Crm Mash-up Catch-up

A mash-up, sounds yummy, with gravy. But for anyone out there who doesn't know what a mash-up is, or what it has to do with Customer Relationships, it is about technology, and it's great with or without the gravy! Mash-ups are basically web applications that combine content from multiple sources and serves it up as an integrated information piece. For instance, in servicing a customer, you can build a page that has the customer information (your old legacy database), past purchasing activities (your less old legacy database), the store locations (new POS) and details of purchases (inventory system), weather and news clips for their customer's area (weather network, google news), status of customer order (UPS), and payment history (SAP). What customer rep wouldn't want access to that screen. Mmmmm........

Mash-ups are going to change the way everybody does business. Mostly because mash-ups are changing the way people view and use information on the Internet, generally, right now. As a result, customer expectations will translate into very rich and specific service experiences. The push for a customized customer experience will translate into software expectations that can deliver a familiar processing environment that is in the ?comfort zone? and available where and when.
Mash ups are an exciting genre of interactive web applications that draw upon content retrieved from multiple external data sources to create entirely new and innovative services. Salesboom.com delivers on demand CRM software on a web platform utilizing mash-up capacity. This facilitates development of powerful and efficient use of information resources in the improvement of processes in the business line along with incredible improvements in data contextualization and sharing.

Salesboom incorporates standard tools such as AJAX, Javascript and XML and has separated application logic from presentation and reporting pieces to save processing resources and increase transaction times. This in turn allows Salesboom to deliver lightweight tools with rich features previously reserved for expensive, on-site applications.

The greatest benefit is that Salesboom.com can create highly customized tools, and because the technology behind the mash-up is flexible, if the business or a process changes, it is possible to change pieces of code without having to rewrite or acquire a whole new software. There are some steps though in preparing for good mash-up presentation, and it is important for any business considering CRM solutions to consider the following:


1.Salesboom uses AJAX and COMET as programming tools, a move that increases responsiveness and user interaction
2.Salesboom has a Professional Services Team that specializes in cleaning and preparing data for use in mash-ups.
3.Salesboom presents clean, intuitive interfaces in the form of Push Panels, that enable users to interact with the web mash up, be it company data, outside Internet sources, partner sites, etc.
4.Salesboom offers users tools that promote evolution of an informal corporate taxonomy enabling possibilities for organizations to use mash-ups in an incredibly profitable way.
5.The Salesboom platform guarantees access to mash-up functionality because it has adopted the Service Oriented Platform (SOP) and has a public Application Program Interface (API) as part of it's Operating System (OS) for easy incorporation of relevant information sources.
6.Salesboom promotes the formalization of the organizational workflow model.

"At Salesboom.com we offer a CRM solution, with integration options at every business line. This approach supports delivery of a highly customized customer service experience in the form of interactive mash ups. We believe that your customers are our customers ? once removed, and we take pride in delivering solid, flexible tools to you and yours?. Tom Stephano, Marketing Director, Salesboom.com

Robert Dimning is a programmer/analyst who tracks on-demand CRM Services like www.salesboom.com

4 Ways to Automate Tasks in Microsoft CRM Using Workflow

Are you sick of entering data into Microsoft CRM manually? How about dealing with inconsistent data that makes reporting difficult and time-consuming? Whether you are a business user or IT user, you are guaranteed to appreciate the power and flexibility of workflow within Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0. Here are four easy ways to use workflow to automate tasks that support sales and customer service. By the end of this article, you will be able to automate your processes using Microsoft CRM and workflow.

1. Assign New Leads to the Appropriate Person or Queue

If you have multiple sales people to whom are assigned leads meeting specific criteria, then this is a handy way to use workflow. For example, let's say that your territories are defined by state, and the Joe is the sales person for all of New York state. Upon the creation of a new lead with a state of New York, the lead can be automatically assigned to Joe so that it appears in his My Leads view. Then an e-mail can be sent, again automatically, to both Joe and his manager notifying them of the new lead.

Do you assign leads by some other criteria, such as industry (e.g., equipment manufacturing) or region (e.g., Northeast)? Not a problem. As long as the data identifying the lead as an equipment manufacturer or as located within the Northeast is entered in CRM, workflow events can be triggered using this data.

2. Assign New Cases to the Appropriate Person or Queue

If you have a customer service or support function, or even an internal support function (e.g., IT department), then workflow works beautifully with the service management functionality within Microsoft CRM. A common use is to assign a new case to a specific person or queue, depending on specific criteria. If the case type is IT, then it would go to the IT queue. If the case type is a Contract, then the case would be assigned to the sales person assigned to that customer.

Another criteria is priority. Most companies treat emergency requests differently than normal or low priority requests. Depending on the priority, different rules can be triggered. For example, an emergency request could be routed to the Emergency Response team. If they don't respond within five minutes, then a follow up task would be triggered to the VP of Customer Service.

3. Notify Customers on Status of Their Case

Not only can cases be assigned automatically, but customers could be kept informed about the status of their cases. Upon creation of a case, an e-mail would go to the customer who opened the case, giving them case number and who to call if they have questions. Once the case has been resolved, another e-mail could be sent to the customer informing them of the resolution and who to call if there are additional problems with the case. Constant customer contact is critical in service/support situations, and workflow can automate much of that contact.

4. Automate Creation of Procedural Tasks

Do you need to follow a procedure? Who doesn't? Let's say that upon creation of a new lead, the sales person is supposed to send a welcome letter introducing them to the lead. At the same time, the marketing department is supposed to mail a standard packet of information. Finally, five days after the packet of information has been sent, the sales person is to call the lead. How does everybody remember to do this stuff?

Workflow, of course.

Upon creation of the lead, a personalized e-mail based off of a specific template can be sent automatically to the lead.

A task would be created and assigned to the appropriate marketing queue, where a person assigned to monitor the queue handles it. Perhaps they even process the requests in bulk at the end of the day or the beginning of the next day. They may even use an external fulfillment center specifically for this purpose. Either way, the task is created automatically.

Finally, the phone call activity for the sales person is created with a due date of five days in the future, with the specific script included in the task. Now they have a reminder to call the lead and they know what they need to say.

Pretty cool, isn't it?

Conclusion

As you have seen, workflow in Microsoft CRM can help anybody using CRM, whether it is the sales manager, sales person, customer service manager, customer service rep, or anybody else. There are many other ways to automate tasks, including using more complicated logic.The only limitation is your imagination. With the ideas in this article and some creativity, you should be able to think of other ways to use workflow in Microsoft CRM for your business.

Michael Cross is a Microsoft Certified CRM Professional with Small Business Systems LLC. Visit http://www.bturnkey.com/crm.html to learn how Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 enables your people to work the way they want to work, while providing you wih the data you need to increase the number of customers, provide the quality of service your customers expect, and increase your revenues.

Crm End-state

Most strategic planning methodologies are built upon a triad of convergent processes that are a variation of a) evaluation and review, b) definition of goals/objectives and c) mapping route(s) to goals. This methodology has enjoyed certain success, but as applications evolve and can incorporate the softer side of automation and processing, strategic planning should also include another triumvirate of activities, d) visualization of the end-state, e) study of current situation and identify gaps to end state and f) identify actions that will close the gap.

Strategic Planning Overview for CRM Projects

Strategic plans typically look five or more years into the future and differ from tactical plans, which look two to four years into the future.

