Does anyone have any comments on Salesforce.com CRM product?

Quite an interesting conversation occurring here. Thanks for asking the question Gerald. I find the comments interesting as I have been a part of roll-outs from Siebel to SalesLogix to Netsuite to salesforce.com. In all of those implementations adoption had little if anything to do with the tool itself and everything to do with how well we'd mapped to the business process. For those who argue that it (salesforce) takes too many clicks I had an implementation in which a customer requirement was no further than 3 clicks for anything the users needed. We met or exceeded that goal.

Success can be had with all flavors of CRM tools. The key is clearly understanding requirements and in some cases challenging them. Each implementation should start with outlining current process and questioning if those steps are still needed and efficient. Too often companies map a CRM tool to a current process and then run into problems when upon further review it's realized that the software implementation only highlighted problems within the current process.

Good CRM is 100% about process. I'd argue that many tools, including salesforce.com can be used effectively and at a fair price if the hard work is done in advance to determine the true need.

Salesforce.com may well be the industry leader, but they are overpriced and overhyped and over complicated. The newer software is much more in tune with the fact that Sales folks do NOT need to become computer experts, and is simpler to use than Salesforce.com, less expensive and MUCH MORE oriented towards the way sales people REALLY work. Salesforce.com has become the victim of 'scope creep' as the folks there have to justify having so many developers working for them that they constantly have to add new (and generally USELESS!) bells-and-whistles in new releases.

These additions merely serve to clutter up the original idea of a sales product and make it unwieldy!

One of the ones that has been around for a while is www.softwareonsailboats.com . This family of products has a) taken the "less is more" approach by maintaining the original thoughts as to what sales folks REALLY want b) priced at less than 1/10th the price of salesforce.com for EXACTLY what a salesperson needs and c) just added a mobile phone version that links seamlessly with the server based CRM database.

Salesforce.com is a leader in the space and has a legacy user interface that is not that intuitive.
The recent player's that are established like SugarCRM , NetSuite have a better Usability than Salesforce.
Better adoption of CRM is possible if the CRM tool is easy to use.
You can give a try http://www.sugarcrm.com if you are trying to implement newly in your organization.

Hi Daniel,

You can check out www.borneosoft.com. It's user interface is similar to Outlook and much less complicated than other CRM products. You have folders on the left column and a list of items inside the selected folder on the right. When you click the item in the list, it shows the detail on the bottom half of the pane. It applies to all modules.

Its search is fast and powerful, the same when you search Google or other web search. There is no more complicated combination search fields drop down boxes, it provides only one text box for you to enter your search phrase. We use web search engine instead of traditional 'database query'.

You can even immediately export the search result by clicking the export button.

Its simplicity is achieved by avoiding 'deep hierarchical' routine. For example when you attach document to an opportunity, the document also appears in the the document folder. Another example, when you put documents in special folder 'Public', the documents appear in the public page where public users (your customers) can download the documents. For example: http://www.borneosoft.com/list/document/support

Of course, there are many more powerful features. You can check the features here:

Blog (NEW): http://www.borneosoft.com/docs/blogfeatures
Contact: http://www.borneosoft.com/docs/contactfeatures
Calendar: http://www.borneosoft.com/docs/calendarfeatures
Sales: http://www.borneosoft.com/docs/salesfeatures
Product Management: http://www.borneosoft.com/docs/productfeatures
Chart/Reporting: http://www.borneosoft.com/docs/chartfeatures
Mail, Notes and Document: http://www.borneosoft.com/docs/mailfeatures
Auto Creation of Quotation: http://www.borneosoft.com/docs/quotationfeatures
Team Management: http://www.borneosoft.com/docs/teamfeatures

Regards,
Luke

I used Salesforce.com for about 2 1/2 years at a previous job. I was not impressed. It took so many clicks to get from one place to another and I don't think anyone used it properly. Most of the folks didn't use it at all. The reports were painful.

I use Sage SalesLogix now and what a different experience. It's very user friendly and light years ahead in my book. I hear they are coming out with a cloud model this year which is very exciting and all the Salesforce.com users should jump ship ASAP when that happens!

I have spoken to some people who love SalesForce.com and others who hate it. From my perspective, SalesForce.com is a well-established company with a solid product, but it is expensive and rather inflexible unless you are willing to spend a lot of money on custom coding.

There is no best product for all users. The products that claim to be "very user friendly" also tend to be limited in functionality because they have made a lot of hard-coded decisions that are difficult to change. For example, it is almost impossible to setup a custom table in SalesLogix and judging from their website, it absolutely impossible with BorneoSoft. But if they happen to have all you need right out the box, it may be a good solution.

The only way to find the right software to describe what you want it to do, then get demos from companies that demonstrate their software running -your- processes. Please see http://www.focus.com/ugr/research/crm/how-pick-right-crm-helpdesk-bpm-vendor/ for a detail advice on how to find the best product for your organization.

Hi Simon,

Yes, you are right, we are fully aware that we need to avoid "hard-coded decision". We always believe that we need to evolve and adapt to our users' need. Most of the time, it is a balance between both users' need and technical challenge.

