SAP CRM

Pros

SAP CRM is a very robust product and SAP has done well over the past decade to cater to the CRM needs of customers across industries. The best part of SAP CRM is that it not only integrates seamlessly with other SAP softwares but also with various non-SAP softwares providing options to enterprises to keep using certain legacy systems at the same time. CRM solutions in general are very customer centric and SAP has done exceptionally well over the past few releases to come up with advanced features like Social Media Integration to capture market vibe in a more structured and organized fashion. While some of the core CRM modules keep getting better with frequent bug fixes, focus has been on adding new features to cater to industry specific needs. Another important aspect of this software is its ever improving UI. Since CRM 7.0 there has been considerable change in the UI which I should say is extremely friendly now. For customer who want to deploy SAP CRM solution faster, SAP provides them with Rapid Deployment Solution which reduces the implementation time and cost drastically. SAP CRM Best Practices are now successfully used across industries as a proven tool to successfully run business. SAP CRM on HANA platform has made data retrieval a very quick and hassle free affair. SAP also has a great community of developers and professionals who help to share ideas and answer questions when it comes to configuring and customizing their solutions. Another important thing is that for customers who do not want to invest in huge IT infrastructure , SAP CRM comes as an on demand (cloud) solution with most of the features from its on premise version.

Cons

SAP CRM releases newer version at a relatively slower rate than most of its competitors. Configurations in SAP CRM backend still remains pretty complex and require highly skilled and experienced professionals to do so. Though SAP CRM can be used as a standalone product but the usability is drastically reduced when SAP ERP is not implemented. Standalone SAP CRM analytics is very basic in its present form and cannot cater to customer need without complex customization.Lastly, lets face it, SAP solutions are still heavily priced compared to other vendors and quite understandably SAP CRM consultants are pretty expensive to hire.

Pros

I have worked on SAP CRM version 5* and 7* as a SAP Security Administrator and following are my observations -

- Customer relationship management (CRM) focuses on the retention of customers by collecting data from all customer interactions with a company from all access points.

- SAP CRM provides user flexibility with sales, service module and also external consumers (3rd party vendors).

- It is easily integrated with various SAP and non-SAP products like Identity management (IDM), 3rd party tools and ECC system

- User access and administration is controlled through business roles maintained in SAP CRM system

- Configuration required for running the various models (sales, consumer, etc) is maintained in ABAP backend in SPRO

- Also, it is rated very high in terms of its Scalability and real time analysis and monitoring of Sales (provides a holistic view as needed)

- Web UI (User Interface) helps user to enable & utilize business functionality extensively at one single point of source through replication process of business partners

Cons

I would say the user experience for SAP CRM Web UI in terms of usability and acceptance is not that great (user friendly), it's a bit complex at times.
Also, the cost of installation, product keys, maintenance, operational cost is high

But, SAP CRM 7* versions have much better usability and has improved a lot from it's previous pre-predecessors.

Pros

SAP CRM is very useful for maintaining notes on customer issues, orders, etc. It will link directly with SAP, and now you can pull actual specs from SAP right in CRM. It makes customer interaction easier with 'tickets' if multiple people have to interact with a customer.

Cons

CRM can be doggedly slow. It is a huge amount of information that it has to chug through, so it takes some time. Be careful not to hit the 'back' button at the top of the browser page like you usually do, or you may anger it. You have to click the tiny back button in CRM itself. The auto log out if you haven't used it for about an hour is kind of annoying.

Pros

The most important feature of this product is WebUI. You can configure the WebUI all the way you want - Navigation bar, report area, etc. Moreover, this product supports One-Order Framework. Every transaction type is processed in a single transaction code. This provides user an ease of access.

Cons

There are not major drawbacks of this product, but to provide comprehensive and end to end business solutions, this product must be integrated with other SAP products like SAP ERP, BI/BW, PI/XI, etc. Licensing cost is more, so small business need to consider pricing before planning implementation.

Pros

I think that the idea of SAP CRM is brilliant, a way to house and store data so that your company can really get a handle of data mining which theoretically would allow you to plan and be more proactive vs reactive.
Once you get the hang of the screens it is easy to understand how to accomplish what you're trying to input into SAP CRM.
The system is really set up to help you try and capture the most relevant information to your business.

Cons

As I said the idea of SAP CRM is brilliant but from my experience (and it could be the way my company chose to implement it) the use of so many different platforms that don't actually talk to one another is a ridiculous way to implement any data capturing tool. We had to export from two different systems of SAP CRM and then load it into a BIOD just to get the information to talk to each other and make any sense. And even then the project itself was a long and exhausting process because trying to figure out the language it speaks in the Order Entry system vs. the Customer Inquiry system isn't the same and you have to force it to mesh the data together.
The screens are cumbersome and not user friendly. There are so many different ways you need to input information to get to the screen that you actually want you need a manual for literally everything you have to do because it takes that many steps.
I think SAP CRM would benefit from focus groups for their North American business partners. Not everyone does business the same but North America has big business's that would greatly benefit from this type of system if it were easier to understand and implement on a day to day basis.