We Blog CRM

A competitive business in the global market today requires a mobilized workforce. CRM allows for this mobile workforce without excessive investment into technology for each employee. Instead, CRM capitalizes on efficiency. The relevant customer information and company employees are brought together.

CRM brings these major benefits:

All-Access
CRM data should be available to all employees all the time. These CRM applications should accommodate the work employees’ schedules, and thus make the collective workforce more accessible for the customer.

Optimized Productivity
Effective CRM tools allow staff to make changes from mobile devices at any time. Employees should not have to wait or return to the workplace for each update to customer status. On the contrary, using correct CRM applications allows each member of the workforce to utilize any unexpectedly open time to check a customer, review a lead, etc. The inherent flexibility given to the workforce by CRM optimizes the time given to work.

Business Operation Clarity
The doings of a business workforce are made apparent by CRM. Business items and clients can be prioritized. The entire process of customer service can be tracked with each ticket to monitor repetitive issues. Vital business statistics are made accessible at any moment to the workforce, which clarify business operations for each member and each desired contact. This application of CRM is especially helpful during business campaign periods, where staff must be on the move to make the deal.

Work and Personal Life Balance
CRM tools are functions for the workforce, and not the other way around. These applications do not represent an invasion into an employee’s personal life. Rather, they free employees from the office place. The employees can scatter apart into their personal lives, and yet still collaborate on any business developments without being chained to the office. The difference is that CRM does not attach the workforce to a 24-hour work schedule, but makes any time in the day available for them.

Customer Loyalty and Satisfaction
Customer sales are made through having the necessary information at the right moments. CRM connects all members of sales, customer service, and marketing in a network of correct intelligence about the company. Every member is equipped with the right facts and statistics to handle each client. More deals can be readily made with this kind of information mobility.

Today, more than ever, companies must better understand their client and manage the quality of their customers’ experiences. Lithium Technologies and Genesys are working together to integrate Lithium’s community platform with Genesys’ Customer Service Software. The goal is to extend the social networking capabilities of Genesys and deliver an improved customer experience by incorporating community as an integrated online channel, preserving continuity of service and driving contact center efficiencies.

With Genesys and Lithium Technologies in their respective expertise of customer interaction management and building of customer communities and networks, enterprises can utilize this integration to monitor and address customer issues outside of the traditional contact center and better understand conversations taking place across the customer community.

Lithium can flag community activities that require enterprise attention and the Genesys software suite can then determine the business value and priority and assign that interaction to the ideal resource, be it in the contact center or beyond. For example, if a post from a gold customer has gone unresolved for 24 hours, an alert would automatically escalate it to an agent for immediate attention. The combined solution seamlessly integrates social channels with traditional CRM to provide dynamic customer engagement.

Some key benefits provided from this joint solution by unifying cross-channel conversations and delivering a consistent experience as customers transition from the forum to voice and non-voice channels; reducing support costs over 40 percent by allocating a company’s most valuable resources to higher value business tasks while the community handles lower value postings; driving intelligent analytics and insights into customer behavior; creating a more profitable customer experience and multi-channel choice for customers; and increasing the corporate knowledge base from community interactions and responses.

The integrate solution will be showcased at LiNC – Lithium Technologies’ annual customer conference – May 12-14 in San Francisco. Enterprises can learn more about this solution to harness their resources in the Contact Center and beyond to avoid leaving the “socialsphere” unattended.

Utilizing social media tools to optimize customer service and customer relationship management (CRM) has been the trajectory for many businesses of generation Web 2.0. General Motors (GM) is not the first business to use resources like Twitter and Facebook to engage their stakeholders; however as a manufacturer in the midst of a financial crisis, they are facing quite a challenge.

GM’s new communications restructuring focuses on using social media to provide high quality customer service. GM’s Communications Manager, Annalisa Esposita Bluhm, is the key voice behind GM’s online social media presence. Bluhm explains the importance of social media: “One of the best things about [it] is it gives GM a direct line to customers, which helps build trust and transparency”. GM is turning to social media and social CRM to engage in meaningful connections with their customers.

GM is using social media tools to distribute product information, publicize promotions and offer quality customer service. The reason for establishing transparency during a financial crisis is to demonstrate trustworthiness between GM and its stakeholders and customers.

GM has truly revolutionized their customer service efficiency, through a collaborative effort with the public and social media, to create a better brand. This is exciting news not only for the automotive industry, but for the social customer service sphere as well. Companies are giving their patrons a voice and they are using emerging social media to do it.

Salesforce.com, the customer relationship management (CRM) cloud computing company, announced the expansion of their social feature Chatter today. The application is embedded in their CRM platform and adds a social, collaborative element to the web-based CRM.

