Author name: Sam Gupta

While many associate digital eCommerce platforms with coupons scattered across websites, the scope of digital commerce extends beyond that perception. Even if your transactions don’t occur online, your website’s contact form serves as a digital commerce element, acting as a vital source for lead acquisition. Complete traceability of customer journeys depends on robust digital commerce capabilities, emphasizing their broader significance.

While understanding the scope of eCommerce is straightforward, selecting and implementing the right eCommerce platform for your digital objectives poses challenges. Issues like integrating payment and shipping providers, ensuring optimal site speed, and minimizing bounce rates are crucial for capturing a significant share of web traffic. As the number of channels continues to expand, evaluating pre-built integration capabilities becomes essential to prevent cost overruns. With increasing transaction volumes, the necessity for enterprise-grade features like digital asset management, approval flows, and a comprehensive digital experience management platform becomes evident. Additionally, operating in a regulated environment adds complexity, introducing compliance requirements that impact your transactions.

Ultimately, even if a platform functions effectively with lower transaction volumes, the inability to scale with concurrent sessions—characteristic of enterprise-grade systems—can lead to missed opportunities. These factors contribute to the complexity of choosing eCommerce platforms. To navigate this challenge, consider initiating your journey by shortlisting a couple of options from the leading eCommerce platforms in 2024.

Criteria

• Overall market share/# of customers. The higher the market share of the eCommerce platform, the higher it ranks on our list.
• Ownership/funding. The more committed the management to the product roadmap of the eCommerce capabilities, the higher it ranks on our list.
• Quality of development (legacy vs. legacy dressed as modern vs. modern UX/cloud-native). The more modern the development stack, such as headless and React-based development, the higher it ranks on our list.
• Community/Ecosystem. The larger the community with a heavy presence from eCommerce companies, the higher it ranks on our list.
• Depth of native functionality for specific industries. The deeper the publisher-owned out-of-the-box functionality, the higher it ranks on our list.
• Quality of publicly available product documentation. The poorer the product documentation, the lower it ranks on our list. 
• eCommerce market share and documented commitment (of the publisher through financial statements). The higher the focus on eCommerce, the higher it ranks on our list.
• Ability to natively support diversified business models. The more diverse the product to support different business models and business processes, the higher it ranks on our list.
• Acquisition strategy aligned with eCommerce. The more aligned the acquisitions to deepen eCommerce capabilities, the higher it ranks on our list.
• User Reviews. The deeper the reviews from eCommerce users, the higher the score for a specific product.
• Must be an eCommerce platform. It can’t be a module of an ERP or CRM product. It can’t be an app that might support eCommerce and POS processes. At a minimum, the product must support CMS and website development for different business models.

10. WooCommerce

WooCommerce primarily caters to small, content-focused companies aiming to augment their static websites with commerce capabilities, which are particularly appealing to entrepreneurs familiar with WordPress. However, businesses surpassing the $5-10 million revenue mark might encounter limitations in WooCommerce, making it more suitable for content-driven companies with lighter eCommerce requirements.

Despite its widespread popularity and numerous installations, WooCommerce’s commerce capabilities face substantial limitations, leading to conflicts among plugins. The security architecture isn’t tailored for commerce transactions, potentially causing failed eCommerce projects. While debates about transaction and commercial fees persist, ongoing maintenance and development efforts are comparable to both open-source and commercial platforms. Due to these considerations, we’ve significantly downgraded WooCommerce in this year’s ranking, replacing the Microsoft Commerce platform, which no longer features on the list due to limited developments in its ecosystem.

Strengths

1. Price. WooCommerce offers budget-friendly pricing for startups, supported by a robust ecosystem of plugins and developers.
2. Open-source. As an open-source platform, WooCommerce benefits from a vibrant developer community, eliminating licensing fees.
3. Superior Content Management System. Leveraging WordPress, WooCommerce provides an excellent content management system with extensive plugin options.

Weaknesses

1. Clunky User and Permission Management. Dependency on WordPress for user and role management poses challenges in handling complex B2B and B2C workflows. The workflows, especially those that involve multiple user personas.
2. Plugin Conflicts. Multiple plugins are required for eCommerce operations, leading to potential conflicts that demand careful analysis and management.
3. Data Model. Suited for content-centric operations, WooCommerce’s weaker data model may result in data integrity and maintenance issues compared to other platforms on the list.

9. Kibo Commerce

Kibo Commerce, an omnichannel and microservices-based eCommerce platform, empowers businesses to launch enterprise-scale commerce experiences that would traditionally require custom development. Its API-first and microservices-based design aligns with modern headless commerce platforms, enabling businesses to meet customer demands with agility.

The platform adopts an integrated approach, encompassing Order Management System (OMS), eCommerce, and subscription commerce. However, it faces competition from larger peers like Manhattan and IBM Sterling Commerce, which offer more integrated options within the same stack, including Warehouse Management System (WMS) and Transportation Management System (TMS).

While Kibo’s OMS effectively maintains a centralized statistical inventory, financial perspectives are often disconnected from the operational layer. In eCommerce and retail models, decoupling transactions for subsequent financial reconciliation is a common practice due to higher transaction volumes. Although Kibo excels in front-end experiences, it may encounter challenges with backend integration and supply chain issues, earning it the #9 spot among the top digital commerce platforms in 2024.

Strengths

1. Enterprise Scalability. The microservices architecture facilitates individual scaling of commerce layers, ensuring enterprise scalability for peak shopping scenarios.
2. Integrated OMS and eCommerce. Kibo offers pre-baked integration of eCommerce and OMS, saving considerable costs compared to building from scratch.
3. Subscription Commerce. The platform includes built-in subscription workflows, a challenging feature to develop on vanilla platforms.

Weaknesses

1. Limited Commerce Solution. Unlike competitors like Manhattan and Blue Yonder, which integrate a Warehouse Management System (WMS) and Transportation Management System (TMS), Kibo’s offering may not be as embedded.
2. Limited Ecosystem and Consulting Base. Kibo’s consulting base is limited, affecting documentation and community support for their product.
3. Cost. Positioned as a best-of-breed integrated commerce and OMS platform, Kibo tends to be more expensive than mid-market alternatives like BigCommerce or Shopify.

8. SAP Hybris Commerce

SAP Hybris Commerce targets larger enterprises with robust requirements, especially those already integrated into other SAP systems. This strategic alignment enables businesses to capitalize on integration synergies by exclusively partnering with a single vendor.

The eCommerce platforms landscape witnessed significant transformations in 2023, driven by the anticipated discontinuation of Oracle Commerce. This development sparked concerns about the potential sunset of legacy platforms like SAP Hybris, HCL Commerce, and Intershop. 

