Some Candid Comments

[Gjeret]

Re: Some Candid Comments

I'll toss in my few cents as well,
Better Timesheets, Currently I am using a hacked together report to generate payroll having my techs work on only one ticket at a time

send ics files when creating an appointment, then it can easily go into your calendar w/o syncing with Outlook/Exchange/Whatever

and...
Checklists in Tickets
New Computer Setup
1) open box - Done X
2) Plug in, does it Turn on Yes X No
3) Setup Windows

etc.

I can do it with Pre-defined text, but I would like to create an actual Checklist that hopefully would track when items are clicked. (back to accurate time reporting)

[Gianthead]

Re: Some Candid Comments

I'm with Raymond. It has to be handled very carefully. We are a software development company , not a normal IT company. I sell and support an ERP package that is written by a company that basically works for whoever pays the most. If a big sale comes in and they need x, it gets done. They are always chasing the buck. It's great if I need something done for one of my customers but the lead time on new generic features just blows out .
At the moment I would pay 500 bucks to get a tick box added to the new Quick Charge thing in tickets so I can tick it as unbillable . At the moment I have to reopen the ticket after using the quick charge. i would also donate a couple of K to make it so I can send a ticket to the tickets@mybusiness address and be able to do something like [AssignThisTech] and override the default. I would quite happily donate 3-5k to get the ability to have proper projects where I can do a ERP System install and have a heap of tickets under one big ticket and even tickets under tickets Contracts are pretty mush useless for me. (I can use them for software renewals but thats it) So as you can see, here is another guy will to toss 5k at things that save me time and my stuff is probably the least appealing. I don't have issues with reporting as we have or own PHP based reporting module for the ERP we wrote years aso and they both use ADS so we just write our own queries and do any charts etc in that.

[maxtowns]

Re: Some Candid Comments

+1

No make that +100!!!

I have mentioned in another post where a new CommitCRM user/customer was talking about being undecided about purchasing one of the CommitCRM modules and I told them chuck the money in the pot and help Commit finance the development and have also offered to pay for specific development but it has been turned down along the same lines of 'not everyone wants the same thing blah blah'

Really? 98% of everything I see on these forums we would very much want too/I would really like to 'see what you're seeing' from your customers that makes you respond/think this way

Some of them are just too obvious to even state yet I can see in these forums there are some VERY loyal customers who battle on regardless knowing this system could be and should be (way way) better

Yes as you (Commit) now know I too thought the Drone thing was 'real' but now feel a fool (haha) that it was an April fools joke!

But I was actually somewhat 'livid' when I saw it and was going to write a 'Moan About The Drone' post that how could Commit think this was at all important considering how many other things your customers are asking to get done and who's utter fantasy this was/no wonder they weren't fixing the small things if they were devoting dev time to this (for us) total waste of time - but thought better not to put Commit in a negative light for other customers that might see my post and not be so 'totally commited and on board' with Commit

(how loyal can your customers be!)

Commit - I wish my customers were telling me to raise my prices - I am in total and utter agreement with EVERYTHING that has been written above and we too are prepared to chuck money in the pot to get specific dev work done

We want Commit to succeed so WE can succeed - it is a no brainer WIN WIN situation

and yes.. the web portal - also a total embarrassment for us to send any customers there - I know Commit thinks it's 'great' but that is what worries me...!

(and yes as I have already said I am that desperate I am willing to try and learn the necessary to develop our own portal that is more inline with today's web portal offerings - fat chance of that ever happening I know but I am desperate and still willing to try!)

As stated - raise your prices (not mentally just realistically) and allow those that are willing to pay for specific improvements to discuss, agree and fund the development

(again how loyal and committed can your customers be!)

I am very much interested in the ummm 'super/elite ;) group of CommitCRM' users and I am sure that something could be setup to allow for those in the group interested in specific development to vote (ok ok I know that could just seem like it will become a mission to get to agreement etc.) on which they want doing/prioritise and agree on financial input etc. to get the job done

I hope this gets to the 'top dogs' at Commit and they see what their customers are literally on their knees begging for (OK I speak for ourselves here not necessarily others but am not ashamed to admit it!)

If only my customers were doing that - who knows perhaps they would be if I had a helpdesk system that rocked!

Thanks and please don't let this stall - your customers are being very open, honest and frank with you - you simply cannot ignore this please!

[nattivillin]

Re: Some Candid Comments

The biggest issue is we have no way of knowing or deciding where development dollars are spent.

We cant even vote for things and see how many other people want them. If i wanted something that nobody else did, and it didnt get developed, i wouldnt be upset. As it stands now I only have commit saying "thanks for your feedback"

[mellowms]

Re: Some Candid Comments

Hello,

I am more of a silent reader on these forums - time often gets away from me so participating isn't something I'm able to do much. However, I just wanted to add some weight to this posting as well. Whilst we are very happy CommitCRM users, there is so much more this product could offer us in terms of efficiency drives. I agree with all of the OP's comments and suggestions - I have some more of my own - but most importantly, I just wanted to add to the list that I would be more than happy to pay more for Commit to get an improved development cycle. I feel we have plateaued with CommitCRM to a certain extent so would be keen to move it on.

