CRM systems
Customer Relationship Management – it is an important part of the business. The company profit directly depends on the sales level, and the sales level in turn depends on customer satisfaction. Every new incoming request processing demands a lot of information, such as contact details, number of earlier orders, the person in charge. Even small businesses rarely have double-digit number of customers, so a simple excel-document is not good for quick and easy data access.
Any enterprise automation has a well-defined goal – to increase proceeds. CRM systems are not exception, moreover, they have a leading place in the list of systems for implementation, because they directly related to the source of revenue – customers.
Customer Relationship Management system provides the following objectives:
- control of managers;
- client base maintaining;
- improving the quality of customer service.
Control of managers
For example, it is useful to know if all leads (potential customers who gave their contact details, for example, through the form on the site) are handled by managers in a timely manner. Furthermore, it is very easy to get through the CRM the information about the activity of each manager and the sales department as a whole.
Client base maintaining
The client base is a valuable asset of the company. Working with existing customers including timely telephone calls, allows to make resales and increase revenues even without attracting new customers.
Improving the quality of customer service
It may seem corny to congratulate the long-term customer happy birthday. However, the relationship to the company is built with such trifles. Nowadays, when information gets around immediately, a good image of the company is an important component of good sales.
In order to decide, whether the company needs CRM, it is enough to answer the only question: is your business related to the work with customers? If so, CRM is not just necessary, but vital. However, depending on the specifics of the enterprise, you should select the appropriate type of the system. CRM systems are divided into two types: operational and analytical.
Operational CRM
They are responsible for storage, registration and access to the contractors’ data, and they allow planning of events, projects and meetings. Operational CRM systems are suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises with a moderate stream of customers.
Analytical CRM
They include all the functionality of operational CRM, as well as reporting and analysis of customer information. In addition, they allow working with sales funnel, keeping track of marketing activities and performing deep analysis of sales (by products, by customers segment, by region, and so on). Systems of this type fit either large companies or companies with great amount of clients.
Summing up, CRM systems deserve close attention in the process of automation. Some of them are available as separate cloud services, others are represented as parts of information systems. If the standard functionality does not fit the specifics of your business, it makes sense to think about the development of your own CRM system. However, in this case, do not forget about the integration with existing information systems.
