Desktop CRM-2: do you have checkers or go?
A couple of weeks ago, this article was conceived in the best traditions: with a group of leaders and outsiders. However, this would not be fair: the companies that choose CRM are different. Each has its own goals and objectives, and it is for them that CRM is bought, and sometimes finalized. In general, in Russia and the CIS, you can count more than 20 desktop CRMs, but most of them, alas, do not pass even the first glance and are demolished immediately after installing the demo version.
Six strong decisions were chosen, which are not strictly distributed in the post, but nevertheless, as far as the totality of their fame and functionality is combined. These CRMs were tested by our company for purchase. Looking ahead, I’ll say: the final decision has not yet been made, but the favorites have been determined.
Why is there no 1C CRM in the review?
For the review were selected CRM, which we considered in real combat conditions. The sample was compiled from my previous experience and from new user reviews on profile sites. 1C is an excellent accounting system, which has no equal in the CIS, but we refused to introduce CRM from them. In our company 1C is used for accounting. The management set the task of choosing CRM according to the principle of independent work from accounting. Although one of the requirements is the ability to integrate the selected product with 1C. If interested experienced users describe its obvious advantages in the comments, it will be great.
Why are not considered large well-known foreign CRM: SAP, Oracle, Teradata, Siebel ...?
The one who selects these systems is unlikely to read the review on Habr. These are serious, fabulously expensive solutions that are designed to integrate with no less large call centers, billing, large-scale telephony hub. Their implementation is a serious challenge even for very large businesses, in addition, as practice shows, they missed some of the features of the Russian management reality.
The historical market leader of the CIS, CRM from Ukrainian developers Terrasoft has a well-deserved right to open a review. A strong and multi-functional CRM with many features, with excellent support and no less cool PR could not fail to attract our attention. However ... everything is in order.
CRM has almost all the functionality needed for a modern company. As in any operating CRM, the basis of the entire system is sale and everything connected with it.
Inside Terrasoft CRM, sales planning takes place according to the manager: a plan, a fact, a percentage of completion, a potential with detailed data for each payment are evaluated. However, when testing this CRM, you must definitely try to create an account - there is no longer CRM in this CRM for a longer chain of actions.
Based on the results of the work, the results are formed (indicators inherently close to KPI): what task, what type of task, completion of the task, all this can also be obtained in a graphical representation. To organize personal time, a schedule is provided - a visual planner with various planning intervals. It is a very convenient and functional solution, but the window for adding a task, in my opinion, is overloaded with fields.
It is possible to carry out e-mail mailings to users in the system, however there are no SMS-mailings; the module for their implementation requires additional costs from the buyer. For telephony purposes, integration with Oktell IP-PBX is provided. When you call, a card opens where you can enter a task, a sale, it is possible to start the process. Calls are sorted by duration, direction and type: incidents, consultations, polls, work issues. In general, since we were talking about processes, the visual designer of processes has always been Terrasoft’s strongest “chip”, but it was not possible to test this service in the demo version, we found out the details by phone - it is and is still convenient and intuitive.
For marketing purposes, in CRM, you can keep track of marketing campaigns, including tying the sale to a specific activity, thereby calculating the ROI. Such a binding is a very convenient function for any marketer, it greatly simplifies its tasks.
For analytics purposes, Terrasoft provides many reports with details and graphs, but not all of them are needed and useful. Marketers marveled at two things: the horizontal sales funnel and the SWOT analysis in the understanding of Terrasoft. This CRM report contains four fields: customer wishes, our goal, our strengths, our weaknesses. If we compare it with the classic understanding of SWOT, then the wishes of the client are opportunities, and our goal is threats. I don't think that was what was meant. Maybe this is the "curvature" of the test version. If the reports do not seem enough, then the system has a built-in report editor that allows you to build custom reports on the basis of almost any data.
And now the promised however ... Since I wanted to communicate with the developers, I left my real phone and e-mail when registering. Naturally, Terrasoft called back and I was able to ask questions. The first - about integration with Skype (this is very important for us) - they answered that it was not there. The second - about how to write out an act and an invoice from CRM (even more important) - the answer struck with its honesty: for this there are accounting systems like 1C, it is impossible to form a primary from CRM.
Remaining powerful and functional (I worked in this CRM before), Terrasoft began to lose its leadership position from the point of view of the user and now their rather high price, expressed in addition to the euro, does not seem to be an adequate solution, in which there are more and more shortcomings. This is probably due to their departure towards cloud systems - their BPMOnline CRM looks much more developed.
