SPOTLIGHT < 2.9%
What product or system do you use for CRMin your company?
Siebel Salesforce Dynamics CRM Goldmine Saleslogix SAP ACT Sugar CRM Excel Access Nothing Other
12.6%
1.5% 1.8%
7.4% 24.7% 9.4% 22.6% 5.9%
2.4% 1.2%
7.6%
any outstanding emails that haven’t been responded to. You’re try- ing to make it efficient but also prove you’re delivering a higher quality of service. In the economy that we’re in, every customer is important, getting a customer is harder than ever, and keeping them is all about service.”
Survey findings According to the survey, the main challenges companies have in adopting CRM systems include getting employees to update cus- tomer details (39.6pc), ease of use (20.1pc), having a process for CRM (14.2pc) and having a full view of the customer from finance through to sales (15.4pc). Asked to rate the importance of various CRM functions, the abil-
ity to track sales leads and enquiries came out on top, with 57pc describing this as very important and 29pc saying it is important. Tracking marketing activity, however, ranked lower than sales pipeline management, customer complaint tracking, systemic storing of customer details and provision of business intelligence. Interestingly, this year’s survey notes a shift in ownership of the
CRM system from being the responsibility of the IT or operations manager (25pc) to that of sales managers, marketing managers and managing directors (47pc). “CRM is no longer an IT project,” says O’Leary. “It’s a business-led project and it has to be. To deliv- er that quality engagement, to have that culture in your business where customers are No 1, that’s a business-led decision. “CRM technology is an enabler and unless it’s used and unless
it’s owned by the business, it will struggle to be adopted.” Unsurprisingly, the survey reveals that the internet and social
media have had tremendous impact on how consumers make choices. Nearly one-third (31pc) of companies surveyed said they
use Facebook to interact with customers while a quarter use Twitter (23pc) and
LinkedIn.com (26pc) to help build their relation- ship with customers, suppliers and partners. Some 10.6pc said they had used YouTube to provide video content to their cus- tomers. Almost a quarter said they don’t use social networking but are planning to do so in the future. A further 27pc said they don’t use social media and have no plans to use it. Asked about the main changes in their customer dealings, near-
ly 12pc said customers are spending less and 14pc said cus- tomers are farmore discerning about what they are buying. Nearly a quarter (23pc) said their customers are more cost conscious and 17pc said competition is tougher because customers have more choices. The top finding, however, is that customers expect a quicker response (29pc).
Mission critical “We’ve seen over the last five years that the vital thing is how to manage our relationships with our customers,” says O’Leary. “One of the blockers to that from a technology point of view has always been making that easy to use. What we’re seeing now is that with the advent of the online tools people now have available, it’s easy for them to record an email and make sure it lands in the right place and it’s actioned and it’s followed up. That’s all part of CRM. “Froma sales point of view, nowmore than ever, it’smission crit-
ical that from looking for customers, to following up with cus- tomers, to delivering to customers, you’re delivering to the highest possible quality and service. It’s more competitive out there. People have more choice. They’re also using the internet a lot more to look up and search and they expect a faster, better response.”
Volume 5 Issue 1 2011 Marketing Age 63
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