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The Importance of CRM Customer Relationship Management

One of the primary factors in the success of any company is the liaison it shares with its customers. CRM or Customer Relationship Management designates all features of interaction a company shares with its customer. This includes everything from sales to service.

CRM is basically a business strategy designed to accrue gains, generate revenue and cater to customer needs and satisfaction. With the e-media picking up pace, the manner in which companies approach their CRM strategies has greatly changed. This has even altered the consumer?s purchasing attitude. So these days CRM too has become a web based effort as most of the customer relationship is handled electronically.

The web based CRM service is more effective. Web-based CRM services mainly covers three areas of service- sales force automation, management of customer relationships and customer services and automated marketing.

A web-based CRM software is a web-based system used for contact management, marketing and sales support, project tracking and other tasks associated with CRM. This software enables teams and departments to share a central and fresh database. The software facilitates its users with an online contact manager and a project-tracking tool, either over the web or within the corporate intranet. With the aid of the CRM software you can view and manage contacts, customer?s record, hot leads, projects and left-out work, from anywhere and with any web-browser. Moreover unlike the intervening and needed to be testified upgrades of an enterprise software, the upgrades to the web based software do not affect the organization?s regular operations in any manner. Due to these features more and more companies are driven towards this web-based software.

Siebel Systems Inc., HydraNet and Push CRM are some eminent names in web-based software service. Lately SAP has also blessed the market with on-demand Customer Relationship Management solution. A web based CRM has many names out of which on-demand CRM is one.

These systems provide agents with the most up-to-date information on all customer service transactions. The software adds to the strategic value and business of the organization by automating sales, marketing and customer service. For instance the SAP product specializes in providing core sales-force automation features for managing customers, contacts and sales pipelines.

The software runs and keeps a complete track of your data after it is downloaded or purchased and then installed on your server or web-host. Usually the CRM software runs on all significant platforms such as Unix, Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, Novell (6.5) and so forth. Since the software serves many purposes at the same time, it is quite expensive. However an incredible competition in the market has enabled the software seekers to exercise their choice to a certain extent.

In choosing a web-based CRM software it is important that the user should firstly analyze his or her budget or the budget of the organization. Secondly also check your organization?s partner ecosystems. A user-friendly hosted CRM system, an on premise version or the combo of both should follow this and finally try to go for software that can fit any type of user, any size company and in any industry.

Mansi Aggarwal recommends that you visit Web based CRM
for more information.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mansi_Aggarwal

CRM Customer Relationship Management is one of the newest innovations in customer service today. CRM stands for customer relationship management and helps the management and customer service staffs cope with customer concerns and issues. CRM involves gathering a lot of data about the customer. The data is then used to facilitate customer service transactions by making the information needed to resolve the issue or concern readily available to those dealing with the customers. This results in more satisfied customers, a more profitable business and more resources available to the support staff. Furthermore, CRM Customer Relationship Management systems are a great help to the management in deciding on the future course of the company.

As mentioned, there is much data needed for the CRM system to work. These fields include the customer name, address, date of transactions, pending and finished transactions, issues and complaints, status of order, shipping and fulfillment dates, account information, demographic data and many more. This information is important in providing the customer the answer that he or she needs to resolve the issue without having to wait for a long time and without going to several departments. With just a few mouse clicks, a customer support representative for example can track the location of the customer?s package or order. This is infinitely better than the cumbersome process of tracking shipments previously. Furthermore, the customer service representative will also be able to see the previous concerns of the customer. This is a great help especially if the customer is calling about the same issue since he or she will not have to repeat the story all over again. This results in less time in resolving the issue, thus, higher productivity of the support staff.

CRM Customer Relationship Management systems are also important to the top management because it provides crucial data like customer satisfaction and efficiency of service by the frontline crews. A piece of customer relationship management software will also be able to generate the needed reports for product development or new concepts. Furthermore, this system will also be a great help for the top management in deciding the company?s future course of action, whether it involves phasing out one of the products on the shelves or making adjustments to one of the products sold.

The reports generated by CRM systems are also invaluable to your advertising and marketing planners, as they will be able to pinpoint which ideas works and which do not. Because of CRM systems, you will be able to release advertisements or plan marketing campaigns more in tune with your target market. This will also lead to more responses to your advertisement and a more effective marketing campaign.

Successful integration of a CRM Customer Relationship Management system in your company, however, might not be as easy as it seems. The following might give you an insight why CRM systems fail in some companies? Most companies fail to prepare for CRM systems. By this, I mean that most companies fail to integrate all the departments that need to share the information for it to be effective. Furthermore, CRM units scattered all over the company?s departments is often more effective than just making one big CRM department. This will ensure that each department will get the information and data that they need.