Despite these challenges, SAP Hybris has made noteworthy advancements in its headless technology stack, contributing to its improved ranking this year. While it may no longer be a frontrunner, SAP Hybris remains a viable choice for companies seeking an embedded and regulated experience, particularly with its CPQ and configurator layer. For these reasons, SAP Hybris Commerce secures the #8 position on our list.

Strengths

1. Integration with Other SAP Products. SAP Hybris Commerce is particularly advantageous for enterprise companies in regulated industries, ensuring audit readiness for compliance standards like GDPR.
2. Greater Control Over Infrastructure. The deployment suite of SAP Hybris Commerce offers comprehensive CI/CD capabilities, empowering IT teams to manage release and production support processes effectively.
3. Deployment Flexibility. SAP Hybris allows deployment on the preferred cloud, providing greater control over infrastructure design and costs—a valuable feature for larger companies with high eCommerce site traffic.

Weaknesses

1. Lagging in Headless Capabilities. SAP Hybris doesn’t boast strong out-of-the-box headless capabilities compared to other platforms on the list, coupled with a limited ecosystem of partners.
2. Clunky Interface. The Hybris CMS exhibits a clunky interface resembling a customer portal rather than a modern eCommerce platform.
3. Reliance on Legacy Technology. SAP Hybris still relies on legacy programming languages like Spring and Java, lacking robust support for out-of-the-box enterprise-grade features such as an asset management platform.

7. HCL Commerce

HCL Commerce, the enhanced iteration of IBM’s flagship product, IBM Commerce, inherits and advances its capabilities for modern headless development after acquiring it from IBM. Notably, it excels in offering enterprise-grade commerce features, allowing access to all of the commerce layers, including DAM assets, search, and cart, through APIs. 

While HCL Commerce introduces headless, React-based composable commerce capabilities, it primarily targets B2C brands. As a new entrant on our list, it replaces other eCommerce platforms like Oracle Commerce.

Strengths

1. Headless Content Workflow and Management. HCL Commerce facilitates the retrieval and programmable publishing of DAM assets, leveraging enterprise versioning capabilities inherited from IBM Commerce. This supports intricate workflows for content collaboration.
2. React-based Storefront Capabilities. With modern React-based composable commerce features, HCL Commerce enables the construction of omnichannel storefronts tailored for various geographical locations.
3. Enterprise Scale Ready. Having proven its mettle with enterprise-grade commerce workloads over decades, HCL Commerce is an ideal choice for teams familiar with IBM Commerce, eliminating the need to learn a new data model and platform from scratch.

Weaknesses

1. Legacy Programming Language and Architecture. Despite a redesigned front end, the back end still relies on legacy Java and Spring boilerplate, coupled with IBM’s intricate development practices, which might be less user-friendly for web developers.
2. Limited B2B Capabilities. HCL Commerce’s data model isn’t optimized for industrial B2B use cases, making it more suitable for high-volume B2C companies. B2B companies might need significant investments in custom development.
3. Limited CDP Capabilities. For B2C companies seeking personalization capabilities based on deterministic identity, HCL Commerce falls short compared to platforms like SAP Hybris, Sitecore, and Salesforce Commerce.

6. Episerver Digital Commerce

Episerver Digital Commerce/Optimizely is tailored for mid-to-large B2B companies seeking comprehensive B2B capabilities within a suite, minimizing the need for costly add-ons and extensive IT resources. Particularly advantageous for industrial businesses, it falls short of a fit for larger organizations requiring the robust enterprise-grade capabilities offered by bigger eCommerce platforms. 

Unlike some SMB platforms dependent on add-ons for digital experimentation, Episerver integrates the ability to build features and A/B tests seamlessly into its suite. It excels in providing deep features for intricate channels, encompassing partner management, product-based variants, and rule-based promotions.

Strengths

1. Content Management Platform. Episerver’s CMS stands out for its flexibility, allowing marketers to execute intricate layout changes swiftly, enhancing the overall content management experience.
2. Digital Experimentation Platform. In contrast to SMB platforms relying on additional components for digital experimentation, Episerver enables the creation of features and A/B tests seamlessly within its suite, ensuring full traceability across channels.
3. Natively Supported Rich B2B Features. Episerver impresses with its provision of deep features catering to complex channels, including partner management, product-based variants, and rule-based promotions.

Weaknesses

1. Ecosystem. Unlike the thriving communities surrounding platforms like Shopify or BigCommerce, Episerver faces limitations in terms of its ecosystem.
2. Too Big for Smaller Brands. Geared toward larger companies, Episerver may overwhelm smaller brands due to its steeper learning curve.
3. Expensive. Smaller brands with simpler needs might find Episerver’s pricing to be on the higher side.

5. Commercetools / Frontastic

commercetools, a startup valued at over $2 billion and backed by Accel, has garnered attention from major automotive brands like Audi, Volkswagen, Porsche, and Bentley for its customizable commerce experience. Pioneering a true microservices-based architecture, commercetools is a key advocate of the MACH alliance. 

Although the MACH and headless concept is relatively nascent, businesses prioritizing customized and composable experiences will find commercetools compelling. However, commercetools doesn’t offer the same bundled enterprise solutions as some competitors, potentially requiring several best-of-breed options for a comparable experience.

Strengths

1. True MACH Platform. commercetools embodies the MACH principles—Microservices, API-first, Composable, and Headless—differentiating itself from platforms with mere APIs claiming to be headless.
2. B2C-Friendly. Tailored for B2C companies, particularly in industries like automotive, commercetools boasts a data model conducive to interactive commerce experiences, with enterprise-grade B2C features embedded in its platform.
3. Enterprise Scale. Proven in handling complex, multi-brand sites with billions of hits, commercetools has successfully secured clients that traditionally leaned towards legacy platforms like Oracle ATG, Hybris, or IBM Commerce.

Weaknesses

1. Limited Head Capabilities. While commercetools provides robust APIs for the quick development of omnichannel heads, marketing practitioners may find its head limitations notable, even with the acquisition of Frontastic.
2. Limited Bundle Offerings. While ideal for best-of-breed platform users, commercetools might be less appealing to organizations seeking bundled offerings available in tools like Sitecore or Salesforce Commerce, especially those favoring seamless integrations.
3. Limited B2B Capabilities. Although commercetools is expanding B2B features, the distinct data model requirements for B2B may limit its applicability for industrial distributors and B2B companies.

