What is Customer Relationship Management (CRM)?
Customer relationship management (CRM) software is comprised of both business management and automation of the front-office divisions of an organisation. CRM software is essentially meant to address the needs of Marketing, Sales and Distribution, and Customer Service and Support divisions within an organisation and to allow the three to share data on prospects, customers, partners, competitors and employees. The purpose of CRM software is to manage the customer through the entire lifecycle, from prospect to qualified opportunity to order.
CRM software automates many of the needs of Marketing, Sales and Support users, such as Telephony, or the ability to conduct phone calls and manage call data, and tools to capture, share and manage automated alerts on lead data as it passes through the sales pipeline. CRM software provides a standard framework for pushing leads through a sales pipeline and managing it amongst many stakeholders in real time in order to provide better customer relations and grow revenues by creating more sales, and losing fewer customers.
When it comes to Customer Relationship Management (CRM), it’s important to understand all the benefits of an integrated system before beginning your selection process. That’s why we provide this general guide here – to provide you with the essential information you need to make the best possible decision.
The information provided below is designed to help you build a business case for a CRM system, form an effective project team, ask the right questions, identify the challenges involved and much more. If you want an industry-specific CRM solution, Pythagoras offers a best-of-breed approach and experience in several vertical markets ranging from manufacturing to government to finance. Contact our CRM solution specialists for more information on industry-specific CRM solutions.
CRM is more than just software or a set of processes – it’s a business culture solidly focused on winning and keeping the right customers. A good CRM solution builds value for your business by opening up vital communication channels and creating a common client-focused knowledgebase to better serve your clients. CRM is about understanding the buying habits and preferences of your customers and prospects.
By effectively integrating your marketing, sales and customer service functions, a good CRM system makes it easier for everyone inside your company to work together and share critical information. An effective CRM system empowers your customers and prospects to do business with you – the way they choose! Imagine connecting your customers to your employees and business partners across any department, through any process and via any communication device – phone, fax, email, or the Internet. CRM can contribute many benefits to your organisation including:
New sales opportunities
A good CRM system will classify your prospects and help identify your best customers. With detailed information on your customers, you can accurately project and respond to their buying needs throughout the sales cycle. A good CRM system can help you automate routine sales tasks allowing you to spend more time focusing on strategic sales issues.
Improved customer service
The right CRM system allows your team to take a proactive approach to customer service. With up-to-date and complete customer information at their fingertips, your employees can resolve customer issues more quickly and successfully, creating more selling opportunities.
Better decision making
CRM systems provide a single view of the customer across all touch points and channels, as well as delivering comprehensive reports of customer behaviours, marketing campaign results and sales activity. Each of these elements are necessary for smart decision making and long-term strategic planning.
Greater efficiency
With an integrated CRM system, you can gain immediate access to your organisation’s critical customer information. A good CRM solution also increases internal efficiencies by automating work-flow processes, reducing human error, decreasing process time and providing consistency throughout the entire organisation.
- Build and strengthen customer relationships to keep them coming back
- Provide value-added services that are difficult for competitors to duplicate
- Improve your product development and service delivery processes
- Increase your staff’s awareness of customer needs
- Reduce customer frustration by not asking the same questions over and over.
Examine your current processes
Analyse your existing business processes from many viewpoints to find out how they impact both your organisation and your customers. By evaluating your processes now, you can identify what’s working and what’s not and prepare to implement a new CRM system that emulates the most effective strategies for achieving success.
How Pythagoras can help
Pythagoras offers specialised expertise in evaluating and implementing CRM solutions. We offer a range of services including strategy development, business process management, technology implementation and training.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Microsoft Dynamics CRM is the fastest and easiest way to add CRM capabilities to any organization that uses Microsoft Office system applications, including Microsoft Office Outlook. Because it was designed to partner with Office Outlook, Microsoft Dynamics CRM delivers lower training costs, broader user adoption, less application-switching, higher productivity, and a fast return on investment.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM gives your employees direct access to customer information through Office Outlook, enabling access to the information they need whether in the office or on the road.
Sage CRM
Sage CRM is an easy-to-use, fast-to-deploy, feature rich, low cost of ownership CRM solution, designed to introduce the real benefits of CRM to middle-sized companies. Sage CRM aggregates individual and group efforts across sales, marketing and support teams, making people and companies more efficient at their roles. It links all departments to a single system that is deployed across an Internet architecture that inherently provides efficiencies in terms of deployment, maintenance and access. Sage CRM allows for the pooling of all transactions and communication history into a single screen, giving you a 360 degree view of your customer.
Contact our CRM specialists for further information.
If you would like more information about CRM and how it can help your business, call us on 0845 850 1550, or email us at sales@pythagoras.co.uk.