The early triad of activities for strategic planning, mentioned above, were appropriate for fixed solutions, and for expensive development projects that had limitations due to technologies and/or funding. With the advent of online CRM, it is possible and prudent to include triumvirate strategies to expedite deployment of new functionality available with on-demand CRM/ERP solutions.
There are a number of possible ways to identify barriers to success, and also some best practices that help to address these barriers. The following pages provide a good general reference for on-demand CRM deployments from a vendor's perspective.

Incorporate End-State Strategies for Successful CRM

1.Clearly define the objective, or end-state.
Identify major disconnects in technology, embrace and manage changes wholeheartedly.

2.Assessment and analysis.
Pursue change and improvement, challenge old policy/procedures that can be changed or eliminated as part of process automation and improvement. Identify technical and procedural redundancies and clearly identify gaps.

Plan to identify and capture information that supports use of end-state metrics.

3.Honestly evaluate the feasibility of the end-state objective
Identify questions that help clarify the end-state vision. Establish roles and responsibilities for evaluation input. Consider the barriers to change and closing the gaps.

4.Strategy/Tactics.
Eliminate traditional rituals in planning that strangle opportunities to leap forward. Truly address impediments to customer service and increased revenue. Ensure Strategy and Tactics are in line with desired end-state.

5.Closing Gaps

Identify Benefits: What to be expected from implementing a CRM solution?
Plan Actions: What will be done?

Identify/Delegate Responsibilities : Who will be the corporate sponsor and who will be in charge of the project?

Scheduling: When will the project start? When will it be completed?

Resourcing: Identify what is needed: people, money, information, other resources?

Establish Metrics & Set Rewards: How will progress be measured and reported?

Contingency Planning: What will be done if results fall short?

Strategic Planning Pitfalls

There are several activities that come into play when deploying new processes/solutions. They typically fall into the categories of strategy and tactics. In general, strategic plans can fail for several reasons: inappropriate strategy, conflicting tactics and poor implementation. The strategy is the high level plan and the tactics are basically the actions that happen to support and deploy elements of the strategic plan. Do good work on the triad and triumvirate planning components and have good contingencies in place to work around problems.

- Strategic Difficulties

- Failure to define the desired end states correctly

- Analysis irrelevant to the desired end state(s)

- Lack of creativity in identifying possible strategies

- Poor gap analysis

Conflicting Tactical Activities

In preparing and delivering components of the strategic plan, it is important to ensure tactics used do not undermine strategy. It often happens innocuously, often in an effort to maintain the status quo, or from a lack of information, but these tactics can gain purchase, and pull the strategic plan apart.

- Actions taken/not taken because of perceived threats to established processes
- Missed opportunities or compromises because of resistance/misunderstanding
- Too many ad-hoc activities/actions by too many people from within the organization
- Actions taken/not taken no longer support the strategic plan

End State Disappointments

Difficulties delivering because of lack of resources/abilities due to over estimation of resources and or time and/or loss of senior management support.

- Inaccurate forecasting of financial requirements
- Failure to manage expectations and coordinate tactical
strategies
- Ineffective change management strategies

Use Professional CRM Services ? Before and After Deployment

There are many components to delivering a CRM solution that is often the most appropriate, and best, business solution to improve cash flow and position for future markets. Taking the time to consult with your CRM solution provider is critical to a successful deployment because you want them to understand and be participants in delivering the desired end-state.

Have a set of measurable improvements in mind that can be used as both deliverables and to determine the success of the deployment in business terms, not just technical.

Post Deployment Metrics

Some possible metrics that can be used to track the success of a CRM deployment might include the following:

- Track qualified leads generated at the same/lower cost
- Track ability/ease of converting prospects to customers
- Track the customer share growth
- Track customer loyalty and retention rates
- Track cost of selling/servicing customers
- Track employee efficiency/improvements/feedback, etc.

SalesboomTM is a world leader in delivery of on-demand Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions. Salesboom has over 28,000 subscribers from the SMB sector, with 3,400 customers in over 154 countries around the world. Salesboom.com web services solutions drive innovation, enable business realignment, and enriches customer relations across the enterprise.
Katie Campbell, consultant and writer. Has worked in IT sector in government, private and non-profit sectors with focus on technology and knowledge management. Tracking new technologies in CRM like http://www.salesboom.com

How BPM Improves CRM

How BPM improves, CRM can be understood with the fact that it is difficult for a company to achieve the target of customer profitability in the absence of a business performance management or BPM system. Different CRM software provides different facilities. Some of the CRM packages help with the transactional customer data only. On the other hand, some other packages are capable of making very wide customer analysis. However, no matter how much advantage financial experts of the company may seek, they have to relate this information with the important factors that affect the overall performance of a company. They need to balance the customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction and operational quality control.

Comparatively, not so interesting people in the filed of finance when talk about how BPM improves CRM, put forth an interesting analogy. They compare the situation of analyzing data from the CRM tool for leveraging BPM by a company with the person who has poor vision first time puts on spectacles. Confusions surrounding the customer profitability metrics are no more. Similarly, misrepresent perceptions, regarding the behavior of customer when we use very different data sources, have also become irrelevant.

Figuring Out Most Profitable Products; The views of many financial executives are changing regarding how BPM improves CRM. They now see customers in a very different way. Customers are now a consolidated and comprehensive lot rather than a fragmented one. This has resulted in better understanding and improved relations with the every single customer they serve. Moreover, now companies can easily find out what are the products that are generating most profits. This has helped the companies to set the future targets more realistically.

Linking Data With Strategies; Another point that proves how BPM improve CRM is that companies were unable to connect the data and their business strategies when using data from enterprise resource planning or ERP system and CRM system. On the contrary, linking the data with the strategies is easy while using BPM system. Moreover, the distribution of important data becomes more efficient by using the combination of CRM and BPM capabilities. It also helps in locating and concentrating the geographical areas where maximum profitability is expected. According to financial experts, it is not the tool that affects your company?s performance, but it is the way you move the information. What is the point in having so many systems if the information is not reaching to the right person at the right time?

Finally, we can say that BPM system, if used with a right approach, can help the company in taking maximum advantage from the CRM software asset.

Alexander Gordon is a writer for http://www.smallbusinessconsulting.com - The Small Business Consulting Community. Sign-up for the free success steps newsletter and get our booklet valued at $24.95 for free as a special bonus. The newsletter provides daily strategies on starting and significantly growing a business.

Business Owners all across the country are joining "The Community of Small Business Owners? to receive and provide strategies, insight, tips, support and more on starting, managing, growing, and selling their businesses. As a member, you will have access to true Millionaire Business Owners who will provide strategies and tips from their real-life experiences.

 

Sugar CRM a new Roadmap to Commercial Open Source Technology

Sugar CRM is commercial Open Source Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software for companies of all sizes, based on LAMP stack (Linux-OS; Apache-Web Server; MySQL-Database Server; PHP-Programming Language). Its rich functionality and intuitive user interface provides a gateway to all CRM applications thereby enabling corporates to migrate to SugarCRM to expand their customer base.

Sugar CRM takes your business to a new level by integrating the enterprise server software sales model with that of a software-as-a-service model. It is available in both free and commercial editions.

Free edition of SugarCRM is available and is best suited for small industries. These industries can download SugarCRM under the Mozilla Public License. This open source product offers all the basic customer-centric functionalities.

