T ECH & AI S PO NSOR
What I learnt after 300 hours on Zoom calls in the last 6 months By Bruce Bignell, Founder of Evolve – Pipedrive Experts If you’ve ever spent a
Tech & AI
small fortune on a CRM system, only to find
your team barely using it, you’re not alone.
Across hundreds of conversations
my team and I have had over the last six months, the same frustrations
keep coming up: confusing systems,
data chaos, and processes that seem designed to slow sales teams down rather than speed them up.
Business owners often believe the myth that more features mean more value.
The reality? Complexity kills adoption.
You don’t need a tank when all you need is a bike to get to work.
2. W orkflow Overload - Overcomplicated
The CRM market is full of enterprise tools
steps and a lack of automation mean
bigger business with admin teams the
deals than closing them.
like Salesforce and HubSpot - brilliant for
size of an entire business. But for growing
companies that need agility, these systems
salespeople spend more time updating
3. I ntegration Hurdles – CRMs that
often become an expensive crutch.
don’t play nicely with tools like
chasing sophistication when what they
Sheets cause double handling and
At Evolve, we see it daily: leaders
Teams, Outlook, SimPro, or Google
really need is simplicity, automation, and
missed information.
a CRM their team actually enjoys using. Seven Pain Points Costing Businesses Growth
From my research and over 300 hours of client calls, here are the most
4. Visibility Gaps – Without a clear,
central view of deals and activities, forecasting becomes guesswork.
5. Legacy Tools – Many teams
common issues businesses face when
“upgrade” from Excel or Access but
have on growth:
defeating the purpose of modern CRM.
it comes to CRM - and the impact they
keep the same manual processes,
1. Data Chaos – Duplicates, incomplete
6. Training & Support Gaps – Staff
confidence in the system. When reps
features go unused and adoption
records, and human error destroy
turnover or poor onboarding mean
stop trusting the data, they stop using it.
quickly fades.
42 www.sussexbusinessgroup.co.uk
7. T ech Fatigue – When systems feel
like work, people avoid them. And if
your CRM isn’t being updated in real time, it’s not helping your business. These challenges aren’t about
technology; they’re about alignment. A CRM should match your Business
requirements and workflows - not the other way around.
“Half of CRM projects fail because
people don’t use them. And if your team doesn’t use it, your ROI is zero.” Why Businesses Choose the Wrong CRM
The problem often starts at the buying stage.
Too many companies get swept up in feature comparisons instead of first
asking, “What problem are we trying to solve?”