Choosing a CRM¶
An organisation choosing a CRM today will probably ask an AI assistant for advice before it talks to anyone. That conversation can lead somewhere useful: the organisation's own AI assistant as its first CiviCRM guide, from "is this right for us?" to a working set-up, with implementers brought in at the right moments.
The journey¶
flowchart LR
F["Is it right<br/>for us?"] --> H["Getting it<br/>running"] --> S["Set up<br/>for us"] --> D["Bring our<br/>data in"] --> O["Day one"] --> G["Growing"]
click F "#stages" "Stages"
click S "#stages" "Stages"Stages¶
| Stage | The question | What the AI could do | Capability | Where an expert comes in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Is it right for us? | "We're a 5-person food bank. Would CiviCRM work?" | Explain fit honestly, including when it isn't the right choice, from CiviCRM's own docs | C10 | Complex or unusual needs |
| Getting it running | "How do we get CiviCRM running?" | Compare hosted options and self-hosting for the organisation's budget and skills | C10 | Custom or high-volume hosting |
| Set up for us | "We run a membership programme and two annual events." | Propose a starter configuration, preview it, apply it on confirmation | C5, C6 | Anything beyond a starter kit |
| Bring our data in | "Here's our donor spreadsheet." | Map columns to fields, flag problems, run the import with a preview | C7 | Migrations from another CRM |
| Day one | "How do I record a donation?" | Answer from the docs and the organisation's own configuration | C2, C10 | Training |
| Growing | "We need online payments and tax receipts." | Explain the options and their trade-offs, and recommend expert help | C11 | Payments, receipting, integrations |
The first two stages need no CiviCRM installed at all, so they depend on a knowledge service over CiviCRM's documentation and directories, most likely on civicrm.org, rather than on an extension.
What has to be true¶
- Every stage works with any capable AI assistant, not a single vendor's.
- Previews protect beginners. A new organisation can't judge a configuration change it doesn't understand, so the preview has to explain the change in plain language.
- The AI is honest about fit. Steering an organisation into CiviCRM when it would be better served elsewhere costs everyone.
- Implementers are part of the path. The journey should hand an organisation to an implementer when it's ready.
Hosted offerings such as CiviCRM Spark already remove the hosting step for small organisations; how AI capabilities might be offered there is CiviCRM LLC's decision.