I’ll be doing a webinar on open source CRMs tomorrow. In the process of going deep into those CRMs, I’ve been thinking about how nonprofits might choose CRMs to begin with. Of course, all nonprofits already have a CRM (even if it is a spreadsheet) – the issue is, generally, migration to a new system, or integration with what they already have to add new features.
Idealware has a great article on CRMs, and how they are different, and how you can begin to figure out what might work best. I also wrote a software choice worksheet, that can help with the process of looking at a wide variety of tools.
One of the fascinating things to me is how quickly the CRM space is evolving. New open source players entering the market (more on them soon), high satisfaction for other open source tools, and SaaS vendors throwing the doors open so that nonprofits can integrate their systems well (I’m psyched to hear about all the new connectors, mashups and apps happening all the time.)
The lesson here, I think, is that CRM, even for large organizations, is changing rapidly, and the days are numbered where systems that are expensive, proprietary, and closed rule. I’m glad to see that. And I think that nonprofits should make sure when they choose to look at the wide range of options, some of which are very cost-effective, and open. And you don’t need to feel overwhelmed by vendor sales-talk – it’s possible to get things translated to language you understand.
After the webinar, I’ll be putting the slides up in varied places, and NTEN will have a recording of the webinar.