Client-Communicator is quite rich in CRM functionality (almost ERP), with many modules and visual panels with graphical reports. However, the complexities of working with Klik begin to be felt from the moment of installation, which takes more than an hour. Running under MS SQL DBMS, Client-Communicator is very slow - so, processing some reports and queries can take several seconds. On the scale of one operation, this is absolutely not critical, but in the case of continuous operation in the system (and this is how they work in CRM), these seconds grow into a serious loss in the comfort of user interaction with the system.
The Click interface is strongly reminiscent of MS Office 2010, it can be very convenient for those who often work with MS Office and are used to such an interface. In the course of work, open tabs overload the window; I frankly lacked 15 inches of a laptop to have the desired overview. Despite its cumbersome nature, ClicK is highly configurable and allows you to configure CRM for specific needs, but you can only take advantage of such opportunities by having a high-class IT specialist or paying extra for setup.
The product card (entry in the "Products" section) includes extensive position data, price types, units, discounts, suppliers. Sales include the main record card, as well as a form for SWOT analysis and registration of objections, a history of the stages of sale.
The "Marketing" section allows you to keep track of marketing initiatives, competitive offers, information sources, according to all these parameters, you can conduct ABC analysis. You can also build a sales funnel, conduct ABC-analysis of products and analysis of sales, analysis of discounts in three sections. Ready-made reports on the client base are well implemented: structure, ABC analysis of counterparties, analysis of the dynamics of the client base.
Reports in the Client Communicator are in modules and are implemented separately, in the form of OLAP. The indicators panel displays data on the plan, the fact and the percentage of completion in a table and graphical representation. The “Reporting” section is quite complicated in its implementation - not all software managers tested the software.
The warehouse includes inventory, movement in warehouses with the possibility of the formation of primary documentation. The KPI and staff motivation block is very well implemented, divided by the achievement thresholds of each individual employee.
In finances, you can make planned and actual revenues, take into account planned expenses. Here you can also find sections with cash desk operations, by sub-report, debt analysis and payment calendar. In general, the financial part is implemented in KliK very strongly, however, this is already an ERP functionality and whether it is worth overpaying for it remains an open question.
In general, the Client-Communicator is functional and pleasant for CRM to work, however, redundancy, slowness (brakes even on an empty base) and the complexity of building reports scare ordinary users. But the not indifferent IT-employee will be pleased with the configurator for creating objects, procedures and changing the logic of the system, as well as the designer of forms. The Client-Communicator seemed to us overloaded with windows and complicated in settings. In addition, most of its functionality is not needed even by a company such as ours, where there are many heterogeneous processes, a front office and a lot of customers. There was a feeling of a not entirely balanced solution that hung between the ERP market and the CRM market.
RegionSoft CRM is the fastest CRM presented in the review: it is quickly installed, quickly starts, quickly responds to user actions. I think this is understandable from a technical point of view - it is the only one that works on the latest Firebird DBMS release.
The main customer object in CRM is a counterparty card with many fields and tabs, including customer survey data for measuring satisfaction.
One of the significant advantages of RegionSoft CRM is a full-fledged warehouse accounting, including receipt, consumption, movement of goods between warehouses and return of goods from customers. You can maintain any number of warehouses in the system. All warehouse operations, in particular, the posting and sale of goods, are summarized in the materials movement journal. The system of discounts is based on warehouse accounting, which automatically calculates discounts when shipping goods. An interesting mechanism for controlling balances was when the system does not allow shipment of goods to the client if the credit limit is exceeded.
The CRM provides cash accounting: credit / debit orders, cash flow, it is allowed to maintain any number of cash desks. Price lists are automatically generated based on stock balances and an inventory guide. CRM allows you to print price tags.
Reports and analytics in RegionSoft CRM are sufficient for almost any sales team. The CRM security policy enables managers to download reports only for data that are relevant to their authority.
Reports are generated according to the following data: events, sales of goods, reports on payments, turnover balance sheet, reports on balances, margin report, reconciliation report, cash book, targeting report, personal statistics, etc. In all reports, headers and footers with the data of the artist and the date of generation are automatically added. All of these reports can be exported to PDF, Word, Excel, GIF, HTML, XML, JPEG, Open (Text, Document) formats. Also in the reports there is a sales funnel, ABC analysis, an event report, a report on the dynamics of customer development - a graphical display of the facts of contacts with the customer and his progress in the sales funnel over time.
For additional reports and forms there is a configurator. The report designer allows you to create your own reports and scripts that will be executed at the time of generating the report or print form in Pascal Script, Basic Script, JScript, C ++ Script. Special skills are already needed here.
