Start big, or start small?
CiviCRM can do a lot out of the box, but sometimes you need to push the limits.
Specialized and streamlined event management workflow?
Unique membership management policies?
Integration with third-party systems?
When you've got a big idea to leverage CiviCRM for your programs, you have a choice:
Start big, or start small?
Starting big:
With this approach, you sit down with your CiviCRM expert and map out what you need, why you need it, and how you'll make it happen.
You’ll need to discuss timelines, staff roles, workflow optimizations, and of course measurable business outcomes.
If you're really making significant changes to your system, this can be a big project. It's an investment of time and money that you'll make up front in order to get things working as they should for everyone involved: staff, users, marketing, C-suite, whomever.
The advantage is that you can launch a new feature set, train your staff, and have everything working smoothly from the beginning. This reduces staff and user frustration; and it increases confidence and morale. No fuss, no muss, just a sizeable investment time and money.
Starting small:
The alternative is to start small. Work with the software in its current form. Squeeze everything you can out of existing features.
With this approach, you can get going almost immediately, with very little up-front investment or delay.
Of course, this means someone on your staff will surely have a lot of work to do: managing the data manually, remembering any configurations, sharing data between systems or departments, because you haven't built custom features that fit your unique needs.
The advantage here is that you can get started quickly with little investment.
And along the way, you can identify the choke points that really need to be addressed. This slower approach can give you more bang-for-buck on any custom features you eventually do decide to implement.
Here's the thing:
There is no right or wrong in this question. It's simply a matter of applying the limited resources you have to get the business outcomes you want.
Starting small can work great, if you have the time and staff members who are happy to put in the extra work.
Starting big can be great if you have clear and high-value business goals, and the resources to make a larger investment in the beginning.
Either way, it's about getting results in the most effective way possible.
All the best,
A.