CiviCRM misconceptions: “It’s one app”

Here's one more misconception that trips people up, especially in the beginning.

CiviCRM misconception #5: "it's one app."

In a world of single-purpose apps and services, CiviCRM at first looks like just another app or service, as if it were a single piece of software from top to bottom.

This leads to a number of assumptions that aren't quite right:

• That there's a company behind it that guarantee the certain level of service;

• That once you install it, it's self-contained and ready to go;

• That any organization using this product will have access to the same set of features.

Now, this is true for CiviCRM Spark and other software-as-a-service CiviCRM offerings.

But it's not true for CiviCRM itself, in the way that most organizations use it.

Instead, CiviCRM functions more like a platform for building your own customized CRM system:

• You'll install it into your own Drupal, WordPress, or other content management system (CMS).

• each of those CMSs offer their own unique set of features, with a number of modules or plugins to augment CiviCRM’s interaction with the CMS.

• You also have access to hundreds of CiviCRM extensions to customize the functionality of itself.

• Many organizations have at least one or two custom-built CiviCRM extensions by which they modify its functionality even further.

• Even without all that, CiviCRM is highly configurable, to the extent that you can configure it in ways that are nonsensical or counterproductive for your work.

Here's the thing:

Yes, CiviCRM is a mature and well-built software system powered by a dedicated core team and an active community of professional developers.

But thinking of it as a single product will tend to overlook its incredible flexibility, as well as the amount of effort you might need to make it do everything you want — not to mention the fact that you actually can make it do things that only your organization needs (unlike other CRMs which really are “a single product”).

It can be more useful to think of it as a powerful CRM platform, which gives you a ton of great features out of the box, and which you can use to build a fully customized CRM for your organization.

All the best,
A.