Lead management software can accelerate business growth. We analyze the 10 best software systems you can use in 2020.

Free CRM tools provide small businesses the opportunity to manage their leads and contacts while staying within a tight budget.

For CRM implementation, there are no solutions that work in all situations. The image represents a set of key differences between waterfall and agile methodologies.

Many IT articles discuss how to avoid project failures…which is great, but according to industry analysts, at least one-third of CRM projects fall short. Here, we’re going to explore what to do if you’re in that unlucky 33 percent.

The full report includes:

Market evaluation and analysis of 15 CRM lead management vendors
Insights for selecting a vendor based on your organization's requirements
Opportunities and challenges faced when deploying lead management systems

1. Your in-house CRM system is brittle — and sucking up resources

2. New sales leadership has new CRM priorities

3. That one CRM expert leaves

4. Integrations are more manual than effective

5. Standard reports take several days to create

6. CRM governance is missing or ineffective

7. You want to take advantage of new data sources

8. Customized add-ons stop working after an update

9. Adoption and usage is low

10. Data quality issues lead to competing definitions of the customer

For those currently in the market for a CRM software provider, there is no limit to the products available. Ranging in focus from small business to enterprise to fully mobile, CRM providers have diversified features that offer customer specific solutions to businesses in all industries. CRM software allows users to manage customer interactions, leads, proposals, sales opportunities, projects, and tasks from one place. Cloud-based iterations allow users to access from any device and review adjustments in real time.

Researching CRM software providers, you’ve most likely come across many platforms. Each product varies in deployment and system sizing. And each offers a carefully curated set of features that benefit different organizations in different ways. In this article, we’ll compare a few favorites, Prosperworks, Apptivo, bpm’online, Base, and Insightly, and look at their systems, pricing, features, and integrations to help you identify which is best for your needs.

There are many CRM software providers to choose from and it’s important to narrow down what type of provider your business needs. Here, we break down CRM providers into four categories: enterprise, small business, mobile, and social.

The Freshsales CRM solution includes features such as:

• Auto enrichment, designed to save time and trouble by enhancing leads with social and publicly listed information;
• Lead scoring capabilities to identify high-potential leads via by lead property, website, in-app and email behavior;
• Real-time alerts on email opens, link clicks, and more;
• Built-in phone, which enables users to buy numbers, assign them to sales reps and start making calls within the platform; and
• Behavior analytics, which can help get the context sales teams need with intelligent tracking of the buyer’s journey.

Horizontal CRM solutions — as mature as they are (and they have been around for 20+ years) — don't always do a good job at supporting industry-specific business processes. Consider these examples: CRM users in manufacturing need capabilities to track projects, schedules, time sheets, labor efficiencies, and equipment inventory in addition to core CRM attributes. …

"What is AI in CRM exactly? It all starts with customer data. Intelligent systems collate customer data into one central location, which could include previous communications, purchases, complaints or browsing history. AI uses this data in order to correctly anticipate customer needs.

The biggest challenge faced by all businesses is consolidating this data and sifting through it for relevant information. Businesses tend to store customer data over several disparate systems, including a CRM, marketing, and a customer care app. Bringing this data into one central location and gleaning meaning from it is difficult at best. In this scenario Big Data looks like Bloated Data, impossible to penetrate or navigate.

How top CRM tools—including Salesforce, HubSpot, and Freshsales—lower cognitive overload with brilliant user onboarding.

B2B sales professionals are increasingly asking for a better playbook citing they lack the power to share content with prospects and track them.

In fact, according to a recent report in eMarketer, who cite 2017 data from digital marketing company Regalix and enablement platform ShareDemos, these sales and marketing professionals are actually looking for features that make their jobs easier.

According to a large share of respondents (76%) said they want quick navigable sales tools. Nearly half (48%) said they want the ability to create and edit content in a rapid manner, and 40% want the power to share content with prospects and track them.

"

• ProsperWorks
• Pipeliner
• bpm’online

5 trending features in CRM
Trend #1: All-in-one platforms
Trend #2: Predictive reporting and analytics
Trend #3: Marketing automation integration
Trend #4: Social media integration
Trend #5: Mobile access"

Leading market intelligence firm IDC, in collaboration with Salesforce, released a report today on the economic impact of using AI for CRM activities, ranging from sales and marketing to customer support and retention. Out of 1,028 global companies analyzed, 28% of companies already use AI and 41% planned to do so in the next two years, with 2018 expected to be a pivotal year for enterprises AI adoption.

Within CRM specifically, 50% of business activity is already executed in the cloud. No wonder cloud vendors ranging from Salesforce, Microsoft, IBM, and Google have doubled down on the
war for market share of the enterprise cloud
. “For enterprise AI to be truly effective, it needs to be a seamless part of business workflows, embedded where people work and accessible to every business user – not just data scientists,” cautions Allison Witherspoon, Director of Product Marketing, Salesforce Einstein.

• "Interaction Tracking
• Email Integration
• Document Storage
• Mobile Access
• Pipeline View
• Social Media Integration
• Custom Reporting
• Marketing Automation Integration
• Quote or Proposal Management
• Enterprise Features
• Call Center Management
• Email Marketing
• Help Desk Management
• Referral Tracking
• Sales Automation
• Niche Features
• Product tracking
• Territory management
• Web forms"

Below are our five picks based on combined scores and some additional, small-business-specific, metrics:

• Teamgate
• HubSpot
• Less Annoying CRM
• amoCRM
• Pipedrive

For larger businesses with deep pockets and the need to integrate with a lot of the different apps that are available in the Salesforce marketplace, Salesforce is a great tool. However, for smaller businesses that don’t have thousands of contacts (or are already on HubSpot’s inbound marketing platform), the HubSpot CRM is the easier, more affordable solution.

The 28-page IBISWorld report also provides the following:

• The market share and financial risks of ten CRM vendors
• A scorecard for making purchase decisions
• Key RFP elements
• Negotiation questions