4. Salesforce Commerce

Salesforce strategically targets larger enterprise companies seeking sophisticated eCommerce workflows, particularly those already leveraging other Salesforce products like CRM and Pardot. While it excels in catering to enterprise scenarios with a vibrant developer ecosystem and involvement in the React and headless communities, it may not be the optimal choice for smaller businesses. Salesforce Commerce stands out for supporting both B2B and B2C models, providing deep capabilities and robust product recommendations through its AI engine.

Maintaining its position from the previous year, Salesforce Commerce’s commitment to the eCommerce market is evident, backed by ongoing investments in eCommerce-centric capabilities through Salesforce ventures. Notably, it remains the sole platform on this list with equally profound capabilities for both B2B and B2C. However, its pricing structure may be considered expensive for SMB companies.

Strengths

1. Ecosystem. Salesforce boasts one of the most vibrant developer ecosystems, actively participating in the React and headless communities. Additionally, it offers integration with modern headless platforms, facilitating the development of progressive web applications.
2. Enterprise-grade Capabilities. Catering to both B2B and B2C models, Salesforce Commerce provides deep capabilities for enterprise scenarios, complemented by seamless integration with other Salesforce products.
3. Robust Merchandising and Product Recommendation Capabilities. Distinguishing itself from other SMB products, Salesforce Commerce delivers robust product recommendation and merchandising planning capabilities through its AI engine.

Weaknesses

1. Price. The pricing structure of Salesforce may be perceived as expensive by most SMB companies. Unlike competing products that include these capabilities in their suite, Salesforce Commerce employs separate pricing for its products, making total cost of ownership computation more challenging.
2. Headless. While options for a headless experience are available on the Salesforce app marketplace, the platform lags behind in its headless journey compared to competitors like commercetools or VTEX.
3. Challenging for Smaller Brands. The steep learning curve associated with Salesforce Commerce may overwhelm smaller companies that are less focused on enterprise-grade features.

3. Adobe Commerce/Magento

Adobe Commerce caters to mid-large enterprise companies with intricate eCommerce workflows, particularly those with complex needs for both B2B and B2C business models. However, it may not be the most suitable option for smaller companies. While Adobe Commerce/Magento offers an open-source version, many companies may opt for the enterprise edition for features like RMA and promotion permission, which are not available in the community edition. Noteworthy is Magento’s capability to run large-scale consumer-focused commerce sites with millions of daily visitors, though this scale typically requires the enterprise edition.

Maintaining its position from the previous year, Adobe Commerce is recognized for its commitment, backed by Adobe, and continues to attract an expanding customer base.

Strengths

1. Enterprise-grade Functionality for B2B and B2C. Adobe Commerce/Magento boasts an exceptionally rich data model tailored for enterprise workflows, providing robust support for both B2B and B2C business models.
2. Open-source. While an open-source offering is available, many companies opt for the enterprise edition to access features like RMA and promotion permission, which are unavailable in the community edition.
3. Scale. Distinguishing itself from other platforms, Magento successfully powers large-scale consumer-focused commerce sites with millions of daily visitors, necessitating the enterprise edition.

Weaknesses

1. Inflexibility. Magento’s data model exhibits tight data integrity with a prescriptive approach to eCommerce, aiming to prevent maintenance issues in the long run. However, this level of inflexibility may not be appreciated by developers.
2. Overwhelming for Business Users. Business users may find the platform less user-friendly compared to some alternatives due to the complexity of Magento’s data model.
3. Challenging for Smaller Brands. Adobe Commerce/Magento may prove overwhelming for smaller brands that are less focused on advanced eCommerce features and are in need of developer support.

2. BigCommerce

BigCommerce focuses on meeting the deep functionality needs of B2B SMB organizations, particularly those lacking internal IT capabilities for designing and supporting eCommerce operations. However, it may not be the ideal choice for larger companies. With an underlying data model tailored for B2B organizations, BigCommerce can accommodate complex product mixes and variants, which is especially critical for B2B organizations, with some B2C organizations requiring similar features as well.

Despite its popularity among smaller merchants, the growing BigCommerce ecosystem and capabilities might prove limiting, necessitating the use of multiple add-ons. While the platform offers pre-baked integrations with POS and ERP systems, building an omnichannel architecture could pose challenges due to the number of required add-ons. Additionally, BigCommerce has limited headless capabilities. Nevertheless, it maintains its previous ranking due to its momentum.

Strengths

1. Deep Capabilities for B2B. BigCommerce’s underlying data model is designed to support the complex needs of B2B organizations dealing with intricate product mixes and variants.
2. User-Friendly. While catering to the needs of B2B organizations, the platform is not as overwhelming as some enterprise-grade alternatives, requiring less training for business users.
3. Flexible Pricing Options. BigCommerce provides companies with various pricing options at different stages of their journey.

Weaknesses

1. Limited Enterprise-grade Features. The core suite may lack certain enterprise-grade features such as product recommendations, digital asset management, and digital experimentation management, requiring additional add-ons and incurring extra costs.
2. Not Tailored for B2C Experiences. The distinct B2B data model might overwhelm companies primarily focused on B2C experiences, making it less suitable for such scenarios.
3. Pricing Structure. Companies disliking GMV-based pricing may find BigCommerce’s pricing model less appealing, especially if they have internal IT capabilities for support.

1. Shopify

Shopify caters to B2C SMB organizations with products that don’t require intricate configurations, making it ideal for brands seeking omnichannel and DTC experiences without heavy IT infrastructure investments or developer assistance. Its ecosystem is a significant advantage, offering diverse options, and the Hydrogen on Oxygen headless platform has gained favor among the development community.

However, Shopify’s drawback lies in transaction fees and the need for add-ons to access complex B2C and B2B features. Despite these considerations, its thriving ecosystem ensures it maintains the top rank.

Strengths

1. Simplicity for B2C. Shopify’s user-friendly data model suits B2C companies, providing flexibility and simplicity accommodating various payment providers and shipping options.
2. Omni-channel Commerce. With pre-integrated POS, Shopify facilitates seamless data and inventory sharing across digital and physical channels, enabling a hassle-free omnichannel experience without costly custom integrations.
3. Vibrant Ecosystem. Shopify boasts one of the most active developer ecosystems, heavily engaged in modern tech stacks and Javascript-based communities.

Weaknesses

1. B2B Limitations. Although Shopify recently introduced B2B capabilities, they may be limited and more suitable for companies supporting both business models. Industrial distribution companies might find these capabilities restrictive.
2. Transaction Fees. Companies uncomfortable with GMV-based pricing might perceive Shopify’s fee structure as unfavorable.
3. Enterprise-grade Features. Unlike competitors offering bundled enterprise features, Shopify requires add-ons or third-party products for digital asset and experience management.

