We Blog CRM

Currently, Forrester rankings show that SAP and Oracle-Siebel are the leaders in CRM software. However, competition is close at their heels. Because the CRM software market has developed immensely in recent years, this has made it difficult to make distinctions between products. The Forrester report stated that the reason Siebel and SAP do so well is because they are both adequate absolute CRM software products that have a tremendously high usability.

Even with the high level of success that SAP and Siebel have achieved with their products, other companies are close behind. CDC, Microsoft, Oracle’s CRM On Demand application, RightNow, and Salesforce.com are all treading close to SAP and Siebel’s waters.
In particular, CDC’s rise in the rankings is due to a new commitment in its marketing strategies. Also Oracle’s other CRM products, (not including Siebel and On Demand) ranked fairly high as well.

As far as the CRM software market itself; it is still considered relatively healthy. A survey conducted by Forrester showed that out of 455 large organizations, 56% had already put into operation a CRM tool and an additional 17% plan to implement CRM software in the next 12 to 24 months. Another survey illustrated that of 286 businesses, 62% of business and IT professionals have put into use or are growing their customer business intelligence solutions.

Today, InsideView Inc., a leading social media and CRM solutions provider, announced the integration of their revolutionary SalesView software into The Customer-Driven Company’s (CDC) Pivotal Social CRM 6.0 module.

CDC Software is an enterprise software provider whose new application will integrate a variety of sites and applications so that companies can acquire the leads and sales intelligence that they need to prosper. InsideView’s SalesView software is included in the application. Salesview helps businesses find sales leads through discovered sales opportunities from social media and other sources.

The new CDC Pivotal Social CRM 6.0 will integrate sites including Facebook, Twitter, Google, LinkedIn, and BlogSearch. The goal of the application is to allow users to view all of the social media information within one application, instead of having to access several different applications or websites. This will increase simplicity and productivity, thereby improving social customer relationship management (CRM).

The CDC Pivotal Social CRM 6.0 will also help users track relationships between a company’s prospect or current customers. Also, companies can see their complete social network in one click, allowing them to process customer feedback faster. Businesses can manage corporate events through Facebook and they can collaborate with their customers and employees through Twitter.

“Our new solution can also help our customers find new sources for high quality leads, provide key sales intelligence to help personalize and target sales marketing programs, facilitate the closing of more deals and ultimately help them deliver better customer service,” said Jason Rushforth, president of CDC Software’s Front Office product line business.

InsideView’s software will help with the sales intelligence aspect of CDC’s product. Marc Perramond, director of product management at InsideView, commented on the integration of SalesView with the CDC Pivotal Social CRM 6.0. He said, “Tapping into social media insights for sales productivity is a key tenet of any Social CRM deployment. Knowing the most about your leads and prospects is imperative in today’s sales profession…We are pleased to be a part of the new CDC Pivotal Social CRM 6.0 module.”

CDC launched their social CRM module today.

Web-based customer relationship management (CRM) is the latest and most effective tool in the marketing world right now. Normal marketing campaigns just don’t cut it anymore. Vendors can miss out on a large portion of their revenue and customer base if they don’t understand or know anything about their customers. This is where CRM comes in.

CRM on the web usually consists of a database where vendors can write down customer information or details. This will help them determine a customer’s needs in the future. Web-based CRM software usually contains customer data, product information, buying patterns, and more. Salespeople or marketers will know more about what the customer wants or needs. They can use the CRM tools to customize product plans for customers because they will know a little bit about the customer and they will know what the customer previously purchased. Also, salespeople will be able to develop individualized relationships with the customers which will provide customers with the highest level of service. Web-based CRM is sure to increase your sales and help you get potential customers.

There are several advantages of using CRM software, particularly web-based software, because it is a convenient and efficient system. Vendors will not have to deal with files or lost papers. Everything is electronic and is on a general database. This database can be accessed from any location, not just from one computer. Times are changing- businesses are moving from paper-only to completely electronic systems. Using web-based systems is faster, more organized, and effective. It also saves money and the environment because businesses use less paper.

Web-based CRM software is one of the most effective sales and marketing tools because understanding your customer and their needs is key. Find out your business’s potential by taking to the next level and using web-based CRM. There are many CRM software trials that are free so you can see how it works and how it can help your business.

Social CRM is a way of bringing companies back to a customer’s level. The ease of online social networking brings individuals together while isolating businesses that are not up to date. Social CRM is a tool to regain control and a voice in the conversation.

