1: Salesforce
Salesforce is the number one CRM system for larger businesses according to the leading consultancy agency Gartner. It is used by a great variety of larger companies as Spotify, Accenture, and Amazon Web Services.
Salesforce is mainly used by larger organizations due to the flexibility and customizability it offers. The system has a great depth with hundreds of additional add-ons and modules available for use. With an open source alternative it is also encouraging external development.
Its immense community offer the tech-savvy developer an amazing platform for further development. Applications range from AI and automation to communications tools for the most common social media, customer relations and a variety of marketing tools. It can be fully integrated with phones, mail and websites.
Because of the complexity and scalability, we recommend you using a partner that can help you with customization and implementation. Craftware can help you with that.
Free trial? Yes: https://www.salesforce.com
“Salesforce is the best CRM platform for companies that are growing rapidly due to the huge number of dedicated modules, the possibility of integration with other tools and additional options it offers. Once implemented, Salesforce offers users a beautifully designed product that is customizable, fast and intuitive. All this makes this CRM ideal for large corporations as well as for companies that are dynamically developing” – said Aleksandra Pasek, Product Marketing Manager at Craftware.
2: Hubspot
HubSpot is great CRM system for the smaller and medium sized company. The CRM system focuses on different solutions for the marketing department as well as for sales and service. It can be integrated to your website and promises the users to generate leads.
HubSpot is integrated with the Google tools as Analytics, Docs, Drive and Gmail. With an all-in-one tool HubSpot does not enable as much flexibility and integration of third-party software as other CRM systems.
We recommend that you implement HubSpot with a partner, since technical support comes as an additional cost.
Free trial? Yes and freemium version: https://www.hubspot.com
“An easy-to-use and intuitive tool for building a customer base, sending mail and creating workflows. The platform is designed for small businesses and has a workable free version as well as a range of add-ons. If you want to focus on marketing and mailing to your customers, and you don’t have a large budget for a tool – this will be a good solution” – said Aleksandra Pasek, Product Marketing Manager at Craftware.
3: Freshworks
Freshworks is an easy-to-use CRM system mainly built for medium sized business. It integrates into many third-party applications as Dropbox, Skype and MailChimp and offers a high level of customization. It is praised for its easy UI and UX experience. It puts a lot of focus on sales processes
On the negative side it does not offer an integration with Office 360. It not the CRM system you want to use if you need online document storage and signing possibilities, since that is not available in the system.
Free trial? Yes: https://www.freshworks.com
“Freshworks is a system with a very wide range of functionalities, thanks to which it provides value for various businesses. Good price / functionality ratio puts it in the top ten CRM solutions*. One of the weaknesses that users pay attention to is the rather limited tools and fields despite many functionalities” – said Jakub Ładyński, Marketing Manager at Craftware.
* Source: https://www.capterra.com/sales-force-automation-software/#top-20
4: Monday
Monday is one popular CRM systems out there. It is mainly used for its solutions within management and communications. With solutions for project management processes and a wide range of tools within workflow, it is a tool built for teams’ co-operation. Therefore, it is best used for companies that work with collaborative project above 10 employees.
The most common critic towards the system is that it is to complex and takes along time to learn.
Free trial? Yes: http://monday.com
“An interesting solution that was created as a project management tool, and later became CRM. Fully customizable, which will be seen by some as a plus, while for others it will be a problem. A small downside is the low reporting possibilities. Overall impression is positive, great for project management“ – said Jakub Ładyński, Marketing Manager at Craftware.
5: Pipedrive
Pipedrive is another popular CRM system that helps you to do regular follow-ups, reminders, monitoring client information and daily activities. It offers tools within leads management, tracking and sales. The system is focused on sales and does not offer the same variety of solutions for service and communications.
It mainly targets smaller businesses, with a cheaper price offering in comparison to the above systems. The simplified system does not offer as good customization and support for third-party software as the previous systems.
About: Pipedrive is focused on sales and pipeline management.
Free trial? Yes: http://pipedrive.com
“Pipeline CRM is a small business-focused solution that offers a minimalist, refreshing layout, straightforward UI, and deal-driven workflow. Ease of use is one of Pipedrive CRM’s best features, especially for people who never worked on this kind of software. On the other hand, it offers limited functionality for the price of more developed systems” – said Konrad Sikora, Product Marketing Manager at Craftware.
Why do you need a CRM system?
The tools help companies systematize communication, marketing, and sales in a scalable, secure, and efficient way. The companies’ CRM solutions will ultimately be a gathering place for the company’s various digital processes such as communication or marketing. Information about customers, leads, goods and campaigns are developed in the tool.
Getting started with a CRM system can be difficult, but there are companies that will help you. Once the system is up and running, it quickly becomes an essential part of the company’s connected backbone.
The system becomes stronger over time: New customers sign up for newsletters, campaigns and other mailings, the number of sales processes and marketing campaigns increases and more information about the company’s processes is generated. This data provides a brilliant foundation for understanding your business better.
Traditionally, the three most common uses for CRM tools are operational, analytical and synergy-based. Modern and well-developed CRM systems therefore offer applications for all three areas of use and work with common platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok or Youtube.
We hope that you find this guide useful! If you are in the process of implementing a CRM system, contact Craftware to help you in the process!
Author
- Product Marketing Manager
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She has been involved in the IT industry and Salesforce for three years. At the moment, she works on business development, generating leads, organizing business events and widely understood product marketing. She supports Craftware’s sales team reaching new customers and building long-term relationships with them. A certified Pardot specialist, a tool for automation of B2B Salesforce marketing.