The commercial edition of SugarCRM is available in two versions, Sugar Professional and Sugar Enterprise, for medium and large scale industries respectively. They provide more flexible deployment options (On-demand to host you own information; Cube to plug-n-play CRM appliance; On-site to manage CRM on your own server) and advanced features like add-ons, software patches, proprietary code, technical support, etc.

Professional edition is flexible and includes features such as sales, marketing, customer support, reporting and collaboration, migration, integrity and security. It also includes integration with Microsoft Outlook, sales forecasting, document management, access control, multiple deployment options to suit customers' security and integrity needs.

Enterprise edition is a fully customizable for the most demanding businesses. It includes features like SQL reporting, offline client synchronization, support for Oracle 9i and 10g etc, and is ideal for organizations having a large number of users. Apart from all the basic functionalities and features of Professional, it provides Oracle database support and offline client synchronization.

SugarCRM has also launched a server appliance called Sugar Cube, for companies which don't want to devolve their customer's details to third parties.

Sugar Cube if attuned with Professional edition gives an extra edge to overcome implementation and technical support problem and also bringing down costs of CRM deployments. Sugar Cube conglomeration with Enterprise edition provides complete hardware and software solutions with minimal resource utilization at lesser expense. "Software is bought, not sold," says John Roberts, co-founder and CEO of SugarCRM and this is the strategy that must be followed. The Sugar CRM product has created a strong gravitational pull for the customers trying the open source version and making there investment a success by paying a premium for our Enterprise Edition. This great CRM product provides complete CRM functionality ranging from opportunity tracking, lead management and customer tracking to task management, marketing campaign, trend analysis, advanced reporting and team selling and many IT enabled services.

There are lots of online communities and many more are emerging all around the web where you can share your innovative ideas with CRM developers. These communities provide customer feedback, range of informational services and support for CRM players. A wide array of forums and discussion boards are available enabling users to learn about the best practices and upcoming functionalities of Sugar CRM.

With the release of Sugar4.5, Sugar CRM continues to move ahead with the following features:

* Personalized home page by drag-drop of relevant items for fast access to view important information.

* Improved sales forecasting with better planning and forecasting worksheet.

* Improved information sharing on any topic, with the integration of different Sugar modules with discussion forums.

* With saved and global search and inline adds and edits user interface has improved.

* Enhanced installation and upgrade process offline client synchronization has also improved.

* Administration is simplified with improved Sugar Studio for code-free customizations, back-up and recovery.

* Multi-lingual support and internationalization.

Look for you're A-Z SugarCRM solutions at http://www.icreon.com.

A consultant of Sugar CRM - a new Roadmap to Commercial Open Source Technology.

CRM-Turn Customers to Clients

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is the process of bringing the customer and the company closer together. Estimates show that just 20 percent of customers account for nearly 80 percent of total revenues in some businesses. While getting more customers is critical for the sustenance of any enterprise, optimizing returns by furthering relationships with the existing clients is a key business practice. Barry Stamos, in "Best Customers: More Profitable Relationships" points out, "Why spend resources attracting new customers until optimizing the profitability of your client relationships?"

"Successful CRM is about competing in the relationship dimension" explains Bob Thompson, CEO, CustomerThink Corporation, "Not as an alternative to having a competitive product or reasonable price- but as a differentiator. If your competitors are doing the same thing you are (as they generally are), product and price won't give you a long- term, sustainable competitive advantage. But if you can get an edge based on how customers feel about your company, it's a much stickier--sustainable--relationship over the long haul."

Customers come first in business. Managing relationships with them is very vital. Through cross-selling and up- selling techniques, you can continue to add more leverage to your business. High value referrals from them can also procure endless opportunities. Cutting down time and marketing costs through client network selling, you increase the profitability of your organization. Usually, a 'sale' converts a 'client' to a 'customer'. More and more sale transactions with him make him a client. By then, he has developed a liking for your service and has taken you in his confidence. The first transaction was just not a one-time event; it perpetuated continuing business through credible relationship building with the customer.

CRM has clearly defined roles:

? Focus on the customer and develop sustainable relationship with him.

? Manage the post-sale period well.

? Provide flexibility to your solutions in meeting customer requirements.

? Get qualified referrals for more business expansion within the network.

? Always keep in touch and have an explaining mindset.

Customers bring business. The more healthy relationships you have with them, the more is the value addition to your business. Continuous introspection about the level of service being offered and providing innovative solutions can help you to stay in the front. To quote former New York City mayor, Ed Koch, simply asking clients, "How am I doing?" is a great way to know where you stand. CRM provides you with tools and techniques to help you in nurturing healthy and dynamic client relationships and turning more customers to clients.

T Chakrabarti and his global colleagues write for KPO2INDIA (http://www.kpo2india.net), a premier Writing and Content Development Farm.

Crm - Eliminate Layers Of Complexity

Traditional approaches to system development include design of both the application and platform strategies. With on-demand CRM services it is possible to avoid the burden of complex application development and integration because they deliver multi-option,tightly integrated portal platforms for workplace collaboration.

When developing a proprietary architecture, it is necessary to go through a process of creating and developing models, that are worked and reworked, discarded and/or refined until they satisfy the desired result. A list of some typical models are listed below and they constitute the 'layers of complexity' in application development.

Concept Models

Requirements

Behavior (operational scenarios)
Structure: system hierarchy, interconnection, interfaces
Properties
Analysis
Detailed engineering models
List of deliverables

The process of bridging these layers together is complex and very difficult in trying to guarantee the exchange of underlaying data. Building these various layers, begets volumes of documentation, requires teams of programmers, architects, administrative support, and so forth. It is a process that becomes progressively time consuming and expensive.

Additional 'layers of complexity' in application development include integration of collaboration tools and partner portals while trying to maintain a consistent look and feel. Application development can address organizational needs, but it adds so many layers of complexity to integrations that it becomes less profitable as an option except in very specific situations. Using on-demand CRM solutions are a strategic and cost efficient alternative for most organizations to application development initiatives.

On-demand deployments offer easier integrations, have many standard collaboration tools and processes for sales and marketing activities already integrated, and are more cost efficient in terms of actual adding of content. With on-demand CRM it is also possible to incrementally deploy only the necessary parts of the application in strategic deployments for further cost efficiencies. On-demand CRM is the most evolutionary state of the portal market, it is a platform approach that brings together all the necessary content and applications from across the enterprise.

Salesboom.com delivers robust CRM services without the layers of complexity you would expect in a typical application deployment, instead you receive an integrated web platform and that includes standard tools for collaborative workplace success.

Benefits of Salesboom On-Demand CRM

Reduce complexity and cost ? Access standard tools for point integration and enable services for access to legacy data and current transactions. Modify and tailor user screens through local administrators.

Excellent process visibility and control ? Access mainframe data so it is transparently available to applications that require it. Use standard tools for management, audit and trace functions, browse and display so that specific processes spanning both distributed and mainframe environments can be easily and intuitively updated, contextualized and shared.

Fast deployment of new business processes ? create new processes or refine existing ones using workflow. Make customizations and updates easily through your local administrator.

SOA deployment ? Enjoy bi-directional integration between applications via Web services. Salesboom uses AJAX and COMET programming to enable fast processing. Salesboom CRM makes it possible to make mainframe and distributed systems peers within a standards-based SOA infrastructure.

