CRM in the Cloud or Cloud services refers to CRM software applications which are hosted on the Web and made available through a Web Browser.
In this way there is no need to manage hardware and software on premise.
CRM in the Cloud or Cloud services refers to CRM software applications which are hosted on the Web and made available through a Web Browser.
In this way there is no need to manage hardware and software on premise.
Big data, in the context of CRM, relates to large volumes of data used for (mostly predictive) analytics.
Data can be collected from various sources including customer channels, transactions and other customer activities such as product usage.
By applying analytics to these large volumes of data customer patterns, associations and trends can be identified. This can then be used to predict behaviours and outcomes.
Benefits can include better decision making, predictive modeling, and benchmarking.
This means that, for example, Marketing, Sales or Service reps can be equipped with insights to identify hot leads, close sales faster, predict when service issues can blow up.
CRM vendors include:
Many of the above applications are suitable for small businesses and SMEs
CRM Service relates to all aspects of managing post-sales customer support issues including:
CRM Marketing refers to tools or features which automate or help manage marketing processes.
This could include:
CRM Sales covers all aspects of the sales process. This includes:
A multitude of software solutions have been developed to manage customer relationships.
While there are differences between these applications there are a number of common features which provide functionality to manage key aspects of the customer lifecycle.
Social, mobile and analytics (including big data) are new generation features.
These solutions address the key customer management processes: targeting, acquisition, retention and collaboration. Underlying these pillars and core to the success of the organisation and the CRM application is understanding the customer and managing the experience.
The CRM application will require enhancements as needs change. This can be done in-house or can be outsourced.
Data in the CRM application is the lifeblood of a successful implementation. The benefits of CRM cannot be realized without relevant and current data.
Typical data management tasks are:
To limit bad quality data from entering the crm application do the following:
Identify each point of data entry; this could be manually by users, third party applications or databases, or other internal systems.
For each source assess the data quality level, and identify the specific problem areas.
For users this could be:
There may be different reasons where data is sourced from third party and internal systems.
Zaheer Ismail
Key areas to focus on when implementing or improving a CRM system.
Zaheer Ismail