Another small business saved from Salesforce.com
November 19, 2009 2:55 pm
We’ve received a number of calls in the past few weeks from both new and existing clients looking to get more organized in the New Year.
One of the most recommended type of systems we advise our clients to adopt are called CRM or Customer Relationship Management systems. They go beyond an address book list of who; by adding context of what, where and when. They can also help you track what’s next and who needs to do that. CRM systems help people take the sticky notes off the wall and bring everything together for everyone to see. How much time do you spend a day tracking all that down?
A technology trend we are huge advocates of is for companies to adopt software that is hosted on the Internet. You may hear people refer to these as SaaS or Web Applications. They allow for powerful software to be easily accessed by anyone, anywhere just by going to a website. Since we focus on the small business market; allowing our clients to gain access to powerful software with little upfront costs is a great win for our clients.
A popular CRM software you likely have heard of is Salesforce.com. They make powerful software that is very popular in the Enterprise market for providing a CRM solution to clients who want the quick implementation and other benefits of hosted software. As great as their offerings I was reminded today by our friends at DBPro’s that one size does not fit all. If found Salesforce.com to be to expensive for small business; charging for pretty much any user and any devices to access your data. I’ve also found the extendability of their services to also come with additional costs for both access and implementation. In our experience Salesforce.com is just to cost prohibitive for small business customers.
We are advocates of systems that are very lightweight: easy to setup, easy to learn, easy to use and affordable! A great hosted CRM which we’ve been advocates of for years is called Highrise by a company called 37Signals. They offer their hosted software on a per-company flat rate, there also are inexpensive partner products, services and iPhone Apps that work with their fantastic service. I encourage all small business to give them a try. You can signed up for a 30-day trial by clicking on this link or the banner to the right.
