The new digital scenario has brought about many changes and one of the most important for companies has been the relationship with customers. If years ago the link was limited to the purchase of the product, today customer service has become very important, to the point that today the perception of the brand is key to making the final decision.
Customer service begins even before the purchase is made and continues afterwards with after-sales service. It is in this path of conquest and customer loyalty where CRM is of great importance.
Índice de contenidos
What is CRM?
CRM is the acronym for Customer Relationship Management, or what in Spanish would be the comprehensive management of the relationship with customers: customer service, sales, marketing to capture leads that become consumers...
The CRM is much more than a software or a platform to have customer lists. It is an essential tool to get to know customers, their consumption habits and, consequently, respond to their needs, through products and services that add value to them.
CRM should not be confused with ERP. While CRM focuses on storing customer databases, analyzing results, and predicting behavior; the ERP or Enterprise Resource Planning It focuses on the management of business resources, which means an improvement in the internal organization of companies: automation of processes in the accounting, financial, logistics or purchasing areas. The ERP allows companies to have all the information centralized and available to all departments, being able to access it from any device and at any time.
Advantages of having a CRM
Until now, companies managed with office software to keep track of their customers. This process, as simple as it may seem, involves investing a lot of time in management, including each new client by hand, as well as following up on the relationship.
The growth of the company is linked to the need for software that performs automatic tasks to have the entire relationship with the client documented: dates of acquisition of products/services; points of contact with the company, dates indicated for loyalty actions (for example, birthday date); customer segmentation to launch specific marketing campaigns according to specific interests, etc. And, all this data is centralized in the same platform, available to the entire company.
Advantages for company teams
Among the general advantages, it should be noted that CRM is a tool that facilitates the work of teams and, therefore, motivates them. The data is updated in real time, which is very useful to identify new sales or loyalty opportunities.
Advantages for customers
We all, as customers, appreciate that companies show an interest in offering us the best experience. This data that the system collects allows the company to offer the product or service at the time the customer needs it. And the client, for his part, has a direct and fast way to contact the company.
When is it necessary to implement a CRM
In this case, the size of the company does not matter. Small companies —although they can save the data manually—, if they have growth in their plans, the sooner they start, the better; because it will be faster and easier to centralize all the data.
Big brands urgently need this software to guarantee a good image to the client. And in terms of sectors, there is no distinction, it can be implemented in all sectors.
Types of CRMs
In short, there are three types of CRM: collaborative, analytical and operational.
Collaborative CRM
The Collaborative CRM They focus on communication with the client, through the telephone line, email or chat. With this CRM it is possible to interact with the client through multi-channel communication. It is idea for call centers, since communication is centralized so that it reaches all the departments involved.
Analytical CRM
The Analytical CRM focuses on data storage and analysis to make the best decisions. The function of these CRMs is to analyze the data, to know the behavior of the clients and plan commercial actions segmented according to their interests.
Operational CRM
Lastly, the Operational CRM They are the most used by companies. They focus on getting sales, carrying out marketing actions and customer service. With this CRM, the areas involved in marketing, sales and after-sales service share information. Its main objective is to capture contacts that become customers, who are given support throughout the life cycle (loyalty). All this is carried out through the automation of processes.
They are also distinguished based on their location. There are On-Premise CRM, which is the one that is developed and customized for the company. It is physically located on company servers. In this case, the responsibility lies with the company.
The CRM On Demand they are also paid but it is hosted in the cloud. In this case, the company pays for the infrastructure and maintenance of the CRM but does not have it physically installed.
Lastly, the Open Source Cloud CRM, are a hybrid of the previous two. In this case, the application is in the cloud but the company can customize it to adapt it to its needs.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM
When choosing CRM, companies find themselves in a dilemma: there are many alternatives on the market. Globally, the six leading CRM companies are Microsoft, Pega, Oracle, Salesforce, Adobe, and SAP. Along with these six big companies, other companies have appeared taking advantage of the niche left by the big ones (companies with fewer economic resources). We are referring to platforms such as Zoho or Hubspot, which are in the cloud, are very intuitive, do not require great knowledge and are more cheap, at least in the initial versions.
One of the greats of CRM is Microsoft. Within Microsoft Dynamics CRM you can choose between Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing, and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service. There are three solutions fully integrated with each other and with the company's ERP, to get the full potential of each business.
With Microsoft CRM you can manage customer relationships, drive sales, manage marketing campaigns, and leverage business intelligence to make decisions.
Do you want to implement Microsoft Dynamics CRM in your company?
We help you!
In Emiral We know how much your company is worth, whether it is small, medium or large. For this reason, we want to offer you the best ERP management solutions so that your business continues to grow.
