Putting your customers first

Mark Creasey, Managing Director for iEnterprises Europe, discusses the importance of CRM, especially during the worst recession for decades.

How is CRM technology helping companies to retain customer loyalty in these difficult financial times?
Mark Creasey. Customer confidence and securing new leads within new markets is hard to achieve during tough times. Executives tell us that when times were good, they were "maxed out," meaning that they were fully staffed, and leads were generated primarily by word of mouth. Now, they require more insight. They want to work smarter at finding new leads and collaborate more on existing opportunities. A good CRM system helps companies better understand their own customers. It gives them visibility into customer interactions so pockets of missed or new opportunities are identified and quickly acted upon. Sales, marketing, customer support and executives gain information that was previously hidden away on individual laptops, Excel spread sheets, emails and other different locations and make that centralised for easy access and viewing. A successful CRM gets teams and departments sharing information so customers are better served.

What are the top three features companies should look for in a CRM system?
MC. The first feature companies should look for is ease of use. Today, nearly everyone works from their email inbox so it's logical to operate the CRM system directly from that inbox. Ease of use also impacts user adoption, and in turn, return on investment. The goal is to help employees work more efficiently and effectively and achieve their targets; CRM should not be something imposed by management strictly for analytical purposes. 

Flexibility is the second feature companies should seek out. Companies need to think about what their most widely used functions are today, and what the needs are for the future. How broad is the functionality? Can it grow with you? Are you locked into only one deployment model such as software as a service or on premise? Companies often overlook these details and end up suffering when deployment begins.

The last feature to consider is mobile access. Eventually, most companies will arrive at the intersection where they have multiple BlackBerry and iPhones and need to maximise those devices and air time investments, and get greater usage from their existing CRM. Most executives want to make their employees' lives easier, and help them with productivity. If an employee needs to check if a deal has been closed, he should be able to do that within seconds from a customer site.

How can companies ensure that they are a customer-centric organisation and what pitfalls can be made when trying to achieve this status?
MC. Customer centricity starts with a mindset and needs to be cultivated from the top down. One of the biggest pitfalls that companies encounter is they feel they can buy a piece of technology and that solves all issues. You need to do some soul searching and pinpoint what are indeed your top priorities, whittle them down, and build a strategy and processes to ensure that those priorities are met. The system must support the business strategy, not lead it.

The most successful companies come in with a plan, and backfill. They say we want 20 percent growth next year, so what are our people going to do to get us there? We know if we land a certain number of leads, retain a certain percentage of customers, and conduct marketing campaigns that we can measure progress month over month, we will get on track. If that vision is not there, the CRM system cannot give you 20 percent growth.

What emerging CRM technology trends will shape the way companies deal with their customers in the future?
MC. I would most certainly keep an eye on mobility. We are a mobile workforce and typically always on. With the BlackBerry or iPhone, everything takes just seconds to access so you are free to carry out the tasks rather than searching for information. By marrying CRM with mobile devices, customer issues can be resolved faster.

Mark Creasey is Managing Director of iEnterprises Europe, a global provider of flexible desktop and web-based CRM software, and wireless solutions for the BlackBerry and iPhone. With over 20 years of business technology experience, Creasey advises clients on CRM and wireless strategy, implementation and best practices.