RealTown's RealTalk

At 8:36 AM -0800, 12/11/08, Gary David Hall wrote:
 

>That scenario is considerably different than a
>Web based CRM provider actually compromising
>their user's databases by selling the database,
>or soliciting to it. If they did that - their
>business would be over! It's that pure and
>simple. They would be found out in short order,
>and their business would be done. For what? For
>a few measly dollars that they could get for the
>sale of that data. I'm sorry - I just don't see
>it. Is it possible? Sure. Is it probable? Most
>certainly not. It takes a great deal of time and
>effort to develop and market a CRM solution. To
>then sacrifice all of that for such a minimal
>gain would be sheer lunacy.
 

What you are addressing is the company deciding
to steal the data as a business plan. What most
often happens is some low level, hourly paid,
unhappy tech in their company decides that he can
make some additional money by selling all of the
data that he has in his control. This is then
done without any knowledge by the company
officers.

OK - lets address that eventuality. The odds are still extremely slim, and again, after 5 years, it has not yet happened. One of the reasons that it probably has not happened is that it is quite likely that there are safeguards in place to prevent it. Once again, because by not doing so, they risk going out of business. Also, please note that I am not necessarily espousing the use of Web based solutions. I personally use a desktop solution. MY point is that if you know yourself, and know that you will not back up, then a Web based solution is a strong consideration. Personally I always thought that using a Web based solution BECAUSE one is too lazy/disorganized/irresponsible to backup is pretty lame. But it is reality.

>Secondly - people are concerned that their
>online database will simply be hacked, and
>marketed to. Is this possible? Sure. Is it
>probable? With no statistical data to support
>this supposition whatsoever, my guess would be
>that it's about as likely as your personal hard
>drive being hacked, and having your database
>stolen from it.
 

The difference is that my personal hard drives
contains hundreds of leads rather than hundreds
of thousands that the online company will have
access to. The incentive and reward are on a
different scale.

True - but still offers very little value, and again, is likely safeguarded, as evidenced by that fact that it has yet to happen.

>With regards to an online solution simply losing
>your data; they always have at least one
>redundant set of servers - a backup. That said,
>my advice has always been to do a monthly export
>of your data from a Web based solution. This
>leaves nothing to chance.
 

The majority of users are not backing up their
local hard drive. And now you expect a greater
percentage of users are going to go through the
work of backing up their remotely, protected data
that is far more cumbersome to access as it is
remote and programs are not designed to do this
automatically? Ain't gunna happen. Not in the
real world.

I didn't say that I would expect that it would happen - I wouldn't. I said I recommend that one does. And you are correct that most people do not back up their hard drive properly. I also said that in my original post, which you did not include here. Which is to say that you are arguing FOR those people to have an online solution, BECAUSE they do not back up, which is also what I said. You can't have it both ways. Web based and desktop have their pros and cons.

To say that it is "far more cumbersome" is misleading. True - that it can not be done automatically, but to do one export a month is far from overly burdensome. Again - I agree that it will likely not be done, only that I suggest it should be.

>contact managers/CRM solutions who "hold your
>data hostage". EACH SOLUTION IS VERY DIFFERENT
>WITH REGARDS TO HOW MUCH DATA THEY MAKE
>AVAILABLE FOR EXPORT. My apologies for shouting,
>but this is one of the most overblown
>misconceptions in the industry. The answer to
>quelling that fear is simply to find out, before
>you decide on a solution, exactly which, and how
>many, fields are available for export from your
>chosen solution.
 

The analysis of exported data is beyond the
capabilities of most users. As data will likely
be kept in multiple tables, with indexed fields
being used for links between tables, the manual
re-entry of this data will likely be required if
the data had been held in SQL databases as it
will so often be.

You are over complicating my point. The original point, was that in most cases, the BASIC information, which is far and away the most important to most agents, can be gotten easily, and imported into a new solution easily. Too many agents have been led to believe that that is not the case; a message you seem to be trying to perpetuate here.

What data is available to be retained in what format, and how safe the data is, are two aspects out of hundreds to be considered when looking at Contact Management/CRM Solutions. Two of the bigger ones granted, but only two. There are several solutions which are capable of exporting literally every single field of data you put into it. But as you pointed out, much of it is effectively useless, as it can not be opened in much other than a spreadsheet. So how much is enough? It's up to the individuals needs, and what solution they are moving from, and to, and for what reasons.

>Also consider weighting what data is most
>important to you. As long as you have the
>primary contact information, you have your
>inventory. As long as you have your sphere of
>influence's names, addresses, phone numbers, and
>e-mail addresses, you have far and away the most
>important information. Everything beyond that
>may seem absolutely necessary, but if you think
>about it, not having it would be a nuisance, but
>it would not put you back to square one, as
>losing your inventory would.
 

Anything I've taken the time to enter, I want the
privilege of having use of. Nothing less should
be accepted.

Nothing less need be accepted by you. That is your opinion and you are welcome to it, as are we all. The information available for export from each individual solution varies. What kinds of information some consider vital, others may decide is an acceptable loss/sacrifice for other benefits derived from that particular solution.