Hardware infrastructure, web or cloud server. In addition, each vendor within the framework of standard solutions offers only a type of service, not always convenient for the company.
5. Integration with external services and applications. As a standard, the leaders of the CRM-solutions market sign partnership agreements with services beneficial to them, not users, to increase profits. If you have adjusted business processes through convenient to you systems of management of databases or mail services - for such integration it is necessary to pay extra.

At the same time, you should understand that there is a package of services that also includes features that may not be needed by your business at all. But if you go beyond the package with your requirements - you invest more.

According to market analysis, the ratio of software cost to the price of its implementation services for basic solutions is 1:2.5, while self-written software is compared to its implementation as 1:0.5. Additionally, you do not pay a monthly subscription fee to a vendor or franchise, but only contact the developer for support if necessary.

Ready to give preference to self writing systems, but do not know what features should be included in your CRM to get more customers and profit? We have collected the latest market analytics and highlighted the top 7 trends of client systems, it will be useful for you.