Relationship Management for the Customers : A quick Insight into CRM

The central focus of any business or industry is customers. A happy and satisfied customer doesn't only ensure customer retention but also helps in increasing the customer base.

CRM or Customer Relationship management helps in analyzing existing and potential customers data and interactions which in turn improves business relationship with the customer. Today a business of any magnitude needs a CRM system to facilitate smooth sales , marketing and customer support throughout life cycle of business with the customer. There are umpteen number of reasons why business needs CRM today. From being cost effective to providing a central data repository enabling automation pf processes , future prediction and analysis, CRM has become an key component in business. There are many CRM solutions available in the market today as per needs and complexity of the business . One such solution is Salesforce which provides a cloud based enterprise cloud computing solution. Insightly is another a strong and affordable customer and project management tool. The are a host of advantages of using CRM solutions. Some of the essential ones are ;

1. Centralized repository of customer data – CRM enables you to keep all your customer data at one place which can further be grouped on basis of location , business , priority etc. It also reduces the dependency on a particular sales representative who knows the customer's needs. Salesforce takes the centralization up by a notch by using the cloud based system thus making the usage independent of machines or networks.

2. Future prediction and analytics – With the historical data of current and future customers in hand , it becomes easy to predict the future needs of the customer and analyze the market trends as well. With all the necessary information at hand , the efforts in assessing the requirements and needs of the clients are reduced.

3. Tracking of tasks and events – The tool not only keeps customer's data handy but also keeps a track of status of contracts and interaction with the customers. Relying on a person or spreadsheets for this information would lead to some slippage and human errors but CRM tools provide a platform for information and error free updates.

4. Integrates and automates sales and customer support - Since the customer data and analytics are centralized , the process of sales , marketing and customer support for a product life cycle is automated through these tools. It targets on business objectives and a clear overview of the ,market needs and demands.

5. Cost effective -Since there is less need of manual work and resources involved, the solution is cost effective. With the system being automated , there is minimal chances of human errors thus eliminating risks .Once the solution is implemented ,the technologies used are economical in a long run.

Traditionally , CRM was used as a sales and marketing tools but customer service are a focus now. With the increased presence of customers on not only the real world but also the social media platforms , CRM enables handling of data and managing customer needs across platforms thus becoming a vital player in business today.