Member Article

CRM key to businesses meeting customers’ rising demands

Businesses must evolve their use of CRM technologies to transform their customer relationships and better analyse information captured via social media to remain competitive in the digital era. These are the key findings of a new white paper published by Advanced ConsultCRM (Advanced).

The report highlights how improvements in 24/7 mobile connectivity, smartphone-friendly websites and the ability to easily transfer data over disruptive networks such as the Internet of Things (IoT) are piling pressure on organisations to meet rising customer demands.

Analyst Gartner estimates that investment in new IoT hardware will exceed £1.75 million in 2016 and by 2021, one million IoT devices will be purchased and implemented every hour. Furthermore according to consultancy PwC, consumers now generate 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day with 90% of the world’s data being created in the last two years alone.

Simon Fowler, Managing Director, Advanced Business Solutions (Commercial), says, “The scale of online interactions present considerable opportunities for businesses to better collaborate with customers. But in the same way, consumers have greater freedom to dictate how brands communicate with them and take greater control over their purchasing decisions.

“To keep ahead, organisations should change the way they collect, analyse and use data to make more informed decisions about how to engage with their customers and demonstrate how they can adapt to this dynamic environment.”

CRM solutions can play a critical role in connecting people and processes to deliver efficiencies and stay one step ahead of their competitors in the digital age. By capturing and storing data from multiple systems, including real-time technologies and cloud-based analytics, businesses can gain unique insights into customer buying behaviours across all communication channels.

Modern CRM solutions, with integrated social engagement functionality, also help organisations to monitor how customers, prospects and partners are talking about their business on social media. By using CRM as a research and feedback platform, businesses can more easily drive direct conversations and create tailored and unique experiences for their target audiences.

Fowler adds, “CRM systems have been primarily used to track core marketing and sales activities but are capable of so much more. Leading solutions, such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM, now help businesses to prosper in a socially connected world by turning data into personalised digital profiles to harness effective customer engagement and services strategies.

“By embracing the digital era and putting CRM at the heart of everything they do, businesses can provide, and better anticipate, the information and service today’s customers expect to increase revenues and profitability.”

Advanced is the third largest CRM partner in the UK and a Microsoft gold partner with considerable experience in developing and deploying Microsoft solutions in a range of sectors including financial services, professional services, construction, manufacturing and not-for-profit.

To read the white paper, ‘The digital face of your organisation; how CRM can drive business transformation in the digital age’, click here.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Advanced .