CRM, or customer relationship management, can be defined simply as a strategy that focuses on how you interact with your customers. But there’s much more to it than that. And to put your CRM strategy into action, you’ll need software tools that track the responses and actions of customers, employees and others involved in your business relationships.

Good CRM also requires the broader process of monitoring and analysing the data that these tracking tools record. By obtaining valuable feedback on transaction behaviour and how customers and employees think and interact, you can develop relationships and increase repeat business through greater customer satisfaction. Thus, not only will CRM save you money through increased staff efficiency, it will also bring you more money through increased business.

Traditionally, only larger enterprises could think about implementing CRM. But nowadays, all businesses are realising the importance of this technology. With the internet revolution changing the options for businesses like yours, CRM has become more accessible. You now have access to Web-based CRM tools and packages that allow you to easily organise your client data.

Another option available to you is hosted CRM solutions. With these, the data resides with your service provider and is hosted in a well-protected environment. In effect, this does away with the need for IT infrastructure development costs and allows you to save money by transferring that cost to the provider.

Major names to look out for in the CRM market include Siebel, Salesforce.com, Microsoft, RightNow Technologies, NetSuite and open-source player SugarCRM. You’ll hear terms like operational CRM, analytical CRM, collaborative CRM, hosted CRM, on-premises CRM and CRM on demand. This probably sounds rather overwhelming, which is why we’ve created this buy guide to help you make the right choices.

Selecting software packages can be very tricky. It often requires you to re-engineer your business processes, human resources and operational systems to achieve the desired results. When selecting an application that is your direct interface with customers, it becomes increasingly imperative to adopt a systematic approach to package and vendor selection. The luxury of pouring financial resources to fix initial errors may not be an option, especially for a small business.

Let us look in greater detail at how to go about selecting the right product and service providers.

Needs Assessment: All levels of your organisation and all departments must be engaged in this process. This is important not only to recognise departmental objectives, but also to communicate the importance of the CRM initiative.

Budget: Make sure you look for hidden costs in addition to costs for items such as licenses, hardware and other infrastructure. These could include costs for implementation, training employees and customers, business re-engineering, increased service requirements from infrastructure vendors and internal IT support.

Implementation: This involves tasks such as system installation, printer installations, user configurations, preliminary training and system testing. While planning, keep in mind the importance of effective implementation. Many companies do not get the expected results out of a CRM solution simply because of faulty implementation by the vendor. Take references and cross-check success rates of prior implementations done by your short-listed vendors. You may also consider purchasing the application from an OEM and having it implemented by a specialised provider.

Technical and Functional Considerations: Ensure you have considered the product both from a functional as well as usability perspective. Functionality will tell you what a product can do and usability tells you how user-friendly it is. Some other considerations may be:

• Scalability – such as volumes of data it can handle
• Supported communication channels – such as phone, WAP and SMS
• Interoperability – such as the ability to import and export data to and from other applications
• Help resources – ample self-help resources during implementation and future advanced learning

Support: Product support refers to both functional as well as technical support. Negotiate both as a package. If you are using different consultants for product implementation and IT infrastructure, make sure you clearly define responsibilities and vendor accountability.

You might think that CRM is an over-hyped contact management system. But any business manager realizes that increased customer satisfaction, better co-ordination between employees and well-informed staff will boost an organization’s profits. All these benefits can be realised through CRM. A CRM solution goes beyond simple contact management. It also affects departmental functions such as sales, marketing and HR to make your organization increasingly customer-focussed through the use of technology.

Customer services: Any good CRM solution will cover the full spectrum of customer services, from complaint management to providing better product information. Customer service levels can be enhanced by automated communication systems, prompt reporting of customer problems and more effective responses to those problems. The customer experience is enriched by a system that makes management and employees accountable and service-oriented. This leads to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Marketing: By providing information on business environment, competitors and industry trends, marketing automation can help you remain competitive. And watch out for enterprise feedback management (EFM) tools. EFM looks at the reasons behind customer behaviour. You need to understand these reasons so that you can provide personalised solutions and a higher degree of service, which will help you differentiate yourself from competitors.

Sales: CRM can also help with the automation of sales functions, from tracking customer preferences to quote management. Employees’ time is better managed by support from the systems and some of the chaos surrounding sales leads is lifted. Sales leads become more structured and all contact with potential customers is recorded and stored, which means it can also be analysed. All of this can save you money in the long run. Furthermore, organised documentation and easy access to the latest client information and communication records will lead to better time management, which will result in improved client interactions, savings and even more sales.

Some of the benefits of CRM for a business like yours are:

· More effective sales calls

· Increased sales through repeat business from past customers

· Improved ability to provide a higher level of customer service

· Greater customer satisfaction because you understand their unique needs

· Enhanced and up-to-date communication

· Accurate client account records

In this highly competitive business environment, an in-depth understanding of customers and their preferences has never been more critical. If you don’t utilize current technology to generate timely and effective information about your customers, you will lose out to competitors.