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Customer relationship management (CRM) has become a very important part of the business process.  More and more companies are installing CRM systems to help them find more sales opportunities.  In this modern age, most business executives are frequently on the go.  Mobile CRM applications are increasing in popularity because it allows users to access the CRM system away from their business computer.  Here are five of the best and most popular iPhone CRM mobile applications on the market right now.

1. Salesforce Mobile (FREE)

This CRM iPhone application is free for all Salesforce.com users, but new users can test it out with a 30 day free trial. Get constant access to your Salesforce account with your iPhone and this application. Users can create, edit and delete capabilities on the app because it is completely customizable. There are also filter and search options to find important information quickly. Users can even view dashboards and log meeting details immediately onto their iPhone.

2. SugarCRM Mobile ($9.99)

With a SugarCRM account, you can download this application. SugarCRM iPhone app is customizable as users can configure list and edit views. Easily edit, add or delete records on this app. This is a convenient way to access your SugarCRM account. Easily view customer information and stay up to date on your customer relationship management system.

3. Sales CRM EZ! (Basic: FREE; Pro: $9.99)

This award winning application lets sales managers track sales opportunities on their iPhones. This application produces realistic sales forecasts and current sales pipeline reports. Make sure you meet your deadlines with Sales CRM EZ! for iPhone because the app highlights overdue action and close dates in red. Even view historical sales or outstanding sales opportunities on your phone in addition to comprehensive dashboards.

4. 2Do CRM ($2.99)

This CRM iPhone application is unique because users can make their own CRM system or simply use 2Do’s CRM template. This app will help users organize their business better while collecting important customer information to ensure that the business is maximizing sales opportunities. There are task management, calendar syncing and contact organizing features. There is even a feature that lets users view clients or contacts on a map so meeting up is easier.

5. MS Dynamics CRM ($19.99)

This application requires a Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online account. Users can easily manage contacts or contact related activities with this application. It has syncing, search and attachment abilities. Use the iPhone’s microphone and camera to easily record notes about customers or potential opportunities. All customer information is in one place so it is an easy way to manage customer relationships in an efficient manner.

Now, as customer relationship management (CRM) vendors are making their products more affordable and usable, even for the smallest companies, every company should have a CRM system. Almost all companies already do and they might not even know it! Any way of tracking customers, whether it is simply recording their email addresses or names, is technically a form of a customer relationship management system. It makes a big difference to take a CRM system from a simple spreadsheet to a complex managing system.

A CRM system is useful for many reasons. It helps companies keep track of shopping trends, maintain positive relationships with their customer base and track support issues. Also, sales personnel can send deals or sales information by email to customers to draw them back to their store. Knowing what type of customers a company has is also important because it can help vendors close sales in the future.

Keeping the system continuously updated is key. Also, taking the CRM system from the manual to the managed stage is key. Taking the customer information to the managed level involves analyzing the information users have to bring the sales process to the next level. It also involves investing more, automating business processes, measuring data closely and consistently interacting with customers.

There are two types of CRM systems- upstart CRM and cloud based CRM. Upstart CRM, such as BatchBlue, is ideal for growing businesses, although it does not scale as easily. Cloud based systems, including Zoho or Salesforce.com, are better for larger companies. SugarCRM is another cloud based option which offers an on-demand CRM system.

Choosing and using a CRM system is very important for companies who want to maximize their number of customers. Take your company’s simple spreadsheet to another level and start using a more complex customer relationship management system to get the most out of your customers.

Jelly Belly Candy Company, the famous international candy manufacturer, was in need of a customer relationship management system so it decided to deploy Microsoft Dynamics CRM. In the last decade, Jelly Belly has grown rapidly as it has expanded its product selection and number of offices. In 2007, it installed an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and needed a customer relationship management (CRM) system that would easily integrate with it. Microsoft Dynamics CRM was the answer to Jelly Belly’s needs.

Jelly Belly wanted to improve its customer relations and reduce customer churn, while increasing its revenue.The company also wanted to standardize the sales process to make it easier to track and report sales activity. For example, Jelly Belly employees regularly attended trade shows where they acquired several hundred leads, but the company had no system to ensure that these leads were followed up on in a timely manner. Dan Rosman, the Vice President of Information Technology at Jelly Belly, said, “Our manufacturing operations operate with very little waste and produce extremely consistent results. We wanted that same type of efficiency and consistency in our sales, but we needed a tool that would help us achieve that goal.”