Real-time results ? Access real-time information for business events, wherever they originate on the platform. View business processes in real time and participate in complex event processing from the dashboard within Salesboom.com.

Template-based configuration and tailoring of Salesboom.com. - Use templates to customize and tailor screens for many activities, eliminating the cost of custom modifications.

Katie Campbell, information/business analyst, particular interest in CRM, http://www.salesboom.com

How To Boost ROI through CRM Tools

Looking for ways to boost your CRM through ROIs? Let us discuss about some ways to achieve your goals. Whatever CRM solution you opt for, remember that its implementation needs to be quick, well planned and relevant to the target customers in order to be effective.

Boosting ROI through CRM:

1) Inbound Marketing: Inbound Customer Marketing, or ICM, is one of the most effective ways of boosting ROI. The latest development in ICM involves rewarding a customer when he or she calls to know about the products and services of the company.

2) Proportionate Spending: If you are spending more than 70% of the projected profits on software and consulting, then you should look again at the spending patterns. Most vendors overprice their services. Therefore, you need to keep the 70% ceiling in mind before reaching a final agreement with the vendor.

3) Vendor: Choose a vendor as quickly as you can. You should not take long to decide on your requirements and selecting a vendor.

4) Training: Training your employees on CRM should not take more than a few hours.

5) Implementation: Do not waste time trying to make the system perfect. By the time you have every part of the system in place, it will be outdated. Just start working on the areas of CRM that you think are crucial.

6) Plan: Have a plan in place. How long do you think the CRM implementation will take? Try to stick to the deadline that you have set for your business; otherwise, the system runs the risk of becoming outdated.

7) Customization: Every CRM application will need some amount of customization to yield optimal benefits to your business. This does not mean that you should spend days on customization. Calculate the amount of time you need on customization so that you can start with the implementation as soon as possible.

8) Relevance: The CRM plan should be relevant to your business needs in order to boost ROI. See if the CRM program complies with the following criteria: Breadth, repeatability, cost, knowledge and collaboration.

9) Relevance of Data: No CRM program, no matter how sophisticated, is of much use if the data it provides is not relevant. You should be able to use the inputs of the sales staff, customers and agents in a constructive manner in order to boost ROI.

10) Maintenance: If you have a small business, you should not need more than one dedicated staff for maintaining the program.

The guidelines above should help you jack up your ROI through some effective CRM tools. Only well-organized and effective use of the CRM tools will give you the results you are looking for. If you are a small business owner who needs to learn more about CRM tools, you can approach a small business consultant who will help you with the installation and implementation of the CRM program.

Alexander Gordon is a writer for http://www.smallbusinessconsulting.com - The Small Business Consulting Community. Sign-up for the free success steps newsletter and get our booklet valued at $24.95 for free as a special bonus. The newsletter provides daily strategies on starting and significantly growing a business.

Business Owners all across the country are joining "The Community of Small Business Owners? to receive and provide strategies, insight, tips, support and more on starting, managing, growing, and selling their businesses. As a member, you will have access to true Millionaire Business Owners who will provide strategies and tips from their real-life experiences.

 

Turn Leads Into Customers With CRM

In order to turn leads into customers, you need to understand exactly what the customers want and rapidly set the wheels turning to provide what is wanted in the minimum of time. This, of course, is a simplistic view, so let?s have a look at more detail and how CRM can help achieve the desired end.

A good CRM system will rapidly analyze every lead and quickly and automatically route it to the right person to handle it. The fully customizable rules in Microsoft Analytics CRM 3.0 allows you to so on the basis of area, product, cash volume or any other rule that you want to apply. You can also apply different rules to different products or customers so that every variable is optimized. The familiar Microsoft architecture enables this to be achieved easily and integrated with other Microsoft applications.

By automatically passing new leads rapidly to the correct individual, CRM ensures that the customers? needs are met rapidly, which is one of the main requirements necessary to turn leads into customers. However, there are many other aspects of CRM systems which are important in making it simpler for you to turn leads into customers.

Microsoft CRM provides a complete range of communications applications which can be customized and automated, and their acquisition of Colloquis, the CRM communications company. should reinforce this. Entire email topic threads can be captured automatically: remember when you had to ?cut and paste? to keep tabs on specific threads? No more! And your sales reps can take their customers with them, all customer data being available in portable computers or PDAs.

Integration between sales teams is automatic, and your company?s complete sales force can be combined to provide the potential customer with every one of your products that meets his needs. Gone are the days when one customer would have to communicate with several salespersons or offices within your organization for his carious requirements. This provision alone can turn leads in customers in a very short time.

Due to the atomization of all of these functions ?short? is the word. The whole sales cycle is speeded up, and Microsoft CRM can meet the growing need for the rapid conversion of a lead to a customer which is a necessity in today?s cut-throat competitive business environment. If you don?t work fast you lose out. CRM provides this speed of reaction which is why its ROI is so quick. This is just one feature of the many in which Microsoft Dynamics CRM outperforms alternatives such as GoldMine and ACT.

The portability and accessibility of data is another area in which Microsoft Dynamics CRM excels. It does not matter where in the world the lead originated, or in what remote office the sales force is based, the full power of Microsoft CRM is available. All product data is available at the press of a button. All health and safety data, where applicable, and all information available on the lead or prospect can be accessed from anywhere in the world.

This can be done either through a company network or to remote hand held devices such as PDAs, wireless laptops, palm computers or even mobile phones. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing and whenever equipment you have to hand, product information, quotations, terms and accurate product stock and delivery dates can supplied directly to the potential customer immediately upon request. No ?I?ll get back to you on that?, or ?Head office will send you details?. All requested information can be supplied on the spot, immediately, from an integrated system available to any authorized employee, anywhere in the world.

So is it easier to turn leads into customers with CRM? You bet your life it is.

Syed Ali, is the lead CRM Analyst for a Toronto based company. His company, offers Microsoft CRM software Solutions www.crmsoftwareprovider.com Syed can be reached at Tel : (905) 815- 1995 ext 22, email :asyed@cqsolutions.com

Sales Management With Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 is a comprehensive customer relationship management software package that helps business to improve all aspects of customer service and improve marketing and sales performance.

Integrating with Microsoft Office and Business Solutions as well as third party applications, Microsoft CRM is available through the web and from Outlook.

Sales management with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 is effective and easily achieved with the modules provided, and duplication of data entry is avoided through the use of a single centralized database which can be accessed and edited by all relevant departments. The database can be maintained in real time so that all information is current and up to date.

An important feature of sales management with Microsoft Dynamics CRM is the provision of a comprehensive view of customer data, ensuring efficient sales service and immediate access to updated information. Your service personnel can track enquiries from initial request to fulfillment, and the customizable rules of all major processes allow the creation and automation of most sales activities, which significantly improves the acquisition of new customers.

Due to rapid response to customer enquiries, they are never allowed to fall through the cracks, and every stage is followed through and supported to ensure satisfactory conclusion and completion of the request. The whole sales cycle is shortened, closure rates are increased and customer retention is improved.

An important aspect of sales management with Microsoft Dynamics CRM is its comprehensive communications system including e-mail, fax and telephone with auto response and synchronization with Outlook. Access to all reports and customer information is instantly available offline and online and sales personnel are provided with the ability to answer any customer enquiry instantly through the use of a laptop or PDA system. This remote access to all relevant customer data is a prime feature of sales management with Microsoft Dynamics CRM which not only promotes a high degree of customer service and satisfaction, but also job satisfaction to sales personnel.

