Salesforce vs. Civicrm

[Narabear]

Hi there,

I'm working with an organization that's considering CiviCRM, but has a lot of concerns about the DIY nature of it, and because of that is also very interested in Salesforce.  From my stand point, civi is great in terms of managing what they need more or less "out of the box."  They have a Drupal website, need to capture contact info and other data via the web, have an unlimited amount of custom fields to track and segment stakeholder data, do bulk emails, handle event registrations, and manage help desk requests.  That said, it does seem that there is more feeding and watering involved with Civi, and want to address those concerns. 

Has anyone else made the call between these systems and if yes, can they say what the decision points were? 

Thanks

[funkyblue]

Interesting. No response. I am interested as well. Civi can be so complicated.

[xavier]

Hi,

I've had users coming from salesforce, they are some functional differences (eg. you can create new content type that aren't contact, something civi leaves to the CMS and some naming differences (you are more likely to have deals, leads and prospects).

It seems the main complexity is the CRM part: you are trying to model how your organisation works and change habits of everyone working with contacts, not trivial, no matter which tool you use.

Civi Interface might be confusing at places (and it seems sf can be as well), but I think it's not the major issue in the project.

If you have a lot of custom data, it might be a sign that you are "abusing" civi and albeit possible, it might be you are not using the standard fields/groups/tags enough

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[funkyblue]

My issue is, the complexity in setup. I am having issues and there are few answers to the problem.

[xavier]

Agree, it's complex and probably simplier with salesforce, as it's already installed (saas).

You might want to go for a similar offer? they are several commercial offers in the community that provides civicrm pre-installed that might make it easier and more comparable to salesforce.

This being said, the complexity is in my experience mostly in setting up civimail/sms/payment provider, so if you don't need it, shouldn't be too hard.
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[Guy Iaccarino]

I think there are several issues.

The first is the appropriateness of the tool for the task. Salesforce was written first as a business CRM, where Civi has been written from the ground up for nonprofits. I know Salesforce has made modifications for their nonprofit version, but the underlying business oriented approach to the software is still there. The Salesforce UI admittedly looks a little slicker, but when you really dig into the content and processes, Civi really shines. The bulk gift entry / thank you letter creation process flow is but one good example. There are many.

The next regards setup and configuration. Yes, Civi needs a bit more effort there, but the integrated functionality you end up with  is so much greater as well. If you get a good consultant, they can help you through this phase.

Next is ongoing support. Salesforce has a tech support line, but the nonprofits I've spoken with who went to Salesforce because it was "free" have been nothing but disappointed with the support. That being said, you get what you pay for.

The fact that CiviCRM is free to download isn't the reason to go with it. The reason to go with it is that it was written for nonprofits, has incredible functionality, provides an integrated platform that saves so much time (instead of sloshing data between systems) and is getting better constantly  Also, because it's open source, you have the flexibility to make changes if you really need custom programming, without taking out a second mortgage on your home. (Ask Salesforce for custom programming and see what they want for it, if you can even get it.) It's also pretty cool knowing that you are part of a community that is working for good around the world.

If you want a nonprofit focused CRM, with real functionality, and ongoing support and training to fully utilize it, you are going to have to pay something. What is the budget of the nonprofit you are working with? Figure that out, then find a good provider who can help you put together a plan for implementing Civi that not only addresses the setup, but ongoing training and support as well. My opinion (and it's just that) is that that is the best way to guarantee a successful implementation of the software for the long term.

Best,

Guy

[Coleman Watts]

+1 Thanks for the thoughtful answer Guy

[funkyblue]

Thank you for your thoughtful comments.

We have selected CiviCRM and found a reasonably priced developer for help with the issues I was having.

Selecting a CRM has been hard. Salesforce does look better but still not easy. There are not many easy to use solutions out there. I also prefer open source and not relying on a proprietary solution.

[Guy Iaccarino]

You're very welcome. Welcome to the Civi family!