What’s up with CRM

Wednesday 21st November 2012

2012, the year Mobile CRM takes gold

2012 promises to be the year mobile CRM really takes off. In recent years, the promise and possibilities of mobile CRM have failed to translate into widespread adoption, but in 2012 three key factors are coming together;

The ubiquity of smartphones in organisations, and the growth of tablets. Almost all company issued devices now are smartphones with web connections and email access. Users are also increasingly bringing their more sophisticated personal devices into the workplace.

The release of a mobility solution from Microsoft, in the coming CRM 2011 Q2 service update. Mobility solutions are available now from third party vendors, but in Q2 Microsoft are also releasing a cloud mobility solution, supporting iOS, Android, BlackBerry & Windows Phone.

The increasing sophistication of users’ expectations and requirements. Users are used to being able to reach for their personal mobile devices for almost any online task. They want to be able to work flexibly and remotely, without losing access to office systems.

The mistake organisations too often make is to see mobility as a “nice to have” feature and not a priority. The truth is, more often than not mobility is just a nice to have solution; most users only work mobile or in the field for a proportion of the week, updates can be made when users return to the office, and customer information can be printed in advance of a meeting.

This misses the real organisational benefits of mobility; boosting user adoption, satisfaction and CRM data quality. By making your CRM available to users where and when they need it, by enabling instant tracking of emails and activities from a handset, and by making CRM the first point of enquiry for information, the boost to the success of your CRM implementation can be huge….

Think you’ve got CRM cracked?

Most organisations’ CRM journeys coast to halt somewhere short of the finish. Sure, the system is deployed, it’s being used in keys areas, users don’t complain about it much, it’s stable, it’s been upgraded not so long ago. Most often though, this doesn’t mean completed CRM. Completed CRM is rarely achieved. Consider where your business is on this journey;

Are your users really engaged with CRM? Do they support it? Or are most just using it to the minimum their roles require?

Is your CRM driving an improved experience for your customers, or simply collecting customer data?

Does it move with your business change, or do your teams have to bend around it?

Is your CRM saving your users’ time? How many would really use it if they didn’t have to?

Is it driving any sales process automation? Is it measurably making your salespeople more effective?

Can you track the source of your revenue back to its originating marketing activity?

Is your marketing closed loop, or the occasional one-to-all email blast?

Is CRM trusted? Are reports accurate?

Is it the single source of customer information, the first place users look?

Can your users access to system from wherever they need to, even their phones?

If you consider these points, how close really then is your business to finishing the CRM journey?