Frogloop recently published an interview with Artez’s Philip King – someone we’re quite big fans of:
Nonprofit CRM Trends Plus How to Choose an eCRM
On choosing an eCRM, Philip’s advice is to make the following considerations:
- “Ask about [the vendor's] client retention rate: I think this is key.”
- “Understand what their total cost/dollar will be this year, and for the next few years. When I say ‘total cost’ be sure you’re getting not just the prices of the technology, but also any consulting or professional services you’ll need to include.”
- “Make sure you are talking not just to references who are using their solution, but also references who have left their solution.” [Ed. note: This is a good one! -- i On Nonprofits]
- “Understand what happens if for any reason the nonprofit wants to switch vendors in the future.”
- “Understand who owns the data. Make your potential vendor prove they are open to data imports and exports without having to purchase expensive additional APIs.”
- “Ask about their throughput: how many transactions per second can they handle.”
- “Ask about security: are they PCI Compliant (you can look this up on Wikipedia), and if so what level?”
The rest of the interview is also a great read, in which Philip discusses how to measure the effectiveness of online fundraising, which are the biggest tech trends he’s seeing on the horizon, and more.