A CRM system will also help you a lot in expanding your business. As CRM systems are capable of handling enormous amounts of data, CRM systems will help you a lot in coping with the increased numbers of customers and data. With a CRM Customer Relationship Management system installed and properly utilized, you can be sure that all data is maximized and used to ensure that your business will be successful and your customers a lot more satisfied than before.

Steven Taylor is a Marketing Consultant to http://www.Retronix.com
– one of the most innovative and effective suppliers to the electronics & semiconductor industries. Services include BGA Rework
and De-Bug Services.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steven_R_Taylor

Web Based CRM Guide 101

Mansi Aggarwal recommends that you visit Web based CRM
for more information.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mansi_Aggarwal

Small Business CRM – Fueling Large Scale CRM Growth

In the initial CRM rush of the 90’s, most SMB (small to medium sized businesses) were largely ignored. At that time, CRM was considered to be the forte of large enterprises. But soon, vendors noticed that a huge market was lying untapped in the SMB market. This realization has led to the creation of several high quality small business CRM solution.

A global market analyst by the name of Datamonitor expects the CRM market to spend about $2 billion by 2008. This is almost double of what is being spent today. The largest CRM market is EMEA which is expected to spend close to $600 million on customer relationship management applications.

The applications

When it comes to the small business customer relationship management applications, there is a considerable difference in CRM solutions and enterprise class CRM. But this difference is eliminated by the high quality functionalities that are included within the application at a fraction of the cost. This is one of the reasons why hosted CRM is becoming a global force.

The high capital costs were eliminated and a certain degree of flexibility was introduced into CRM applications.Today most vendors have a host of products for small businesses. Most of these products can be further tailored to meet the individual needs of the customers.

A far more competitive environment

This influx of customer relationship management into the small to medium sized business world has also led to far more precise business models. The overall environment has become far more competitive and healthier.

Revenue generation, customer service and channel management have reached the next level. Its customer focused business models that rule the roost today and it is to the benefit of the customer.

For more info visit : Small Business CRM

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Open Source CRM For Small Business

Today, small and mid-size business owners are using open source CRM software to help streamline their business processes with the expectation of generating more sales opportunities. Open source CRM solutions should be able to manage existing customers, facilitate prospecting, generate online sales leads, launch and track marketing campaigns, analyze customer needs and preferences, integrate with existing applications and provide secure access to company data from any computer with an Internet connection and a browser.

Here are a few keys to selecting the right CRM solution:

• Ensure the CRM software you choose has the ability to capture all relevant customer and sales related information. At a minimum, your CRM solution must be able to easily record all interactions with your customers. One of the major benefits of CRM software is in its ability to help collect, store and share data to all appropriate areas in your business — in real-time.

• Before you deploy a CRM tool you must first understand your existing sales and marketing workflow. Your CRM tool must be able to integrate with your existing processes or your sales and marketing team will not use it.

• It is imperative to understand the level of customization you will require. Do you have the required technical skills on staff to implement modifications? Does the CRM tool provide an API (application programming Interface) for extending the platform? Will custom changes prevent future upgrade options? Answering these questions in advance will save you time and money later.

• Determine if the CRM tool can integrate with applications used by your staff. For example, you must know whether the CRM tool can share or exchange data with your email client (e.g. Outlook or Thunderbird). You must also know if the CRM tool provides an easy to use import or export function for data mining and other sales analysis functions.

• Determine the level of support you will require. Most open source providers make their money on service and support rather than software sales. Therefore, you should investigate the various levels of support provided by the open source vendor.

• Research the level and quality of third party extensions. Quite often companies are able to find free or low cost extensions and avoid the expense of internal development. Third party extensions can add needed functionality and save your business time and money. For example, third party payment modules have become a necessary component for accepting electronic payment at the point of sale.

While there are many open source CRM products to choose from here are my top six:

1. SugarCRM
2. vtiger CRM
3. SplendidCRM
4. CentricCRM
5. XRMS CRM
6. ZOHO CRM

Be sure to test drive multiple open source CRM tools before deciding which open source CRM application to deploy.

Ricky Bracken is President & CEO of SaleManager Merchant Services. SaleManager provides enterprise class payment solutions to small and mid-size businesses. SaleManager payment solutions include a Payment Gateway Service
, Mobile Payment Solutions, POS Terminals, Retail & Restaurant payment solutions
, Certified Shopping Carts and CRM payment modules.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ricky_Bracken

Microsoft Dynamics ERP Selection: GP, AX, NAV, SL, CRM – Notes for Consultant

There is an interesting phenomenon happening in the small and medium business segment. The widespread adoption of on-demand or software as a service (saas) CRM, led by Salesforce.com, and followed by companies such as NetSuite and RightNow Technologies.

Well, that’s not really new.