This is of extreme importance in situations where customers tend to be loyal to their regular sales contact rather then to the product or company. Such situations are common and customer retention is generally improved in companies with a low sales personnel turnover.

Another important feature of sales management with Microsoft Dynamics CRM is the automated identification of trends and opportunities according to customized rules. Reports can be designed to forecast sales and other trends, which allow accurate budgeting and planning of future sales campaigns and expenditure.

Sales management with Microsoft Dynamics CRM is easily installed with expert help on set-up and initial training. Training costs are minimal since the user interface and work tools are similar to those used in Microsoft Office and Outlook applications. Online tutorials and web-based support are available for all modules of Microsoft Dynamic CRM.

Your business will be able to increase capacity without increasing staffing levels due to the degree of automation available, taking over many of the repetitive tasks of sales and marketing staff. For small to medium businesses, sales management with Microsoft Dynamics CRM is an essential option, with a rapid return on investment, which can give you a positive advantage over companies without it.

Syed Ali, is the lead CRM Analyst for a Toronto based company. His company, offers Microsoft CRM software Solutions www.crmsoftwareprovider.com Syed can be reached at Tel : (905) 815- 1995 ext 22, email :asyed@cqsolutions.com

Mobile Crm Sale Team Management

In today?s competitive marketplace, customers have come to expect excellence in service and immediate provision of information. Personal contact at the customer?s site has become of extreme importance, and the provision of immediate communication with head office has become essential for the modern sales representative. Mobile CRM solutions can provide this.

Your company must be perceived as being customer friendly, customer orientated and able to provide whatever your customer requires when your customer requires it. Customer service can create or lose sales. Create or lose profits. Orders can be won or lost through the time delay between an enquiry and a quotation; between an order and its execution. This requires an efficient communications system that far exceeds anything a sophisticated telephone system could provide.

A good Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system can provide this, and many provide the mobile CRM solutions required.

Customer service takes up a large slice of your company?s budget, which is why the management of your mobile sales team should be regarded as a priority and the tools required for a professional job be provided.

There are many mobile CRM software systems available, but it is difficult to escape the fact that most companies use Microsoft applications in their business, from Microsoft Word and Outlook, to Access for their database management requirements. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 interfaces seamlessly with these applications to provide a peerless customer relationship management solution that is not only simple to integrate with your existing IT system, but provides the mobile CRM sales team management answer you are looking for.

Your sales team can use palm computers or laptops to provide quotations instantly on-site, together with product availability and delivery dates. No more need for endless phone calls or emails flying back and forth. Your field staff will have full PC access from mobile equipment using a system that supports most PDA, laptop and palm devices to give screen displays providing any information necessary for instant communication to the customer at his site. Modern mobile CRM systems even come with mobile printers and scanning devices can provide instant hard copy to the customer without the need to use HIS fax or HIS printer ? and how important and impressive is that!

Nothing is more important to a company that a customer. Without customers companies would not exist. The way to provide customers with the best possible service is to ensure that they have instant answers to any question or query they have, whether from the person in the office, or the rep in the field.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 will provide this capability: you look after your mobile sales team management, and mobile CRM will look after the information they require to respond efficiently and effectively to all customer needs.

Syed Ali, is the lead CRM Analyst for a Toronto based company. His company, offers Microsoft CRM software Solutions www.crmsoftwareprovider.com Syed can be reached at Tel : (905) 815- 1995 ext 22, email :asyed@cqsolutions.com

Increase Sales With CRM

A key factor in increasing sales is the speeding up of the total sales cycle and more rapidly and efficiently converting leads into sales. This is where a good CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system can demonstrate its full potential. The benefits provided by a CRM system such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 in speeding up the whole sales cycle from the initial lead to order and improved close rates render the system totally affordable to companies of any size.

Customization is the key: with customization you can increase sales with CRM very rapidly by the use of rules which allow automation of lead management and routing and sales process management which, when combined with fully targeted competitor tracking, enables you to keep ahead of the pack until the order is closed.

All of this is completed automatically and extremely rapidly, thus minimizing the possibility of counter bids and competition reaction. This speeding up of the sales cycle not only improves customer satisfaction but increases staff productivity and your profitability.

The automated systems allow analysis of specific leads and their allocation to the relevant product or account managers. Flexibly customizable rules allow automated tracking of these leads throughout the sales cycle, analyzing and tracking opportunities, constructing quotations or tenders from given rules, converting them to orders and closing the sales.

When operated with the assistance of the associated comprehensive reporting systems covering every aspect of the complete sales cycle, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 allows your sales force to achieve a lot more in a lot less time, increase overall sales and hence generate revenue at a faster rate. You can increase sales with CRM at a considerably faster rate if your CRM software integrates seamlessly with the office software used by your company.

The benefit of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is that it is accessible from Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft company intranets allowing staff to work interactively in accessing all relevant customer data either directly or remotely, so that sales staff can respond immediately to urgent requirements and emergencies. This saves valuable time in the accessing of existing quotes and orders and the execution of any modifications required prior to closure. All information can be shared between departments throughout the organization: we have all experienced the frustration of delays due to breakdowns in the transfer of pieces of paper between departments, and misunderstood phone conversations.

All transactions and communications can be carried out electronically and hence instantly. Not only this, but communication can be made remotely to wireless systems such as hand held palm computers, laptops and mobile phones, thus providing information rapidly at the point of contact with the customer. You not only impress the potential customer with your ability to react instantly to enquiries, but demonstrate your investment in, and command of, the modern technology required to stay ahead of the game in an increasingly technological environment.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 gives a very high return on investment, and is very easy and rapid to set up. The customization available allows it to be tailored precisely to your requirements, and you will very rapidly be able to increase sales with CRM.

Syed Ali, is the lead CRM Analyst for a Toronto based company. His company, offers Microsoft CRM software Solutions www.crmsoftwareprovider.com Syed can be reached at Tel : (905) 815- 1995 ext 22, email :asyed@cqsolutions.com

Automation With CRM

Sales and marketing personnel are best employed in sales and marketing rather than carrying out repetitive administrative tasks. This is particularly true of small and medium sized businesses with limited personnel resources and the need to focus on customer contact in order to maintain and expand the customer base.

Automation with CRM (Customer Relationship Management) can be invaluable in such cases and provide very rapid return on investment. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 in particular is eminently suited to a high degree of automation and allows employees to more easily and more effectively use existing customer and account data to integrate marketing and sales efforts.

The automation tools provided by Microsoft CRM automate routine tasks such as direct e-mails, communication management and the management of a variety of sales processes. Such processes include account and contact management, qualification of leads and opportunity management and the maintenance of a database of customer and account information. This is available to sales personnel online or offline either in the office, at the customer premises or in transit through portable communications devices such as PDAs, palms, computers, mobile phones and laptops.

Automation with CRM achieves this and brings the benefits of instant communication and information retrieval, which promote customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Automation with CRM can analyze factors such as the proportion of time spent by a sales force between administrative task and direct sales-related work and hence the effectiveness of the sales force and any remedial actions required to improve this. The performance of individual employees against targets is also analyzed and reports prepared. In this way not only is efficiency measured, but resources can be deployed to their greatest effectiveness with an overall reduction in costs and improvement in customer service.

