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I’ve talked a lot about the great features of Salesforce.com, but every software choice has drawbacks. You know someone who thinks one software platform is the one to solve all your problems, doesn’t have any major drawbacks, and can wash and wax your car, 100% guaranteed (this is not a guarantee)? Turn and run.

Here are the top 5 drawbacks I see in using Salesforce.com as a nonprofit. You , not me, you have to decide if they outweigh the benefits for you.

5. Salesforce.com is lacking some key functionality

• It doesn’t do households well–there’s not a great way to say that a couple lives together and send one thank you letter to them for the total amount the two of them have donated.
• It can’t do complex reporting like, “show me everyone who signed up for our newsletter and showed up for our volunteer event last month.”

4. The USA PATRIOT Act sucks

• The US Government can compell a hosting service like Salesforce.com to show them your data if they decide you are a terrorist. Salesforce.com can’t tell you about it.
• You really need another point here? That’s not bad enough?

3. You are reliant on the Internet to get to your CRM data

• You have to be online to use Salesforce.com’s full functionality

2. You’re too big

• Salesforce.com is more than happy to donate 10 licenses (you need one for each named user) to qualifying nonprofits, but if you want more than 10 licenses you may or may not get them

1. Getting Rent Donated has its own risks

• Salesforce.com is a service not software, so you don’t buy, you rent.
• Donated rent is great, but if the donation stops you either have to find the money to pay the rent or find another place to live. Moving on short notice is never fun.

So there’s the dirt, the secrets you don’t learn until after you’ve signed the deal. Hopefully it will help you make a good decision for your nonprofit.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 13th, 2005 at 12:54 pm and is filed under CRM, Technology. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.