Conclusion

Selecting an eCommerce platform poses challenges. A profound grasp of financials is essential for comprehending total ownership costs, coupled with the expertise of independent eCommerce consultants to estimate custom functionality efforts. Additionally, this decision impacts overall architecture and operational efficiency, necessitating a comprehensive approach to eCommerce platform selection.

FAQs

In the past, sales and marketing operations could suffice with ad-hoc tools like spreadsheets or siloed software. However, the complexity of today’s sales and marketing departments demands more. CRM workflows differ significantly across industries and business models. For a natural and seamless experience, your CRM needs to support the specific data model required for your industry. The power of CRM lies in its ability to gather high-quality data from various systems and make it easily accessible to salespeople. However, obtaining this data can be challenging, especially if the CRM’s data model significantly deviates from your customer hierarchies and transactions.

Furthermore, the boundaries between CRM, CMS, call center systems, e-commerce, and ERP are becoming increasingly blurred. Modern CRMs now incorporate functionalities that traditionally belonged to ERP or e-commerce systems. The CRMs also overlap substantially with CMS systems, which have traditionally been home-grown due to the custom development required to build unique customer-centric workflows, especially the industries that want to track and manage their digital interactions.

This intersection necessitates a clear definition of the roles and responsibilities of various systems involved in managing customer-centric workflows. Without a well-structured architecture, challenges in adoption and data integrity may arise. Although some CRM systems may showcase adaptability across industries, it’s crucial to acknowledge that the leading CRM systems, despite their market dominance, may not universally cater to every industry or business model. Consequently, selecting a CRM demands a thorough examination of your architecture and a comprehensive understanding of available solutions. To kickstart this process, consider exploring a list of the top CRM systems in 2024.

Criteria

1. Overall market share/# of customers. The higher the market share in the CRM market, the higher it ranks on our list.
2. Ownership/funding. The more commitment to the CRM offerings, the higher it ranks on our list.
3. Quality of development (legacy vs. legacy dressed as modern vs. modern UX/cloud-native). The more cloud-native capabilities, the higher it ranks on our list.
4. Community/Ecosystem. The larger the community with a heavy presence from CRM users, the higher it ranks on our list.
5. Depth of native functionality for specific industries. The deeper the publisher-owned out-of-the-box functionality, the higher it ranks on our list.
6. Quality of publicly available product documentation. The poorer the product documentation, the lower it ranks on our list. 
7. Ability to natively support diversified business models. The more diverse the product, the higher it ranks on our list.
8. Acquisition strategy aligned with CRM offerings. The more aligned the acquisitions are with CRM offerings, the higher they rank on our list.
9. User Reviews. The deeper the reviews for CRM offerings, the higher the score for a specific product.
10. Must be a CRM product. It can’t be a CRM integrated with an ERP (that enterprise software vendors can’t sell standalone). Must contain deep sales and marketing operations capabilities. For example, marketing automation, territory planning, and sales and marketing workflow management.

10. Oracle CX Cloud

Oracle CX Cloud incorporates various best-of-breed CRM components, including sales, marketing, service, content management, and advertising cloud. It is tailored for large B2C enterprises, specifically those in industries like communications, media, and financial services. With Oracle Commerce being discontinued, the scope of Oracle CX Cloud may be confined to fewer industries. 

The recent acquisition of Cerner, which serves as a customer-facing channel for the healthcare market, raises questions about Oracle’s continued investment in the CRM portfolio. Furthermore, Oracle has consistently pursued industries with substantial data and analytical workloads. Given the current economic landscape, healthcare emerges as a more lucrative market compared to commerce and customer experience. Consequently, Oracle CX may not receive equivalent attention within the company’s portfolio. Despite this, it maintains the #10 ranking on our list as an enterprise-grade solution for businesses seeking an integrated CRM experience.

Strengths: 

1. Marketing Automation and Ad Spend Tracking: Providing in-depth insights into customer behavior across various advertising platforms.
2. Content and Centralized Asset Management: These features are particularly crucial for content-intensive industries such as media and telecom.
3. Integration with Enterprise-grade CPQ and Sales Performance Management Tool: Offering a configurator for subscription-based offerings. This integration is especially beneficial for verticals like media and telecom. 

Weaknesses:

1. Clunky UI: Oracle has incorporated various systems into its CX portfolio to enhance its capabilities, making a seamless experience challenging.
2. Not as Strong B2B and Post-sales Capabilities: Oracle’s CRM falls short in post-sales CRM processes, particularly in B2B industries where pre-sales processes, such as manufacturing or distribution, are less extensive.
3. Not as Strong for Regulated and Audit-centric Industries: Additionally, Oracle CRM may face challenges in industries and regions with significant audit requirements, such as GDPR compliance and version control.

9. SAP C/4 HANA

SAP C/4 HANA, an integral part of the S/4 suite, offers a range of best-of-breed CRM options in the CX portfolio, including sales, marketing, commerce, customer experience, and service cloud. It caters primarily to large utility, finance, and public sector companies, especially those with deep regulatory workflow requirements within CRM processes. 

The recent spin-off of Qualtrics may suggest that SAP is not as committed to the CX portfolio. Moreover, SAP faces substantial challenges with newer entrants in the headless space to disrupt its commerce portfolio. Still a viable option for companies requiring tight integration with CPQ and configurator available through the Hybris portfolio, SAP C/4 HANA still maintains the same ranking as last year.

Strengths:

1. Integration with Gigya and Customer Data Cloud. Noteworthy strengths include consent and preferences with audit-ready capabilities for compliance workflows such as GDPR, CCPA, and LGPD. It also offers cross-channel personalization and identity management.
2. Integration with Other SAP S/4 HANA Products. Embedded experience because of the tight integration among SAP products is one of the biggest highlights of SAP C/4 HANA.
3. Integration with Enterprise-grade CPQ and Sales Performance Management Tool. Companies with enterprise-grade quoting, sales territory, and compensation management needs will find C/4 HANA appealing.

Weaknesses:

1. Marketing Automation. C/4 HANA lacks sophistication in pre-sales processes, including marketing automation.
2. Tight Integration with SAP Products. The data model may feel restrictive for sales and marketing teams seeking fluidity to focus on sales rather than operational details.
3. Inflexibility and Complexity of the Solution. Enterprise workflows like approval management, regulatory checks, and budgetary approvals may seem unnatural and complex for small to mid-size organizations seeking more straightforward CRM solutions.