Jelly Belly also wanted to attract new customers, on top of keeping its current customers. The Vice President of Business Development at Jelly Belly, Ryan Schader, said, “It takes a lot more time and energy to acquire new customers than to retain current ones. However, without a customer relationship management system integrated with our ERP system, there was little we could do from an organization standpoint to remedy this problem. Our customer relationship management project was critical.” In great need of a CRM solution, Jelly Belly deployed a non-Microsoft CRM system. The system was extremely complicated, difficult to deploy, and confusing to navigate. It did not integrate well with Jelly Belly’s ERP system and the technical issues made it too much of a hassle for Jelly Belly employees. After 18 months of attempting to integrate this CRM solution, Jelly Belly gave up and decided to look into other options.

Jelly Belly contacted Microsoft to look into setting up one of their CRM solutions. In two and a half months, Microsoft Dynamics CRM was completely installed. The deployment was under-budget and highly impressed the Jelly Belly staff, especially after the 18 month failed deployment of their previous CRM solution.

Now, with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Jelly Belly employees have a complete view of customer information and account activity. “Microsoft Dynamics CRM serves as a transparent clearinghouse for customer information at Jelly Belly,” says Schader. “There is no longer a disconnection between customer service, order entry, and our sales representatives in the field. Every customer interaction is logged through the system, whether a sales representative or a representative on our customer service team creates it.” Jelly Belly developed a follow up system within Microsoft Dynamics CRM where they can track their customers. Employees can see which customers have not ordered Jelly Belly products in the past year, which then allows them to call the customers to follow up and create new orders. Schader explained that customers are happy to have Jelly Belly calling and reminding them about both purchase information and new products. It saves them time and increases Jelly Belly’s efficiency and revenue.

Overall, Jelly Belly met all of its needs and goals in just five months. The company achieved a 34 percent reduction in customer churn with the help of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Also, Dynamics CRM helped Jelly Belly formalize its sales processes which led to an increase of $60,000 in additional revenue each month. Microsoft Dynamics CRM paid for itself in less than three months. Schader said, “The mantra for our company right now is ‘Work smarter, not harder.’ Tools like Microsoft Dynamics CRM are helping us grow even as the economy goes through a rough period.” Microsoft Dynamics CRM was really the answer to Jelly Belly’s growth. The numbers alone show how much the CRM solution helped. Find out more about Microsoft Dynamics CRM on Microsoft’s website.

Last week, Salesforce.com countersued Microsoft for patent-infringement. Microsoft sued Salesforce first, in May, over intellectual property infringement. These customer relationship management (CRM) competitors are battling it out over patent violations. Microsoft and Salesforce are both seeking an injuction and monetary compensation for the violations.

Microsoft claims that Salesforce’s CRM software violates nine Microsoft patents. Microsoft wants Salesforce to stop using any technology that violates Microsoft’s patents. This in addition to monetary penalties could hurt Salesforce.com drastically while giving Microsoft a leg up in the CRM solutions arena.

Horacio Gutierrez, the Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of Intellectual Property and Licensing for Microsoft, commented on the law suit. He said, “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. We have a responsibility to our customers, partners, and shareholders to safeguard that investment, and therefore cannot stand idly by when others infringe our IP rights.”

Salesforce was not willing to negotiate so the two companies will be going to court. Salesforce decided to hit Microsoft back on Thursday, when the law suit against Microsoft was filed. Salesforce claims that many Microsoft products, including SharePoint Collaboration and .NET platform, violate Salesforce’s patents.

The fight is getting ugly as Salesforce CEO, Marc Benioff, called Microsoft a “patent troll” and an “alley thug”. Microsoft has filed four other patent-infringement suits in the past. Both companies represent a large part of the CRM market and they are direct competitors. It is likely both companies feel threatened by the other and this is the reason that the patent fight is becoming so intense. In history, the longer-standing and wealthier company, which in this case would be Microsoft, would win. On the other hand, Salesforce is a strong and growing company with one of the best prosecuting attorneys in the U.S., David Boise.

Whichever company loses will be hit hard; especially Salesforce because the company is newer and relies heavily on their CRM applications, which are in question.

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.

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.

These days forward-looking companies build social networks into their core marketing strategies., but sometimes there is a disconnect between existing CRM systems and the rising tide of social networking engagements. Companies with closed-off CRM systems aren’t really doing CRM at all.

