Is it time to renew your CRM?

For most businesses, CRM is an essential application. However, the implementation of a CRM system is not a one-time process that you can forget afterwards. Even if at first everything is set up perfectly, adjustments and improvements may be required over time. It is important to start evaluating how to improve your existing system. Here are some signs it’s time to upgrade your CRM.

Lagging reports

A well-functioning CRM solution should generate sales reports without human intervention or hassle, and without significant time delay. If your CRM can’t handle this task quickly and efficiently, then it’s more of a waste of valuable resources and an obstacle rather than a strategic advantage, as it should. If your staff is needlessly employed, it’s time to seek an alternative to your existing system.

No interoperability

Integration is an important trend, especially with regard to cloud applications, and this is especially true of CRM. In theory, any software platform can work seamlessly with another platform, but in practice, problems arise. For most cloud CRM applications, integration is simple and smooth. So, if your system requires significant human intervention as well as time to transfer data to another platform, then something is wrong, and you should consider the alternative of a modern CRM system and all it has to offer.

Issues with customizations and add-ons

It is certainly frustrating to spend considerable time and money on some important CRM customization, only to see it gone in the next update. If this happens frequently with your customizations and add-ons, then you should think about changing your system altogether. If you need a large number of customizations, resulting in your solution having problems, then it’s probably time to upgrade. In the end, you may actually discover that something that previously needed special handling, is now part of the standard “package”.

When CRM “looks its age”

While cloud-based CRM solutions may be the preferred choice for businesses nowadays, some of them are still using a number of in-house solutions for a variety of reasons. Such implementations may have worked in the past, but in the era of digital transformation, where companies should be extremely flexible in order to respond to the constant market changes and continuous technological innovations, the above-mentioned non-flexible and unstable CRM solutions are most likely to hold back a business.

The main reason is that their maintenance and operation can be expensive. In addition, they may not be able to integrate with other important business applications. If that’s the case, it’s probably time to upgrade your CRM. This change will prove to be nothing but beneficial to your business.