CRM Software History-Interactive Timeline

CRM or Customer Relationship Management is not a piece of software to manage your customers.It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing, customer service, and technical support.

The basic feature for or you can say Software application for CRM

1.Marketing Automation

2.Customer Service & Support

3.Field Service

4.Help Desk

5.Knowledge Management

6.Sales Automation

7.Web Self-Service

8.Call Center

9.Channel Management

So, the basic thing I want to mention here is why crm software so important for buisness.And what is the history of CRM.

And all your information you can find here CRM Software History

3G Services and Social Media Marketing in India

An average Indian user spending nearly Rs. 300 on there mobile needs. All majors’ telecom companies in India spending Rs. One trillion, you can say near about two times the national income of Afghanistan, on 3G Service and Broadband Wireless access (BWA).

But really Rs. 1 trillion fulfill the needs of 3G Services in India, The answer of this question is, No, Because another 2.5 trillion recover that need to setup 3G Services and BWA network .And after setup this service in India assuming that Indian telecom companies quickly get 200 million customers to signup there service and will spend more than an average Rs. 300 on there mobile needs.

Today we are just behind china, near about 600 million mobile user’s .After 3G and BWA SERVICES. Indian can access high speed internet and data experience. In India meager 9 million wireline connection  with anything above 256 kbps speed in broadband but in developed world where 2mbps speed in there wireline broadband connection. But when 3G and BWA service comes to India and with all there services the here is too speed with up to 14mbps. And you can say this wireline broadband is the key factor for success of 3G in India.

In Indian telecom sector estimate nearly 177 million mobile users access internet service or you can say web service through there mobiles. Nowadays mobile users not only access internet service but also engaging social networking and want to connect there friends.” Social Networking are basically define as a interaction between a group of people who share a common interest; Using social contacts to network; Using internet’s network groups (Like  Facebook and Twitter and more other Social Networking Sites) to network and communicate between consumers and businesses”

So now every telecom companies giving full opportunism to his customers and also wants to grabbing all opportunities through social marketing service. You can click single button to access facebook, twitter and other social networking sites on your mobile. The result may be exciting facebook user’s base in India double from 5 million users to 10 million users and it becomes no. 1 social networking site in India, ahead of Google Orkut and half of them Facebook users access the site through there mobile.

Not only users  but also companies getting more attention on mobile internet access for social sites, They are spending and providing more information on theses sites  and getting more Fans and followers, Users access these site and get information within second with fast speed.

So the basic of principal of this is in, Today world everyone wants information and share information very fast. And mobile internet service and also new generation Mobile TV are coming with lots of features.

So, 3G and BWA Services in India will give you more speed in your finger to move on Mobile Keypad.

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Contact Management or CRM- The essence and the difference

Contact Management Solutions and Customer Relationship Management Solutions are two solutions which help organizations to gain better control over customer information and processes. CRM solutions allow companies to automate sales processes, gain better control over sales opportunities and centralize contact information at a single location. CRM on the other hand are process workflow driven solutions, have multiple modules including customer service management module. Lack of standard definition of a CM and CRM have many organizations in a tizzy as to which solution will meet their needs in the most apt manner.

A contact management solution manages

- Contacts

- Opportunities

- Accounts

- Notes and History

 

A CRM Solution is a workflow driven system that would integrate multiple departments of Sales, Marketing and Customer Service. Also a CRM solution has greater customization features and can integrate with ERP applications to give the organization a 360 degree view of the company operations.

An organization which has sales teams and wants to manage client relationships, track sales leads and opportunities, follows a simple sales process can opt for a Contact Management Solution. If an organization has multiple departments of Sales, Marketing and Customer Service and have a complex sales process and organizational hierarchy should opt for a CRM solution.

Also if requirement such as advance integration (quotes, order, inventory), customizations and back office integrations are important an organization should opt for a CRM solution. Also the nature of relationship determines which solution which solution will be an ideal fit. For instance:

a)          One individual selling to a single job role example insurance agents and brokers- CM Solution

b)           One individual selling to multiple job roles- CM solution

c)          Multiple individuals like Sales, Marketing and Customer Service interacting with single job role

d)          Multiple individual interacting with multiple job roles which requires inter departmental knowledge sharing and collaboration.

Finally budget to spend on a solution will also determine the choice. A full blown CRM solution will be expensive as compared to a contact management solution. An organization can choose to start with a contact management solution and later on migrate to a CRM solution.

