CRM systems are a staple for small businesses that are trying to grow. Having a system to manage your customer relations for you helps immensely when you have other things to worry about like delivering a good product, developing new solutions or even just daily maintenance and operations. Small businesses can easily get overrun if they aren’t efficient with their time.
As with many things in this world, the best solution is not the one with the most potential benefits from features, rather one that is going to be used. If your CRM system is robust and packed with functionality, but slow and confusing, there is a good chance that you and your sales team are going to forego using it altogether. Let’s look at some numbers:
83% of executives state that the most difficult part of the CRM is getting their employees to use it
<37% of employees actually use their company’s CRM system
In 2003 it was estimated the $1 billion is wasted on CRM systems that are unused
https://www.techrepublic.com/blog/tech-decision-maker/crm-failure-rates-2001-2009/
http://blog.tmcnet.com/telecom-crm/2007/11/30/crm-adoption-biggest-problem-in-83-percent-of-cases-wigan-gets-crm-tre.asp
https://www.jobnimbus.com/blog/2012/11/19/how-to-solve-crms-abysmally-low-adoption-rate/
The above shows that it can be very tricky to get the right CRM system for your company regardless of the benefits touted for using a CRM. I argue that ease of use is the single most important factor when considering a CRM system for your company. You and your employees need to be able to learn it quickly and integrate it seamlessly into daily workflow. Complicated features that are difficult to learn should only be considered in niche circumstances that arise from the nature of your business. You should never worry about your necessary features expanding in the future and try to “future-proof” your CRM because the gigantic variety of CRM systems available will allow you to migrate and upgrade to a new system when the correct time comes.
Find something that will work for you, not something that could be useful if you find a way to get it working.