Thanks - Lee

[skifast]

Re: Some Candid Comments

@lpopejoy hit the nail on the head with this post. I'd add a few things to their list:

1. Real Google Apps integration, schedule-able on the server side with tokens for each user so all users don't need their Commit open to sync calendars/contacts.

2. Mileage tracking - I can't keep track of mileage for customers easily now. Using a field that isn't automatically updated is a nightmare. There should be a special charge for mileage and travel time (customer preference on one way/round trip and whether mileage is billable). The distance should populate automatically based on account address with distance from Google Maps or something similar to the Employee entering the charge. There should be a global preference with the option to override on a per-account basis whether one-way, two-way travel time is billed and whether mileage is billed.

3. A GFI IdeaFactory style site for verified customers to submit feature requests for the Commit team to work on. GFI has realized their best ideas come from their paying customers. Commit likes to pretend they've learned that with some secret tally internally of features but when it comes to features they aren't comfortable with they just don't implement them or state they're not feasible or on a list. It's not to say I don't see improvement in other areas of the product, but that improvement should be drive by us, their customers. Making our votes for features private is nothing more than an attempt to curtain the development in the direction Commit wants to push it without having to really answer to us. See here for what I'm talking about: http://ideas.gfi.com/

4. Microsoft SQL Server for a back engine - the free SQL Server engine would cover 2/3 of the installs for Commit and allow us to have much faster speed while cutting out a large potential cost.

I agree with @lpopejoy that if development efforts were stepped up and a chunk of these items addressed (especially ones that get swept frequently under the rug like Google Apps), I would be willing to pay more for our subscription. Think about it this way - we could be paying $50 to $100/month for some of the cloud based alternatives. And while I'd like to see a balance between cost/price, I feel like the Commit price point may be low enough it ties one hand behind the development team's back. Even a 50% bump in costs and charging for these new features as additional add-ons would be entirely palatable for me.

[hayden]

Re: Some Candid Comments

I'd pay more. Just look at what other products charge. CommitCRM is crazy cheap.

Few hundred dollars a year vs a few thousand for other products. Big gap there. If it helped development, increase the price.

Agree with everything else that's been posted.

[rodinbiz]

Re: Some Candid Comments

We would also be happy to pay more if it meant more improvements that were relevant to us (and the majority of those mentioned in the original post would be). A higher annual maintenance fee would make sense rather than increasing the initial purchase price.

An obvious way to prioritise development would be to expose feature requests publically in a more organised format than forum posts and have your customers vote for them. Would certainly make it easier for everyone to decide the features most important to them.

[rfbalmer]

Re: Some Candid Comments

Has anyone recieved any feedback from Commit on this? Just curious. They said they may be interested in possibly doing somehting like this and wondered if they had reached out to anyone to get the process started.

[nattivillin]

Re: Some Candid Comments

Dont hold your breath.

I know they do hard work (look at the nice features they add) but they tend to do what they want.

The most I expect is the standard "We'll take XYZ into consideration."

[computersolutions]

Re: Some Candid Comments

yes to all of the above especially:
linking multiple assets to a ticket, better exchange integration, create another layer of management at the account/ticket level (duplicate the “account manager” field/functionality and call it “lead tech”), and a projects module, etc.

[Ranchlands]

Re: Some Candid Comments

I concur with a lot of the above comments on usability and web-based "features".
Perhaps have an instant feedback button/link in the software, that as people are using it and find annoying things or think of suggestions, they can easily submit them within the software. Your team can capture these requests via database and filter the top 20 or whatever every quarter or year to develop and improve.
Going truly web-based would make it much easier in the field, etc and on phones, BUT the client-based version does have a lot lacking as well.

I'm not sure how much I am willing to spend, but instead of a few offering $5000 (which I am not willing to pay), perhaps 1000 or 2000 users getting something useful would each be willing to pay $500/year for a few extra few features.

[aaspeer]

Re: Some Candid Comments

It looks like Commit is raising costs and fees (they now seem to only offer monthly recurring software, instead of an outright buyout) and the support fee has increased as well. I love Commit, which is why I have stayed with it for so many years despite the shiny features in competing products (it has been hard to not move sometimes). We would really like to see some of the high-end features such as exchange/office365 integration, multiple technician & asset support in tickets, advanced contract management (automatic renewals) and monthly recurring tickets. Project management is also on the list, and advanced quoting (something more along the lines of quotewerks functionality within CommitCRM).

We would be willing to increase our yearly spend for support if it meant more features, and faster development.

Just my $0.02

[natrat]

Re: Some Candid Comments

I agree 100% with this. And exactly the same comments were made 5 years ago.

All the MSP stuff needs to be implemented, and quickly.

I'd also like to add a feature that has a register for items that need checking periodically with a simple report you can pass to staff each week to action. I'm thinking specifically about things like UPS battery replacements, every 2 years we replace the batteries in managed clients UPSs. I want to fire off a weekly report/checklist so these are actioned efficiently.

[stvnbth]

Re: Some Candid Comments

Web portal:
++ customizable dashboard with portlets based on raw SQL queries
++ reports based on raw SQL queries