Is CRM an App?

CRMs cannot be used as apps. That’s a recipe for disaster – so says, everyone. 
Why do they say so? CRMs can be adopted and then junked when it begins to get complicated – right? WRONG!
CRMs are not like typical apps.
CRMs cannot be adopted and then junked just because its got too complicated to optimize it or just managing it is taking too much time. You don’t jump off it – and for good reasons. Your CRM contains your most valuable asset in the digital business – The email list of your business contacts and their segmentation.
Its more than the sum of all the assets you hold – actually more than a few time the assets you hold. To cite a recent example, a client of ours recently came to us to try and convince us to migrate his CRM account to another, cheaper, and perhaps a
To cite a recent example, a client of ours recently came to us to try and convince us to migrate his CRM account to another, cheaper, and perhaps a lighter one which was offering a few additional dollies in the basket.  We decided to have a heart to heart chat. We really wanted to understand the reasons as to why he was playing with the idea of this major change. Challenging his belief and the proposed plan was, in a way, a potential buck-gainer for us as it meant more hours and stuff, but was it really worth it??
We decided to do a SWOT and here is the gist:
1. Strength and Opportunity for the proposed system 

A. New Fad and very Drag-and-Drop kind.

B. Cheaper by approximately $50 per month and integrates with some other systems in use by our client. harming our hourly

C. New kid on the block and the CRM sales team was doing a great job.

2. Risk

A. New system and you risk losing the entire database if they shut shop.

B. The client will start to receive an email from a new engine and most likely, it will end up in spam, if it’s a new server.

C. The new learning curve to adopt to a new system.transfer over from the previous system of contacts and processes.

D. Transfer over the effort from the previous system of contacts and processes.

E. Additional effort for customization and DMARC changes.

F. Recustomization of campaigns, templates and changes to ithe processes and tweaks.

Its obvious that the effort involved is huge and the payoff, although seemingly nice, may not translate into something tangible.  Fortunately, the client understood this simple logic and saved thousands of dollars, in time.
The bottom line is that CRM investemnt is a big activity which SMBs should do after careful considerations and once done, it should be given some time to mature. Unless you let your CRM mature and the proceses associated with the mamnagement of the CRM mature, the payoffs are not going to be visible.
Its a game of patience and adopting the best practices. Think about it and if you need some assistance, get in touch with Unokha. We are there to help.