Marketers put customer relationship management (CRM) systems as a primary resource to feed leads for sales and view it as an important customer service tool.  But at the same time, these sales automation tools have also been the bane of marketers as their overly complex projects are slowed down due to limited enterprise rollouts.

Even companies likes Salesforce.com, the online cloud provider of CRM applications, is a prime example of the older, more traditional way of locked-in thinking behind CRM. But they have been starting to integrate data from Facebook, Twitter and other online social networks.  On the other hand, Dell and Comcast have successfully blended social media into their CRM efforts.

The main issue with CRM efforts is speed.  Online market conversations and resulting information move fast and companies are struggling to keep up.  Marketers have difficulty tracking, organizing, prioritizing and responding to these online discussion.

Jeremiah Owyang offers two bits of advice: monitor where your customers are on social networks to help define which social networks you’ll need to connect with; and make certain your CRM system provider is building the proper connectors to enable these systems to connect to help with the next step of mapping social data with existing CRM records.

Make all your CRM efforts “Social” CRM efforts.

update CRM Inc, a European CRM solutions innovator, has launched its new update.revolution CRM suite to North America. update.revolution is an advanced cloud-based enterprise-managed CRM service designed specifically for the sales organizations of all sized in the life sciences market. This includes biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device industries.

update.revolution was launched in Europe earlier this year as an advanced customer relationship management technology deployed through a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model and implemented with update software’s unique strategic revolution methodology which provides each customer with ongoing industry expertise at no extra cost.

SaaS-based CRM solution, update.revolution, is hosted on the IBM cloud to provide life sciences companies with a cost-effective, hosted platform for managing the core of their revenue generation: sales. It requires no up-front investment and provides an all-inclusive ongoing development and consulting methodology that provides long-term cost predictability.

The update.revolution methodology begins with an in-depth assessment phase through which the update CRM Principal determines the customer’s goals using a proprietary computer-supported analytics system and specifies which industry processes and modular functions are required. This assessment helps ensure better results in adoption and compliance in the near term and protects the evolution of the platform in the long term as users get comfortable and information requirements grow.

update CRM’s SaaS model is available in three service levels: 90°, 180°, and 360°. Among other things, the service level selected influences the degree of customization and the frequency of the adaptation cycles in the ongoing enhancement. update CRM customers are not charged for costs associated with operation, maintenance, and support.

Typical provisioning results in a functional system up and running within 20 days, with additional functionality, modules and customizations made on an ongoing basis.

Here’s something that I have always thought about and it seems am on the same wavelength as Shane over at ITWorldCanada. The issue here is regarding the importance that we need to accord to CRM products and in my opinion also how new a thing is CRM. Sure, the term is not more than a couple of decades old but as a stratagem CRM has existed as long as business and trade has been there.

So, the question to ask is what is it that makes a CRM endeavor a success? How much of it is the software and whether do you really need CRM software at all? To the latter question, lets say we do need the software but how do we then account for the astonishing rate of failure with CRM deployments.

The vendors are never going to agree that its the product. If it is the methodology then perhaps it means that companies are investing too much faith in the software and not bothering to get right the human aspect that involves intuition, lateral thinking, brilliant sales, good follow-ups, obtaining information from data and using it and other such skills.

It is strange that such a crucial aspect of CRM, the human angle, fails one CRM project after another. Its ironical that companies have many aspects of CRM well covered before they go in for a CRM deployment only to see things spiral downward later.

Customer Experience Management, or CEM, is becoming a popular way for industries to capture customer loyalty. CEM puts the focus on the customer rather than the goals of the company, leading to better customer service and ultimately a higher number of loyal customers spreading word-of-mouth advertising to potential customers. Companies that use customer experience management practices strive to make the most out of every interaction with the customer; through advertising, sales, delivery, service and communications. This leads to the “customer-centric” approach that CEM stresses. The customer needs to have the experience that the customer desires and expects at every level of interaction.

Effective CEM plans start with data gathering and analysis and ends with a customer service focused start-to-finish strategy to increase customer loyalty in a financially optimal way for the company. The strategy must give your company an advantage over other industries that are currently implementing CEM programs as well. Probably the most important issue to watch is the involvement of top executives in the CEM program. Goals should be set including the involvement of all levels of personnel in the company. When programs are initiated but not followed through on, CEM cannot accomplish the purpose set forth. Staff from every department should be on board with the planning and implementing of the customer experience management program. Read more