When a CRM isn't working, replacing it can feel like the obvious answer.
People aren't using it properly. Data is incomplete. Reports can't be trusted. Teams have built spreadsheets alongside it. Processes happen outside the system. Managers struggle to get the information they need.
Eventually somebody says:
"We need a new CRM."
They might be right.
But before you start comparing platforms, booking demonstrations and migrating thousands of records into another system, there's a more useful question to ask:
What's actually gone wrong?
Because sometimes the CRM is the problem.
Sometimes it isn't.
And replacing the technology without understanding the difference can leave you with a new CRM and exactly the same problems.
A spreadsheet doesn't necessarily mean your CRM has failed
One of the clearest signs that something isn't working is when people start creating their own workarounds.
Spreadsheets appear. Shared inboxes become unofficial workflow systems. People keep their own notes. Tasks are tracked somewhere else. Reports are assembled manually because nobody trusts what comes out of the CRM.
It's tempting to look at those workarounds and conclude that people simply aren't using the system properly.
But the workaround is often more interesting than that.
It tells you that somebody has a need the current process or system isn't meeting.
If somebody maintains a spreadsheet alongside the CRM, ask why.
What does the spreadsheet allow them to do that the CRM doesn't?
Perhaps the functionality exists but nobody knows how to use it. Perhaps the CRM was badly configured. Perhaps entering the information takes too long. Perhaps the workflow doesn't reflect how the business actually operates.
Or perhaps the CRM genuinely isn't capable of doing what the business now needs.
Those are very different problems, and only one necessarily requires different software.
Start with how the business actually works
Before reviewing CRM products, map what happens today.
Not what the procedure says should happen.
Not what somebody remembers being agreed when the CRM was implemented three years ago.
What actually happens.
Take something simple, such as a new sales enquiry.
- Where does it arrive?
- Who sees it first?
- Who decides what happens next?
- What information needs to be captured?
- Where is that information recorded?
- Who owns the next action?
- What happens if the customer isn't ready to buy?
- How does somebody know when to follow up?
- What information does management need later?
- Where does the process leave the CRM and move into email, spreadsheets or somebody's memory?
That exercise often reveals considerably more than a software feature comparison ever will.
Because a CRM doesn't operate independently of the business. It sits inside a network of processes, responsibilities, decisions and behaviours.
If those aren't understood, changing the technology may simply move the confusion somewhere new.
Five things to investigate before replacing your CRM
1. Is the process itself working?
Technology can make a good process easier, faster and more visible.
It can also make a bad process happen faster.
If a workflow contains unnecessary steps, unclear handoffs, duplicated effort or decisions nobody really understands, moving it into another CRM won't magically make it sensible.
Before asking what the new system should do, ask why the existing process works the way it does.
You may discover that parts of it no longer need to exist at all.
2. Was the CRM implemented around the business?
A capable CRM can still produce a terrible result if the implementation doesn't reflect how people actually work.
Fields get added because somebody thought they might be useful.
Stages don't match the real customer journey.
Automations reflect an idealised process rather than reality.
Users have to jump through several screens to complete something that should take seconds.
Over time, people find easier ways to get their jobs done.
That's when the spreadsheets start appearing.
Before blaming the platform, look at its configuration and implementation. You may need to improve the system you've already got rather than replace it.
3. Does anyone actually own the CRM?
CRM ownership isn't simply administering user accounts and resetting passwords.
Someone needs to care whether the system continues to support the business.
Processes change. Teams grow. Products evolve. Reporting requirements become more sophisticated. New integrations appear. People find new workarounds.
Without clear ownership, a CRM can gradually drift away from the business it was originally configured to support.
Nobody deliberately breaks it.
It just becomes slightly less useful every month until everybody concludes that the CRM is rubbish.
4. Is the data the problem?
Poor CRM data can make a perfectly capable system appear useless.
Duplicate records, inconsistent fields, missing information and outdated contacts undermine reporting and make automation unreliable.
Eventually people stop trusting the system.
And once people stop trusting it, they start keeping their own records elsewhere.
That's a particularly dangerous cycle because those external records make the CRM even less complete.
A new CRM doesn't solve that automatically.
Migrating poor-quality data into a shiny new platform merely gives you more attractively presented poor-quality data.
Before considering replacement, understand what data you actually need, how it gets created, who maintains it and whether people can trust it.
5. Is the CRM genuinely the wrong system?
Sometimes, after all that investigation, the answer really is:
Yes.
Perhaps the business has outgrown it.
Perhaps integration requirements have changed.
Perhaps the cost is disproportionate to the functionality you actually use.
Perhaps critical functionality is missing.
Perhaps the platform has become unnecessarily complex for what the business needs.
Perhaps another CRM would genuinely support the organisation better.
That's a perfectly legitimate conclusion.
The difference is that you've reached it by understanding the problem rather than starting with the assumption that new software is the solution.
What about user adoption?
Low CRM adoption deserves particular attention because it's very easy to blame the users.
"They don't like change."
"They keep going back to spreadsheets."
"They won't use the CRM properly."
Sometimes there is resistance to change. That's human.
But resistance can also contain useful information.
If somebody has developed their own way of working, find out why. If they avoid a particular part of the CRM, watch them use it. If experienced employees say a process doesn't work, understand what they're doing instead.
The people closest to a process often know exactly where its frustrations, exceptions and unofficial workarounds live.
That knowledge should form part of your diagnosis.
And if you ultimately decide to change the CRM, those employees should be involved in designing what comes next.
That's a subject worth exploring properly in its own right, because successful CRM implementation is as much about people and change as it is about technology.
Review before you replace
There are plenty of excellent CRM systems available.
There are also plenty of businesses paying for powerful CRM platforms while continuing to run important parts of their operation through spreadsheets, inboxes and human memory.
Buying another platform isn't necessarily progress.
Before replacing your CRM, understand:
- how your processes really work;
- where people have created workarounds;
- whether the current implementation supports those processes;
- who owns the system;
- whether the underlying data can be trusted; and
- what the business genuinely needs the CRM to do.
Then make the technology decision.
You may discover that you need a new CRM.
You may discover that the one you've already got needs improving.
Or you may discover that the real problem was never the CRM in the first place.
Diagnose first. Then decide.