From RegionSoft CRM, you can call customers via Skype or an IP-telephony provider through any softphone installed on the user's PC. Also in this CRM there is a built-in SIP Phone.
All primary documentation can be presented in printed form that meets the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation, and exported to the most popular formats (PDF, Word, Excel, GIF, HTML, XML, JPEG, Open Document, etc.) and sent by e-mail to the contact. It is possible to create templates of client contracts with automatic filling of fields, which greatly facilitates the work and saves the manager’s time.
Business processes in CRM are a set of stages that are interconnected by the results of working out the previous stages (such as a two-dimensional flowchart). You can assign responsibility for each stage, as well as automatically generate tasks. In fact, this is an algorithm of actions in stages, taking into account the tasks of each participant, reminders, the ability to create a printed form of the process (process log).
As for personal planning, this is another strength of this CRM: there are already four full-featured convenient schedulers, including visual and two-week schedulers, a collective task scheduler, and an end-to-end to-do list.
Work with personnel in CRM is not as widespread as that of others, but it is implemented in the form of so-called targeting - an assessment of the effectiveness of employees based on target events and results. A set of weights can be changed and added. In general, this is one of the KPI implementations for each employee. Unfortunately, these indicators in CRM cannot be calculated in monetary terms, however, the tool is suitable for an objective assessment of employee performance.
Additional advantages of this system include group processing, quick search, powerful custom filters, hot keys and a well-developed knowledge base with an advanced built-in editor. RegionSoft CRM is distinguished by the structure and content of the directories - at the start there is no need to spend time filling them out - all the data is already prepared, and the missing data can be added to any directory with a few clicks.
Among the identified shortcomings - the modality of some windows, as well as the impossibility in the user interface to add to the “Assistant” panel, which is located on the left side of the main window, additional necessary buttons (for example, attach a quick call to a report there) - this can only be done through configurator and requires programming skills.
In general, RegionSoft CRM takes a worthy place among competitors.
FreshOffice pleased with its modern CRM interface and relatively intuitive controls. Either the influence of the cloud service affected, or they just decided to experiment, but when using CRM it constantly seemed like you were working in a browser. However, an interesting interface has a downside - it constantly freezes, albeit for a second or two, but it creates a general feeling of program unresponsiveness.
FreshOffice's tasks are organized in tabular and calendar form. The visual scheduler is implemented in the form of a calendar grid, tasks can be assigned through a card that opens by clicking on a date. The task card is thought out by goals, processes, results. Tasks are allowed to be transferred and entrusted.
Processes are actually a sales card with goods, tasks, documents, attached files, notes. A sale in CRM is very easy to enter if the rest of the cards and directories are qualitatively and competently filled. In CRM, a simple accounting of finances is possible for three types of operations: income, expense, transfer of funds. For user convenience and clarity, the processes and tasks at different stages of execution have different colors. When working in CRM, the counterparty can be transferred to another employee, appoint a curator, change the department.
Analytics at FreshOffice is a beautiful panel with the ability to build reports on tasks, performance, finances, implementation, processes, calls and document management. Reports have a tabular form, some have a graphical implementation. In printed forms of reports, headers and footers are not automatically loaded - they can be written in the report settings manually, which is not the most convenient solution from the point of view of report preparation. In addition, the system provides a simple OLAP - standard reports with custom data fields.
A good advantage of this CRM is its softphone with the ability to log calls and set sound on hold. As for interactivity, in CRM on the right there is a panel with online users and the ability to exchange messages in person and do newsletters for selected users. However, it seems to me that in such interactivity one of the reasons for the slowness of the system as a whole may lie.
It is noteworthy that FreshOffice has its own directories for each section, in the section and displayed. The knowledge base with sections and subsections is implemented as a tree, includes a very simple editor, you can attach files. Custom filters with a choice of conditions help to build any selections in existing tables, custom filters can be saved.
Among the shortcomings can be noted the lack of a module for working with personnel (although the processes have an assessment of the task performance by an employee), ill-conceived printed forms, and the absence of some important functions for any Russian CRM (production, orders). In addition, sending e-mail from this CRM is possible only through Outlook.
Sales Expert - functional paid version of the "bee" Quick Sales from the last review.
All work in this CRM is carried out mainly in the card of the company, it also creates contracts, primary documentation and records all relations with the client.
Sales Expert does not have an interface as such; all data is organized in a tabular form with a menu familiar to DBMS users. Data is selected from tables using queries and advanced queries.
Printed forms are uploaded to MS Word, MS Excel and, in our opinion, are not acceptable for use without additional processing by the user. As for the primary documentation, the invoice is uploaded to the printed form of the old model, I hope only in the demo version.
