CRM survey 2011

By Michael Burns

What’s new in customer relationship management (CRM)? Time to find out. As with our other recent surveys, such as ERP, you can complete an online questionnaire about your requirements, then view the 10 best systems for your needs based on percentage fit calculations. You can also drill down for more details on each system. For the link to the survey, visit the online version of this article.

In April 2010, when we ran our last CRM survey (www.camagazine.com/crmsurvey2010), cloud computing and social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.) were the leading trends. This year, vertical solutions, mobile applications, xRM (which means CRM for everyone, not just customers), document management, analytics and aggressive pricing are mak-ing waves. I asked Jonathan Taub,CA, president of Rimrock Corp.,which provides consulting services for Microsoft Dynamics GP (Great Plains) and Microsoft CRM, to offer his thoughts on these specific trends and some of his insights are included here.

Vertical solutions: CRM vendors are pushing their business partners who implement their products to extend CRM to specific verticals or industries. This approach makes a lot of sense because each industry has unique requirements that are not available out of the box without some consulting work. The business partners will use the same software tools as the developers so the extensions have the same user interface and database as the CRM system.

Mobile applications: these applications ensure your key contacts are always close by on your mobile device/cell- phone, and you can also add notes, schedule a meeting, see all related e-mails and even place an order. These applications require a Web-enabled user interface that has been optimized for small screens on a mobile device. As there are so many different types of mobile devices, don’t expect the CRM developer to support all of them. There is a slew of companies that specialize in developing and extending CRM applications specifically for mobile devices.

xRM: CRM is something of a misnomer as it is not just for customers. It can include suppliers, referral sources or even projects. It is therefore morphing into xRM, providing a platform to track and control relationships with anyone or anything.

Document management: this function has also been added to the mix as documents need to be tracked and searches conducted on both structured and unstructured information in the database or documents.

Analytics: users of CRM systems crave analytics/business intelligence on their customers. Ideally, key performance indicators (KPIs) are available on a dashboard and these vary according to the role of the person using the system. Analytics get tricky because some of the information that needs to be included in the KPIs may be in CRM but other data might be in the ERP system or a website.

Aggressive pricing: there are a lot of CRM products on the market, which is good news for buyers but not so good for the implementers or value-added resellers of these products. They have seen their revenue model change as deep discounting has caused margins to shrink.

CRM is often sought out by sales and marketing types (rather than the accountants) as a potential revenue generator and an exciting way to grow the business. But ERP, which contains a lot of accounting, is often considered boring by these same people. Let’s hope the accounting and sales pros get together to ensure an integrated solution.

CAmagazine 2011 CRM Survey

Michael Burns, MBA, CA.IT, is president of 180 Systems (www.180systems.com), which provides independent consulting services, including business process review, system selection and business case development. Contact 416-485-2200; mburns@180systems.com