We Blog CRM

As the social networking craze continues to attract a larger user base, businesses are beginning to catch on. Salesforce.com recently announced a new CRM application tailored for Twitter, an increasingly popular micro-blogging social network site.

 Salesforce’s new application should help facilitate customer service by providing another resource for customers with problems to turn to in order to solve any existing problems with their software or service. By providing companies with real-time updates on any “tweets” associated with their product or company, customer service or help desk agents can provide instant support to quickly remedy any situation that comes up.

The emergence of Twitter as a popular destination for customer support could lead many companies to follow in the footsteps of companies such as Comcast and Dell who have already chosen to adopt Salesforce’s new Twitter CRM application. Other CRM providers could also follow suit in developing their own CRM applications with features similar to Salesforce’s new Twitter application.

This could also become a golden opportunity for Twitter. If traffic to their site continues to grow and customers continue to use Twitter as a resource for their issues, Twitter could eventually build up their own application to sell to companies.

As social networking continues to grow and develop, companies will need to stay in tune with the latest trends in order to provide the best customer service and customer support in today’s rapidly changing society. Staying up to date with the latest trends and resources utilized by their customers could provide companies with an edge on their competitors while falling behind in these trends could lead to a disconnect between the company and its customers, forcing customers to eventually find other companies or solutions.

Although social networking is the current “hot” item in technology, things could change rather quickly. However, it would still be wise for CRM companies to take the popularity of social networking into consideration as they develop their new products. Failure to meet consumer needs could lead to disastrous consequences for companies.

CRM has grown in terms of its capabilities since the early days of the 90s. One important change has been the development of software that allows dialogue with the customer. The technology follows the thinking that customer feedback is a critical input to improve customer service.

Some things that need to be considered when selecting a CRM system –

• Sales automation

•   Contact management

• Automated marketing

•   Reporting

• Data integration

• Better customer interaction via call centers

Aspects of your business that influence your choice of CRM include

• The size of your business

• Your vertical and amount of customization required

• Security

• Budget

An effective CRM solution can help you with:

• Contact and data tracking at every stage of the sales cycle with analysis of sales forecasts, reduction of admin work, increase in productivity by faster expense management, quote generation, and proposal generation.

• Multichannel marketing to a targeted audience is the lifeblood of a marketing campaign, a proper CRM system enables effective lead management such that the strongest leads can be quickly passed on to the sales reps. Campaigns can be managed more effectively.

• Corporate reporting allows organization heads to take in information at a glance and make informed decisions. Pre-built reports that are ready to use can help marketing heads evaluate marketing efforts and view reports in interchangeable formats.

• A call center management system foster user-friendly customer service. A proper system helps create routing paths so that calls reach the appropriate person, employee performance analysis and forecasting, employee training and quality assurance.

• Seamless data integration allows unencumbered data access for the right person at the right time. Integration of sales, marketing, and service leads to integrated and targeted customer service. Inconsistencies in data are resolved and the cost of data management is reduced.

Of course, what works for one business does not necessarily have to be the right fit for another. Features will depend upon the size of the business and industry type.

The right CRM system can improve company efficiency, facilitate communications with customers, and help increase revenues. Consumers have grown increasingly service-oriented, making CRM a business necessity rather than an option. Customers have a vast array of choices for spending their dollars, thanks to the plethora of information on the Internet that allows them to comparison shop for just about anything. Going forward, they will continue to demand better customer service and personalized communications in return for loyalty: “In 2015 the consumers who grew up after the advent of the Net will be ages 10-34…this group of customers will expect you to conduct business with them in an always on, always connected, real-time way. Always on, always connected is a result of the move from an analog to a digital world, which will be completed around 2030,” according to Barton Goldenberg, president and founder of consulting firm ISM Inc.

As technology continues to improve at a rapid pace, these new technologies are forcing companies to keep up with competitors. As newer software offerings are introduced into the market, these new offerings threaten to give competitors the edge they may need to succeed in today’s worsening economy. It has become more and more essential for companies to pursue some type of business software in order to keep pace in today’s rapidly changing business environment. 

A CRM Software is often a very popular choice for many companies, but the wide variety of options to choose from as well as the different pricing options make an already difficult decision in today’s economy even more difficult. The worsening economy has discouraged many companies from diverting funds to an investment which may in the long run benefit the business. However, with the current economic outlook so poor, many companies are delaying their implementation of a CRM Software platform in order to survive today. However, failing to implement the proper technology now can prove to be costly in the long run.As company budgets tighten, the need for an inexpensive CRM software solution becomes even more important. CRM Software packages that often carry high upfront costs are quickly eliminated leaving a limited selection of choices which may not necessarily meet the company’s requirements for an updated CRM platform. This may discourage companies from looking into other options that are capable of performing as well as the more expensive options at lower costs which often causes companies to fail to look at another potentially beneficial solution.

Open Source CRM can be the answer to many companies’ needs in today’s trying economy. It can allow companies to improve upon inefficient operations while providing features that can greatly improve employee morale. Also, the investment into an open source CRM platform is minimal as there are many free options available. Although Open Source CRM may not be 100% free, the investment made in the product is limited and can be quickly changed if it is found that the solution does not meet the company’s needs. This flexibility can allow a company to try different options at a low or no price. Although the functionality many not be as advanced as the more traditional CRM offerings, Open Source CRM is definitely catching up.

However, be aware that there are limitations to Open Source CRM offerings. With the lower price and flexibility comes some costs. Limited support is available to Open Source CRM Software which can be a problem for some companies. Also, functionality is not as advanced as the more expensive CRM counterparts. But, if your company can adjust to these minor limitations, Open Source CRM can provide the best rate of return for your business. For a cheap and efficient alternative to CRM Software, strongly consider adopting an Open Source Version.