8. Zendesk Sell

Zendesk Sell, an entry-level CRM among top CRM systems designed for companies utilizing ZenDesk for customer service and ticketing workflows, acquired these capabilities through the Base CRM acquisition. It targets smaller companies with under 10-15 employees, lacking mature CRM capabilities such as sales ops planning, marketing automation, and territory management. However, larger companies may find its capabilities limiting. 

Also, most enterprises exploring CRMs require custom development capabilities because of the unique customer experience and service workflows. So Zendesk would not be a fit for them seeking customizability as offered by other platforms such as Salesforce or HubSpot on this list. Zendesk maintains its ranking from the previous year, with no significant developments observed.

Strengths:

1. Simple Interface for Startups. Zendesk’s interface is appealing to users with straightforward CRM needs, especially for lead and opportunity tracking, resembling the look and feel of HubSpot and Close.io.
2. Easier Transition for Zendesk Users. Users of Zendesk will find it attractive due to the similar interface and the ability to create integration workflows between the two apps.
3. Easier Calling and Emailing Natively within the App. Zendesk’s design is user-friendly for sales development reps involved in multi-touch campaign execution and tracking directly within the app.

Weaknesses:

1. Zendesk Sell and Support are not tightly integrated. Despite being part of the Zendesk suite, Sell and Support apps lack tight integration, resulting in a disjointed experience and minimal data exchange between them.
2. Marketing Automation. Marketing automation capabilities in Zendesk CRM are not as robust, necessitating the use of third-party marketing automation software and an additional license.
3. Advanced CRM Capabilities. Zendesk CRM offers limited advanced features such as reporting, CSV import/export, and revenue operations planning.

7. Monday.Com

Monday.com is geared towards small companies already using it for project management and those with custom CRM workflow needs, such as real estate and non-profits. However, it may not be an ideal choice for companies that can easily find other options through a pre-built platform.

Implementing Monday.com internally would require a tighter governance process, especially if it is being used for cross-functional workflows. The fluidity of the platform might lead to business users’ overengineering process, leading to the creation of technical backlog and maintenance nightmares in the long term. Also, confidently predicting and estimating the final costs requires solution architecture expertise. The ranking for Monday.com remains unchanged from the previous year, with no significant developments observed.

Strengths:

• Better Customizability. Monday.com serves as a highly customizable technical platform, excelling in ad-hoc workflows and offering superior customization capabilities.
• Easily Build Automated Actions and Integration with Other Apps. Business users find it easy to construct automated actions for notifications and approval flows.
• Best for Industries Such as Real Estate and Non-profits. Industries like real estate and non-profits requiring flexibility for customized processes may find Monday.com suitable for their unique needs.

Weaknesses:

1. Risk of Over-Engineering Processes. While its customizability is beneficial for specific industries, there’s a risk of over-engineering processes, potentially impacting downstream workflows.
2. Primarily a Project Management Tool. Monday.com is fundamentally a project management tool, necessitating the construction of advanced CRM functionality and reports.
3. Data Integrity. Due to its technical nature, Monday.com may lack referential integrity between business objects, potentially leading to data integrity issues.

6. SugarCRM

SugarCRM caters to smaller companies seeking free or open-source software and those with specific CRM workflows. However, it may not be the best fit for larger companies in search of a robust CRM solution. SugarCRM maintains its ranking among top CRM systems, with no significant developments observed.

Strengths:

1. On-prem Option with the Community Edition. SugarCRM provides a community edition that can be hosted on-premises, making it favorable for companies with existing server infrastructure.
2. Ability to Build Ads Right from the Platform. SugarCRM stands out with features like the ability to build ads directly from the platform, streamlining the interface for companies managing ads without juggling multiple tools.
3. Great for Cost-sensitive Organizations. Cost-sensitive organizations with in-house developers benefit from SugarCRM, eliminating concerns about recurring licensing fees.

Weaknesses:

1. Clunky Interface. The interface lacks modernity, potentially hindering user adoption, particularly within sales teams.
2. Limited Reporting Capabilities. SugarCRM’s reporting capabilities are restricted, requiring significant investment in development and internal costs to generate reports.
3. Potential Higher Costs with the Community Edition. While the community edition doesn’t have a licensing fee, organizations are responsible for support, upgrades, patches, hosting, and security. Despite its cost-saving intent, it may end up being as expensive as SaaS options.

5. Pipedrive CRM

Pipedrive CRM is designed for smaller companies and solo founders with limited budgets seeking an entry-level CRM solution for customer interaction management. However, it may not be the best fit for larger companies with mature CRM processes requiring features like territory planning, quoting, and sales compensation management. Pipedrive CRM maintains its previous ranking among top CRM systems, with no significant developments noted.

Strengths:

1. Workflow Automation: Pipedrive CRM offers workflow automation capabilities that are beneficial for companies looking to minimize data entry and automate lead capture and nurturing processes.
2. Similar Look-and-feel as HubSpot: With a data model and user interface similar to HubSpot, Pipedrive CRM provides a familiar experience that aids sales teams, especially those less technically inclined.
3. Easy Customization of Reports and Goal Setting: Teams with limited technical proficiency will find Pipedrive’s reports easy to customize compared to more complex tools.

Weaknesses:

1. Weak Data Structure for Complex B2B Organizations: B2B organizations with intricate customer hierarchies may struggle to integrate with Pipedrive due to its weak data structure. Limitations in data model sharing for leads and contacts can pose challenges for larger companies.
2. Limited Data Import and Export Functionality: Companies seeking robust data import and export capabilities, especially for leads and opportunities from external systems, may find Pipedrive limiting.
3. Not Suitable for Larger Organizations: Pipedrive CRM may not meet the needs of larger organizations with deeper requirements for territory management, sales compensation, and approval workflows.

4. Zoho CRM

Zoho CRM is tailored for smaller professional services companies like marketing agencies, tech startups, and software development firms. It proves especially effective for those already utilizing Zoho for HCM or accounting purposes. However, it may not meet the advanced CRM needs of product-centric organizations. Zoho CRM maintains its previous ranking with no significant developments noted.

Strengths:

1. Data Model Similar to Salesforce: Zoho’s data model mirrors Salesforce’s, facilitating implementation and integration with systems like ERP that have complex customer masters.
2. Workflow for Data Quality: Zoho CRM includes a pre-packaged workflow builder, allowing teams with development expertise to construct intricate workflows. This aids in maintaining data hygiene and enhancing CRM adoption.
3. Zoho Creator: The inclusion of Zoho Creator, an app development platform in the suite, enables developers to swiftly integrate other software and create custom apps without relying on additional third-party tools.

