Buying CRM software is fraught with danger and pitfalls.

CRM software suppliers are clever at maximising their revenues and bundling more man-days into the implementation than you’ve had hot dinners. And guess what, CRM projects almost always come in over budget. So if your business is considering buying CRM then let us help you negotiate the best deal with your prefrerred CRM supplier.

Our advice will ensure you don’t end up horrendously out of pocket before you see any ROI from your CRM investment.

For larger enterprises, Oracle CRM, Siebel CRM and SAP CRM still offer the most complete (and most expensive!) offerings. Admittedly, these vendors have moved to address key complaints about ease-of-use in the last couple of years, but they still charge an arm and a leg and often have exceedingly long implementation times.

For mid-sized businesses, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Oracle CRM on demand, Sage CRM, Rightnow, salesforce.com, SugarCRM, Sword Ciboodle, PegaSystems and Chordiant offer lower cost CRM solutions.

And now with most CRM vendors you have a choice of keeping the software (and support costs) on-site or off-site via a hosting (‘cloud computing’) agreement. And hosting, while often cheaper than on-site, does throw up a number of key pricing and contractual variables that you need to be wary of.

Our recent ‘Buying CRM’ blog has more information on this. 

Call us now if you don’t want to end up paying your preferred CRM software supplier to much money!