Executive Summary

  • This article is part of our honest vendor series, which is one of the only ratings of vendors rather than applications.

Introduction

Base CRM is a young and small new CRM vendor. They are currently roughly 100 people. Base specializes in small clients. However, this is because this is how new software vendors start. From what we can tell, there is no reason larger companies could not use base CRM, but it will take some time before Base CRM’s profile grows enough to interest these types of customers.

Quality of Information Provided

The information provided by Base CRM’s website is accurate. Information provided by things like the Base CRM implementation guide is entirely correct.

https://blog.getbase.com/quick-start-crm-implementation-guide

Recommendations from this guide include the f­­­­ollowing:

  1. Start slow using a bottom-up approach
  2. Outline just a few KPIs and identify sales activities that go along with them.
  3. Use Base’s Deal Importer to migrate sales data
  4. Keep the documentation simple
  5. Make the executives use it

This is all quite good advice. Another example is found in 5 Myths About CRM Software.

https://blog.getbase.com/5-myths-about-crm-software

“Customer relationship management software is often viewed as a necessary evil. It is the something that is better than nothing, yet thought of as expensive, underutilized and fragmented.”

That is 100% true. However, most CRM vendors will not tell you this. Base CRM does.

“Your CRM should be no different. If you only needed a simple repository of contact information, you’d use an address book. Your CRM must be more than that. Your CRM should add structure to your sales funnel and help your team track and close more deals. One great way to gauge the utility of your CRM is to look closely at how your team is using it. Your CRM should allow you to generate reports based on CRM activity. Not only will reports give you a clear picture of how your CRM is being used, it can also tell you a lot about where your sales approach is succeeding and in what ways it is failing. One promise of the CRM is that it empowers you to make data-driven decisions. Numbers don’t lie and your CRM should prove its worth with a solid ROI.”

Again, also valid, but many software vendors would be happy to charge you for a full CRM system, while it is only used as a glorified address book. Base CRM seems to want to differentiate itself from these types of software vendors. (are you listening to Oracle?)

Much of the information provided by the Base CRM website seems genuinely directed towards helping customers and prospects better implement and use CRM. This has been a consistent result of our research in the enterprise software space that the best software vendors not only focus on the technology but understand the subject matter better and have deeper insights than other CRM software vendors.

As for other areas of information provided by Base CRM, we do not have enough information to say one way or another.

Consulting and Support

We rate Base CRM as better than average in both consulting and support.

Internal Efficiency

Base CRM has developed an excellent product, with a few numbers of resources. This says good things about their internal efficiency.

Innovation

The Current Innovation Level of Base CRM is high. We expect continued innovation from Base CRM.

Vendor Scores

Honest Vendor Ratings

Search for the vendor in this table using the search bar in the upper right of the table. Shortening Key: 
  • VC = Vendor Consulting
  • VS = Vendor Support
  • QIP = Quality of Information Provided
  • IE = Internal Efficiency
  • I = Innovation
  • C = Category
  • ACS = Average Category Score
VendorVCVSQIPIEICACG
Average Score for the BI Heavy Software Category6.45.35.14.54.4BI HeavyCategory Average
Average Score for the BI Light Software Category7.76.756.36.8BI LightCategory Average
Average Score for the CRM Software Category5.24.44.33.43.4CRMCategory Average
Average Score for the PLM Software Category7.37.56.36.26.3PLMCategory Average
Average Score for the Production Planning Software Category7.36.765.25.7Production PlanningCategory Average
Average Score for the Small and Medium ERP Software Category7.36.76.36.75.9Small and Medium ERPCategory Average
Average Score for the Supply Planning Software Category7.56.76.15.55.6Supply PlanningCategory Average
Average Score Score for the Demand Planning Software Category7.76.96.66.16.1Demand PlanningCategory Average
Average Score for the Big ERP Software Category4.73.82.72.22.6Big ERPCategory Average
Actuate77865BI HeavyApplication Specific
Arena Solutions91010810PLMApplication Specific
AspenTech43437Production PlanningApplication Specific
Base CRM88997CRMApplication Specific
Birst8888.59BI HeavyApplication Specific
Business Forecast Systems991098Demand PlanningApplication Specific
Delfoi888.548Production PlanningApplication Specific
Demand Works99101010Supply PlanningApplication Specific
ERPNext888.5109Small and Medium ERPApplication Specific
FinancialForce10109109.5FinancialApplication Specific
Hamilton Grant89.589.58PLMApplication Specific
Intacct1010999.5FinancialApplication Specific
Intuit88966.5FinancialApplication Specific
JDA3.53422Demand PlanningApplication Specific
Microsoft45211Small and Medium ERPApplication Specific
MicroStrategy87777BI HeavyApplication Specific
NetSuite65644CRMApplication Specific
OpenERP788.587Small and Medium ERPApplication Specific
Oracle52111ManyApplication Specific
PlanetTogether91081010Supply PlanningApplication Specific
Preactor787.533Production PlanningApplication Specific
ProcessPro1089109Small and Medium ERPApplication Specific
QlikTech87589.5CRMApplication Specific
Salesforce73866CRMApplication Specific
SAS971077Demand PlanningApplication Specific
SugarCRM44553CRMApplication Specific
Tableau101091010BI LightApplication Specific
Teradata98.58.568BI HeavyApplication Specific
ToolsGroup1010999Demand PlanningApplication Specific
SAP53111ManyApplication Specific

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Software Selection Package for CRM