The majority of business owners have come across the term “CRM” one way or another. They know that this term stands for Customer Relationship Management system that comprises a set of tools for business process management automation. Without a doubt, CRM system is one of the most useful business applications for companies of any scale – from tiny startups to huge enterprises. Despite there’s enough information on available vendors on CRM market and system’s functionality, there are still a couple of important issues that need to be elaborated on. In particular, companies that consider deploying a software for business processes automation are fairly concerned about the financial risks and benefits that such implementation presents.
Cost-effectiveness is one of the major benefits of a successful CRM project implementation. Recent studies suggest that each dollar invested in CRM, offers an average return of $8.71. Generally, CRM systems can be deployed via cloud or in-house. In addition to appealing pricing model of today’s CRM systems, their another advantage is increased productiveness of the sales reps which in turn, makes their sales efforts more efficient while increasing up-selling, cross-selling and leads further expansion of customer database. If abovementioned advantages are not enough to prove the value of CRM in the cloud, there are a few reasons why businesses should definitely invest in CRM solutions:
Customer Information is Scattered All Over the Place
They say that knowledge is power. In case of a CRM in the cloud, its power is an ability to consolidate disparate data in a single unified database. Nowadays, companies can’t possibly navigate in vast amount of customer related information if it is spread across countless spreadsheets, emails, business cards, notes, documents and worst case scenario – your marketer or sales rep just memorized it. Undoubtedly, such incoherent approach will result in costly inefficiencies and potentially missed opportunities. That is why you have to consider deploying a CRM system that is armed with excellent contact management tools. Such a software keeps all of customer related information in a secure database that is easy to navigate and accessible round-the-clock. For instance, advanced CRM solutions, like bpmonline.com, create 360-degree overview on each of your contacts through collecting valuable customer data like their contact details, history of interactions, career history etc. Additionally, their profiles are enriched with important information from social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Having all of that data at your disposal, you will not let a single lead get lost.
Internal Collaboration is Limited by Overwhelming Amount of Emails
The productivity of your core teams like marketing and sales heavily relies on how these business units communicate and cooperate with each other. For example, B2B companies that coordinate sales and marketing operations achieved 24% faster three-year revenue growth. The problem though is that many companies manage internal communications simply through copying a lot of employees on a lot of emails. In result, the majority messages tend to get overlooked and crucial information does not get noticed, as your reps can’t find the time to process the never-ending flow of emails. However, you can fix this problem if your CRM in the cloud is equipped with various collaboration tool. Bpm’online, for instance, has developed an internal social network that is called ESN (enterprise social network). It has the look and feel of your favorite social media networks and serves as a platform where all of your employees can exchange ideas, share important information with an option to like and comment these posts. Such communication platform will definitely boost the productivity of your employees and cooperation between your core business units.
Customer Service is Slower than it should be
The rapid pace of innovation and extremely competitive environment of modern businesses has made the customers very demanding, as almost a third consider switching to another vendor after the first bad service experience. The customers are expecting excellent products and services, while demanding the businesses they work with to be instantly reachable regardless of the communication channel they choose. Your clients are the lifeblood of your business. You have to deliver the highest quality of customer service in order to increase customer retention and profits. In fact, 57% of companies correlate an improved customer experience to revenue growth. They expect the customer support agent they contacted to instantly identify they are the same person who just sent a complaint over an email without repeating a long and convoluted explanation of their actual concern. CRM in the cloud is capable of centralizing your customer interactions, as it routes all requests from various communication means into a single shared database, where the right person can be assigned to solve the issue or your agents can work collaboratively to fix the problem.
These are only a few examples of how CRM in the cloud can improve your business operations and increase profits. Obviously, investing in a cloud-based CRM will greatly benefit your business, as you will not miss a single lead. Having such a comprehensive view of your customers you will be able to run sophisticated and personalized marketing campaigns. At the same time, your salespeople will be able to make the most of their pipeline as the CRM system is equipped with powerful lead management and opportunity management tools. They will be able to keep their focus on the most profitable customers, while leads who are not yet ready to buy will be nurtured with advanced omnichannel campaigns.
