(Newswire.net — September 18, 2017) — In the modern workplace, everybody is acquainted with the power of office productivity suites, browsers, chat, and email apps. In the beginning, these apps might have been confusing, but today they comprise an essential element of your digital life. For that reason, most users find it easy switching between similar apps. For instance, when switching between Chrome to Safari for browsing or between Word to Google Docs for document editing. For a moment, you might get lost, but generally, you know your way around.
But, transitioning to new business apps can be incredibly challenging as a beginner. Most of the times, you hear about these apps in passing or in business articles. Most CRMs tend to use three letter abbreviations such as ERM, CRM, CMS, and ACM among others leaving you confused about their meaning. So, before delving into these new three letter apps, let us look at one of the most confusing and time intensive three-letter business app, CRM.
What is a CRM?
CRM is an abbreviation that stands for Customer Relationship Management, an application used in managing your current or future customer relationships. Despite your email and address book providing the same functionality, a real CRM does more. With a CRM, you can thread together messages from a contact, a team of contacts in a company you have relationships with, and an individual on a client’s team. In doing so, a CRM helps you discover the power of customer relationship management.
Why is a CRM Important?
The ubiquity of the internet and technology has transformed the way in which companies approach customer relationships. Technological advances have changed consumer preferences and spending habits as well as customer data collection and communications. The proliferation of mobile devices and the Web has led to the adoption of electronic methods in managing customer relationships.
CRM’s Benefits
By moving to a CRM system, businesses benefit by having a centrally located and accessible data repository. Before the advent of CRM Software such as Salesforce, among others, companies stored customer data over a wide variety of office applications, mobile phone data, email systems, note cards, and Rolodex entries. Nowadays, storing all your company’s data such as HR, customer service, sales, and marketing in a central location offers employees and management flexibility in accessing data.
In turn, a CRM facilitates easier collaboration between departments, better data organization, and easier automation of business processes. A CRM also provides companies with a 360-degree view of client information, customer preferences, and market trends coupled with seamless integration with already existing applications by consolidating your entire business information repository.
Choosing a CRM
Selecting which CRM solution to use is one of the biggest challenges. Unlike conventional applications (office apps, web browsers, or email clients) that have similar interfaces, CRMs come in different shapes and sizes. Though designed to provide actionable insights regarding your customers, CRM designers use varied approaches to address this challenge. Below are four tips on how to select a CRM to suit your needs.
Keep the following points in mind before introducing or developing a CRM solution.
♣ Identify your core business process in the near and long term.
♣ Determine which type of CRM is appropriate for your business now and in the future.
♣ Consider whether you have the prerequisite infrastructure in place and what possible improvements may be necessary.
♣ Decide between available vendors or partners for the right CRM to meet your business goals.