Benefits
Single View of Customer Data
Customers get consistent, predictable information no matter what touch point they use. Redundancy and duplication can also be reduced. CRM solutions keep customer information in a central database (as opposed to disparate systems), reducing the possibility of inconsistencies and errors. Shared information helps companies provide better service.
Immediate, Real-Time Information Availability
Sales and service reps can provide customers with product availability information on a line-by-line basis. The inventory management system is typically accessed through a secure Web site to check on the product availability, the status of orders, locations, ship dates and estimated delivery times.
Better Knowledge and Understanding of Customers
Because the company "knows" who its customers are at a higher level of granularity, it can more efficiently tailor services to those customers' needs and spending levels. The company can also target priority accounts.
Knowledge Retention
Information loss due to staff turnover can be reduced. This is especially beneficial to sales, where staff turnover can be fairly high. As representatives head out the door, customer information and interactive history are safely retained in the secure central database.
Reduction of Lost Leads
Lost leads equal lost sales. In a CRM strategy and technology implementation, sales leads are stored and processed in a pre-defined, consistent manner. Leads can be channeled into the organization by salespeople, trade show attendance scans or forms-based applications. Forecasting modules allow sales leads to be tracked back to marketing campaigns.
Standardized, Best Business Practice Enforcement
Best-practice methodologies and processes providing and enforcing uniformity across the enterprise can be put in place.
Automation of Time-Consuming Tasks
The automation of time-consuming tasks emancipates sales and service personnel, allowing them to focus on direct customer activity and keeping them in front of the customers. Literature requests can be fulfilled automatically. Sales call logs can be automatically updated and kept current.
Product and Competitive Information at Fingertips
Online marketing encyclopedias ensure that up-to-date product and competitive information is available at the point of sale. Additionally, sales configuration engines ensure that representatives accurately configure products and produce accurate quotes.
Risks
Difficult Implementation
Enterprise-level CRM solutions have a reputation for being difficult to implement. Such difficulty is influenced by the following factors:
- The CRM initiative was not carefully thought out and planned.
- Data is inaccurate, not available or widely distributed across different formats.
- Business processes and workflow are not properly defined and then aligned across required system inputs.
- Efforts become bogged down in getting required systems integrated.
- Technology infrastructure requirements were underestimated. Phased approaches are highly recommended, concentrating on priority requirements first.
- Inner-office politics and the established organizational structure can make implementation difficult. CRM and other enterprise initiatives require cooperation and participation across business units that, historically, have not worked together and may have competed against each other for resources and recognition.
Expense
There is no doubt that CRM deserves its reputation for being expensive to implement and to maintain. Whether an organization develops its own solutions in-house, purchases what it considers to be best-of breed applications from various vendors or invests in a suite of complementary products from a single vendor, costs can easily climb to many hundreds of thousands of dollars (U.S.). Much preparation in the form of research and planning can help reduce costs, and the ultimate desired result of customer satisfaction is, of course, priceless. Still, facing such large costs, especially in the face of today's economics, can be daunting.
Web Dependency
When relying on the Web, scalability must be considered. A company should make sure it has a technology infrastructure in place that will support the Web site. Is a substantial investment required to deliver the expected capability? Traditional applications may have served a thousand or more internal users. Commercial Web applications may be required to support hundreds of thousands of transactions per day. If a company becomes too dependent on the Web and the system or network goes down, significant revenue may be lost. Customer satisfaction can spiral down rapidly. Companies should strike a proper balance in leveraging Web technology in a CRM initiative and invest wisely to minimize risk.
Over-Automation
Self-service Web sites, voice response systems, and other innovative technologies are great advances, but the goal of CRM is to bring companies closer to their customers, not to alienate them. At times, dialing a phone number and speaking to the warm, friendly voice of a sales or service representative are all a customer needs to purchase a product. Companies implementing CRM strategies and enabling technology should be wary of driving technology to the point where it reaches diminishing returns.
No Guarantees on Effectiveness
There is no concrete evidence proving that CRM works. Although it is true that CRM may not attract customers that are less than desirable for a company, investments in CRM do not guarantee the attraction of desirable customers either. Companies that reap success from CRM initiatives will be the ones that can use it to better understand how a customer wants to be related to the company. This is achieved using accurate data and analysis, and then promptly acting on that analysis by carrying out a strategy designed specifically for that individual customer relationship - a process known as Customer Relationship Planning, or CRP.
However, because we at CyberianSoft are well aware of all these risks, you are safe with us. We build CRM solutions around these possible pitfalls, carefully attending all the specific areas that could possibly pose a problem down the road.
Click here to find out how CRM can help you!
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