What is a CRM System?

How a CRM Specifically Changes Things

Without a CRM, knowledge about customers resides in the minds of individual people, in Excel spreadsheets, and in personal inboxes. If someone is unavailable, that knowledge is lost. A CRM creates a shared knowledge base:

• Contacts and companies with complete history
• Sales opportunities with status, value, and next steps
• Tasks and appointments assigned to a person
• Documents such as offers and contracts linked to the correct record
• Analytics, such as how many inquiries lead to an order

What a CRM is Not

A CRM is not accounting software and not an inventory management system. It can be integrated with both but does not replace them. Attempting to force everything into a single system results in a system that does nothing well.

Standard or Custom?

For many companies, a standard product is sufficient. Custom development becomes interesting when

• the sales process deviates significantly from the norm,
• many connections to existing systems are necessary,
• or the ongoing licensing costs per person exceed the effort of a custom solution over the years.

The calculation should be approached honestly: a custom solution incurs operational and maintenance costs that are included in the price of a subscription.