I think one of the problems is developers don't consult those doing the job, the ultimate users. I've used some really great CRM's and I'm sure those have been developed in conjunction with the end-user.
Excel spreadsheet design and snacks on Saturday. I'll be content.
Could just be the difference between an off the shelf solution and a custom built one. One of those is a cheaper outlay but can be tricky to shorehorn in.
Quite possible, in fact I suspect that this is exactly the case. For what I do (the industry) it's not at all suites..sure, it does some basic things reasonably well, but the clunk-factor relegates it to being classed as total shite by myself and most of the others who use it.