CRM: easy?

I love CiviCRM. Except when I don’t.

Right now I'm looking at the results of a recent survey of several hundred non-profit organizations and how they rate their current CRM.

The good: CiviCRM was one of only 3 products to score higher than four out of five across every single category.

The not-so-good: One of its lowest-scoring categories was "Ease of Use." Only 4.1 out of 5. Not bad, but not great.

But in that same "Ease of Use" category, CiviCRM ranked:

• Well above the average, and

• Far above more well-known offerings such as Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, and Raiser's Edge.

What does this say to me?

1. Even in its lowest category, CiviCRM scores near the top of the pack.

But more importantly:

2. CRMs in general don't score very high in the "super easy to use" category.

And what does this suggest for you?

1. The term “ease of use” is relative — not just to your own experience and skills, but to the type of problem you're trying to solve.

2. If your CRM is helping you to solve high-value problems, then that's a win. If you're struggling to make it do things you thought were simple, it will probably help to take a step back and rethink your approach to the problem.

Your CRM can make it possible to solve some really difficult and high-value challenges, but you'll probably benefit from some experienced advice along the way.