Did you know that the majority of companies that buy a CRM solution end up regretting their purchase? This happens even to businesses that have done their due diligence by carefully researching options, comparing features and prices, and reading customer reviews.
An incredible three out of five companies (60%) experience buyer’s remorse. And it goes beyond mere disappointment — these businesses actually find themselves facing problems without an easy fix.
In fact, more than half (56%) of remorseful CRM buyers say that they expect the financial impact of their choice to seriously impact their business in the long term*.
We want to help you find the best possible CRM software for your organization. In this article, we’ll explain how opting for a made-in-Canada solution can increase your likelihood of satisfaction and offer you numerous benefits to boot. We hope that, with this information, you’ll feel equipped to make a decision that you can be happy with in the short, medium and long term.
Why choose a Canadian CRM solution?
There are many advantages to choosing a CRM solution that has been developed in Canada. Here are just a few:
Technical support provided from within Canada
Meets Canadian security standards
Able to be integrated with other North American–made systems
Suited to the realities of operating in North America
Supports local and regional economies
Complies with Canadian regulations and business practices
Let’s delve into why these advantages can help you avoid buyer’s remorse.
Is the technical support you’re receiving far from what you’d hoped?
When choosing a CRM, consider the benefits of receiving technical support from a team located in Canada:
Responsiveness: With in-country technical support, you can generally expect quicker responses to your questions. Canadian providers are easier to contact and can provide assistance more rapidly than those located overseas.
Understanding of your specific needs: Technical support teams located in Canada have a more in-depth understanding of their customers’ needs and markets. This means that they are better placed to provide solutions that address the particular challenges of North American organizations.
Language and culture: Support provided in the language spoken by customers facilitates communication and leads to quicker resolution of technical issues. Familiarity with local cultures and business practices also helps ensure better collaboration and mutual understanding.
Training and advice: Technical support teams that understand your realities are better able to provide in-depth training on your CRM solution, as well as advice on how to optimize its use to best meet your organization’s specific needs. This advantage can help you fully leverage your investment in your CRM software.
Personalized development: Smaller software manufacturers can provide personalized development services to adapt the CRM solution you choose to your particular needs. They have an in-depth understanding of the needs of the market you operate in and will be able to suggest suitable solutions.
As you can see, having in-country technical support has numerous advantages: faster response times, a better understanding of your needs, clearer communication, in-depth training and advice, and personalized development services. These benefits can help you maximize the use and value of CRM within your organization.
Are you concerned about data security?
You should feel confident about how your CRM solution stores your organization’s and your customers’ information. Here are some security issues to consider when selecting CRM software:
Confidentiality of customer information: Customer profiles in CRM solutions often include sensitive information such as contact details, purchase histories, preferences and financial information (e.g., credit card numbers). This data must be stored securely in order to ensure customer privacy.
Compliance with regulations: Many regions around the world have passed strict laws and regulations regarding data protection, including the GDPR in Europe, the CCPR in California and Law 25 in Quebec. You must ensure that your organization’s CRM software complies with all applicable regulations in order to avoid financial penalties and damage to your reputation.
Data breaches: Data breaches are becoming increasingly common and carry significant risks, including the potential for financial losses, legal action, government fines and loss of customer trust. A CRM software with robust security measures can help reduce the risk of data breaches.
Organization’s reputation: Customer trust is key to the success of any organization. Data breaches or poor security management in general can cause customers to lose trust in your organization, which can negatively impact your reputation and jeopardize your ability to attract new business.
Protection of commercial information: Companies often store sensitive commercial information, such as sales strategies, business pipelines and revenue forecasts, in their CRM software. This information must be protected against data breaches to ensure your organization’s security and competitiveness.
When you work with a Canadian software maker, you can have in-depth conversations about data protection laws and regulations applicable to your locale and your area of business, and enjoy greater peace of mind with regard to the management and security of your data. This is a very different experience from purchasing software made elsewhere and sold everywhere!
Is supporting small business important to you?
Supporting small business is a smart choice! Here are just some of the many reasons why:
Local job creation: Supporting smaller businesses promotes job creation at the local level. Software companies hire a significant number of employees, including developers, engineers, marketing professionals, project managers and support staff.
Stronger local economy: When you buy from a smaller provider, the money tends to stay in the community where the business is located, thus stimulating the local economy. This encourages economic growth in the region, supports small- and medium-sized businesses, and strengthens the social fabric of the community.
Investing in Canadian innovation: Canadian software companies invest in research and development in order to remain competitive both in North America and around the world. When you support Canadian tech businesses, you help promote technological innovation and growth in the region.
Social and environmental responsibility: Canadian companies tend to have transparent business practices and are more likely to take part in local social and environmental initiatives than their overseas counterparts. By supporting Canadian companies, customers contribute to the promotion of sustainable, responsible business practices.
