CRM implementation can require substantial initial costs, especially if the system is going to be installed on local servers, as a company has to allocate resources on purchasing hardware and maintaining the solution. Luckily, you can avoid this burden and reduce upfront expenditures by investing in hosted CRM software, which is maintained remotely by the vendor.
Selecting a hosted CRM solution suitable for your company can be daunting since there are hundreds of potential options on the market, with Salesforce, Hubspot, and Microsoft Dynamics 365 as the most popular ones. By following this guide, you can make a more informed selection and get better ROI from your CRM initiative.
1. Define requirements for a hosted CRM solution
To make a good hosted CRM software choice, you should start by identifying your company's requirements for the future solution. Your CRM implementation team can elaborate the following types of requirements:
Business requirements
Business requirements typically represent high-level objectives that your company would like to achieve with the help of CRM implementation. These might be:
- Automating sales and marketing processes to accelerate overall sales velocity
- Ensuring customer data availability to sales and marketing teams for more efficient collaboration
- Enabling customer-facing teams to analyze customer data and predict buyer behavior and preferences more accurately
Functional requirements
These represent the expectations and wishes of different CRM software users, including your sales, marketing, and customer service reps, about its functionality. For instance, your marketing team can request being able to segment customers based on their demographics and run targeted campaigns for each segment. In turn, your sales reps may want to gain an opportunity to review past business deals to understand why customers did or did not make a purchase.
Nonfunctional requirements
Nonfunctional requirements outline how the CRM solution should generally perform and what characteristics it should possess. For example, you may want the CRM system to be compatible with specific operating systems or browsers, integrate seamlessly with your existing business software, and have a minimalistic and intuitive UI.
2. Evaluate available hosted CRM solutions
After documenting your software requirements, the CRM implementation team should start looking for CRM solutions that can cover your business needs. Having selected a few, the team should evaluate them more closely from different angles to determine which one suits you best. Here are some key factors to consider during the evaluation:
● Functionality
The implementation team must determine whether the system includes all features needed by different stakeholder groups. If these features are not available by default, the team should also consider whether it is feasible to implement the necessary capabilities by configuring the CRM solution. Equally important, the team must ensure that the system can support the necessary integrations with other company tools.
● Cost
It is also critical to estimate the cost of implementing the solution, including all hidden factors. The team should begin by determining the pricing model provided by a vendor, as it can significantly affect the project’s budget. For instance, proprietary hosted CRM systems are typically provided on a subscription basis, while open-source hosted CRM systems can come with minimal fees or even free of charge.
The team should also estimate the cost of the implementation itself, which can differ depending on the need for system customization and integration, hiring additional CRM implementation specialists, business user training, and other factors.
In addition, your team can calculate the ROI of your CRM project to understand whether the implementation can pay off in the long term. Some hosted CRM solutions even provide ready-to-use ROI calculators, which can make this task easier.
● Security and compliance
Undoubtedly, the security of customer data should be your top priority, so the team should also make sure that the future CRM system has comprehensive security mechanisms, such as multi-factor authentication, role-based access controls, etc. If you operate in a strictly regulated industry, such as finance, insurance, or healthcare, you should pay even more attention to the CRM system’s security.
● User feedback
Additionally, your team should research user reviews to learn the solutions’ real-life pros and cons. The implementation team should also pay attention to feedback from CRM technology experts, as they can mention software strengths and downsides unnoticed by the general public.
3. Testing a hosted CRM solution in practice
Once your implementation team completes the evaluation, you need to select one or two hosted CRM solutions that suit your requirements the most. To make the final choice, your team should test these systems in practice to better assess how they work.
For this, many CRM vendors provide free trial opportunities, letting companies create one or several test accounts to explore the available features, study integration capabilities, and assess the solution’s look and feel. The team can also test the system with dummy data resembling your customer data in format and structure to better understand how the solution would perform in a real business environment.
Final Thoughts
CRM implementation can require significant upfront investment, especially if the solution would be hosted on your local servers and maintained by your in-house team. In this context, adopting a hosted CRM solution can be more cost-efficient, as you don't have to manage a server and hardware infrastructure yourself.
You can follow the algorithm outlined in this article to make a more informed decision on which hosted CRM to choose. But if you feel that navigating the CRM landscape is too challenging, don’t hesitate to turn to a CRM implementation consultant who can map your business requirements and examine them thoroughly to help you identify the right hosted CRM technology for your needs and requirements. A reliable consulting partner can also assist you with CRM implementation by taking care of project planning, software customization, and other tasks.
