There are many aspects when choosing a CRM system. In the market, there are many suppliers, solutions and technologies available. For all this in the election process, we will have to take into account the implementation, the flexibility, the benefits, the cost, and the value that it will contribute to the business.

It is important to determine the needs and objectives to compare them with the functionality offered by the tools, without forgetting the price, and check what our users are really going to use the system through a review management system.

1. Define the objectives

The first step in choosing a CRM is to analyze what we want to achieve and solve with the system. For example, a company may be having high customer abandonment rates, not achieving the set goals or difficulties in generating new business opportunities.

For the definition of objectives, the different managers of the departments involved must be involved to review the company's processes by review management software to understand the need and determine where we want to reach.

Some basic points to define objectives:

• Describe the business process (sales, marketing, customer service)

• Analyze if there are stages in the process where customers often complain.

• Determine how sales processes that target potential customers differ from what they target existing customers.

• How we carry out the measurement of the performance of the resources and what we would like to be able to obtain in the measurements.

• Consider whether KPIs are used to improve processes or we want to include them.

• Analyze in which areas of the company we need to make a change and / or improvements to achieve the objectives set.

Define technology and support needs

To choose the technology that best suits our needs and objectives; we will have to take into account a number of important points:

• Determine if the solution will be for a department or for the entire company.

• Analyze if there are other tools that we want to integrate into the CRM, such as an ERP system, a marketing automation solution.

• Once the tool is implemented, assess whether training or some type of support will be needed.

• Take into account if one of the desirable characteristics of the CRM is mobility. Assess if a mobile CRM solution is needed.

Determine the budget

The available budget is important for the choice of a CRM solution. There are companies that have a long-term vision so they can determine their investment in the CRM project and others are limited by their current conditions.

A few decades ago, customers had few options when choosing a CRM system. Currently, there are different alternatives in payment options and different ways of implementing a CRM solution.

The traditional option is a local or on-premise installation, which requires users to have and maintain the technological infrastructure, servers, storage, networking, and personal capabilities. The software and licenses have an initial cost, but we will also have an annual maintenance fee. Generally, the integration will generate another cost.

There are many companies that prefer this option because they have complete control over the application with respect to security and data, and they also have full control over the way in which the software is modified and configured by the company. Companies that choose this option generally have their own IT departments in the company.

Adjust our needs to the characteristics

It is important to remember what problems or processes we are trying to solve or improve and ask ourselves if the available features will help us solve it. If the functionality does not help us solve the problem, then it will not be necessary.

The most important criterion for success is the user's ability in the organization and how the solution is linked to specific processes in the company.