What is new is the expanded use of saas CRM software within these mini-enterprises, whether independent businesses or smaller divisions or departments of larger corporations, as their principal business platform. Since saas CRM manages the lifeblood of the business, sales and customers, and is increasingly more user friendly and flexible, it is becoming the preferred method for companies to manage their business.

As a result, it is also becoming the de facto integration hub, or SOA enabler, for the smaller enterprise.

A case in point is the experience of a well-known educational products sales company. It’s parent company sells educational toys through retailers. However, it launched a division that sells education-oriented items to schools and school districts, such as a handheld screen-based interactive tool that uses story narratives to teach English proficiency to non-native English speakers. This newer division established a territory sales model, with geographically-based sales executives selling to school districts in their area.

The main corporate entity has only a handful of account managers who sell to large retailers such as Wal-Mart and Toys’r'Us. Whereas it is geared towards a retail sales model and related B2B IT infrastructure, the newer division had the infrastructure needs of a territory-based direct sales model. They required a CRM application to track leads, opportunities, and closed sales, and because of the reduced bandwidth of this smaller business unit, they required the efficiency gains of an automated commission calculating application.

With no dedicated IT resources (IT resources are tied to corporate and are available “on-loan” to the new division), and a need to ramp-up quickly, the division chose to bring the CRM and commission calculation functionality of the on-demand model. They chose Salesforce.com and Xactly Corporation, respectively, to fulfill these functions. The one on-premise application they had access to was Oracle Financials for accounting.

The missing piece was to integrate these applications together. They chose to go with a packaged integration platform, adopting their subscription-based pricing model and on-premise software.

In addition to being the CRM platform for the new division, Salesforce.com is also serving as the de facto “enterprise service bus” to incorporate the accounting functionality of Oracle Financials, and to trigger Xactly to do it’s job of calculating sales commissions.

This use of Salesforce.com as a de facto on-demand ESB platform was noted in an August 2007 white paper entitled “Busting Myths of On-Demand Integration,” by Peter Coffee, Director of Platform Research.

“On-demand platforms exhibit the growing capability to provide a foundation for integration,” he said, citing a May 2007 announcement of the Salesforce.com SOA technology that enables the exposure and consumption of web services.

In the same paragraph he notes:

“This is not to say, however, that a move to a Web services protocol strategy (such as that of using a saas application such as Salesforce.com) is a prerequisite for on-demand integration…there are options available for use with the salesforce.com platform” such as custom coding or a third party integration platform.

In other words, on-demand applications, Salesforce.com being the most prominent, are quickly establishing themselves as integration hubs the way ESB providers such as Sonic Software, IBM’s Websphere, and BEA’s Weblogic were formulated to be.

These SOA solutions, however, are cost-prohibitive for smaller companies, divisions or departments, and are often managed by enterprise IT staffs who are unresponsive to the needs of the department. These smaller enterprises have to fend for themselves, and are adopting on-demand applications that require little to no IT involvement.

IT typically has to get involved when it comes to integration, according to Coffee. Such was the case with the educational products company. Their IT department provided the input that the newer division needed to give the technical “thumbs-up” to the integration solution. But due to human bandwidth issues they decided to go with a fully delivered integration solution as opposed to the traditional toolset that is typically sold to IT departments.

Tying together Salesforce.com, Oracle Financials and Xactly Corporation was done in the span of four months and cost less than $50,000. Why did it take that long? Because they had to take a breather between deciding on an integration vendor and a commission calculation vendor.

Compare that with enterprise application integration projects which typically take nine months or more and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and you can see why Salesforce.com, together with fully configured integration solutions, are quickly becoming the “integration hubs” or systems of record for the smaller enterprise.

Fernando Labastida is an account executive with Pervasive Software, and serves the Northern California, Pacific Northwest, Southwest Canada, Minnesota, and all of Latin America. He can be reached at http://www.labastida.com
or 512-945-9273.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Fernando_Labastida

Microsoft recently (in September 2005) renamed its ERP product: Great Plains ? Microsoft Dynamics GP, Navision ? Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Axapta ? Microsoft Dynamics AX, Solomon ? Microsoft Dynamics SL, Microsoft CRM ? Microsoft Dynamics CRM. The idea is probably nice ? to unify future concordance product under Microsoft Dynamics name. There are multiple possibilities, however in getting all MRP systems merged into one Microsoft Dynamics and what should be taken as base and what should be phased out. We can not be judges ? we will give you some facts for you to take into consideration. This article is planned as a first entry point to look ?under the hood? of Microsoft ERP applications and probably compare the facts with the competition: SAP (especially SAP Business One if you are small or mid-size company or international branch of multinational corporation), Oracle E-Business Suite/Oracle Financials, also referred as Oracle Applications.