Modern social CRM is a new development in that it involves contemporary media and networking. Past CRM has been about restructuring data for efficient customer relations. That isn’t enough in the contemporary business world.

Confusion over social CRM’s value and definition is expected as it is an expansion into a new social space. That does not mean it is to be neglected. Using social CRM is a necessity. Companies well-versed in social CRM are able to connect to their consumers sooner and more closely.

As it is, social CRM can be broken down into three components, as defined by social CRM consultant Esteban Kolsky. Social media is short-term changes. Social CRM is making strategic, long-term goals. Social business is the long-term process of company reorganization to improve customer relations.

Access starts with CRM software. The spike in social media monitoring tools demonstrates its necessity. CRM  allows for efficient management of stored customer data. Beyond this application, it brings connectivity to cloud computing, the social network around the customers. This brings critical information customized for each client that would not come up otherwise or would be presented inefficiently from various collections of spreadsheets. As a SaaS (software as a service), CRM saves time from within the cloud.

This is a benefit on the customer’s end as well. Through efficient business portals, customers are allowed 24/7 access to product services and information. They can also post their own ideas, comments, and votes in a forum similar to the online social networking scene.

Companies that begin today with social CRM will be better off in the future in the ever-expanding market of social networking.

Microsoft Corp. is suing Salesforce.com Inc with the accusation that the customer relationship management (CRM) giant has infringed nine patents for ways to make software more efficient.

The complaint targets the customer-relationship management software that is the hallmark of Salesforce.com’s business. It seeks a court order that would prevent the San Francisco-based company from providing features that Microsoft claims it invented.

Salesforce.com, the biggest seller of internet-based customer relationship management software with $1.3 billion in sales last year, was founded in 1999 and offers software that businesses subscribe to and use over the web for running marketing campaigns and tracking sales leads. It competes against Microsoft’s Dynamics software in the CRM market.

“Microsoft has been a leader and innovator in the software industry for decades and continues to invest billions of dollars each year in bringing great software products and services to market,” said Horacio Gutierrez, Microsoft’s deputy general counsel for intellectual property and licensing. Microsoft “cannot stand idly by when others infringe” our intellectual property rights, he said.

The complaint was filed in federal court in Seattle after more than a year of talks, according to Microsoft, the world’s biggest software maker. The CEO of Salesforce.com, Marc Benioff, has said he wants customers and software developers to write online applications on his system, dubbed Force.com, much like the way personal computer programs run on Microsoft’s Windows operating system.

Results International recently announced its new “Virtual Media Commentators” feature. With this feature, visitors to a company’s site are greeted and can turn these prospective customers into actual sales. Virtual Media Commentator allows companies to customize the greeting that its site visitors will listen to.

With this new technology, it should greatly encourage many visitors to take the leap from potential customer to a sale. Research has shown that customers tend to waver in their decision making, requiring multiple trips to a company’s website before deciding to make the investment. However, with virtual media commentator, visitors are immediately greeted and welcomed to the site to create a more trusting environment for these visitors. Rather than just plain boring text to greet the visitors, site visitors are welcomed in with customized messages to create a more trusting environment for their customers.

Results International provides its CRM customers with a number of cool features. Its new Virtual Media Commentator feature allows companies to change messages to keep their sites fresh for new customers. With this new technology, more site visitors can be converted into sales quickly.

With an increasing focus on customer service and enhancing the customer experience, Results International has developed the solution to help companies differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack. For more information on this exciting new technology, contact a Results International Sales Professional today.

Amcom Software chose TechExcel as its CRM provider for its many customer service locations in Minnesota, New York, Florida, and Australia. With TechExcel CustomerWise, Amcom can provide improved customer service to its many loyal customers.

Amcom Software provides its solution for thousands of organizations around the world in industries where communication is critical. Amcom decided upon TechExcel CustomerWise to optimize its many communication processes and consolidated its previously disparate systems into one standard application. Amcom had previously used several different help desk solutions to address its customers’ needs. With the consolidation of all processes into TechExcel CustomerWise, Amcom should see an immediate boost in both productivity and customer service.

With TechExcel CustomerWise, Amcom will continue to grow as they retain existing customers while continue to attract new ones. TechExcel CustomerWise provides Amcom with the solution it needs to facilitate their continued growth.