In the module “Impacts”, you can build a list of marketing activities, which will subsequently serve as a reference to accumulated experience. A good addition to the functionality is a knowledge base with fields: code, problem, solution, attached file, user. Such a section will help the company to focus on the experience of problems / communication with the client and periodically contact him to save time and support / front-office forces.
Sales Expert is one of the good solutions in terms of analytics and reports. Reports are actually summary tables. But, unfortunately, pivot tables are not the most powerful: for example, you can specify only one value in the row field and you cannot get the necessary data slices without additional manipulations and special skills. A sales funnel is built separately for VIP sales, sales, types of sales in a few clicks.
I liked ABC and XYZ analysis with a custom and automatic method of distributing shares. The group to which the ABC analysis object belongs is loaded into the table view of the report. In addition, reports are accompanied by charts and detailed reports. The report "Indicators" by users, plan / fact on new companies, demonstrations, sales volume is well developed. This report is a good tool for operational initial control of personnel.
In terms of planning and task management tools, CRM is poor and includes a visual scheduler and a task list. The visual planner shows the actions (tasks) on the calendar, when you click on the task field, its card appears, on the right-click the counterparty’s card. Task management (moving, changing) in the scheduler field itself is impossible.
The configurator in Sales Expert is a list of tables where you can include the individual required fields by putting a hint and setting up tables with the necessary data display. This is not at all what I would like to see from the configurator of this solution.
Differentiation of rights is made in a separate module - it is very convenient from the point of view of the administrator. Directories are well-filled, in some (for example, territories), there is not enough depth.
In general, Sales Expert is a good CRM for organizing relationships with customers and sales in a small company, but it is gradually lagging behind competitors, who fill their decisions with financial management, planning tools, and business process setup mechanisms.
APEK-CRM - Another CRM from a Ukrainian developer. I came to the review from the comments to the previous post and turned out to be a worthy decision.
CRM is divided into several large modules. The counterparty module includes contacts, calls, activities, including mailing to customers. Inside the module a quick search is organized, filters by any criteria of the counterparty.
The Tasks module includes a list of tasks, a list of appointments, dates, reminders, and a schedule.
All elements of the Tasks module, except for the schedule, are implemented in tabular form. The schedule has the form of a visual scheduler, however, no actions can be performed in the scheduler except deleting and opening the task card, which drastically reduces the usability of the entire task module.
Sales includes sales, purchases, delivery. Deliveries are implemented quite high quality, from CRM you can create a route sheet, build a report on deliveries. Not bad implemented inventory control, including the possibility of inventory. All actions are closed with the necessary relevant primary documentation.
In the “Finance” section, accounts and cash registers, cash flow and income, money transfers, bank statements are taken into account.
Of the chips - a library of files that, however, are not stored in the database itself, but are placed in it with links to their location. Accounting of personnel is carried out through an employee card with sufficiently complete data; there is a section for the absence of employees (weekends, holidays, sick leave). Employees are somewhere called “frames”, for example, “significant events of the frame”. This, in my opinion, is an oversight of the translator, not the only one in the whole CRM. In addition, the directories are very poorly filled (and this time for filling after installation, and sometimes rather big). Creating user directories is possible only after a few almost shamanistic operations with SQL, which not every user can do.
APEC CRM has a report designer with the ability to create custom reports in Fast Report, Word, Excel. Unfortunately, there is no help in the demo version, I had to look for answers to questions on the site and in the forums.
In general, APEC CRM is a good solution among CRM, but for Russia, the price / quality ratio is not the best. This is due to the roughness of the interface, and the complexity of working with directories, with different price surprises such as an additional fee for integration with 1C.
Each of these systems is a full-fledged CRM operating system that performs all basic tasks. However, there is a difference and it lies far from in the details:
Choosing a CRM should be preceded by a serious analysis of all the needs of your business.
Plus, you need to consider the “hidden” cost factors. For example, if CRM is running MS SQL DBMS, you need to understand that a DBMS license is paid and costs about $ 1000 + $ 250 per user. This amount must be added to the cost of delivery. In addition, there may be additional mandatory payments for technical support and maintenance, etc.
Buying CRM- the question is not just a serious investment, it is a question of your business’s readiness to move to a new stage of development, when time is freed, managers will work differently, the sales structure will change. Experience shows that with a competent approach it is always a profitable investment that pays off incredibly quickly due to the influx of new customers and a qualitatively new approach to relations with them.
UPD dated January 10, 2014: the “eternal discount” finally disappeared from the FreshOffice website , now their eternal discount costs 12,800 rubles.
