Welcome to episode 36 of the Technology in Human Services podcast. In this episode I speak with Alexander Lapa. You’ve heard about CRMs (Customer or Constituent Management Systems). You may even have one at your organization. But few of us use them to their full potential. In this conversation Alexander provides useful information about CRMs, with a focus on Salesforce. We talk about why, even if you use outside consultants to develop your CRM, building internal skills, staff roles, and capacity is essential for success. While Alexander is a Salesforce consultant, our conversation covers general CRM concepts, strategies, and topics. If you’re interested but unsure about the place a CRM can fit into your work, I think you’ll find this a useful and practical conversation. Some questions we discussed: * Can you tell us a bit about yourself, your background, and what brought you to the work you’re doing now as a Salesforce Architect & Advisor?* What is a CRM and what should folks know about them?* How can a CRM be the digital front door for an organization providing community and social services?* What staff skills or roles should an organization be thinking about if they want to make full use of a CRM?* How can CRMs be used to gather and analyze useful data and information about clients and communities?* Some CRMs like Salesforce are more than just client and data management and tracking systems. How can someone use Salesforce or another CRM to track a client journey through the organization, include case management, community management, volunteer management, even marketing and social media engagement, and have features that allow you to automate prompts and notifications for both staff and clients to take specific actions, interact with other systems in their organization, etc.? What is the benefit of having all of this in one system?* Interoperability is something we hear a lot about. Can you tell me a bit about what it means and how it can and should be used with a CRM like Salesforce. For example, sharing data between systems within the organization, but also with external referrals, as well as easily sharing information or reports with funder systems. How can a CRM be implemented to create warm referrals and share data with partner organizations so clients don’t have to tell their story again and again?* Many CRMs offer nonprofit pricing and discounts. But what kind of budget, initial, development (no CRM comes perfectly out of the box), and ongoing costs (licensing, development, etc.) should organizations plan for and funders expect to see in budget requests? Some useful resources: * Alexander’s consulting site – Dryad Consulting* His Podcast – Agents of Nonprofit* Connect with him on LinkedIn* Salesforce for Nonprofits* Trailhead – Salesforce’s learning site* Client Management Solutions For IRCC-Funded Settlement Agencies (2022)