For more information please visit CRM Solutions

Onsite Vs On Demand CRM- Make your choice

With the onset of concepts like (SAAS) and cloud computing customers have multiple choices of choosing a platform which suits their requirements and meet their budgets. The On Demand CRM application has become the buzzword in the CRM application industry. All the leading vendors have either launched or our about to launch the cloud format of their CRM applications. The On Demand CRM software has multiple advantages including quick deployment, no infrastructure investment and pay per use.

However as an organization while making your choice you should keep the following points in mind which will help you to choose between an On Demand and an On Site CRM

-         User Requirements

-         Budgets and TCO

-         Data Sensitivity

-         Internal IT Team

-         Integration Requirements

User Requirements- The CRM which you choose should meet the functional requirements of the organization. Also depending upon requirements the customization capability of the solution should be also looked upon. On Demand solutions are configurable which means you can add fields, modify workflows and set user profiles. On premise solutions offer more scope for customizations like adding custom entities, screens, tabs and tables.

Budgets and TCO- While choosing a solution the TCO and budget should be studied. If the deployment is to be done for a big team at a national level On Premise option can be looked at. Initial investment will be higher but recurring costs will be lower. Also if an organization feels that number of incremental users will increase quickly this model can be looked upon. The On Demand model can suit companies which has relatively smaller teams, are looking at no capital expenditure upfront and don’t have a long term CRM roadmap. Also the ability to migrate from one option to the other will help you take advantage of both the models from a cost perspective.

Data Sensitivity- In an On Demand CRM customer data resides on the server of the service provider as no hardware or software infrastructure is maintained by the client. For some organizations data sensitivity is of prime importance therefore hosting data on a 3^rd party server needs to be judged properly. However for an SMB this can be an advantage because they might not have a secured data storage facility in house for such companies it can be beneficial to host information in a secure data centre.

Internal IT Team- For an SMB appointing an internal IT team which is a combination of database and network experts can be an expensive proposition. In such a scenario the On Demand model of CRM makes more sense as the IT infrastructure and various crucial aspects like database back-ups, firewalls, and antivirus installation is taken care by the service provider. Since in an On Demand model the CRM is deployed in house on company’s IT infrastructure, system administrators are required for the upkeep of the infrastructure.

Integration Requirements- On Premise CRM applications provide point to point integration with external systems like ERP software’s. On Demand CRM applications are more suitable when used as independent systems. However the scenario is changing now with the availability of web service API’s, On Demand CRM’s are opening up to integration possibilities.

For more information please visit CRM Software

Cloud Computing- The upcoming platform for CRM Applications

So what is cloud computing? The answer- Cloud computing is a platform which enables you to run your applications as you need it in an On- Demand Format you don’t invest in infrastructure including hardware and software. Basic examples would include services like Gmail and Facebook. Today business applications like CRM and ERP software’s are available on the cloud. Out of the two applications CRM software’s are available with wider set of functionalities and through multiple vendors.

CRM applications have become very popular on the cloud format primary reasons being:

-         Quick Deployment with minimal effort

-         Quick user adoption with a minimum investment upfront

-         Availability to use the software as an service On demand service

Unlike ERP applications CRM software automates the customer facing side of an organization like sales activity tracking, marketing and customer care. Automation of these functions are not mission critical and since the applications are used by customer facing teams including sales and support teams user adoption has always being a major challenge. Conventional on-site CRM applications involved investments in the software upfront which would go down the drain if user adoption is absent. CRM on the cloud gives organizations the flexibility to start using the application with minimal upfront investment.

The cloud format offers CRM stake holders, for example sales team access to the application anytime anywhere. The sales guy can access an important proposal or the last communication before getting into a meeting, even on his blackberry device. The senior management also has a through idea of the sales team performance on the fly.

With a concept of a dedicated or a private cloud coming up customizations have also become very easy. New fields, custom pages and entities can be added workflows can be configured mapping company specific processes. This means every company can tweak their CRM instance as per the industry they operate in and their unique requirements.

Although CRM on the cloud is the next big thing an organizations should keep certain factors in mind before the choosing the cloud as a platform

-         The expenditure on the application is recurring (In most cases per user per month)

-         If an organization has a large sales and customer service teams, ROI calculation should be done between a cloud and an onsite platform

-         Integration with other applications as a requirement should be studied

-         Flexibility of moving from the cloud to an onsite format should also be available

 

For more information you can visit  CRM Software