Six strong decisions were chosen, which are not strictly distributed in the post, but nevertheless, as far as the totality of their fame and functionality is combined. These CRMs were tested by our company for purchase. Looking ahead, I’ll say: the final decision has not yet been made, but the favorites have been determined.
I foresee two questions
Why is there no 1C CRM in the review?
For the review were selected CRM, which we considered in real combat conditions. The sample was compiled from my previous experience and from new user reviews on profile sites. 1C is an excellent accounting system, which has no equal in the CIS, but we refused to introduce CRM from them. In our company 1C is used for accounting. The management set the task of choosing CRM according to the principle of independent work from accounting. Although one of the requirements is the ability to integrate the selected product with 1C. If interested experienced users describe its obvious advantages in the comments, it will be great.
Why are not considered large well-known foreign CRM: SAP, Oracle, Teradata, Siebel ...?
The one who selects these systems is unlikely to read the review on Habr. These are serious, fabulously expensive solutions that are designed to integrate with no less large call centers, billing, large-scale telephony hub. Their implementation is a serious challenge even for very large businesses, in addition, as practice shows, they missed some of the features of the Russian management reality.
Terrasoft
The historical market leader of the CIS, CRM from Ukrainian developers Terrasoft has a well-deserved right to open a review. A strong and multi-functional CRM with many features, with excellent support and no less cool PR could not fail to attract our attention. However ... everything is in order.
CRM has almost all the functionality needed for a modern company. As in any operating CRM, the basis of the entire system is sale and everything connected with it.
Inside Terrasoft CRM, sales planning takes place according to the manager: a plan, a fact, a percentage of completion, a potential with detailed data for each payment are evaluated. However, when testing this CRM, you must definitely try to create an account - there is no longer CRM in this CRM for a longer chain of actions.
Based on the results of the work, the results are formed (indicators inherently close to KPI): what task, what type of task, completion of the task, all this can also be obtained in a graphical representation. To organize personal time, a schedule is provided - a visual planner with various planning intervals. It is a very convenient and functional solution, but the window for adding a task, in my opinion, is overloaded with fields.
It is possible to carry out e-mail mailings to users in the system, however there are no SMS-mailings; the module for their implementation requires additional costs from the buyer. For telephony purposes, integration with Oktell IP-PBX is provided. When you call, a card opens where you can enter a task, a sale, it is possible to start the process. Calls are sorted by duration, direction and type: incidents, consultations, polls, work issues. In general, since we were talking about processes, the visual designer of processes has always been Terrasoft’s strongest “chip”, but it was not possible to test this service in the demo version, we found out the details by phone - it is and is still convenient and intuitive.
For marketing purposes, in CRM, you can keep track of marketing campaigns, including tying the sale to a specific activity, thereby calculating the ROI. Such a binding is a very convenient function for any marketer, it greatly simplifies its tasks.
For analytics purposes, Terrasoft provides many reports with details and graphs, but not all of them are needed and useful. Marketers marveled at two things: the horizontal sales funnel and the SWOT analysis in the understanding of Terrasoft. This CRM report contains four fields: customer wishes, our goal, our strengths, our weaknesses. If we compare it with the classic understanding of SWOT, then the wishes of the client are opportunities, and our goal is threats. I don't think that was what was meant. Maybe this is the "curvature" of the test version. If the reports do not seem enough, then the system has a built-in report editor that allows you to build custom reports on the basis of almost any data.
And now the promised however ... Since I wanted to communicate with the developers, I left my real phone and e-mail when registering. Naturally, Terrasoft called back and I was able to ask questions. The first - about integration with Skype (this is very important for us) - they answered that it was not there. The second - about how to write out an act and an invoice from CRM (even more important) - the answer struck with its honesty: for this there are accounting systems like 1C, it is impossible to form a primary from CRM.
Remaining powerful and functional (I worked in this CRM before), Terrasoft began to lose its leadership position from the point of view of the user and now their rather high price, expressed in addition to the euro, does not seem to be an adequate solution, in which there are more and more shortcomings. This is probably due to their departure towards cloud systems - their BPMOnline CRM looks much more developed.
Client Communicator
Client-Communicator is quite rich in CRM functionality (almost ERP), with many modules and visual panels with graphical reports. However, the complexities of working with Klik begin to be felt from the moment of installation, which takes more than an hour. Running under MS SQL DBMS, Client-Communicator is very slow - so, processing some reports and queries can take several seconds. On the scale of one operation, this is absolutely not critical, but in the case of continuous operation in the system (and this is how they work in CRM), these seconds grow into a serious loss in the comfort of user interaction with the system.