The marketing automation in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 enables analysis of the efficiency of the marketing department and provides integration of all aspects of marketing, sales and service so that a single company image is presented to the customer. This allows a more professional image to be projected, increasing customer confidence and loyalty.

Automation with CRM allows the generation of lists of contacts, accounts and leads which can be used by sales personnel for the generation of campaigns for execution at a later date, with automatic analysis of responses and outstanding actions required.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 uses the sales and customer data you already have and makes it easier for employees to use that information to improve service to customers, integrate more effectively between departments, and improve efficiency with resultant overall cost reductions. Automation with CRM promotes productivity improvements and better use of personnel resources, the overall result being a more profitable company with more satisfied and loyal customers and a marketing and sales force that is being used at maximum effectiveness.

Automation with CRM is the way forward for any progressive company that is seeking maximum employee involvement in directly promoting sales and marketing with automation of the daily repetitive tasks that can be so labor intensive. The adoption of Microsoft Dynamics CRM allows sales and marketing personnel to be fully effective in the main objective of the company, which is to make money.

Syed Ali, is the lead CRM Analyst for a Toronto based company. His company, offers Microsoft CRM software Solutions www.crmsoftwareprovider.com Syed can be reached at Tel : (905) 815- 1995 ext 22, email :asyed@cqsolutions.com

5 Quick Tips On Increasing Productivity With A CRM Solution

A good content relationship management (CRM) solution can greatly assist your sales team in increasing sales and customer service effectiveness at each step of the sales process. From the early stages of gaining leads and investigating potential opportunities, to fulfilling orders and sending out invoices, a good CRM can keep it all under control--and increase productivity at the same time. Here are a few quick tips...

1. Choose the best solution for your company. There are a number of excellent competing CRM solutions available, all with their own good points. It can be hard to make the right choice, especially if you have no previous experience.

Take time to examine the available options. Do you want a desktop program, or a web-based solution? There are pros and cons for each, but generally the desktop solution has the edge in all round flexibility. Does it have all the features you need? The ability to report on just about everything is a big advantage. Not every CRM can do this. Ease of use with a low learning curve is another consideration. You don't want your staff taking weeks just to learn how to use it. The leading makes, like GoldMine or ACT!, and especially the new Microsoft Dynamics CRM, can do these things, some are better than others, of course.

2. Use the built-in reporting features of your CRM to maximize efficiency. This is one of the areas of a good CRM that is often underused. If you chose a CRM application that is unable to produce meaningful reports, or one that can only do a few basic reports, then you did not choose wisely.

The best CRM's will let you set up rules that force users to enter data in a certain way. That standardizes the input data, and when the data is always entered the same way, it can be filtered and output in the same way too. Meaningful reports from live data in other words. Reports that actually let you pinpoint the problems or weak areas and eliminate them or modify them. Reports that can highlight the opportunities or underused possibilities and exploit them or maximize them.

Most good CRM applications will do this for you. Microsoft Dynamics CRM, for example, is one of the best and easiest to use to produce reports that can analyze and dissect everything imaginable.

3. Allow your sales people to effectively monitor themselves. Sales people want to do well. Their performance is crucial to results. When they can see where their weak spots are, and where their strong points are, they can adjust the way they work to produce better results in future. All this is child's play with a good analytics and reporting capability CRM, such as the Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Its reporting and workflow features allow operatives to monitor and view sales and lead data filtered in a variety of ways.

Increasing productivity with a CRM solution is easy when you make use of all its features. This is only possible when you fully understand what each feature does, and how it affects and complements other features. First and foremost, start out by knowing all there is to know about the application, and make sure that everyone else does too. Then, if that knowledge is not being properly applied, there can be no excuse.

Syed Ali, is the lead CRM Analyst for a Toronto based company. His company, offers Microsoft CRM software Solutions www.crmsoftwareprovider.com Syed can be reached at Tel : (905) 815- 1995 ext 22, email :asyed@cqsolutions.com.

CRM Training Is Essential For Success

Imagine yourself wanting to run an airline company ? a budding Freddy Laker. What do you need? Well, planes of course, but let?s say you have a bundle of these. What do you really need to make them work?

That?s right ? pilots! So how are you going to train them? Will you introduce them to an airliner? Take them up the steps and show them the insides ? the aisles, the seats, the toilets? Why not take them into the cabin and show them the instruments, the dials, the communications system, the . . . Or how about showing them how it works. That?s right, get a pilot and get him to take off, fly about a bit while they watch, then land.

Then would you give them their wings, fill the plane full of passengers and ask them to do just what the pilot did? No, of course you wouldn?t.

Then why is it that this is precisely the way that many companies train their employees in how to use newly installed Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software? Failure to train staff properly is the path to failure. Your business will crash just as effectively as that plane would ? and just as quickly, without effective CRM training.

The major reason for the failure in implementation of CRM systems is the failure of a planned and structured training and implementation procedure. That is the Number One reason. CRM training is essential for success.

Customer Relationship Management is a science ? it is not the art that the old-style reps would have you believe. It absolutely true that the personal touch is with the customer is critical to success, but the day-to-day management of a CRM system requires the application of science and the provision of adequate tools to manage all of the stages of an integrated customer relationship management system.

There are many companies that provide computer CRM training classes, though the corporations that develop the software frequently develop the software with the customer?s training requirements in mind. Microsoft, for example, integrate training resources right into the software systems they develop, and this is as true for their CRM software as it is for Office applications.

Applications such as Marketing Analysis, Event Managing, Sales Forecasting and Incentive Compensation and Bonuses are but a few of those which computer based CRM training cover, though the Microsoft CRM 3.0 training course is more easy to understand than most due to the seamless integration with Microsoft Office applications and Outlook. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 software sits nicely alongside other Microsoft suites and integrates perfectly to provide a CRM solution for small to corporate size businesses which is simple for employees acquainted with Microsoft Windows applications to learn.

CRM training is essential for success, and it is essential that it is carried out effectively. How much simpler to do so if it is already programmed to be an integral part of an accepted suite of business programs! CRM training will not only be easier, but accepted by employees as an extension of their existing knowledge, rather than an addition burden placed upon them.
Syed Ali, is the lead CRM Analyst for a Toronto based company. His company, offers Microsoft CRM software Solutions www.crmsoftwareprovider.com Syed can be reached at Tel : (905) 815- 1995 ext 22, email :asyed@cqsolutions.com

Getting The Right CRM Software Package

Learning how to use a complex software package is usually a daunting task, and trying to learn all the ins and outs within the time limits of a free trial is even harder. Not only do you need to find out how the CRM software package works, but you need also to learn if you can apply it to the specific needs of your business.

For the inexperienced person, choosing the best Customer Relationship Management system can be a difficult. Does your business need an on demand solution, meaning a hosted, accessible over the Internet platform, or can your organization use a real run-on-Windows application.

The basic acronyms CRM (Customer Relations Management), ERP (Enterprise resource planning, integrating all data and processes of an organization into a unified system), SFA (Sales Force Automation, automated, time saving systems that help the sales people) can be intimidating, but you should know them. A simple Google search will usually tell you what the acronym means.

To make the best of it, you should stick to a few simple rules that can show you what systems are worth looking into and what packages should be avoided. Having these pointers will let you quickly find a system that will work for you.

First, you should make sure the product can be customized to fit your needs. There are many systems out there but most likely none of them will work for your business right out of the box.

