Understanding CRM Software Solutions

If you’ve ever browsed the web with the intent of researching CRM (Customer Relationship Management), then the chances are fairly high that you will have discovered an almost bewildering number of definitions and options. The result? Confusion and frustration in your efforts to research the right CRM system for your business.

It’s hardly surprising then that many small-to-medium businesses (SMBs) opt for putting any CRM project on the back-burner; and unfortunately that can often be to their detriment given the major benefits such a project can deliver. So before exploring CRM and its components, it’s worth looking at some of those benefits. Typically, they include:

• stronger and more profitable relationships with existing customers,
• a reduction in the costs of increasing the customer base,
• an improvement in the effectiveness and accountability of marketing campaigns,
• single-point access to every interaction occurring between the business and each customer, and
• the enablement of greater collaboration between team members and departments.

So What is a CRM system…?

Regardless of what the experts and gurus might say, a CRM system (the software component) is any software product that assists you in managing your list of customers in such a way as to benefit the relationship between the business and those customers. That said – and this is where many experts will be up in arms – a CRM system can be as basic as your contacts list in Outlook on your PC or Address Book on your Mac. Then again, it can be a feature- and function-packed system embracing marketing, sales, contacts, customer support, collaboration, reporting and more.

In understanding the individual components of a CRM system you will be in a better position to make sense of the various CRM offerings and select the one that is best suited for your business, its processes and people.

Contact Management: This is the foundation of any CRM software. It’s the component that assists your business in managing customer, partner and supplier contacts. In earlier days, contact management software offerings were little more than fairly straightforward databases of names, phone numbers, addresses, titles etc. As time went on, they became increasingly complex and integrated with calendaring, email and even accounting software. So much so, that several evolved to become highly functional CRM software products in their own right.

A classic example of that is ACT! by Sage, a product that since its first somewhat basic release in 1986 has become a worldwide CRM best-seller, with close on three million users. Then there’s Microsoft Office Outlook with Business Contact Manager, a product that builds on the familiarity – and broad user base – of Microsoft’s Outlook software. For many small businesses, such applications may well prove to be sufficient as either a low-risk introduction to CRM or even suffice in full.

Sales Force Automation (SFA): Also referred to as sales force management, an SFA system is intended to assist businesses better manage their sales personnel, operations and processes. At a fairly basic level, the SFA software builds on contact management by incorporating features such as sales forecasting, sales lead tracking and, crucial to the effectiveness of the system, comprehensive reporting.

Essentially, the SFA software or component of the overall CRM system provides sales personnel with the tools that help them identify sales opportunities – whether by individual customer or group, track and adhere to complex sales processes, and aid in reducing the time and cost to the business of making a sale.

Marketing Automation: As its name implies, the marketing automation component of a CRM system assists in managing the workflow of a company’s marketing activities. Those activities might include direct mail, email bursts, and advertising (print, radio, on-line and television). An important feature regarded as absolutely crucial in a marketing or campaign automation system is the ability to track results, which can then be used to refine and better target future campaigns and activities.

That last point then brings up the all important issue of integration between the various components. To demonstrate a rather simplistic workflow, let’s use the example of a company planning an email marketing campaign aimed at promoting an upgrade to one of its premier products.

Stage 1: Using the marketing/campaign automation, the marketing team creates the strategy and the email that will be going out.
Stage 2: Using the contact management component, the team is able to rely on up-to-date email contact information for all the intended recipients.
Stage 3: To ensure customers who have already upgraded don’t receive the email, those customers are filtered out using the data captured by the sales team using the SFA tools.
Stage 4: Once the email goes out, any click-throughs/responses can be automatically logged by the marketing automation software, and those leads fed automatically to the sales team. From there, having dramatically reduced the amount of resources required to establish solid sales leads, the sales team then gets to work on closing the sales.

And there’s more: There really is quite a bit more to a comprehensive CRM system. Many include knowledge bases, problem/case management and escalation, customer self-service portals, contract and quote generation, document management, integration with accounting systems, and the list goes on… and on. The fact is that as the CRM market becomes ever more competitive, the key vendors (listed below) continue to incorporate new features.

Another CRM system aspect that should be mentioned is the increasing number of companies offering hosted and Web-based systems – SugarCRM, for example – as opposed to systems that run exclusively on your own server(s) and are managed by your own people.

For many businesses, from small right through to enterprise, hosted/Web-based systems are an attractive alternative, delivering benefits that can include:

• anywhere and anytime access using any web-enabled device,
• elimination of the need to manage and maintain on-site systems,
• a dramatic reduction in the amount of set-up time,
• known costs (pay per user model),and
• easier and less costly upgrade paths.

Some of the key CRM Software Vendors

There are many CRM software options available, each offering its own range of features designed to meet the differing needs of small, medium or enterprise business. It’s important to do talk with CRM specialist providers to ensure you not only select the right CRM software but also cover implementation, training and ongoing support. Key CRM Software vendors include;Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Sage CRM,
Legrand CRM, Pivotal CRM, Sugar CRM, Maximiser CRM, ACT CRM just to name a few

Implementing an actual CRM Solution

It should be noted that at no point up until here has there been any mention in this article of a CRM solution. The reason behind this is that we’ve been talking about the software, and this is where all too many CRM implementations fall short in meeting the business’s expectations – a failure to understand that software is only one part of the solution.

Even though many companies invest significant resources in their CRM systems and software, without engaging and educating the users, it’s a poor investment. Personnel need to be trained in the system’s use and understand how it benefits them as well as the company. This is where specialised CRM consultants and implementation partners can be worth their weight in gold.

A good CRM consultant can work with you and your people to understand your entire business – its culture, people, customers and processes. With that understanding they can guide you through the complexities of a CRM solution implementation and, most importantly, work with your people to help them fully exploit the solution’s real potential.

Note: For a detailed listing of those companies local to your area that can assist you and your business in every step of selecting and implementing the CRM solution that’s best for your business, click here for Business Technology Guide’s CRM Solution Guide and Directory.