The Click interface is strongly reminiscent of MS Office 2010, it can be very convenient for those who often work with MS Office and are used to such an interface. In the course of work, open tabs overload the window; I frankly lacked 15 inches of a laptop to have the desired overview. Despite its cumbersome nature, ClicK is highly configurable and allows you to configure CRM for specific needs, but you can only take advantage of such opportunities by having a high-class IT specialist or paying extra for setup.
The product card (entry in the "Products" section) includes extensive position data, price types, units, discounts, suppliers. Sales include the main record card, as well as a form for SWOT analysis and registration of objections, a history of the stages of sale.
The "Marketing" section allows you to keep track of marketing initiatives, competitive offers, information sources, according to all these parameters, you can conduct ABC analysis. You can also build a sales funnel, conduct ABC-analysis of products and analysis of sales, analysis of discounts in three sections. Ready-made reports on the client base are well implemented: structure, ABC analysis of counterparties, analysis of the dynamics of the client base.
Reports in the Client Communicator are in modules and are implemented separately, in the form of OLAP. The indicators panel displays data on the plan, the fact and the percentage of completion in a table and graphical representation. The “Reporting” section is quite complicated in its implementation - not all software managers tested the software.
The warehouse includes inventory, movement in warehouses with the possibility of the formation of primary documentation. The KPI and staff motivation block is very well implemented, divided by the achievement thresholds of each individual employee.
In finances, you can make planned and actual revenues, take into account planned expenses. Here you can also find sections with cash desk operations, by sub-report, debt analysis and payment calendar. In general, the financial part is implemented in KliK very strongly, however, this is already an ERP functionality and whether it is worth overpaying for it remains an open question.
In general, the Client-Communicator is functional and pleasant for CRM to work, however, redundancy, slowness (brakes even on an empty base) and the complexity of building reports scare ordinary users. But the not indifferent IT-employee will be pleased with the configurator for creating objects, procedures and changing the logic of the system, as well as the designer of forms. The Client-Communicator seemed to us overloaded with windows and complicated in settings. In addition, most of its functionality is not needed even by a company such as ours, where there are many heterogeneous processes, a front office and a lot of customers. There was a feeling of a not entirely balanced solution that hung between the ERP market and the CRM market.
RegionSoft CRM
RegionSoft CRM is the fastest CRM presented in the review: it is quickly installed, quickly starts, quickly responds to user actions. I think this is understandable from a technical point of view - it is the only one that works on the latest Firebird DBMS release.
The main customer object in CRM is a counterparty card with many fields and tabs, including customer survey data for measuring satisfaction.
One of the significant advantages of RegionSoft CRM is a full-fledged warehouse accounting, including receipt, consumption, movement of goods between warehouses and return of goods from customers. You can maintain any number of warehouses in the system. All warehouse operations, in particular, the posting and sale of goods, are summarized in the materials movement journal. The system of discounts is based on warehouse accounting, which automatically calculates discounts when shipping goods. An interesting mechanism for controlling balances was when the system does not allow shipment of goods to the client if the credit limit is exceeded.
The CRM provides cash accounting: credit / debit orders, cash flow, it is allowed to maintain any number of cash desks. Price lists are automatically generated based on stock balances and an inventory guide. CRM allows you to print price tags.
Reports and analytics in RegionSoft CRM are sufficient for almost any sales team. The CRM security policy enables managers to download reports only for data that are relevant to their authority.
Reports are generated according to the following data: events, sales of goods, reports on payments, turnover balance sheet, reports on balances, margin report, reconciliation report, cash book, targeting report, personal statistics, etc. In all reports, headers and footers with the data of the artist and the date of generation are automatically added. All of these reports can be exported to PDF, Word, Excel, GIF, HTML, XML, JPEG, Open (Text, Document) formats. Also in the reports there is a sales funnel, ABC analysis, an event report, a report on the dynamics of customer development - a graphical display of the facts of contacts with the customer and his progress in the sales funnel over time.
For additional reports and forms there is a configurator. The report designer allows you to create your own reports and scripts that will be executed at the time of generating the report or print form in Pascal Script, Basic Script, JScript, C ++ Script. Special skills are already needed here.
From RegionSoft CRM, you can call customers via Skype or an IP-telephony provider through any softphone installed on the user's PC. Also in this CRM there is a built-in SIP Phone.
All primary documentation can be presented in printed form that meets the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation, and exported to the most popular formats (PDF, Word, Excel, GIF, HTML, XML, JPEG, Open Document, etc.) and sent by e-mail to the contact. It is possible to create templates of client contracts with automatic filling of fields, which greatly facilitates the work and saves the manager’s time.