? Microsoft Dynamics GP 9.0/Microsoft Great Plains. This ERP was initially architectured by Great Plains Software ? Great Plains Dynamics and Great eEnterprise hit the market in earlier and middle 1990th. If you remember those old-good-days of IT boom ? nobody knew which operating system will win: Unix/Solaris, Microsoft Windows, Apple MAC OS. This is why ? the traditional (and pioneering way) for those days was to create a shell, written in C language to abstract you from Graphical platform. Great Plains Dexterity was this shell, programming language (sanscript). The second fundamental idea was to abstract Great Plains Dynamics from database platform, however the abstraction was done on the level of ?budget? database platforms: Ctree/Faircomm, and Btrive, later on Pervasive SQL 2000, for Microsoft SQL Server 6.5/7.0/2000 Great Plains used atomic stored procs approach to speed up database access. Nowadays Microsoft Dynamics GP/Great Plains versions 5.5, 6.0, 7.0, 7.5 are available for Ctree and Pervasive, however since version 8.0 Microsoft Great Plains is available on MS SQL Server/MSDE platform only. Currently Microsoft Great Plains 9.0 is offered in USA, Latin America, Canada (including French Canadian version for Quebec), UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and other countries where official language is English ? such as South East Asia, for instance.

? Microsoft Navision/Navision Attain/Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Some ERP analytics believe that Microsoft Great Plains Business Solutions (later renamed into Microsoft Business Solutions) bought Navision Software (est. in 1984). The fundamental ideas of Navision come to its own shell ? C/SIDE, database proprietary platform: C/SIDE, etc. Navision was designed to be flexible and grow with your business ? from small to upper mid-market. Navision Software had its own marketing plans prior to be purchased by Microsoft and expanded in continental Europe, UK, USA (competing with Great Plains Software and Solomon Software). When Navision was bought by Microsoft ? Microsoft Business Solutions offered and promoted Navision in East Europe: Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, etc. Plus it tried Navision in Brazil (over 100 implementations – 2005). Navision is more flexible to localization challenge (than Microsoft Great Plains)

? Microsoft Axapta/Microsoft Dynamics AX ? it seems to be rising star for Microsoft and it can compete with upper ERP/MRP mid-market. Axapta has modern design and its ability to expand is still in its architecture modern model (versus Great Plains or Navision ? where we see integrations with MS Office, Web Fronts/Business Portal/eConnect/eCommerce type of improvements). In late 2005 we see US and UK MBS VAR activity to sign for Axapta and consultants training.

? Microsoft Dynamics SL/Microsoft Solomon ? this ERP is for project-driven organizations.

? Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0/Microsoft CRM 3.0. This CRM solution from Microsoft is abreast of the majority of Microsoft recent ideas and innovations: Microsoft Exchange, Active Directory, XML Web Services driven MS CRM SDK with C# and VB.Net sample code. Currently MS CRM 1.2 and 3.0 has integration to Microsoft Dynamics GP 7.5, 8.0 (with service patch) and 9.0 (coming?)

Please do not hesitate to call or email us: USA 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918 help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer at Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com
http://www.greatplains.com.mx
http://www.enterlogix.com.br
) – Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Navision, Axapta MS CRM, Oracle Financials and IBM Lotus Domino Partner, serving corporate customers in the following industries: Aerospace & Defense, Medical & Healthcare, Distribution & Logistics, Hospitality, Banking & Finance, Wholesale & Retail, Chemicals, Oil & Gas, Placement & Recruiting, Advertising & Publishing, Textile, Pharmaceutical, Non-Profit, Beverages, Conglomerates, Apparels, Durables, Manufacturing and having locations in multiple states and internationally.

We are serving USA Nationwide: CA, IL, NY, FL, AZ, CO, TX, WI, WA, MI, MA, MO, LA, NM, MN, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Francisco, Denver, Seattle, Boston, Atlanta, Miami, Houston, Dallas, San Diego, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Minneapolis, Washington, Baltimore, New Orleans, Austin, Kansas City.

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On-Demand CRM – Integration Hub for the Small Business or Enterprise Department

Well, that’s not really new.

As a result, it is also becoming the de facto integration hub, or SOA enabler, for the smaller enterprise.

The missing piece was to integrate these applications together. They chose to go with a packaged integration platform, adopting their subscription-based pricing model and on-premise software.

In the same paragraph he notes:

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Fernando_Labastida

The Most Common Features Available Through CRM Systems

Customer Relations Management, or CRM, is more of a business strategy rather than a technology, although it is a software program that offer businesses better solutions in acquiring and maintaining relationships with customers. Companies who want to be successful are dedicated to finding ways to keep their most important asset, their customers, satisfied. That is why many businesses are turning to CRM technology to put their CRM strategies to work for them.

