There was a time about a decade to a decade and half back that people took only the western markets seriously. Anything in this part of the world was to be given scant respect. Or sometimes no respect. That was till a few years back when India because the country with the biggest number of gainfully employable folks in their 25 to 35 years age group. While earning money for themselves, this group can on either sides of the business divide i.e., service giver and service taker. With both in large numbers and an ever-increasing competition to retain customers that came on the back of ever-increasing demands, a system had to be evolved that could store information and help retrieve it in formats that could make sense to varied users across organization, and most of all, update itself to show in minute details the entire trail from a customer being a vague lead to a very established and cherished customer.
In time such a methodology was called by its simplest name, Customer Relationship Management. And since it was invariably a software it was called the CRM Software. With time it evolved from storing information to these days getting the backing of Ai and ML to decipher and report trends and predictions of customer needs. Another development took place was of computation going to the cloud with top-of-the-line data security system leading to the SAAS model of software usage. What it meant was that a software as complex as CRM was now available to everyone, big or small or even super-big or super-small.
This brings us to our question: Why does your business need CRM software?
*To get data into a central location that can be used by everyone in every department
One of the biggest benefits of using a CRM software is that it helps centralize data and information onto a central location that can be filtered down and used by practically every department of the organization according to their needs and priorities. From finance to sales to production, why even HR, can use pooled information to better their product offerings, customer journeys, receivables and so on.
*To get data into a centralized software that can show the status of the journey of the customer/ lead
Serving customers isn’t a one-off thing for serious marketers anymore. With the cost of client acquisition going up on an almost hourly basis, marketers don’t have an option but to know intimately what customers want, when, why and in what form. Getting this information right the very first time is thus an essential. To get to it ASAP there’s nothing better than a CRM from the word go- even when the business is new and there’s not much data.
*To get data to bring the “what if” scenario using Ai for better control of outcomes
CRMs these days invariably have the backing of Ai which makes them a formidable force for companies to pan out various scenarios and situations based on data of the past with situations and conditions that may come about in future. CRMs play an important role as they have enough and more data from every department to play our scenarios and arrive at the right and most plausible scenario that’s a win-win for everyone.
*To secure data and access, it from anywhere
The Best CRM software in India is cloud-based in almost all cases which makes them super-secure and completely accessible with the right codes anywhere in the world. It thus gives business both security and unprecedented accesses with the right means to use data the way they want to. What’s equally cool is the fact that being a cloud-based software they can be customized as per use to reveal mountain-loads of information.
*To get every relevant department of a business to work on each case for maximum output
CRM software in almost all cases has relevance across departments. For example, finance has to have a say with receivables, logistics about movement of orders, HR about sales personnel and so on. A CRM can give access to every department to both update the status, as also take it to the next level. Logistics can update about the status of the shipment. Sales and marketing can take a conversation further from a Bot interaction to a phone call, an email, a zoom call or a combination of these to strengthen the relation. This is something that’s most unique about CRM software in that it lets you do many, many things to close the loop of a sale, and keep alive conversations for future use.
*To predict a customer’s next need/ move and take proactive steps
The intent is to think like a customer and be there with solutions even BEFORE the customer asks for it! That’s speed and precisely what keeps customers hooked to marketers. One of the things that helps most marketers remain in sync with customers is a CRM that tracks customer orders and likely requests to fine tune responses that are apt. It’s in this role precisely that a CRM is a marketer’s best friend.
*To streamline interactions and communication to make it meaningful instead of jumbling things- more so in times of downturns and problems
In the world of marketing, communication is going thru the roof when it comes to forms and speeds. From paper to paperless to instant online interactions with bots, everything gets recorded right when it takes place. Which means you know exactly where the thread of marketing ends, and where you need to pick it up to make the whole journey a resounding success. Moving means of communication seamlessly to keep up and strengthen the threat is something that’s best done through a system that is continuously monitoring. From knowing when to schedule calls to logging details of each call, everything is recorded down to the last detail so that the next step remains logical and fruitful.
*To provide data on customer needs in a chronological order to take appropriate steps
From generating leads to finally closing the same, and then servicing it for future orders is a chain of information that if tapped and analysed the right way can lead to clients staying with marketers for the longest of time. That said, chronology is of extreme importance in order to make the most of any relation, and that is best found in a CRM software which tracks and keeps records of each interaction, across forms and means of communication. Information that’s not in the right order is one thing that irritates most customer to no ends. And it happens all the time given that most marketers try and make do with the likes of excel sheets and other stand-alone means. It’s only when the whole thing is brought under a CRM that a semblance of order is finally arrived at.
*To integrate to other software of an organization for seamless interactions and outcomes
Marketing organizations, irrespective of size and worth invariably deal with more than one software package in order to make their working easy, flexible and meaningful. And most invariably also use a CRM software of some kind for one simple reason. The CRM software in practically every case can be integrated easily with most known existing software such that out of those or of the CRM can be used interchangeably for the right kind of information and output.
These then are the most prevalent reasons behind the continued increase in the use of cloud-based CRM software. It’s one piece of software that no marketer ought to say no to ever- if growth is expected.