Customer relationship management tools are important. CRM is a big part of your business function in many ways, and a large part of your organization must interact with this software, even if they do not deal directly with customers themselves. The accountants must interact with it, the management of all departments must interact with it, and of course, all customer support and service people must spend most of their day involved and engaged with this software as well.
This means that your customer relationship management tools better be pretty slick. They better be well-designed, flexible, reliable and functional. It also helps if it’s affordable while retaining quality, but given the importance of CRM, this is a place to be the least Scrooge-like with spending on software, frankly.
So, I’m going to point out three of the best tools out there, avoiding obvious popular solutions like SalesForce or the like. These are new tools that have become rather good since the last time I reviewed this niche, and they deserve some consideration.
#1 – Infusionsoft
Infusionsoft is geared for small business, with the flexibility and simplicity that this calls for. Like most flexible small business solutions, it has a lot of automation, but is fairly barebones in its diversity, to allow small business which have to operate somewhat unconventionally to thrive.
The big thing about Infusionsoft versus other alternatives for this scale is that it’s designed for growth, so as the company fleshes out and becomes more intricate, the configuration of Infusionsoft can evolve with the company, and be compatible with big business as well.
The problem is, if you are already a big business and you want to adopt this, its initial minimalist state will be too incompatible to have a chance to grow to your needs. Medium businesses would even have a hard time with this. But, if you’re a small business, this is the one to go with.
#2 – Netsuite CRM+
Well, you knew NetSuite was going to be on here somewhere, they dominate SaaS tool lists for many niches. There’s a reason for this – NetSuite is good. They know their stuff, and their designers and programmers are some of the best SaaS architects out there. CRM+ is ideal for small businesses, medium businesses and large enterprises alike, though there is a better choice for the enterprise in just a moment.
Like other NetSuite implements, it integrates well with other NetSuite services, but also with external services meaning that if parallelism and congruency matter, they have you covered.
#3 – Maximizer CRM
Maximizer is really the most ideal for enterprises, because it’s pure cloud. This means a business with multiple offices, facilities or distanced workers can easily work in tandem with distance and location being irrelevant. This makes enterprises’ scales and copes fairly inconsequential.
This means that it would work ideally for small businesses with no centralization were it not for this being a daunting solution by way of setup and cost. Still, enterprises love this solution, because it makes their behemoth scale such a trivial curiosity.
So yeah, the world has changed when it comes to customer relationship management tools, and this is why I do lists of these on an ongoing basis. Sometimes, new innovations are made, or a program I once jeered as inferior has ascended itself unto godhood. At least, until next time.