One exciting feature in CRM systems is the emergence of open source CRM applications that are more advanced than ever. They actually allow the customer to integrate the multiple business systems in support of the company’s business strategy rather than the company doing the integrating. Basically, the customer is doing the work that the business needs to find out what it is that satisfies their customer. These open source applications tend to be less expensive and support many different proprietary solutions. Yet at the same time these systems are presenting businesses with security, scalability, and many features that can be acquired by a business of any size because of their affordable price.

Common features

There are many common features in a CRM system that a company will find very useful in their sales management and their overall relations with their current and prospective customers. These features are:

? Management of sales leads and actual sales

? Marketing campaign management

? Help desk for customer inquiries

? Business process management to help a business design business practices to appeal to the customer.

? Collaborative project management, which allows those collaborating on a project to remain on the same page and integrate their ideas.

? Reporting and dashboards to acquire reports on those things that can make the business grow even larger.

? Enterprise content management

? Website authoring, which is important with the internet being responsible for a lot of the revenue now acquired by businesses.

When it comes to security, it is important for these systems to be secure so that unauthorized people cannot access very important customer information. There are security features put in place to ensure that unauthorized activity does not occur within the system or the information of customers is compromised in any way.

? Advanced encryption and authentication to prevent hacking and access by unauthorized people.

? Administration and logging for those who should only be allowed to access certain features and to keep unauthorized personnel out of certain files.

Then of course there is the communication factor of CRM. Customer relations cannot be successful without the use of the telephone. That is why most CRM systems employ telephone and mobile connectivity such as:

? IM integration

? VoIP integration

? E-mail

? Voice recognition features

? Web services

CRM systems are also supported by platforms such as Linux and Windows since businesses use various platforms for their computer systems in order to conduct business. These programs also run on a number of browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox and Mac’s Safari. They are rather flexible in what types of computers they are used on.

Other features

There are other features that businesses like to have included in their CRM systems because there may be a particular function they need that is not included in the default package. In this case, the company may pay a CRM software company to specially make a software program that integrates with certain business requirements such as seeing what the probability is that a customer will leave the company based on past interactions. This is a feature some companies use to know which customers to focus on. So as you can see, the possibilities of CRM are quite phenomenal.

Installing an accelerator application
onto your businesses computer system can be an excellent way to increase productivity and decrease waste.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Beth_Murphy

How CRM Software Works — Creating Customer Satisfaction with a Click

The Web has certainly revolutionized how consumers shop. It has enabled an entirely deeper CRM capability and speed in delivering messages, special offers, transaction data, etc. In fact, marketers have prophesied that the next step in CRM is near total abandonment of traditional consumer advertising, both print and broadcast, and almost total adoption of real-time targeted marketing, a.k.a. inbound marketing, via the internet. An example would be as you enter a Web site, you will be presented with personalized messages, based on data the advertiser has stored on you regarding purchase history, online activity, and promotion participation, along with financial and demographic information, as well. And this will trigger true shopper bliss.

Now, as an obsessive marketer myself, I have to say I?m ready to jump on the bandwagon, emotionally. However, as I step back and analyze what is truly meant, here, I have to question the validity of such a claim. Perhaps it is not the objective that troubles me, but the premise. And the reason is simple: to shop is a comfort to real shoppers. It is a safe activity, meaning that you are participating in an activity that you control, you direct, and you make decisions for what you will shop. Oh, and you might want some degree of help at different points in the process.

Four short years ago we were working with a company that was attempting to sell an in-store, in-lane system that would provide real-time, personal marketing. The client worked very hard on all presentations, yet failed to achieve adoption with a single retailer. My marketing instinct tells me that they would meet the same fate, today.

Why? First of all, because of human nature. After all, part of the human experience is shopping. Most people don?t want to be told what they want. They just want you to have and deliver it when they find it. In fact, some enjoy the experience of the hunt, not even knowing what they want before they set out to discover it. The Web site, then, provides a new world in which to experience this new discovery. However, the value of the experience is relatively unchanged.

Secondly, because of human nature. Consumers feel as though technology is greatly responsible for unwanted intrusions into their private life, already. With out-of-control spam, strange targeted messages that include their names and seem to read their minds, and telemarketing calls that appear to coincide with recent online activity (and often do), consumers are likely emotionally negative toward more of the same, especially as it relates to shopping, online or not.

Finally, because of human nature. Consumers are inundated with information. The internet has given them the ability to search for information that is highly targeted more quickly and efficiently than ever. Generally speaking, those consumers will not tolerate additional information being pushed at them. Remember how I described the shopping experience; it is about an activity that the shopper controls, at their pace. It is unlikely that the mass of online shoppers will eagerly relinquish that control to strangers, especially those that they cannot see.

All my evaluation is not meant to deny that there is great opportunity afforded the marketer seeking greater online CRM. But, the ones that are successful are the ones that can enhance, not detour, the shopping experience, which is truly human.