To make sure a system can be customized, look for companies that sell multiple editions of their product, this usually means they have tailored their products to other customers and that they will be willing to meet your needs, and make the product work for you.

Also, you should look for a road map for the product. Having a road map usually indicates that the company believes in their product and that they are here to stay. You want a product that stays in the market as you grow and grows with you.

A product that is usable for you entire company is desirable, paying for a fully hosted CRM you should make sure that it is backed by a Service Level Agreement as well.

Getting the right CRM software package is no easy task, but if you use the above rules as you research the field you should be able to find a system that works for you and your organization.

Kim writes stuff about CRM software over at crmsystem.blogspot.com

How Branding, MarComm and CRM Relate

The most important single distinction we must make in our target group for any brand is the one between prospects and customers. This is because these two groups play very different roles in our business building program.

There are two broad strategic activities involved in increasing our brands? market share. We have to keep getting more revenues. And we have to avoid losing revenues we are already getting.

We will never grow our market share if we don?t keep in-creasing our revenues. We will also never grow our market share if we keep losing more revenues than we are getting.

Each of these two strategic activities involves two functions:

There are two broad ways to keep getting more revenues:
1. We have to convert more prospects into customers.
2. We have to get our existing customers to use more of our products or services.

And there are two broad ways to avoid losing revenues we are already getting:
3. We have to avoid disappointing customers? experience of our products or services.
4. We have to avoid disappointing customers in all the other the experiences they might associate with our brand.

Of the four strategic functions, the first, that of converting more prospects into customers, is, by far, more difficult than the other three.

This is because this function involves overcoming two major barriers:
a) prospects have little or no interest in or any relation-ship with our brand;
b) prospects are already engaged in another activity that we will have to discontinue, typically that of using our competitor?s product or services.

This is the function that focuses on our prospects, the people who possess the money that is not yet being transmuted into our revenues, and are therefore the most important target toward increasing the market share of our brand.

Prospects have to made to notice our brand, they have to be made to get interested in our brand, they have to be made to desire our brand, and they have to be made to prefer our brand over its competitors, and ultimately, of course, they have to be made to purchase our brand, which is when their money becomes our revenues, and when prospects become our customers.

The remaining three strategic functions, that of increasing customers? usage, and avoiding disappointing them either with our products/services or in any other way, are, relatively, significantly easier. This is because all three of them involve dealing with people who, as existing customers, are already in a relationship with us. As such, these three strategic functions involve a degree of receptivity toward us from the people we are addressing. Indeed, with today?s interactive media, it has become easier for us to know them individually by name, know where they live, how to reach them, and be familiar with their demographics of gender, age, education, lifestyle, and other habits; and their psycho-graphics of values, interests and other preferences.

Coming back to the first strategic function, that of converting prospects into customers, we have literally to transform their existing disinterest toward our brand into a relationship. This toughest business challenge involves, above all, the WHAT of branding, and the HOW of MarComm, advertising, sales promotions, merchandising, pricing, distribution, packaging and other marketing and communications media and activities.

Branding is the most important of these because it is the conceptual essence of the entire business building effort. Branding comprises the cluster of concepts and signals that have the challenge of overcoming the greatest barriers between us and the prospect ? those of their disinterest and pre-existing preferences and habits. The disciplines and media of sales, advertising, sales promotions, distribution, pricing, merchandising and packaging, etc. then have to deliver this brand communications essence to the prospect so that it can break through the barriers of disinterest and prior practice.

CRM, or customer relationship management should cover all the HOWs involved in maintaining and strengthening the relationship with the customer, once branding has broken through and established the relationship.

In this, CRM must remain consistent with the brand communications essence, which lives on in the customer as a cluster of expectations and signals, which is the de facto the brand. Just as the above mentioned sales, marketing and communications functions must deliver the brand through media and locations, CRM must deliver, and stay true to the brand essence through all its human and other experiential interactions with the customer.

So every element of the functioning relationship with the customer, the ease of opening the package, the ease of use of the product, the performance of the product, the disposal of the packaging, the messages received by the customer, the experiences of the customer with customer service staff, with billing staff, with credit control staff, with collections staff, with vehicles bearing our brand?s logo, all must not only avoid negative residue, but also regard themselves as brand communications as well, and deliver all these activity-media in ways that are consistent with the brand.

It must be noted that CRM can also contribute indirectly to increasing revenues and market share as well. This can be accomplished by fulfilling the brand essence vis a vis the customer so thoroughly via the latter?s experiences, that customers are delighted enough to make the effort to recommend it to other people who also happen to be prospects.

Over 30 years world-class experience in strategic marketing, market research, branding, communications, and design for top global companies across the world; specifically, USA, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Egypt, Middle East, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, India and Afghanistan.

Participated in launching or building scores of major global brands, including AT&T, IBM, Kodak, CitiBank, ICI, AT&T Wireless, AT&T Business, Sperry Rand, Remington, Memorex, Frito-Lays, Pampers, Tide, Camay, Mr, Clean, Dash, Spic 'n Span, Ariel, Head & Shoulders, Vicks Vaporub, Good Year Tyres, Band-Aid, Horlicks, Aga Lux Batteries, Saridon, Aspro, Shell Oil and Cadburys.

Formerly: CEO Saatchi & Saatchi ME. Management Director, Young & Rubicam Germany. Account Director, Young & Rubicam, NY, USA. Regional Brand Director, Asia Pacific, AT&T Corp. Frankfurter Ring, Frankfurt, Germany. Commissioner of Civil Rights, Princeton, NJ USA. Director of the Board of Ethics, Princeton, NJ, USA. Treasurer, Ethical Culture Fellowship. Princeton. USA.

Currently, EVP, Senior Operations Strategist, Stealing Share, NY, USA

Crm Mash-up Catch-up

A mash-up, sounds yummy, with gravy. But for anyone out there who doesn't know what a mash-up is, or what it has to do with Customer Relationships, it is about technology, and it's great with or without the gravy! Mash-ups are basically web applications that combine content from multiple sources and serves it up as an integrated information piece. For instance, in servicing a customer, you can build a page that has the customer information (your old legacy database), past purchasing activities (your less old legacy database), the store locations (new POS) and details of purchases (inventory system), weather and news clips for their customer's area (weather network, google news), status of customer order (UPS), and payment history (SAP). What customer rep wouldn't want access to that screen. Mmmmm........

Mash-ups are going to change the way everybody does business. Mostly because mash-ups are changing the way people view and use information on the Internet, generally, right now. As a result, customer expectations will translate into very rich and specific service experiences. The push for a customized customer experience will translate into software expectations that can deliver a familiar processing environment that is in the ?comfort zone? and available where and when.
Mash ups are an exciting genre of interactive web applications that draw upon content retrieved from multiple external data sources to create entirely new and innovative services. Salesboom.com delivers on demand CRM software on a web platform utilizing mash-up capacity. This facilitates development of powerful and efficient use of information resources in the improvement of processes in the business line along with incredible improvements in data contextualization and sharing.

Salesboom incorporates standard tools such as AJAX, Javascript and XML and has separated application logic from presentation and reporting pieces to save processing resources and increase transaction times. This in turn allows Salesboom to deliver lightweight tools with rich features previously reserved for expensive, on-site applications.

