Today's customer is not someone who merely decides to buy or not to buy. He is educated, well-informed, widely traveled, discerning and knows that he can always get it elsewhere at a price which he is more comfortable with. Gone are the days when a company rested happy if it sold a product or service to a customer.
Advertising and promotion were the only tools to inform, educate and attract new customers. Customization, break-neck competition amongst multiple-players, price wars and globalization - all this and more have made marketing companies wary of not only wooing the new and potential customers but to retain them on a long term basis. Companies are spending significant amount of resources to track customer interactions and adding more value to the next.
CRM, or Customer Relationship Management, is also referred to as customer management or relationship marketing. Some people associate CRM specifically with those software applications that are installed to support CRM within a business, but CRM is more than a mere software, it is a way some leading companies are conducting their business. If you have an opportunity to integrate the tools of the CRM software with that of ERP, you have in your hands, a magnificent and powerful tool to handle a large database of customers, the interactions, their present and future choices and vital data on customer preferences and trends. It is no wonder then that many leading companies are busy in CRM integration within their business processes.
When do you know that your company is ready for CRM integration? To put it simply, when you have a large customer base and you wish to undertake preventive measures to retain their loyalties and you feel that you have the adequate product lineup even for any product or service upgrade. Come to think of it, in most interactions, both the customer and the company are faceless. The customer representative is probably the only person who has seen his face and knows his preferences. If only the product development, marketing and sales personnel of your organization knew what he is like and could give a face to this unknown entity, how meaningful the interaction it would be! Similarly, if only the young man who bought your laptop knew that within the next year, this company is coming up with a far improved version of the laptop, how convenient it would be for the customer!
CRM integration with your existing ERP systems would focus on building a loyal customer base through the creation and development of individual customer relationships. It lends a face to your company. Likewise, it makes the customer appear more 'human'. When all staff in an organization can access a customer's history, it allows them to deliver better personalized service to the customer. This opens up a meaningful communication channel, between the two, which can be utilized profitably to educate, inform and court a customer for product upgrade, cross-sell, addressing grievances - otherwise maintain a personalized contact. CRM integration most importantly can add tremendous competitive advantage in an otherwise fiercely competitive market environment. It can open up a Direct Marketing channel of communication which has been found effective the world over.
About The Author
Daniel Travers owns and operates http://www.ERP-benefits.com Benefits Of ERP
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