Opportunity: To find out how Danskin Creative Communication can improve the efficiency of your marketing, advertising, brand identity and development, web design or web strategy, broadcast ad spots, video production, graphic design, copywriting,public relations, etc., contact us at http://resources.danskincreative.com/index.asp?isFunction=contact
.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mick_Danskin

When people ask, ?What is CRM?? the literal answer is, ?Customer Relationship Management,? but that doesn?t really convey much in terms of what all CRM does for a business. This CRM definition is too narrow to really explain everything the system does if it is working to its fullest potential and is user-friendly enough to expand and grow as a customer-client relationship changes and grows.

CRM in the broader sense encompasses not only customer relationship management itself but how customer relationship management is handled and the most important elements of a CRM program that are essential to its being successful. The range of CRM software options vary from those that provide simple customer tracking and live chat capabilities to the more complex CRM solutions that can integrate all of the customer relationship data an enterprise has on each client past, present and future in a dynamic information data network.

What should I look for in a CRM software package?

If there?s an ideal CRM software package that works for every company and every situation, it hasn?t been discovered yet, simply because every company has slightly different needs for their customer relationship management needs as well as software implementation.

In general, however, when you are looking for a strong CRM software package there are a few things to keep in mind. If you are shopping for a CRM package, try to forget about the initial price tag at first (as difficult as this may be) and focus on the adaptability, usability and integrity of each system you evaluate as it relates to your particular needs. A few things to consider:

? What are the most important facets of customer relations are we looking to address, and does this CRM software support tracking and updating all aspects of this? For example, if your company wants to customer service to have ready access to changes in customer spending habits and an opportunity to offer new product options based on these records, make sure this capability is built into the software. Customization down the line will be time-consuming and expensive — if you have a primary goal, make sure it is standard in your CRM software package.

? Will the CRM software package integrate smoothly with all platforms currently in use at your company? If you will have to re-enter all databases such as client names, addresses and phone numbers, this will significantly increase the amount of money you?ll spend in the long run. Make sure that you can either integrate smoothly or import all information needed flawlessly.

? Is the product more than you need? An enterprise solution that offers fifteen functions you don?t need and never will isn?t a bargain if you will never expand into that market niche. Just because it?s available doesn?t mean you have to have it. Selling custom-sewn hats? You won?t need a CRM software package for tracking million-dollar overseas accounts.

? Has this CRM software package been used for a company of your size before? If it has been used for companies up to 10,000 and you have 150,000, the system may simply not be able to sustain the volume of data and crash or develop glitches. Look for something more powerful with a support system capable of understanding the size of your company.

Can you build me a dream CRM software package?

Hmm?let?s see. The best CRM software package would be optimally functional across all platforms and have its own customer support backing it, and ?. Well, let?s take a look at our own list of what we?d really like in a CRM software package if money was no object and we could ?have it all,? so to speak:

? A CRM software provider that has partnerships with other vendors for support in the event you need it for integration of platforms.

? Extensive training from certified CRM software technicians who will walk your people through the process of setting up, using and training others on the system.

? Full data migration capabilities to and from all programs in current use to the new CRM software.

? Offsite server storage backup for all information in the CRM system for added security.

? A toolbox for company programmers for customizing templates for company use — this will save huge amounts of time by eliminating the need to write custom codes from scratch.

? Either in-house consultants or a choice of contracted consultants they recommend (try not to be at the mercy of one consultant when there is a problem).

? A CRM software package designed by a company familiar with our specific industry and its structural needs.

The best CRM software packages enable customer service representatives to review the account information of each client or customer when they are talking to him or her and immediately understand something about that person?s needs, wants and spending patterns.

For banks, CRM software can indicate their banking patterns — are they investing through the bank? Have they recently looked into a money market fund? Do they have substantial funds that could be put to better use than languishing in a simple CD?

A mail order company can note your shopping tendencies and make Christmas shopping suggestions based on past purchases by seeing that you buy a lot of kids? clothes and that you spend about $200 each holiday. Used correctly, a toy company can steer you toward some bargains and suggest alternatives, enriching your shopping experience and building customer loyalty.

Why does CRM software fail so often after it?s put into place?

You?ve heard the stories about a company buying a CRM software package and then realizing it hasn?t really changed anything. The big-wigs are disappointed, customer service is frustrated, and the clients are aggravated with the new changes that don?t seem to show any improvements in customer service or client relations. How does it happen?

Because CRM software was purchased that wasn?t appropriate, was purchased too soon, or wasn?t implemented properly. If you don?t purchase CRM software that specifically addresses what your customer concerns are, you may have software that is very detailed in an area you don?t need and somewhat lacking in exactly what you do need.

