17hats vs. Infor CRM

It's great if you want to set up all of your client management so that you don't have to keep manually going through every step. It's so nice for me and my clients to have all of their forms streamlined and automated.

Incentivized

If you have a mobile workforce, it likely wouldn't be as appropriate (keep in mind we're using the desktop client, and have very limited experience with the web app). It is well suited if your business needs lots of custom processes- find a good vendor. We utilize SimpleSoft out of Ohio, and they have been excellent. Key question: think about where your business is going to be in 5-10 years, and will this CRM solution be able to grow with us?

Incentivized

• Invoicing
• Creating online questionnaire

Incentivized

• Saleslogix functionality can be managed to a very granular level for each individual using it. Within the users profile you can restrict access to modules, remove write permission, remove export privileges, etc.
• Saleslogix has one of the best sync engines I have ever seen. If you allow your outside sales reps to have their own database, they can modify customer record while off line and when they do have internet access they can sync changes in both directions. This functionality works great when you have inside and outside sales staff covering the same territory.
• Saleslogix can be customized using Visual Basic Code syntax. This is a positive aspect as well as a negative. Our existing Saleslogix is so customized that if we were to upgrade to 8.0 it would cost us over $20k to redo some of the customizations. Upgrades are frequently incompatible with customizations.

• Prior to this I was using only Stripe for my invoices and I loved that I could see all of my recurring client payments under "subscriptions." There might be a way to do this in 17Hats, but I'm just not sure. I like to be able to quickly see all of my current clients at a glance.

Incentivized

• InforCRM has made dramatic improvements in the web client though in some cases it has been painfully slow to get the most needed things updated. An example is the slow speed of the web client. The newest update is supposed to fix this.
• The web client does not autosave, so users have to remember to hit the 'save' button at each screen. This is the biggest complaint of users going from the desktop client to the web client.
• I personally would like to see data panes (account, contact, etc.) with the capability to set up a different view for each team and/or security level that would access the data.

Incentivized

Because we've already made the investment in the original on-premise version, the cost per user is relatively low. The product has grown with us and we can now choose a LAN or Web client version and host the site internally, giving us total control of our data. The iPhone and iPad versions allow the sales team quick access in the field and the voice-to-text option is quite handy. SalesLogix doesn't require that our technology stack be constantly up to date which again, keeps our cost down. They are always making enhancements to the product and we can choose to update/upgrade when those enhancements appeal to us enough to justify adding the service pack.

It's been really great to use with my clients, but I cannot speak to setting it up as my VA handled all of that for me. I anticipate using it for a long time.

Incentivized

It can be a bit slow at times. Its that refresh don't always need to refresh slowing down the user.

Incentivized

It's chat based so you have to wait a bit to hear back from them but they have gotten quicker with their responses which I appreciate.

Incentivized

We utilize the support of a local-ish vendor. SimpleSoft is their name. they are great, and very responsive

Incentivized

We selected INFOR CRM over Salesforce simply because it was affordable and didn't have so many 'bells & whistles' that Salesforce has that we were not using. We didn't realize that the compatibility with upgrades were going to be such an issue.

Incentivized

• ROI - Saves me time on creating invoices and questionnaires.

Incentivized

• It's a CRM, so using a CRM as opposed to not using one is typically a step in the right direction.
• Slightly lower TCO than other CRMs.
• Complete end-to-end workflows allow you to quantify and analyze every step in the business process, leading to improved efficiency.

Incentivized