The growing popularity of major social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn has caught the attention of many CRM providers. What draws users to these sites could be extremely important in the design of future CRM applications. The ability to mirror these popular sites and create similar features could result in an extremely popular CRM application.

Social networking sites enable easy and quick communication amongst different users. This easy interaction facilitates social interaction and could potentially enhance customer service. The ability to integrate some aspects of social networking seamlessly into a CRM system could lead to a much more interactive type of system with enhanced customer support and superior customer interaction capabilities.

With the integration of social networking features into CRM packages, companies may see immediate benefits such as faster support times. The social networking framework facilitates easy and quick communication at a very low cost. This allows companies to stay on top of issues and allowing customers to be kept in the loop on the status of their issues.

With social networking come a lot of other extra features that may seem extraneous, but can add to the overall customer relationship experience. With personalization features such as user profile management, customers and employees have a face and personality behind them, allowing relationships to grow stronger.

Social Networking has grown extremely popular recently. The ability for CRM providers to adapt and implement some of the features that make it popular could be vital in determining who succeeds or fails in the future.

All the continued technological innovations have made it much easier to use CRM Software. With all the continued improvements, CRM Software has become much more readily accessible and has simplified and automated many of the tedious processes which previously had consumed a lot of time. The introduction of mobile CRM has only made it easier for employees to stay connected to the company’s CRM database from wherever they should be. But, can this be necessarily considered an improvement?

Mobile CRM makes it possible for employees to stay connected around the clock. This allows employees to handle issues as soon as they arise. However, this lack of separation from work and home can create a stressful environment for employees. The usage of mobile CRM within a company raises the level of support expected from employees. This added pressure on employees can create more frustration for employees. Utilizing mobile CRM can lower the morale of employees as they feel like they are working continuously, even on their own time. This may lead to lower employee productivity during work hours. The same amount of work may actually end up being done spread out over the course of the whole day.

Being able to access CRM Software via employees’ cellular phones also has other issues. Security becomes a huge concern. With hundreds of employees running around with cellular access to critically sensitive CRM databases, it may be hard to keep track of who is accessing what from where. If an employee loses his/her cell phone, security could be compromised as access to CRM databases can be easily reached via the phone. Customer information could be compromised, leading to hundreds of angry customers. This raises an issue of whether or not it becomes reasonable for employers to allow employees to carry around this critically important and confidential information.

The introduction of all these new technologies into CRM Software has made it much easier to utilize CRM Software within your company. However, some of these new technological innovations may have tradeoffs which you may need to take into consideration prior to implementing a new solution or new update. It may be wise to analyze the potential benefits and consequences of all these new innovations as failure to account for some of the possibilities can lead to some disastrous consequences.

CRM Software continues its expansion as it reaches into industries which previously had little interaction with business software. As people continue to see the opportunities within CRM Software, it continues to draw in a larger customer base. With CRM Software, companies can be run more cost effectively and employee productivity could increase.

However, the adoption of new CRM Software by employees could be met with some resistance as people tend to stick with the old methods which they were comfortable with. There are many steps a company can take in order to get employees to successfully adopt a new CRM solution,

1. Research into how employees currently go about accomplishing their tasks. Finding a solution that incorporates and simplifies their current tasks without disrupting their normal flow of work makes it much easier for employees to adopt the new CRM Solution.
2. Show how companies and employees will be able to benefit from the new CRM Software. Demonstrate the functions and capabilities of this new software that will most benefit employees. Allow employees to see that the CRM Software is being introduced in order to help them and make work easier for them.
3. If possible, try to implement the new CRM Solution piece by piece. It is a very stressful time for employees to learn a completely foreign tool. By gradually implementing the solution, employees can pick up the new solution at their own pace which decreases the amount of stress and frustration involved with the learning of new software.
4. Track and assess the results of the new software to gauge its performance. Obtain employee feedback regarding the new solution to see whether or not it is performing up to expectations. Let employees realize that they are an important part of the implementation process and let them know their opinions are valued.
5. Make the necessary changes to the solution to satisfy both employees and the company. A successful company should be able to maintain a healthy relationship with employees without harming the company’s long term goals.

Implementing a new CRM solution is stressful for all parties involved. Taking the necessary steps to minimize the stress is beneficial for all parties involved. With these simple steps, employees will embrace the new solutions and companies will be able to successfully adopt the new CRM Software.