Purchasing too soon means you bought the software before you had evaluated what you really wanted. Many companies by CRM software with a goal ?to improve customer relations,? which is not a clear business goal! You should have a very specific, well-defined objective that your CRM software solution can address, and you company should have developed a formal objective before you went shopping for a solution. Retaining customers? Improving the size of current customer portfolios? Penetrating a new market niche? Reduce customer complaints? Improve customer repair response? Determine what it is you want to focus on as a goal, and then choose your CRM software solution based on how it will address it.

Finally, implementation of a new CRM program requires proper management support and effective training. That means that management must be behind it one hundred percent, and not have ?head in the sand? approach where they determine that ?that?s for customer service, I never did understand that stuff,? and avoid learning how the CRM software works. It is an attitude that will pervade the company.

Second, training is essential and must encompass the company to ensure that all levels of personnel will embrace the new system and understand the genuine need for it and the real goal of what you are trying to achieve with your new CRM software solution.

Some CRM software options for small and medium sized businesses

For small and medium businesses, the most common customer relations management software request is for anything that enhances online communications and improves the time between a customer complaint or question and resolution of the issue for them.

For many companies, there are software solutions that can be purchased or downloaded to be used through their Internet website for basic services such as online customer support through live chat and customer assistance with online purchasing that is both efficient and relatively inexpensive. If your need is primarily to improve sales volume, improve response to customer questions and complaints and to make your company website more personalized, look into these solutions that are at the lower end of the price spectrum while providing solid CRM products:

? LivePerson offers two different versions, Basic and Enterprise that provide live chat, email and a variety of interactive forms customized to meet companies? needs for customer relations. This company has developed live chat solutions and online forms for everything from universities to financial services firms. This company provides a wide range of services, including online marketing, case studies, and software designed to improve online shopping cart capabilities.

? LiveHelper offers many of the same features, and adds real time traffic monitoring and other data assessment features as well. For the price, LiveHelper is a very good CRM software value.

? GroopZ includes customer routing software so that you can transfer entire chat strings from one customer service rep to another if you need be, along with an efficient filing system for chat transcripts and customer records. For improving customer relations, the software support suggests pre- and post-service questions for all customers who contact you.

Also included are templates you can set up with specific, pre-scripted answers to frequently asked questions in online chat to save customer service representatives time and make the process clearer and more efficient. This company does a bit more customizing on the front end to fit your needs, and pricing is adjusted accordingly.

? SupportWizard gives you three CRM options that give you some flexibility — you can buy, lease or let them host your customer service/relations solutions. Interactive FAQs, live chat, standard answers to frequent questions, and Boolean search capabilities to review past interactions all make this package extremely effective. SupportWizard also has more customizable features than some, including an ?escalation alert? that can be tailored to specific situations when a supervisor would be notified if a customer service situation exceeds certain parameters.

This is one of the more expensive packages available, but rather than a monthly fee you are paying for lease or outright purchase options, so factor this into the cost. You will also get spectacular customer support and constant upgrades and patches when necessary. The integration of email, live chat and telephone information into one database is also a plus with SupportWizard.

? BoldChat offers free CRM software for online customer service chat that you can use for a limited time, and offers a $9.95/month and a $39.95/month customized version of their CRM software. Both offer live customer service chat, but one adds customized windows and more options on buttons and the number of available customer service reps you can add.

? CSLive offers the most comprehensive CRM software solution available for small and medium businesses, with live chat, email, and the usual customer service features you expect from a small business CRM solution, but with plenty of extras. CSLive also offers an extensive tracking and filing system, an Internet server site where you can upload and store files of customer help articles that customers can be referred to that can by emailed directly to clients by your reps. Throw in the message center and online meetings, and this is practically an enterprise sized solution at a small business price of $29.95 a month.

CRM software, whether on a monthly user basis or purchased outright and downloaded onto your own server, will make serving and understanding your clients and customers a more productive experience, and you will all be happier for it.

How CRM Can Build and Maintain Customer Loyalty

Is your business’s shop floor taking full advantage of a customer relationship management (CRM) system? If not, you might not only be failing to earn your clients’ loyalty, you might also outright be losing them. CIS Magazine found this topic so important that it recently ran a feature article titled “Top Ten Tips to Build and Keep Customer Loyalty with CRM.”

Before delving into some of those strategies, let’s get a better picture of CRM. Short for customer relationship management, CRM is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) module that is a key element to factory floor efficiency. A “company-wide computer software system” ERP is “used to manage and coordinate all the resources, information, and functions of a business from shared data stores,” explains Wikipedia.

Shop floor managers can get the most out of ERP (and CRM) with a real-time data collection system that utilizes touch screen capabilities. That’s because such a scheduling system visually improves the sequencing of production (and raw materials) through a PC-based system that is completely interfaced with most ERP and MRP systems.