In fact, we are going to release update to our offering so that users can edit or create new lookup. For example, users can totally change the sales stage if the users want to. This in addition to already available features such as customizable template for quotation and blog. The users do not need to be a developer to customize them.

And once again, yes, we are always thriving to give solution that is flexible enough to meet users' need.

I certainly encourage users to try any CRM solution available in the market before committing, to find out the suitability of the solution. This is the reason, at Borneosoft we are offering Free Edition for users to try it out and it doesn't have time limit. It is only limited to two users per company.

Regards,
Luke

Gerald,

We used salesforce.com at my previous company - a 150 person enterprise software company. The tool was fantastic from a few perspectives: 1) low cost, 2) easy to implement 3) easy basic customization features and 4) powerful support for a distributed organization. I was also surprised by how well some of the Outlook integration features worked.

The main challenge for us with SFDC was the lack of more advanced reporting and pipeline analytics (this sounds like your problem). Once you go outside of what the tool does well, this type of customization is difficult. I haven't used other tools unless you count (server-based ACT from the late '90s) so I can't really compare. I know SFDC tries to foster an entire ecosystem of sales reporting and analytics tools through their AppExchange program (e.g. Cognos, Business Objects, Lucid Era, etc) but I am not sure who well these tools works - ease of integration, price, etc.

This is a great discussion Michael! Thanks for getting it started.

I used Salesforce.com and now compete with them. If you're a large company, Salesforce can be a great fit.

For smaller businesses though, it can be too much (money and features and time).

The key with any CRM solution is making it fit your business processes. With SFDC, you're going to need a developer or an outside consultant.

Here's a comparison of SFDC with ACT and SalesNexus - http://www.salesnexus.com/Salesforce-ACT-Comparison.php

Craig,
I'm curious about the link provided showing the comparison of Act, salesforce and saleslogix. Data migration issues, aren't there several tools offered by salesforce like the apex data loader to move your data as needed? As for the Opt In/Opt Out management as this applies to only the internal do not contact lists, how do you handle state and federal certifications to verify whether the prospect can be contacted and by what preferred contact channel?

Bill,

Good questions!

Yes, there are software products for data migration but, they cost money and are not for the faint of heart. Each system has very different table structures and there always ends up being some portion of some of those tables that don't make the transition unless a skilled technician manually maps things.

"state and federal certifications" - I guess you're referring to "Do Not Call" lists, etc. As far as I know, none of these systems have built in management of state by state do not call type lists but, each can be customized to do so. For email though, the CAN-SPAM regulations are pretty clear. Most CRMs don't handle the Opt in/Opt out themselves. They have you buy a 3rd party email marketing app.

Gerald,

I started a venture recently, an outbound lead gen telemarketing company. We went with SFDC. I found it to be expensive, not intuitive to implement, I didn't like the contractual commitments. I was enamored with their position in the market, and the apps everyone is building to interface with them.

If you don't need all that, there are better options out there...less expensive, easier to implement, more intuitive to work with...even to customize. I'm working with one that I think I'm really going to like that is very flexible, very easy to use, and very clean. Also, there are no burdening contractual commitments...important to a small company in a difficult economy.

If anyone is looking for help with the Do Not Call lists and management, you are right the CRM systems don't have built in tools. I am a product manager for Privacy Advisor which is an integrated tool to both salesforce and Oracle CRM on demand. Plus we have other stand alone tools for contact/preference management, for a free webinar http://www.bitpipe.com/detail/RES/1260811175_13.html?psrc=SRS

Hi Gerald,

You'll find lots of interesting comments regarding salesforce.com here:

http://www.appshore.com/?&op=customercare.base.testimonials

The comments of past users of salesforce.com who have posted in reply to your question are very indicative of the sentiments expressed by most small business people I have spoken to over the past several years. The product is best suited for large organizations with complex requirements. For the typical small business person salesforce.com is too complex, too expensive, and they do not provide the personalized level of service and support a smaller, more nimble vendor can provide.

As an alternative, please check out Aereus Network Tools (ANT).
http://www.aereus.com/ant
Web based CRM with the features of SalesForce.Com enterprise edition, at much less the cost. Designed for small to medium business. This product includes CRM, Integrated email, Datacenter, Leads Management and Opportunity tracking, Invoicing, and workflow automation. Live Air-Sync to mobile phones, and custom data programming that is point and click, project management, and file management at all levels.

My reply is 2nd-hand - for small firms, the cost for sf_com can be beat to obtain the same functionality from many sources; have also heard a common sf.com strategy is to provide a low entry cost and make up for it in change orders for any customization required.
For alternative consideration that provides integrated market analysis to identity prospects that look like your best customers:
http://www.infogrowcorp.com/Home/CRM/Why+InfoGrow+For+CRM/default.aspx

Hi Greg,

Give me a ping off line I would love to talk to you about Salesforce.com,

drobichaud@sbcglobal.net

Wow, lots of comments here. We provide a CRM solution that competes with salesforce.com and believe the difference is in the level of service we provide and expertise we have with the small and mid-size market. Check out our web site at http://www.commence.com or call us at 877-COMMENCE to learn more or sign up for a free trial.