Weaknesses:

1. Advanced CRM Features: Zoho CRM may not be suitable for large companies with regulatory, compliance, or planning needs due to its weaker out-of-the-box support for these capabilities.
2. Territory Management and Sales Team Planning: Zoho CRM lacks robust support for territory management and sales team planning compared to some of the other leading CRM solutions.
3. Limited Integration Options Outside of Zoho: While excelling within the Zoho ecosystem, integration options outside Zoho are limited. Connecting with other systems would require custom integration and development efforts.

3. HubSpot CRM

HubSpot CRM is a leading choice for smaller companies aiming for seamless integration of customer-centric workflows, covering essential CRM processes such as sales, service, CMS, and marketing automation. In contrast to Salesforce, HubSpot excels in user-friendliness and customization, even though it may not match the depth of customer and field service workflows or provide as many built-in custom objects for specific industries. 

However, this adaptability might pose challenges for companies unfamiliar with robust data and process governance. HubSpot CRM proves advantageous, especially for content-heavy B2B companies aiming for centralized management of digital marketing and sales channels. The recent acquisition of Clearbit further enhances HubSpot’s capabilities by integrating data and intelligence with core CRM processes, solidifying its position as the third-best CRM solution on our list.

Strengths:

1. Price: HubSpot CRM stands out for companies seeking a more affordable CRM option than Salesforce.
2. Marketing Automation and Omnichannel Tracking: One of the strongest marketing automation tools integrating all channels, including emails, social media, and the web.
3. Ecosystem: HubSpot boasts a strong ecosystem and seamless integration with other CRM systems, CMS platforms, and eCommerce tools for users focusing on marketing automation.

Weaknesses:

1. Weaker Data Model for B2B Businesses: The companies requiring ERP-like operational capabilities, including CPQ inside HubSpot, might struggle with the leaner object model of HubSpot.
2. Advanced CRM Features: HubSpot may not suit companies with deeper compliance, regulatory, and quoting needs, necessitating substantial development on top of the platform.
3. Territory Management and Sales Team Planning: The weaker data model makes it less suitable for industries requiring robust out-of-the-box capabilities for territory management and sales team planning, where referential data integrity is crucial for accurate CRM data.

2. Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM is designed for mid-to-large-sized companies, especially those leveraging other Microsoft products such as Dynamics 365 ERP. However, for smaller companies seeking data model fluidity, it may not be the ideal choice.

Microsoft secures the second-largest market share in the CRM space, following Salesforce. It particularly appeals to companies prioritizing robust operational capabilities within the CRM, including features like territory planning, global and centralized compliance, complex CPQ processes, and tight integration with project management workflows.

While Microsoft excels in supporting operational processes, its integration support may be limited to commerce and content management platforms, modern search technologies, headless platforms, data and intelligence providers, and centralized social media management platforms. Despite these considerations, Microsoft Dynamics CRM remains a formidable player in the CRM market, securing its position at #2 in our list of top CRM options.

Strengths:

1. Complex Business Object Support: Facilitates the creation of necessary permissions and approval flows crucial for larger, regulated enterprises.
2. Integrated Microsoft Ecosystem: With database-level replication and a shared common data model, integration with other Microsoft products is seamless.
3. Advanced Territory Management: The CRM comes pre-packaged with strong capabilities for advanced territory management and global sales compensation planning.

Weaknesses:

1. Less Fluid Data Model: Dynamics 365 CRM has tighter dependencies between objects, particularly regarding pricing, products, and their correlations with accounts, posing usability challenges compared to more flexible CRM systems.
2. CSV Import and Export Challenges: The platform lacks intuitive support for CSV import and export, making it less user-friendly for sales teams looking to import opportunities and leads from external systems.
3. Limited Marketing Automation: The marketing automation component in Dynamics 365 lacks strong ecosystem support with external CMS providers.

1. Salesforce CRM

Salesforce serves companies of all sizes, featuring a startup-friendly version and excelling in managing complex CRM workflows. While not always the ideal choice for entities with unique CRM processes, such as those in real estate or uniquely structured non-profit organizations, Salesforce comprehensively covers enterprise sales and marketing workflows throughout all phases—pre-sales, sales, and post-sales. The platform stands out for its depth in industry-specific sales and marketing processes, offering pre-populated layers of business objects without the need for custom development on vanilla platforms. 

The Salesforce ecosystem holds authority in headless and commerce spaces, positioning it as an ideal enterprise Cx platform for various industries. These strengths contribute to Salesforce CRM maintaining its #1 position on our list.

Strengths:

1. Robust Data Model for Varied CRM Needs: Salesforce boasts the most extensive data model, catering to the complex requirements of diverse industries and business models.
2. Specialized Capabilities in Telecom and Media: Salesforce stands out with advanced product and CPQ capabilities, particularly beneficial for industries like medical devices and telecom.
3. Comprehensive Product Portfolio and Ecosystem: Offering best-of-breed solutions across all CRM areas, including marketing automation, field services, and eCommerce.

Weaknesses:

1. Cost: Salesforce may have a higher price tag compared to other CRMs, making the per-seat cost more expensive.
2. Complex Customization Process: Customization in Salesforce may not be as intuitive as in other CRM systems, with a potentially complex and dated object model due to the mix of lightning and legacy interfaces.
3. Industry-Specific Limitations: While Salesforce excels in certain industries, it may not be the best fit for every sector, requiring deep collaboration with ERP systems.

Conclusion

As customer experience takes center stage in securing business deals, sales and marketing departments increasingly require advanced CRM capabilities. A comprehensive CRM is essential for maintaining a centralized view of customers throughout their journey, whether in the pre-sales or post-sales phase. Without a CRM offering a centralized workflow and interaction management platform, competing in today’s market conditions can pose significant challenges.

The choice of CRM directly influences your enterprise architecture. Therefore, selecting a CRM that aligns with your business model and enterprise architecture is paramount for the success of digital transformation initiatives. If you’re currently evaluating CRM systems, consider the points highlighted above in addition to the expertise of independent CRM consultants. This list aims to assist you in narrowing down suitable options for your needs. 

FAQs

Enterprise architecture is more than a technical concept. But what is enterprise architecture? Think of enterprise architecture as the connected business systems that drive your operational processes with four primary perspectives. 1) business architecture, 2) process architecture, 3) data/information architecture, and 4) system architecture. Generally, most industries have two choices when building their architecture. They can either buy a system or build it themselves. But regardless of whether you buy or build, your enterprise architecture is equally important.

