Author Topic: Is CiviCRM the right tool for my FOR Profit company? (Read 2123 times)

rparisi · January 20, 2011, 02:06:16 pm

I am in an unusual situation. I am trying to determine if CiviCRM is the right tool for my for profit business, but I already have it installed and have been using it, albeit pretty blindly. I will explain:

Early last year I had a new website developed in Joomla. The developers determined that the CiviCRM would be a good tool based upon my requirements. However, they were not CiviCRM experts, and I now question whether they made the correct choice.

At this point, I am operating without the support of the developers, and my knowledge of CiviCRM is very limited. I am willing to put the time in to learn the system if it is the right tool for me, but I want to make sure my time investment is worthwhile. In other words, if Civi is not appropriate for my business, then I would rather not invest any more time in it.

The first question I have is this: Civi is clearly targeted for non-profits. What is it about Civi that makes it inappropriate for FOR profit companies?

Just a little background on my business: It is a hockey school for adults. Most of the transactions are not sales of widgets, but rather registrations for camps (i.e. events). I have looked at some other alternatives. Many solutions seem better suited for companies selling products/widgets. There are a few solutions that cater to camp registrations, but they are expensive services that are looking for an ongoing slice of the pie, and a pretty large slice at that.

Please help me determine if I should learn Civi and adapt it to serve the needs of my business, or if I should cut my losses and switch to an alternative solution.

Thanks,
Rick.

petednz · January 20, 2011, 02:21:49 pm

Hi - interesting question - we implemented CiviCRM for a 'for profit' sport training outfit where the key issue was signing people up for seasons of games etc. The problem we ran in to was making it work for their work flow related to allocating people to particular teams, and then having people rejoin/leave teams for the next season. We may have been able to 'get there' but in the end they found a product that was more directly designed for managing memberships of sports teams.

not sure if that helps. in principle there is no reason why civi can't work 'for profit'. If as you describe the main need is 'signing up for events' then it could be a good fit depending on what custom data you are needing to manage as part of the sign up.

Hershel · January 21, 2011, 03:10:14 am

Quote from: rparisi on January 20, 2011, 02:06:16 pm

What is it about Civi that makes it inappropriate for FOR profit companies?

Nothing makes it inappropriate for your business. It's just generally more suited for NPOs.

Quote from: rparisi on January 20, 2011, 02:06:16 pm

Just a little background on my business: It is a hockey school for adults. Most of the transactions are not sales of widgets, but rather registrations for camps (i.e. events).

Event registrations are certainly a strong point of CiviCRM. If the existing functionality works for your needs, then it certainly sounds like you could proceed with it. Any system won't match your needs 100%, but as long as the basics are there, I would proceed.

rparisi · January 21, 2011, 08:32:22 am

Thank you Peterd and Hershel for your replies. Those are very helpful. So far I have not heard anything that would be a showstopper. If anyone else has an opinion, I am all ears, so please keep them coming.

With regards to Peterd's response: I am curious about the statement:

Quote

in the end they found a product that was more directly designed for managing memberships of sports teams.

Do you know what product they ended up with? I researched several of these products. They did seem to be ideal, and well suited for my business. However, they were expensive. It was not a matter of upfront purchase. Instead, they acted as the middleman on all transactions. They would take a per registration fee and a % of the sale. Plus their credit card processing rates were a lot higher than I currently pay with my processor. If I could find a product that I could buy, and it was well-suited for my business, I would spend the money. But I don't want to deal with a company that is going to be in my pocket in an ongoing basis like that.

Erik Hommel · January 21, 2011, 12:55:33 pm

I agree that there is no reason why CiviCRM should not be appropriate for for profit. In my experience the big benefit for not-for-profit is that the 'standard' account-contactperson set up of a lot of CRM packages seems less fitted than the individual-organization- household set up of CiviCRM. And the flexibility of relationships is very useful too. I am not familiar with sports management sofware, so I am afraid I have no wisdom to add there :-)
Good luck! And do let us know what you decide in the end...

petednz · January 22, 2011, 12:38:55 pm

Quote from: rparisi on January 21, 2011, 08:32:22 am

Do you know what product they ended up with?

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Author Topic: Is CiviCRM the right tool for my FOR Profit company? (Read 2123 times)

rparisi

Is CiviCRM the right tool for my FOR Profit company?

petednz

Re: Is CiviCRM the right tool for my FOR Profit company?

Hershel

Re: Is CiviCRM the right tool for my FOR Profit company?

rparisi

Re: Is CiviCRM the right tool for my FOR Profit company?

Erik Hommel

Re: Is CiviCRM the right tool for my FOR Profit company?

petednz

Re: Is CiviCRM the right tool for my FOR Profit company?