Archive for the ‘Customer Relationship Management (CRM)’ Category
Is hosted CRM development winning the hosted versus on-premise debate?
By Paul Curran
CRM has become a vital part of most businesses – not least in the world of ecommerce which thrives through convenience and speed, and where having the right tools to provide rapid processing of customer interactions is essential. A question many companies are asking themselves, however, is whether to outsource CRM development to a host application service provider (ASP) or do it themselves in-house?
Stop talking about how customer centric you are and actually do something about it!
Senior level executives in B2B companies around the globe continually talk about how they are customer centric and committed to delivering a positive customer experience, writes Michael Haynes.
A global study conducted by US based consulting firm, Clear Action, found that 80% of B2B firms assigned customer experience to a senior level executive. However, only 20% use customer experience as an input or determinant for an organisation’s corporate strategy.
Senior management teams need to stop talking and take action. Delivering a positive customer experience for their business customers will create fully engaged customers: customers that will be loyal, spend more money with you and provide numerous recommendations and referrals. All of which are vital to having successful and profitable businesses.
Should customers play a central role in product developmemnt?
By Andrew Stone
It’s an uncomfortable fact that as customers we are growing ever more capricious and demanding. With the swipe of a touchscreen device we can command our own little consumer empires, selecting and dismissing from a world of choice in products and services that even the most pampered kings of old couldn’t have dreamed of.
This fast changing, often digitally-powered revolution is leaving many businesses struggling to keep up, stay relevant and maintain margins. Technology is driving this trend but it also offers answers to those prepared to adapt intelligently.
Do you know what your customers are saying about you?
Unless you monitor tweets, posts, likes and status updates, you may be behind the curve when it comes to the social standing of your business. And by the time you find out, it may be too late!
Technologies that allow companies to track and analyse the conversations their customers are having on social media websites are coming of age and now the big players in the IT sphere are taking an interest (as Oracle’s entering into an agreement to acquire social intelligence vendor Collective Intellect shows).
What does CRM mean to you?
How do you determine which Customer Relationship Management package is best for your business? What are the factors that you are looking for and how can you compare?
It was Oil Rhys who posed the question on this forum: “What is your favourite CRM and why? Is there one great one out there that is head and shoulders over the rest for you? Have you used the up and coming apps like VTigerCRM? Do you prefer to just use Outlook and or Excel and find CRM is just an expensive collection of letters?,” What prompted the question, he admitted, was that he was looking for a CRM system that is friendly enough to use well without much tweaking.
