CRM Evaluation Considerations

As discussed in Comparing On-demand Customer Relationship Management Service Alternatives, there are three categories that CRM functionality tends to fall under: non-core functionality; vertical, industry-specific features; and accounting related features. Users need to be aware of the potential issues that may arise from these features. For example, non-core functionality that is not used by the enterprise can negatively impact usability, industry-specific functionality may impair customization, and standalone solutions with accounting features may be difficult to integrate with a back-office accounting system.

In this article we'll explore one of the key differences between the salesforce.com service (a standalone CRM solution) and the NetSuite CRM+ service (a fully-integrated business solution/CRM application integration.

CRM Application Integration

There are three approaches that a company can consider with regard to CRM application integration:

* invest in a fully integrated business solution (enterprise resource planning [ERP] or accounting, operations, and CRM) from a single technology vendor,

* invest in a variety of pre-integrated best-of-breed business applications from multiple vendors, or

* use the CRM solution's integration tools to manually integrate the CRM solution with a variety of desired or already existing legacy systems.

The first option involves purchasing a fully integrated business suite from a single software vendor. This vendor would offer the marketing, sales, customer service, accounting, e-commerce, web site management, etc. functionality needed in a fully-integrated suite of software modules.

The big industry players also recognize the impact of fully integrated suites in the market. Recently, the founder of Siebel, Tom Siebel, talked about the market impact of integration in terms of Oracle's acquisition of Siebel. "What really brought this (Oracle's acquisition of Siebel) together was a shift in market dynamics," Siebel said in a recent conference call. "Businesses are no longer interested in connecting standalone applications (like Siebel's CRM applications) and want integrated business suites from a single vendor."

It's clear that both Oracle and SAP support the notion that the integration of CRM into broader suites of business applications (including accounting, supply chain management, and other horizontal and vertical operational systems) is appealing to many Fortune 2000 companies.

But how important is a comprehensive suite of business applications from a single vendor to small and medium companies?

That's one of the primary areas where a fully integrated business suite like NetSuite and a standalone CRM solution like salesforce.com have very different go-to-market strategies.