Salesforce.com CEO, Mark Benioff, is following the Social CRM trend, by enhancing Chatter to have following options similar to Facebook/Twitter. The goal of integrating social elements to the cloud CMS platform would be to optimize social networking.

Salesforce.com was created to connect enterprises to information about their customers at any given moment. Benioff wants to take the idea a step further with Salesforce Chatter to make his web-based CRM even more social and informational. Benioff explains: “We are in the era of Cloud 2, where social networking use has surpassed e-mail, Facebook and YouTube use have outpaced search, and new mobile devices like the iPad are creating entirely new ways to interact with information”.

The Cloud 2 era for the web-based CRM Company will focus on real-time collaboration across mobile devices and integrating social media with CRM.

Salesforce Chatter will also feature an app-to-app engagement, like its social media counterparts. Although unlike its social media counterparts, Chatter conversations will be more CRM-centric instead of the inane conversations we are exposed to à la Facebook.

By now, those familiar with the CRM industry and trends (as well as those searching for the right CRM platform) know that the ability to mine social media data is critical. However, information that comes from social networks is largely unfiltered, and no matter how many social media advocates shout their messages of adoption, adding social media and CRM can appear to create a whole lot of noise. Of course, there are a number of CRM providers that know how to do Social CRM properly, and Radian6 is taking Social CRM a step further. The social media monitoring company, announced plans for a “social phone this month—a service that could seriously bridge the gap between useful social network data and CRM processes.

Radian6’s new product has been dubbed the “Engagement Console,” and is a top-notch method for delivering prompt customer service—before an issue is formallRadian6’s new product has been dubbed the “Engagement Console,” and is a top-notch method for delivering prompt customer service—before an issue is formally filed. It helps users capture conversations, and uses that data in an actionable way. For example, if an unsatisfied customer takes to Twitter to vent their frustrations with a particular product or brand, that company will be notified of the complaint, and can address the problem immediately and directly. The Engagement Console also allows Radian6 users to see (in real-time) who is responding to comments about their brand or service, increasing the opportunities for damage control.

Engagement Console is currently in beta, but it’s going to make a serious impact on Social CRM with its general release to be sure. The social phone’s other key features include the ability to classify and tag consumer posts, analyze sentiment and social media metrics, and view user profiles to understand online presence. For those companies weighing their Social CRM options, this one will undoubtedly be very attractive.

The Radian6 platform integrates with web analytics, and is also currently integrative with Salesforce.com CRM. It’ll be interesting to see if Radian6 develops similar partnerships, or if a CRM provider snatches them up and incorporates their technology into their own CRM platform. The one thing that is sure: any product that filters social media data like the Engagement Console does will be a Social CRM mainstay, no matter what trajectory the company takes.

Note: for those interested in finding the right Social CRM software, check out Business-Software.com’s Top Social CRM Vendors Report.

Last week, Salesforce.com announced it will partner with Cisco to deliver “the new face of customer service” by building a new contact center in the cloud. Combining Salesforce’s Service Cloud 2 with Cisco Unified Communications, the new solution uses gives SMBs the ability to run customer service entirely in the cloud. Both Cisco and Salesforce share a faith in cloud computing, and both encourage leveraging social networking sites for customer service.

Service Cloud 2 and Cisco’s Unified Contact Center—which helps companies smoothly integrate inbound and outbound voice call with Internet applications—are integrated by a connector, allowing customers to use Salesforce CRM as their primary agent desktop while having access to Contact Center’s capabilities. The solution is for companies with 30 to 300 customer service representatives, and features the Customer Interaction Cloud, a tool providing more efficient communications.

Salesforce and Cisco consider this new integration the answer to growing demands for cloud-based customer service solutions within the SMB market, as well as a new model for customer service. The cloud model allows companies to deliver “the expertise of the community” to their customers, and Salesforce reports that some 8,000 customers have already turned to Service Cloud 2 (launched earlier this fall) for their customer service needs.

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.

A very nice and succinct piece here that touches upon the manner in which businesses into commodity trading and those selling high-value goods can make use of CRM. CRM is now being used by businesses to add to the soft value that a consumer perceives in a transaction apart from the object/service he purchases and the amount he pays for it.

The value-adds act as important differentiators and allow businesses to create space for themselves in competitive scenarios. Product and price differentiation is no longer sufficient to draw in the customers. CRM helps by making sense out of data that is gathered from the customers and the information is used to tailor service around a customer’s likes and dislikes.  The service sector finds it the hardest to do business on quantitative value alone and hence is pressed to come out with innovative value propositions for customers.