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With the current turmoil plaguing our economic markets, companies are increasingly looking for effective ways to cut costs and increase revenue. What type of strategies will enable companies to survive today and allow companies to prosper tomorrow?

As the economy continues to suffer, many people try to adjust for the times by cutting back on their own spending. This poses problems for companies looking to expand and reach out to more customers. The worsening economy causes people to reel in their spending and cut down on their expenses. Businesses must recognize this trend and adapt to the changing consumer market. Companies who dedicate a major portion of their expenditures towards attracting and advertising to new customers will probably not be very successful in the current economic conditions.

The most successful companies in economic turmoil are those who adopt the right strategy. Maintaining and building up existing customer relationships leads to a solid customer base and much more stable revenue. This could not only help your company survive now, but also helps your company prosper in the future. Building up existing customer relationships lead to more loyal customers that can be pivotal in the growth of your company in the future. How a company chooses to manage their customer relationships is key to determining how successful the company will be not only now, but in the future as well.

It is much cheaper to maintain a customer relationship rather than try to build a new one. Keeping existing customers is much more cost effective than it is to attract newer customers. But, what can companies do now to maintain these existing customer relationships?

CRM Software aids companies by providing the tools necessary to effectively maintaining existing customer relationships. Although companies may choose to cut back on expenditures during this tough period, it may be wise to re-look at your existing CRM strategy. Is the current CRM solution doing the job? How are customers reacting to their customer experience now? What other features do you feel are missing from your current CRM Software?

Investing in the right CRM solution can be the difference between keeping and losing customers. There are many advantages to having the right CRM solution available for your company. Some of the benefits your company can enjoy by choosing the right CRM solution are:

- Streamlined Business Processes
- Improved Customer Service leading to strong Customer Relationships
- Improved Accuracy and Efficiency of employees
- Reporting Tools to help better gauge company performance.

Advances in business technology have made it much harder to stay up to date with the most up to date features and applications for your company. With the wide number of options faced when implementing these newer, more “improved” applications, it is easy to get confused and may prevent companies from implementing newer solutions that could benefit the company. The perception of these challenges faced when integrating and implementing new CRM applications is often a headache many companies try to avoid. However, as CRM companies begin to adapt and listen to the needs of its customers, instances of complicated CRM implementations are becoming less common.

Mobile CRM is a recent advancement in the CRM sector that has drawn a lot of attention. With the growing popularity of advanced cellular phones, it has become possible to create business applications tailored for these mobile devices. However, many companies may be deterred from investing in this new technology due to the headaches associated with implementation of mobile CRM applications. Preparing for implementation of mobile CRM applications is critical to having an enjoyable experience associated with this implementation period. Smart planning and effective training can make the difference in smoothing over the transition to a mobile CRM application.

Here are some simple steps you should follow in order to effectively integrate new CRM applications with your mobile devices.

1. Analyze your needs.

Understanding what features you need and the features available from different companies is critical to selecting the right product. Taking time to ensure the appropriate amount of research as well as an accurate assessment of needs will make it much easier to select the CRM solution most appropriate for your company’s needs.

2. Design your Mobile CRM screen.

Fitting the massive amounts of data onto a limited mobile phone screen is a very daunting task. The limited amount of space on the screen makes it necessary to choose what data you feel is necessary to make available in your mobile CRM application as well as the design of how that data will be accessed.

3. Testing Phase

Testing is critical to ensure a smooth transition to a mobile CRM solution. Allowing the users to test and provide feedback allows companies to tweak the system to best fit those who will be using the new applications the most. This will make it easier for employees to learn as well as make them able to work more efficiently, benefitting the company by saving time on training costs as well as employee work time.

4. Rolling Out the Final Solution

Once all feedback has been taken into consideration and the necessary adjustments have been made, it is time to present this new finalized solution to the users. Effectively training employees early on will save many headaches in the future and prevent any mistakes from jeopardizing any potential business deals in the future.

5. Review the Results

Overlooking this part is often a mistake many companies make. Gauging the effectiveness of the new solution is important to determine whether or not it fits the company’s needs as expected. Reviewing the performance and going over feedback can save the company a lot of trouble in the long run as it is much simpler to search for a new solution earlier rather than search for a new solution at a later time when business processes are built towards a solution that doesn’t fit the company.

Implementing a new CRM solution can appear to be a daunting task. However, if companies take the necessary steps and layout the appropriate strategy, implementation can be a very smooth and seamless process.

The future was looking bright for Entellium as revenues continued to show dramatic increases from year to year. Millions of dollars in investment money was already secured and business appeared to be booming. Entellium, a provider of CRM software for a number of small and medium-sized businesses, was on track to take on the bigger CRM Software giants such as Netsuite and Salesforce.com in the competitive CRM software market.

The company’s fortunes took an abrupt turn as the truth behind Entellium was uncovered. Everything came to a sudden end as the CEO and CFO of Entellium abruptly resigned as the secrets these two executives were keeping were revealed.

Paul Johnston appeared to be a respectable hard-working man. He had previously worked for Apple and had started Entellium in 2000 in Malaysia. He has two sons and a wife whom he had met in Asia. As the company grew, he was able to eventually move Entellium headquarters back to the United States. The company was doing well and the number of employees at Entellium continued to increase. He even took the opportunity to secure funding from a number of VCs to help fund his rapidly growing company.

However, things took a rapid turn for the worse as the truth behind Paul Johnston and Entellium was uncovered. Apparently, Paul Johnston tricked VCs into investing in Entellium with a number of false financial statements that overestimated revenue by millions. Although much of this money appears to have gone into the business, it was also noted that Paul Johnston used company funds and credit cards to fund family vacations all over the world. In addition, he provided himself with a number of six digit bonuses and personal loans that were all taken out of the company money. Now authorities are trying to track over 9 million dollars that was wired to the company office in Malaysia. However, the presence of an office in Malaysia is now being questioned as well.

Johnston’s fraudulent activities also were uncovered outside his business. Over the years, he had accumulated numerous material items due to the comfortable salary he paid himself. He had a million dollar home, drove a porsche and made over 1 million dollars in his time as Entellium CEO. Yet, with all this, he still reported fewer assets than a homeless person living on the street.

The many employees who relied on him were let down as they abruptly lost their jobs. Also, his family will lose a father and husband as well. as he is now facing 20 years behind bars as well as a substantial fine for wire fraud.

For more information on this previously unknown, but now infamous CRM Software CEO, you can find articles about him here and here.