Business processes in CRM are a set of stages that are interconnected by the results of working out the previous stages (such as a two-dimensional flowchart). You can assign responsibility for each stage, as well as automatically generate tasks. In fact, this is an algorithm of actions in stages, taking into account the tasks of each participant, reminders, the ability to create a printed form of the process (process log).
As for personal planning, this is another strength of this CRM: there are already four full-featured convenient schedulers, including visual and two-week schedulers, a collective task scheduler, and an end-to-end to-do list.
Work with personnel in CRM is not as widespread as that of others, but it is implemented in the form of so-called targeting - an assessment of the effectiveness of employees based on target events and results. A set of weights can be changed and added. In general, this is one of the KPI implementations for each employee. Unfortunately, these indicators in CRM cannot be calculated in monetary terms, however, the tool is suitable for an objective assessment of employee performance.
Additional advantages of this system include group processing, quick search, powerful custom filters, hot keys and a well-developed knowledge base with an advanced built-in editor. RegionSoft CRM is distinguished by the structure and content of the directories - at the start there is no need to spend time filling them out - all the data is already prepared, and the missing data can be added to any directory with a few clicks.
Among the identified shortcomings - the modality of some windows, as well as the impossibility in the user interface to add to the “Assistant” panel, which is located on the left side of the main window, additional necessary buttons (for example, attach a quick call to a report there) - this can only be done through configurator and requires programming skills.
In general, RegionSoft CRM takes a worthy place among competitors.
Freshoffice
FreshOffice pleased with its modern CRM interface and relatively intuitive controls. Either the influence of the cloud service affected, or they just decided to experiment, but when using CRM it constantly seemed like you were working in a browser. However, an interesting interface has a downside - it constantly freezes, albeit for a second or two, but it creates a general feeling of program unresponsiveness.
FreshOffice's tasks are organized in tabular and calendar form. The visual scheduler is implemented in the form of a calendar grid, tasks can be assigned through a card that opens by clicking on a date. The task card is thought out by goals, processes, results. Tasks are allowed to be transferred and entrusted.
Processes are actually a sales card with goods, tasks, documents, attached files, notes. A sale in CRM is very easy to enter if the rest of the cards and directories are qualitatively and competently filled. In CRM, a simple accounting of finances is possible for three types of operations: income, expense, transfer of funds. For user convenience and clarity, the processes and tasks at different stages of execution have different colors. When working in CRM, the counterparty can be transferred to another employee, appoint a curator, change the department.
Analytics at FreshOffice is a beautiful panel with the ability to build reports on tasks, performance, finances, implementation, processes, calls and document management. Reports have a tabular form, some have a graphical implementation. In printed forms of reports, headers and footers are not automatically loaded - they can be written in the report settings manually, which is not the most convenient solution from the point of view of report preparation. In addition, the system provides a simple OLAP - standard reports with custom data fields.
A good advantage of this CRM is its softphone with the ability to log calls and set sound on hold. As for interactivity, in CRM on the right there is a panel with online users and the ability to exchange messages in person and do newsletters for selected users. However, it seems to me that in such interactivity one of the reasons for the slowness of the system as a whole may lie.
It is noteworthy that FreshOffice has its own directories for each section, in the section and displayed. The knowledge base with sections and subsections is implemented as a tree, includes a very simple editor, you can attach files. Custom filters with a choice of conditions help to build any selections in existing tables, custom filters can be saved.
Among the shortcomings can be noted the lack of a module for working with personnel (although the processes have an assessment of the task performance by an employee), ill-conceived printed forms, and the absence of some important functions for any Russian CRM (production, orders). In addition, sending e-mail from this CRM is possible only through Outlook.
Sales expert
Sales Expert - functional paid version of the "bee" Quick Sales from the last review.
All work in this CRM is carried out mainly in the card of the company, it also creates contracts, primary documentation and records all relations with the client.
Sales Expert does not have an interface as such; all data is organized in a tabular form with a menu familiar to DBMS users. Data is selected from tables using queries and advanced queries.
Printed forms are uploaded to MS Word, MS Excel and, in our opinion, are not acceptable for use without additional processing by the user. As for the primary documentation, the invoice is uploaded to the printed form of the old model, I hope only in the demo version.
In the module “Impacts”, you can build a list of marketing activities, which will subsequently serve as a reference to accumulated experience. A good addition to the functionality is a knowledge base with fields: code, problem, solution, attached file, user. Such a section will help the company to focus on the experience of problems / communication with the client and periodically contact him to save time and support / front-office forces.
