NO MORE
BUZZWORDS
FINLAY CARMICHAEL, C2 SOFTWARE MD Over the last 12 months you may have heard the rumble of new trends emerging: Anything Relation Management (or XRM), Social CRM and Social Intelligence. Now before you turn the page, weary with buzzwords, I believe this buzz might actually deliver real business value.
WHAT IS THE X IN XRM? Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has traditionally been seen as a sales tool. But the new generation of CRM software offers far more potential across the business than just sales.
With the ability to manage the ‘things’ and processes that are important to each business from events, pledges, incidents and products to continuous professional development, companies are starting to recognise the power of CRM.
And of course the ‘things’ vary from business to business – hence the X in XRM or the term ‘Anything’ Relationship Management. CRM has moved a long way from its roots and now supports the complete customer lifecycle, not just the sales model.
WORKFLOW TO KEEP YOUR BUSINESS ON TRACK These flexible new CRM solutions support powerful workflow modules allowing business processes to be automated,driving customer service and consistency across the organisation.
For example, from the second a customer makes a support query a timer can be started. If that query is not responded to by the support desk within a specified time then a series of warnings are triggered.
This
alerts support and management to take action, while also automatically advising the customer of progress.
And so the process stays on track, contributing to customer satisfaction and subsequently making sure
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the customer is retained. Clearly every company is very different and workflows are tailored within the CRM software to the unique business processes of each organisation.
JOINING UP CRM AND YOUR WEBSITE Companies are now using the new XRM solutions to leverage customer interactions on their website, so driving new business, improving customer service, reducing operational overheads and even shaping product development to meet customer needs.
Today many leading web content management systems and email marketing vendors integrate CRM directly into a website. This means that when customers interact on a website by registering for a newsletter, viewing specific products or searching for specific terms the CRM will trap this information.
In turn this may raise an alert for the sales team to follow up an opportunity, it may unearth a potential partner relationship or it may simply provide intelligence about how the website is being used.
Knowledge is power and with the new CRM software comes a serious responsibility. Yes, big brother is watching and big brother really
needs to be careful not to overstep the mark or risk alienating customers. Personally, I hate adverts that target me based on my search history.
So be very careful about how you use the knowledge and information that today’s CRM can capture. Always think ‘client privacy’ first and make website users aware of what data you are gathering and what you will do with that data.
Before you rush out and buy the latest CRM, you should consider what return on investment it will bring your company. Although the CRM will give you a very clear picture of your customers online and offline profile, the value of this and consequently the business case will vary from organisation to organisation.
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