Now that you know what ERP and CRM are, let’s get back to their customer loyalty advantages according to the experts at CIS Magazine.

1. “One experience does not fit all.” – Software switches inside a real-time data collection system allow shop floor managers to configure the product to match the way they do business.

2. “Don’t wait, anticipate.” – A solid factory floor management system enables managers to touch, monitor and adapt every one of their specific shop processes for real-time improvement that delivers greater profitability.

3. “Strive for ‘first experience’ resolution.” – A high-quality management system helps factory floor managers discover and resolve problems faster. Reminders appear to inform of special instructions. Shift-to-shift information is contained on screen. An easy-to-use email system distributes messages to specific areas or persons. Automatic notification of a floor problem is displayed so action can be taken immediately.

4. “Respond fact to critical interactions.” – A shop floor management system allows businesses to compete on speed. While traditional planning systems are accounting based – meaning they measure cost, but do nothing to improve performance and increase production speed – a real-time management system is based on the actual “activity” of the floor. It modifies and adjusts work in progress based on actual “real world” production events, with the goal of improved performance.

5. “Increase access to real-time information.” – A shop floor management system delivers real-time, continuous improvement for greater profitability and faster delivery to customers. By blending planning technology with new, factory floor activity technology, such a system affords employees the opportunity to use touch screen computers right where they need them – on the factory floor. As a result, they can enter and retrieve data on the spot, providing their clients with new instantaneous updates. They simply touch-in current job data in a real-time environment that improves accuracy and provides a faster time to discovery of problems.

To get the competitive edge that keeps you in touch with your factory floor – and that builds customer loyalty and retention – look for a reputable enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that implements a solid customer relationship management (CRM) module.

Carmen Fontana is a Web Services Manger for Western Reserve Internet Services. You can learn more about shop floor control
software at http://www.factivity.com
.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carmen_Fontana

Microsoft CRM Connector: Lotus Notes Domino, CommuniGate Pro, PostFix, Exim

Microsoft Business Solutions is promoting its own CRM ? Microsoft CRM. Microsoft CRM is gaining market share in small, mid-size and even large companies CRM market. For large enterprise clients email server is often realized on Lotus Domino or Java/Unix platforms. Microsoft CRM standard messaging works through Microsoft Exchange Server 2003/2000. Considering the fact that large number of companies are committed to alternative email server, we decided to develop Microsoft CRM Lotus/Domino connector (first release ? April 2005), which works similar to MS CRM Exchange connector and will have improvement in comparison to standard connector in release 2 (June, 1 2005 ? target date)

How does it work. When you send email from CRM object (Lead, Contact or Account) ? the connector takes over, appends GUID to the message header and forwards to Lotus Domino for delivery. The reason for such a primitive solution is simple ? Microsoft wants to be sure that all email systems, deployed from mail recipient side (Lotus, Unix or Exchange) will keep GUID in the response header (usually appending re prefix, like re:?..GUID) and on the way back to MS CRM, connector will take all the messages with GUID in the header and will try to match their GUID with objects GUID and append these messages to their originating objects. Restating in direct words ? if you send email from specific contact ? when recipient responds ? RE message will be attached to the contact.
Improvements. If email is sent from Lotus client ? Lotus Domino server will analyze if MS CRM any contact, account or lead has addressee email and if so ? it will attach closed activity of email type to this object. If message is received by Lotus Domino server without GUID in the header ? server will analyze if any MS CRM object has addressor email and if so ? it will attach closed email activity to the object
Technology ? MS CRM Lotus Domino connector uses Java agent on the Lotus side and web services to address MS CRM.
Pricing – to be announced – it will be based on Lotus or other email server Licenses

Connector has standard core working with MS CRM and platform-dependent plug-ins. It will support following email servers (check with us on availability):

Exchange (Win32, Win64 (upon the arrival))
Lotus Domino (Win32, AIX, Linux, Solaris Sparc)
CommuniGate Pro (Win32, AIX, Linux, Solaris Sparc & x86)
PostFix (AIX, Linux, Solaris Sparc & x86)
Exim (AIX, Linux, Solaris Sparc & x86)
Oracle Collaboration Suite (Win32, AIX, Linux, Solaris Sparc)
GroupWise (Win32, Linux)

If you feel that you need such a product and use Lotus / Domino in your company, feel free to call us: USA 1-866-528-0577, Deutschland (0177) 8349 806, Moscow (095) 918 3314, help@albaspectrum.com

About The Author
Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies ? USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, serving clients in Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and having locations in multiple states and internationally ( http://www.albaspectrum.com
), he is CMA, Great Plains Certified Master, Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer. You can contact Andrew: akarasev@albaspectrum.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andrew_Karasev

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