Closer relationships: Working with suppliers located closer to home enables deeper working relationships and better, more direct communication. This, in turn, facilitates problem solving, development of customized solutions and collaboration on unique, innovative projects.
Adapted to North American needs: Canadian businesses understand the needs and challenges of operating in the North American market and are therefore better placed to offer appropriate solutions.
Are you having trouble integrating your CRM solution with other locally developed systems?
Being able to integrate your CRM into your existing, locally developed IT systems is important for many reasons:
Operational efficiency: Integrating CRM into other programs that your organization uses, such as accounting software, inventory management tools, email marketing platforms or billing programs, can improve efficiency by enabling the synchronization of data between different systems. This reduces or eliminates the need for manual data entry as well as the risks of human error.
Big-picture view: By integrating your CRM with your other systems, you can quickly see your organization’s operations at a glance. Your sales, marketing and customer service teams can easily access current information on members, products, orders, events and finances, which facilitates smarter decision-making.
Better customer experience: Transparent integration helps improve the customer experience. For example, customer service representatives can quickly view a member’s registration history, event participation and billing problems, allowing them to quickly resolve customer issues.
Advanced customization: Integrating your CRM with other platforms opens the door to advanced possibilities for customization. For example, your organization can create automated workflows that are triggered by actions taken in other systems, allowing you to optimize processes and reduce administrative burden.
Cost reduction: Proper integration can help reduce operational costs by eliminating repetitive manual work, thus improving your overall efficiency.
Integrating your CRM software with other North American–made solutions you already use is a benefit you don’t want to pass up. Integration leads to improved operational efficiency, allows you to see your organization’s operations at a glance, provides a better customer experience and allows you to develop advanced customizations while simultaneously reducing costs. With CRM integration, your association can grow and become more competitive.
Are you worried that your CRM solution doesn’t account for government regulations and business practices applicable to your organization?
Government regulations and business practices are important considerations when choosing a CRM solution for your organization. Here are some reasons why:
Compliance with regulations: Many countries have adopted strict regulations concerning data protection and customer privacy. The CRM you choose must comply with these regulations to avoid fines and legal difficulties. For example, your software must have robust security features and mechanisms that allow your organization to comply with user consent and data storage requirements.
Data storage location: Some countries have laws requiring that customer data be stored in a specific country or region to ensure data sovereignty and the privacy of its citizens. It is a good idea to look into where the CRM software you are considering stores its data, so that you can be sure to comply with applicable regulations.
Regional business practices: Business practices, industry standards, cultural preferences, customer expectations and purchasing habits can vary widely from region to region and country to country. The CRM you choose should be able to be customized to account for the particularities of your target market.
Language and customer support: In areas where there are multiple languages used, it’s just good business sense to deal with internal and external stakeholders in the language of their choice. Make sure that your CRM provides the multilingual options you need for user interfaces, documentation and support.
In conclusion, there are numerous advantages to choosing a made-in-Canada CRM solution. Your product will be better suited to your specific needs, provide you with access to locally based technical support, facilitate in-depth collaboration, have trustworthy data storage practices and can be better integrated with other local–developed systems. Not to mention the boost you’ll be giving to small business!
Before making a decision, be sure to evaluate your organization’s needs carefully and compare the potential advantages of the different options you are considering. To learn more about choosing the right CRM for you, check out 6 selection criteria to help you find the solution that’s right for your association.
Montreal-based Vendere Group has unrivalled expertise in building customized CRM solutions in the Microsoft 365 environment.
Our Mission
Our mission is to produce tech solutions that help other organizations optimize their performance.
Our Vision
We aim to become a leader in developing, distributing and integrating innovative software solutions designed in Microsoft Power Platform, with a view to solving the business problems faced by today’s organizations.
We strive to make our vision a reality by following the principles of visionary leadership:
Anticipating: As a visionary leader, we anticipate future challenges and identify ways to address and overcome them. We look toward the future while remaining firmly grounded in the present.
Getting out of our comfort zone: We are constantly on the search for new ideas and are willing to take risks. We understand that innovation and change require leaving the well-beaten path.
Developing self-leadership: We believe that in order to demand rigour from our partners, we must first set an example and demand rigour from ourselves. Therefore, Vendere Group strives to create a culture of responsibility and efficiency.
Creating a culture of learning: We work hard to equip our teams with the skills and knowledge they need to do their best. Our employees are given space to thrive so that they can contribute to our collective success.
Our Values
Every action we take is guided by our fundamental values, which include mutual aid, respect, integrity and high-quality work.
Vendere Group is a team of tech experts dedicated to developing creative, customized solutions that meet our clients’ needs. Contact us to find out how we can help you with your challenges!
* Source: 2023 Global Software Buying Trends Report, Gartner Digital Markets