Sales Expert is one of the good solutions in terms of analytics and reports. Reports are actually summary tables. But, unfortunately, pivot tables are not the most powerful: for example, you can specify only one value in the row field and you cannot get the necessary data slices without additional manipulations and special skills. A sales funnel is built separately for VIP sales, sales, types of sales in a few clicks.
I liked ABC and XYZ analysis with a custom and automatic method of distributing shares. The group to which the ABC analysis object belongs is loaded into the table view of the report. In addition, reports are accompanied by charts and detailed reports. The report "Indicators" by users, plan / fact on new companies, demonstrations, sales volume is well developed. This report is a good tool for operational initial control of personnel.
In terms of planning and task management tools, CRM is poor and includes a visual scheduler and a task list. The visual planner shows the actions (tasks) on the calendar, when you click on the task field, its card appears, on the right-click the counterparty’s card. Task management (moving, changing) in the scheduler field itself is impossible.
The configurator in Sales Expert is a list of tables where you can include the individual required fields by putting a hint and setting up tables with the necessary data display. This is not at all what I would like to see from the configurator of this solution.
Differentiation of rights is made in a separate module - it is very convenient from the point of view of the administrator. Directories are well-filled, in some (for example, territories), there is not enough depth.
In general, Sales Expert is a good CRM for organizing relationships with customers and sales in a small company, but it is gradually lagging behind competitors, who fill their decisions with financial management, planning tools, and business process setup mechanisms.
APEC-CRM
APEK-CRM - Another CRM from a Ukrainian developer. I came to the review from the comments to the previous post and turned out to be a worthy decision.
CRM is divided into several large modules. The counterparty module includes contacts, calls, activities, including mailing to customers. Inside the module a quick search is organized, filters by any criteria of the counterparty.
The Tasks module includes a list of tasks, a list of appointments, dates, reminders, and a schedule.
All elements of the Tasks module, except for the schedule, are implemented in tabular form. The schedule has the form of a visual scheduler, however, no actions can be performed in the scheduler except deleting and opening the task card, which drastically reduces the usability of the entire task module.
Sales includes sales, purchases, delivery. Deliveries are implemented quite high quality, from CRM you can create a route sheet, build a report on deliveries. Not bad implemented inventory control, including the possibility of inventory. All actions are closed with the necessary relevant primary documentation.
In the “Finance” section, accounts and cash registers, cash flow and income, money transfers, bank statements are taken into account.
Of the chips - a library of files that, however, are not stored in the database itself, but are placed in it with links to their location. Accounting of personnel is carried out through an employee card with sufficiently complete data; there is a section for the absence of employees (weekends, holidays, sick leave). Employees are somewhere called “frames”, for example, “significant events of the frame”. This, in my opinion, is an oversight of the translator, not the only one in the whole CRM. In addition, the directories are very poorly filled (and this time for filling after installation, and sometimes rather big). Creating user directories is possible only after a few almost shamanistic operations with SQL, which not every user can do.
APEC CRM has a report designer with the ability to create custom reports in Fast Report, Word, Excel. Unfortunately, there is no help in the demo version, I had to look for answers to questions on the site and in the forums.
In general, APEC CRM is a good solution among CRM, but for Russia, the price / quality ratio is not the best. This is due to the roughness of the interface, and the complexity of working with directories, with different price surprises such as an additional fee for integration with 1C.
CRM Comparison: Pivot Table
conclusions
Each of these systems is a full-fledged CRM operating system that performs all basic tasks. However, there is a difference and it lies far from in the details:
- installation, deployment and maintenance features
- relevance of the proposed functionality
- suitability for a specific business scale and number of users
- UI friendliness and CRM usability in general
- pricing transparency
- the ability to develop and offer existing users new "chips"
Choosing a CRM should be preceded by a serious analysis of all the needs of your business.
Plus, you need to consider the “hidden” cost factors. For example, if CRM is running MS SQL DBMS, you need to understand that a DBMS license is paid and costs about $ 1000 + $ 250 per user. This amount must be added to the cost of delivery. In addition, there may be additional mandatory payments for technical support and maintenance, etc.
Buying CRM- the question is not just a serious investment, it is a question of your business’s readiness to move to a new stage of development, when time is freed, managers will work differently, the sales structure will change. Experience shows that with a competent approach it is always a profitable investment that pays off incredibly quickly due to the influx of new customers and a qualitatively new approach to relations with them.
UPD dated January 10, 2014: the “eternal discount” finally disappeared from the FreshOffice website , now their eternal discount costs 12,800 rubles.