The greatest benefit is that Salesboom.com can create highly customized tools, and because the technology behind the mash-up is flexible, if the business or a process changes, it is possible to change pieces of code without having to rewrite or acquire a whole new software. There are some steps though in preparing for good mash-up presentation, and it is important for any business considering CRM solutions to consider the following:

1.Salesboom uses AJAX and COMET as programming tools, a move that increases responsiveness and user interaction
2.Salesboom has a Professional Services Team that specializes in cleaning and preparing data for use in mash-ups.
3.Salesboom presents clean, intuitive interfaces in the form of Push Panels, that enable users to interact with the web mash up, be it company data, outside Internet sources, partner sites, etc.
4.Salesboom offers users tools that promote evolution of an informal corporate taxonomy enabling possibilities for organizations to use mash-ups in an incredibly profitable way.
5.The Salesboom platform guarantees access to mash-up functionality because it has adopted the Service Oriented Platform (SOP) and has a public Application Program Interface (API) as part of it's Operating System (OS) for easy incorporation of relevant information sources.
6.Salesboom promotes the formalization of the organizational workflow model.

"At Salesboom.com we offer a CRM solution, with integration options at every business line. This approach supports delivery of a highly customized customer service experience in the form of interactive mash ups. We believe that your customers are our customers ? once removed, and we take pride in delivering solid, flexible tools to you and yours?. Tom Stephano, Marketing Director, Salesboom.com
Robert Dimning is a programmer/analyst who tracks on-demand CRM Services like www.salesboom.com

4 Ways to Automate Tasks in Microsoft CRM Using Workflow

Are you sick of entering data into Microsoft CRM manually? How about dealing with inconsistent data that makes reporting difficult and time-consuming? Whether you are a business user or IT user, you are guaranteed to appreciate the power and flexibility of workflow within Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0. Here are four easy ways to use workflow to automate tasks that support sales and customer service. By the end of this article, you will be able to automate your processes using Microsoft CRM and workflow.

1. Assign New Leads to the Appropriate Person or Queue

If you have multiple sales people to whom are assigned leads meeting specific criteria, then this is a handy way to use workflow. For example, let's say that your territories are defined by state, and the Joe is the sales person for all of New York state. Upon the creation of a new lead with a state of New York, the lead can be automatically assigned to Joe so that it appears in his My Leads view. Then an e-mail can be sent, again automatically, to both Joe and his manager notifying them of the new lead.

Do you assign leads by some other criteria, such as industry (e.g., equipment manufacturing) or region (e.g., Northeast)? Not a problem. As long as the data identifying the lead as an equipment manufacturer or as located within the Northeast is entered in CRM, workflow events can be triggered using this data.

2. Assign New Cases to the Appropriate Person or Queue

If you have a customer service or support function, or even an internal support function (e.g., IT department), then workflow works beautifully with the service management functionality within Microsoft CRM. A common use is to assign a new case to a specific person or queue, depending on specific criteria. If the case type is IT, then it would go to the IT queue. If the case type is a Contract, then the case would be assigned to the sales person assigned to that customer.

Another criteria is priority. Most companies treat emergency requests differently than normal or low priority requests. Depending on the priority, different rules can be triggered. For example, an emergency request could be routed to the Emergency Response team. If they don't respond within five minutes, then a follow up task would be triggered to the VP of Customer Service.

3. Notify Customers on Status of Their Case

Not only can cases be assigned automatically, but customers could be kept informed about the status of their cases. Upon creation of a case, an e-mail would go to the customer who opened the case, giving them case number and who to call if they have questions. Once the case has been resolved, another e-mail could be sent to the customer informing them of the resolution and who to call if there are additional problems with the case. Constant customer contact is critical in service/support situations, and workflow can automate much of that contact.

4. Automate Creation of Procedural Tasks

Do you need to follow a procedure? Who doesn't? Let's say that upon creation of a new lead, the sales person is supposed to send a welcome letter introducing them to the lead. At the same time, the marketing department is supposed to mail a standard packet of information. Finally, five days after the packet of information has been sent, the sales person is to call the lead. How does everybody remember to do this stuff?

Workflow, of course.

Upon creation of the lead, a personalized e-mail based off of a specific template can be sent automatically to the lead.

A task would be created and assigned to the appropriate marketing queue, where a person assigned to monitor the queue handles it. Perhaps they even process the requests in bulk at the end of the day or the beginning of the next day. They may even use an external fulfillment center specifically for this purpose. Either way, the task is created automatically.

Finally, the phone call activity for the sales person is created with a due date of five days in the future, with the specific script included in the task. Now they have a reminder to call the lead and they know what they need to say.

Pretty cool, isn't it?

Conclusion

As you have seen, workflow in Microsoft CRM can help anybody using CRM, whether it is the sales manager, sales person, customer service manager, customer service rep, or anybody else. There are many other ways to automate tasks, including using more complicated logic.The only limitation is your imagination. With the ideas in this article and some creativity, you should be able to think of other ways to use workflow in Microsoft CRM for your business.

Michael Cross is a Microsoft Certified CRM Professional with Small Business Systems LLC. Visit http://www.bturnkey.com/crm.html to learn how Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 enables your people to work the way they want to work, while providing you wih the data you need to increase the number of customers, provide the quality of service your customers expect, and increase your revenues.

How BPM Improves CRM

How BPM improves, CRM can be understood with the fact that it is difficult for a company to achieve the target of customer profitability in the absence of a business performance management or BPM system. Different CRM software provides different facilities. Some of the CRM packages help with the transactional customer data only. On the other hand, some other packages are capable of making very wide customer analysis. However, no matter how much advantage financial experts of the company may seek, they have to relate this information with the important factors that affect the overall performance of a company. They need to balance the customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction and operational quality control.

Comparatively, not so interesting people in the filed of finance when talk about how BPM improves CRM, put forth an interesting analogy. They compare the situation of analyzing data from the CRM tool for leveraging BPM by a company with the person who has poor vision first time puts on spectacles. Confusions surrounding the customer profitability metrics are no more. Similarly, misrepresent perceptions, regarding the behavior of customer when we use very different data sources, have also become irrelevant.

Figuring Out Most Profitable Products; The views of many financial executives are changing regarding how BPM improves CRM. They now see customers in a very different way. Customers are now a consolidated and comprehensive lot rather than a fragmented one. This has resulted in better understanding and improved relations with the every single customer they serve. Moreover, now companies can easily find out what are the products that are generating most profits. This has helped the companies to set the future targets more realistically.

Linking Data With Strategies; Another point that proves how BPM improve CRM is that companies were unable to connect the data and their business strategies when using data from enterprise resource planning or ERP system and CRM system. On the contrary, linking the data with the strategies is easy while using BPM system. Moreover, the distribution of important data becomes more efficient by using the combination of CRM and BPM capabilities. It also helps in locating and concentrating the geographical areas where maximum profitability is expected. According to financial experts, it is not the tool that affects your company?s performance, but it is the way you move the information. What is the point in having so many systems if the information is not reaching to the right person at the right time?

Finally, we can say that BPM system, if used with a right approach, can help the company in taking maximum advantage from the CRM software asset.

Alexander Gordon is a writer for http://www.smallbusinessconsulting.com - The Small Business Consulting Community. Sign-up for the free success steps newsletter and get our booklet valued at $24.95 for free as a special bonus. The newsletter provides daily strategies on starting and significantly growing a business.

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