Also, some people might feel that ERP might be the answer to all of their system issues. They might also feel that enterprise architecture is only relevant for larger companies. However, even ERP systems require a well-defined architecture around them. So, regardless of the organization’s size, the lack of architecture results in ERP implementation failure. As well as poor adoption of digital initiatives and unforeseeable business disruptions. Understanding the enterprise architecture and each system’s role is crucial for your digital journey. In this article, we have covered major systems that your architecture might need as you grow.

10. Project Management

• Which companies need to include PM as part of their enterprise architecture? In general, your enterprise architecture may not require project management software unless you execute these projects for your core business operations. For example, the ad-hoc engineering projects executed to improve processes or a CapEx building would not be part of your enterprise architecture. In other words, they can remain siloed. As far as the scope of enterprise architecture goes, these projects are applicable to businesses that sell them as their core offerings. These businesses include marketing agencies, defense contractors, sign manufacturers, or construction supply manufacturers.

• Why do you need project management software? Generally, most project-centric organizations seem to be human-resources-driven. And these projects need to be estimated accurately and monitored throughout the process to avoid financial loss. So this is the core reason why PM software is critical for these organizations. 
• Who needs to interact with project management software? Most commonly, these projects typically serve many different stakeholders. It could include the subject matter experts or individual contributors. It could also include project managers, estimators, and financial executives interested in the financial health of the project. 
• Which capabilities do you need in the project management software? Typically, the capabilities crucial in project management software include resource scheduling, project governance, procurement, and timesheet management. You might also choose to go for packages such as timesheet software vs. project collaboration software.
• What are the different options for project management software? Generally, there are two choices for project management software. For example, it can be standalone software or integrated with financials. In the startup phase, you might be OK with keeping it standalone. But as your project volume and scheduling complexity grow, you might need an option natively integrated with your financials.

9. Data Warehouse/Data Lake

• Which companies need to include data warehouses as part of their enterprise architecture? Generally, most SMB companies might not include a data warehouse in their architecture. Because the operational systems crucial for their workflow take priority. However, once you have multiple systems in your architecture and struggle to get 360 degrees of your business due to the disparate data sources, you might need to include it in your architecture.
• Why do you need data warehouse software? Typically, companies require a data warehouse when they need to consolidate insights from multiple systems, external or internal. Moreover, the drivers for data warehouses could be regulatory or forecasting. As well as for enabling decision support systems. It can also help them with historical data that is unavailable through their operational systems. Historical data typically gets lost when operational systems are replaced.
• Who needs to interact with data warehouse software? In general, there are several stakeholders for data warehouse software. But the primary consumer would either be a BI tool. Or data scientists who might further augment the data and feed it back to the BI tool.
• Which capabilities do you need in the data warehouse software? Depending upon the use case, several technologies are available to build a data warehouse or lake. But the most basic ones would be a separate data store. As well as ETL technology to move data nightly. The ETL technology helps avoid the impact on the operational performance due to the overhead exerted by the ETL pull.
• What are the different options for data warehouse software? Generally, there are numerous technologies available to build data warehouses. But the easiest one would be to rent data warehouse capabilities, available through major cloud providers such as Azure, AWS, or GCP.

8. Business Intelligence (BI, S&OP, CPM, and ODP)

• Which companies need to include business intelligence as part of their enterprise architecture? Typically, companies need business intelligence systems such as S&OP, CPM, and operational data platforms. They need it when they might have business performance issues such as inventory, cash flow, or waste in the manufacturing process. However, these systems are often siloed in SMB organizations unless offered pre-integrated with the ERP, etc. But as the complexity of your architecture and systems increase, you might need to integrate them.

• Why do you need business intelligence software? Mostly, these analytical systems have pre-built workflows. These workflows can augment your datasets or allow additional dimensions such as seasonality to be added. They might also provide you with insights that might be harder with operational systems. It might be harder due to the rigidness of their data structure and impact on operations. In general, the role of business intelligence is to provide interactive analytics from data that you may have in your data warehouse.
• Who needs to interact with business intelligence software? The consumers of business intelligence software are typically business users who need additional insights and KPIs for their workflow.
• Which capabilities do you need in the business intelligence software? Generally, the main capabilities required in business intelligence software would be interactive analytics. And the analytical workflows to facilitate collaboration among business users.
• What are the different options for business intelligence software? Typically, several options are available, with some offering their internal data store for the temporary storage of interim datasets. And the options could also be function specific. For example, a separate tool might be available for S&OP. Or the tool may offer connected planning as part of the suite.

7. Integration Technologies

• Which companies need to include integration technologies as part of their enterprise architecture? Unless you have siloed systems or maintain everything in one system without additional channels, you may require an iPaaS. On the other hand, workflow collaboration would be an additional layer on top of the core operational architecture. You need it to enable master data control and ad-hoc workflows. Generally, Workflow collaboration tools don’t impact the enterprise architecture as much unless they are overused or overengineered.

• Why do you need integration technologies? Essentially, integration technologies allow you to keep all your integration code in one place. Without an iPaaS, your choice would be to keep the integration code inside the source or destination system. And due to the additional overhead required, this choice may be more expensive to maintain over time. They might also be prone to bugs as the source and destination systems upgrade their interfaces. Additionally, the integration technologies allow safeguards if systems operate at different speeds.
• Who needs to interact with integration technologies? Mainly, the integration technologies are used by developers or admins who need to ensure that integration flows work as expected.
• Which capabilities do you need in the integration technologies? In general, the integration technologies must support various integration patterns such as HTTP, FTP, or Queue-based. It must also allow building an orchestration layer to transform and massage data in different formats.

• What are the different options for integration technologies? Generally, there are several options available depending on the budget and capabilities. For example, if the company doesn’t want to utilize an iPaaS, they might host integration code in their existing data center or write it inside the source or destination system.

6. Manufacturing Software/MES

• Which companies need to include manufacturing software as part of their enterprise architecture? Typically, These systems are applicable to manufacturing companies. They might use a separate MES system or a collection of tools that might serve a similar function as an MES. They also need a MES system if they have real-time integration with machines. We also need to collect and process operational data to optimize shop floor workflow. On the other hand, CAD, engineering, and R&D software typically have minimum impact on the enterprise architecture. The only cases where they might have an impact are when they need to be integrated with the operational flow to minimize data entry.

• Why do you need manufacturing software? Since the shop floor is the primary cost driver for manufacturing companies, they need different tools to improve shop floor productivity. As the maturity of the shop floor and the order volume increase, they might need to integrate their shop floor technologies more.
• Who needs to interact with manufacturing software? Typically, the primary stakeholders are plant floor users, supervisors, and manufacturing executives who need them for their operational workflow. 
• Which capabilities do you need in the manufacturing software? In general, the shop floor capabilities might include scheduling and in-process inspections. As well as real-time integration and control of the machines, and engineering and R&D workflows.
• What are the different options for manufacturing software? Mostly, the options could be siloed manufacturing software if your accounting function is completely siloed and disconnected from operations. It could also include an MES in conjunction. With an ERP, or a standalone manufacturing ERP (depending upon the company’s operational complexity).

