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CCM or develop in-house..Need suggestions

Discussion in 'General Business' started by achak, Jun 11, 2020.

  1. #1
    So I am working for a company which is fairly new and would like to step up their game and use automation in various stages of their work flow. Primarily they want to be able to integrate CRM components, allow clients to make their own service bookings, auto booking notifications to staff and/or contract personnel, populating the calendar and triggering a virtual meeting tool (say Zoom), integrated invoicing and billing services, etc.
    We are now torn between the idea of either using a CCM solution or building the entire system with developers/coders/etc. Anyone found themselves in a similar situation before? What route did you take? Why?
    Can someone point me in the right direction of a platform with easy customization options that can be used by a SME without breaking the bank?
    Thank you for your time and valuable input.
     
    achak, Jun 11, 2020 IP
  2. jrbiz

    jrbiz Acclaimed Member

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    #2
    I am not familiar with the acronym CCM, but you also mention CRM and that seems to be what you are interested in. There are so many CRM options out there that it would be crazy to write a new one from scratch. SalesForce is probably the most popular, full-featured CRM and it has literally hundreds and hundreds of plugins, an API for developers, and more, and will certainly be able to handle the tasks you list above. It is very expensive, however. Another full-featured CRM is Hubspot and there are many more. My team is currently using Copper which is not as full-featured or as expensive, but it might not meet your deep needs. Google "CRM" and you will see a long list of offerings. I have used probably 8 of the online CRM's over the years and prior to that, quite a few of the client/server offerings. I dislike just about all of the online CRM's but there is really no way around them, these days. If you narrow down to 1 or 2 choices and want my thoughts on them, post here again and if I have had experience with them, I will be happy to comment again.
     
    jrbiz, Jun 12, 2020 IP
  3. achak

    achak Greenhorn

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    #3
    Thank you for taking the time to reply. By CCM I was referring to Cloud Content Management solutions (eg: https://www.box.com/home). I have been exploring CRM options as well - have looked at Hubspot and Bitrix24 so far. Any feedback on Bitrix24? Salesforce is way to expensive. Thanks again!
     
    achak, Jun 12, 2020 IP
  4. jrbiz

    jrbiz Acclaimed Member

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    #4
    I have not heard of Bitrix24. However, I did recall the CRM that I wanted to mention in my first post, but could not remember the name. It is FreshSales. I was leading a large sales team and was thisclose to switching from SalesForce to FreshSales when I got another job offer and left the company. My impression of FreshSales is that it was founded by a group of former SalesForce developers. It is very economical and worth a look.
     
    jrbiz, Jun 12, 2020 IP