A distribution company based in Dubai last month asked whether to implement Salesforce or to design a custom CRM system. It had a unique complexity in its sales process, which included multi-tier distributor relationships and pricing by region. According to Salesforce consultants, the approximate cost of implementation and customization was 800,000 dirhams, and a development company offered to construct the necessary solution at 600,000 dirhams.
The decision could not be seen solely on the basis of the budget. Flexera statistics reveal that 60 percent of organisations use managed service providers when implementing cloud solutions, and this points to the fact that a build-versus-buy calculation requires variables other than initial investments. When a mid-sized business in the UAE weighs CRM options, its preferred option depends on the maturity of the business, the intricacy of business processes, technical capacity, and long-term strategic goals.
The structure that follows has been created to guide UAE companies in this decision, along with the observation of various successful and unsuccessful executions of the same across the Gulf Region.
When Salesforce is the Right Choice for UAE Businesses
Salesforce is beneficial when organisations have a known enterprise functionality that they need promptly and can not match their processes with conventional CRM trends. Such UAE companies are mostly mid-sized and have a simple sales process, expect to grow significantly, and do not have many technical teams.
Standard B2B sales operations are incorporated into Salesforce. Salesforce is able to handle such cases when a sales cycle includes leads, opportunities, quotations, and deals that need a specific sequence of steps, but which do not require customization. Companies that sell professional services, technology, or standard products to business clients find that Salesforce packages up their processes into the service.
Salesforce is popular in the rapid deployment timelines. Basic Salesforce implementation can be in place in six to eight weeks, and the custom development may take four to six months. The faster access to production Salesforce enjoys among the UAE businesses that require a CRM system immediately to sustain growth or replace low-quality legacy systems.
The ecosystem of integration is quite beneficial. Through native integrations and the AppExchange marketplace, Salesforce is connected to thousands of business applications. The UAE companies that are using the same tools to market, account, support customers, or do e-commerce gain instant benefits of integration that would require the creation of a custom CRM initially.
Also read: Cloud Repatriation in the Gulf: When to Move Back
In which situations does a Custom CRM suit the Gulf Organizations?
The system of custom CRM is the best option when business procedures are unique in nature. Salesforce customization is costly as compared to custom development, and strategic control of the platform is central. This situation is more prevalent in Gulf markets than it is in the world in general.
Complex and non-standard processes are not easily adapted using Salesforce. The UAE companies that run multi-level distributor networks, project-based revenue models, or relationship-driven sales processes without an opportunity to map them to standard opportunity stages often experience rising customization expenses. Custom work. The longer the consultants estimate the customization work to be, the more economically attractive custom development will be.
The need to have custom solutions is based on industry-specific needs. Real-estate developers tracking the inventory of units, construction companies managing the relations with subcontractors, healthcare institutions managing the work with patient consent, or governmental contractors needing a security clearance can often be served by the functionality that Salesforce does not offer well, unless heavily customized.
Attitudes of data sovereignty and compliance are sometimes biased towards custom deployment. Gulf organisations with strict localisation of data requirements, government security requirements, or industry-specific compliance regimes can discover that a bespoke CRM implemented in approved institutions presents a more obvious compliance route than Salesforce’s multi-tenant architecture.
The long term costs change in case of high numbers of users. The per-user licensing of Salesforce is cumulative. Companies with expectations of over two hundred users within a period of five years tend to find that the overall cost of ownership of custom CRM is comparatively less than Salesforce, although the development cost is greater. Break-even is normally experienced in the second and third years with regard to large user bases.
Decision Framework of UAE Mid-Sized Business.
We guide UAE customers on a dimensional analysis, which considers additional aspects that go beyond the initial cost. This framework helps businesses to make decisions that they do not regret in the two years to come.
The prospect of process standardisation is an indicator of the appropriateness of Salesforce. Is your sales process able to fit against the common CRM patterns without undermining business effectiveness? Assuming that the answer is in the affirmative, then Salesforce would be right. On the contrary, when your competitive advantage lies in the uniqueness of the processes, a custom CRM is worth taking into consideration.
The feasibility of building is assessed by an assessment of technical capability. Does your organisation have developers, or have the funds to hire developers, to do maintenance? Are you able to control infrastructure and security, as well as updates? The absence of technical capability and the following budget make a tailor-made CRM risky, no matter how well it fits at first.
The developmental path determines the choice of the platform. Salesforce can easily grow infinitely and introduce functionality through the AppExchange, which suits the fast-moving growth strategy. Companies whose requirements are predictable and stable prefer the lower long-term price and increased control of a custom CRM.
The importance of CRM information and functionality is strategic. Control, obtained by a tailor-made CRM, is reasonable when customer information and sales processes are potential strategic resources providing a competitive edge. In situations where the CRM acts as operational infrastructure in the standard processes, the managed approach by Salesforce is efficient.
Related blog: Why UAE Enterprises Keep Choosing the Hybrid Cloud Strategy
Realized Implementation Results in the UAE
A review of the implementation of the Gulf CRM over a period of years shows trends that are not highlighted by spreadsheets.
A company in Abu Dhabi that offers professional services adopted Salesforce, although it has a distinctive project-based workflow. A heavy amount of customization took 8 months and cost 1.2 million dirhams. After two years, the company faces challenges in upgrades that destroy customisations and completely relies on consultants who are very expensive to carry out changes. They would have been better served by a tailor-made CRM.
The Dubai technology distributor has also built a bespoke, complex, multi-tier channel management CRM. The first development was technically a success. Three years later, the development team had left, the documentation was poor, and nobody had enough knowledge of the codebase to make any changes safely. It would have been supported by Salesforce together with the partners of AppExchange, which would have been sustainable.
One of the Saudi-based retail chains utilized Salesforce to make the simplest B2B sales on top of its stores. Implementation took three months, adoption was easy, and six months later, the organisation implemented marketing automation through native integration. This is an example of a Salesforce success textbook.
A UAE-based construction company created a tailor-made CRM that is based on project management and coordination of subcontractors. The system has developed with the business, was entrenched with project accounting, and it became a competitive advantage. The company is still five years on, and at that time, it still considers it the best technology investment in its company.
Choosing the Right Solution for Your Business
The Salesforce or home-made CRM issue over mid-sized companies in the UAE rarely gives a straightforward answer using only analysis. The two have the ability to excel under the right settings but fail miserably when used inappropriately.
At Blesssphere, we will help the businesses of the Gulf to evaluate the options of CRM according to their particular conditions, instead of using the best practices that are generic. We have deployed both Salesforce and developed CRM in organisations within the UAE, and we have an insight ointowhat is predictive of success when using each strategy.
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