5. Supply Chain Software (P2P, WMS, and TMS)

• Which companies need supply chain software? It would depend upon your business model. If you have an extremely busy warehouse, WMS might be the first system you might introduce even before an ERP system. As the complexity of your business grows and order volume increases, you will be adding several specialized systems to your enterprise architecture, including TMS and P2P. Generally, systems such as strategic sourcing may not have as much impact on the enterprise architecture and can remain siloed.

• Why do you need supply chain software? Most ERP systems may not be as efficient for warehouse or transportation operations. For example, suppose the out-of-the-box processes of ERP aren’t sufficient to meet the desired efficiency. Or integration requirements with warehouse equipment. In that case, you might need a specialized warehouse or transportation system.
• Who needs to interact with supply chain software? Generally, the primary consumer of the supply chain systems would be warehouse operators and supervisors, logistics managers, and operations executives.
• Which capabilities do you need in the supply chain software? The capabilities could be as simple as barcode scanning, rate shopping, or full-blown supply chain control tower capabilities to monitor the entire supply chain.
• What are the different options for supply chain software? You have several options for supply chain management, with some software offering end-to-end traceability, including any exceptions as goods move through the supply chain. However, as the system complexity increases, you might need to select a specialized system for each area of the supply chain where you might have the most issues in your processes.

4. Human Capital Management

• Which companies need to include human capital management as part of their enterprise architecture? Most companies start with essential payroll software that might be clubbed with an accounting system. However, as the number of employees grows in the organization and depending upon the criticality of human resources and compliance needs, you might need a specialized HCM system. The HR and HCM systems can remain siloed for SMBs as they don’t impact the enterprise architecture much. However, the integration may be required if you have HCM processes embedded as part of your operation flow, such as sales comp calculation.
• Why do you need human capital management software? They need a specialized HCM system to meet each state and country’s compliance and reporting requirements. Generally, HR managers have one of the most complex recruiting, onboarding, and learning workflows, which drives the need for a specialized HCM system.
• Who needs to interact with human capital management software? The primary consumers of the HCM systems are employees, HR managers, and finance executives. 
• Which capabilities do you need in the human capital management software? The capabilities of an HCM system could include onboarding, training, skill development, performance management, and recruiting.
• What are the different options for human capital management software? The options for HR and HCM could include simple payroll software or a full-blown HCM system to manage the needs of the entire HR department.

3. E-commerce and POS Platforms

• Which companies need to include digital commerce as part of their enterprise architecture? Most companies selling products or services through retail locations or virtually would require several tools to enable their sales process. For example, if the order volume is too low, they might process the orders directly in the ERP or accounting software. 

• Why do you need digital commerce software? If digital is your primary customer acquisition channel, you need tools designed to be efficient for the channel. For example, a POS system is designed for faster processing at retail locations. eCommerce platforms, on the other hand, have several capabilities tailored to the needs of digitally-savvy customers.
• Who needs to interact with digital commerce software? These tools are primarily used by the sales and marketing teams to interact with and find customers.
• Which capabilities do you need in digital commerce software? At a minimum, you need a content and commerce management system that allows you to build a decent web presence and optimize the site for search engines. Then, you might have more robust needs, such as digital asset management and a digital experience platform. It will also provide a product information management system to support experiences such as buy-online-pickup-in-store and omnichannel.
• What are the different options for digital commerce software? There are several options available depending upon the digital maturity of the organization. As you grow your digital presence and revenue, you will be including specialized software such as product information management or digital experience management.

2. ERP and Accounting Software

• Which companies need to include ERP as part of their enterprise architecture? The companies need an ERP system when siloed systems become a bottleneck to their growth and require substantial admin efforts to enter data in multiple systems. Companies that might be below $10 million in revenue might be able to manage without a fully integrated ERP. 

• Why do you need ERP software? The ERP systems are designed for a cross-departmental operational workflow where the alignment of multiple functions such as sales, finance, procurement, and operations is necessary to deliver goods and services timely. And the ERP systems offer cross-departmental insights and KPIs that would be inaccurate and require substantial efforts with siloed systems.
• Who needs to interact with ERP software? Everyone who touches the operational core, including sales, operations, finance, and procurement, might interact with an ERP system. 
• Which capabilities do you need in the ERP software? At a minimum, an ERP system could include sales order processing, AR, AP, GL, purchase order processing, cost accounting, manufacturing, and project management. ERP systems typically don’t have operational capabilities for HR, marketers, and sales. Instead, they might use specialized software that integrates with ERP, such as HCM or CRM, for their operational workflow.
• What are the different options for ERP software? There are several options available as the maturity of an organization grows, starting from essential accounting software to full-blown ERP systems. These systems might be able to manage most operational workflows where departments might overlap financially.

1. Customer Relationship Management

• Which companies need to include CRM as part of their enterprise architecture? The smaller companies start with a standalone CRM system to manage their customer interactions until the point of order processing. Then, as the order volume grows, the CRM must be integrated with the ERP and eCommerce systems. 

• Why do you need CRM software? CRM systems manage the entire workflow for sales and marketers during the pre-sales process. It starts with marketing automation, lead follow-up, and opportunity tracking. As well as quoting, customer journey builder, and marketing spend tracking. And finally, sales planning and forecasting, as well as territory management, are important.
• Who needs to interact with CRM software? The primary consumer of CRM software is sales and marketing teams.
• Which capabilities do you need in the CRM software? When you start, a small CRM with primary lead distribution and account tracking capabilities may be sufficient. But as you grow, you need more advanced marketing automation, territory planning, and quote management capabilities.

• What are the different options for CRM software? Several options are available, starting from standalone software for CRM and marketing automation. But as you grow, you will need at least the entire sales and marketing function to be integrated with at least light integration with the ERP system. 

Conclusion

With these systems, you are touching the surface of the complexity of enterprise architecture. As the technologies mature and operational complexity increases with ever-growing customer expectations, the enterprise architecture will likely play a more significant role in the enterprise system design.

So when you are looking at a new system next time, think about how the system might fit in the architecture. And what you need to do to ensure that the data integrity across your enterprise architecture is maintained. And hopefully, this post has given you some insights into how each system fits into the digital architecture.

FAQs