Web based CRM software

Customer Relationship Management Systems are software tools to facilitate, manage and improve interaction between your organization and your customers.

Web based, online CRM software is available for employees, management and customers over the Internet from your organization's Web server. Hosted CRM software is Web based CRM software bought as a service from a CRM hosting company. A number of companies today offer CRM software on a subscription basis with monthly costs as low as a few US dollars per user.

CRM software packages vary in scope from systems supporting all or most customer relation issues to specialized CRM systems focusing on areas like the sales process or surveying of customer satisfaction.

Popular forms of online, web based CRM systems are:

marketing campaign management software,
hosted sales force automation,
web based help desk software,
online survey software,
web based contact management software

Key benefits of CRM software

Well implemented CRM systems help you and your organization to efficiently communicate with current and prospective customers, provide customer centered products and services and to maximise profit.

More specifically some of the key benefits provided by well functioning Customer Relationship Management Software are:

Employees interacting with customers can perform their work more efficiently because all relevant information about customers is available online from one CRM system.
Information flow between employees and between employees and management will be improved. Also it will be easier for management to signal priorities to employees through the CRM system.
Employees will spend less time solving recurring customer support problems as the CRM system effectivly becomes a knowledge base with information from past support cases.
Management can spot trends, new selling opportunities, the most valuable customers, and more by analysis of information accumulated in the CRM system.
Reduced operating costs through higher employee efficiency.
Customers will be served by better informed employees who have access to all relevant information on the individual customer.

Why hosted web based CRM systems?

Some of the benefits from using hosted web based CRM software systems are:

Low cost: A hosted CRM software system will often be less costly to get started with than a purchased system. Many hosted CRM solutions are available based on a monthly cost per user with no startup cost.
Low risk: Should you decide that the chosen hosted CRM software system does not fulfill you needs, you can move on to a different hosting company providing a better CRM system.
Less complexity: Hosted online CRM software is used over the Web using ordinary web browsers. No special software needs to be installed on your employees workstations.
Easy to get started: Because of low startup cost and no need to invest in new equipment, it is easy to get started with using online web based CRM software. For an organization with no previous experience with using CRM software, using a hosted system can be an efficient way to gain experience and understand what the real requirements for a CRM system are.

There are several potential downsides by using hosted CRM services. Integration with other software systems might not be easy, for instance integration with an existing inventory control system. It may also be difficult to get adaptations made to the hosted CRM software system to make it solve unique requirements for your organization.

Selecting the right CRM solution

What is the right hosted CRM solution for my organization? There is no general answer to that question. The requirements for a CRM software system is determined by factors like what customer related processes you would like to support, how your organization is structured, what markets you are in, etc.

It is important to involve users in all phases of planning, implementation and evaluation of CRM software projects. The success of all CRM systems depend on employees actually using the system. For this to happen, employees need to see the CRM system as helping them be more efficient in performing day-to-day tasks and not as yet another set of procedures forced on them by management.

Businesses implement CRM software systems with the intention of improving results. When planning to implement a CRM system in your organization you should from the start determine how to measure the return on investment, the ROI. By keeping a focus on the intended ROI through the implementation project the likelihood of achieving measureable results of the right type improves.

Some of the factors that should be looked at when you evaluate CRM software offerings are:

Support relevant processes: Make sure you understand what customer related processes your hosted CRM software system should support. Use this to determine what functionality the CRM system must support and select a set of suitable candidate systems. You should then spend some time to test run the systems before setteling on the CRM system to use.
Support direct user interaction: For many customer processes, it is relevant to let the customers themself interact with the CRM system. For instance, a help desk system should include an answer database where common problems are discussed.
Always available: CRM systems should be available to employees wherever they are doing their work, from the office, on the road, at customer sites or when working from home.
Unified CRM database: CRM software systems should never require re-registration of information already in the system. For example; when a customer starts to use the help desk, relevant information from the sales force automation system should already be present.
Integration with other systems: For some companies it will be important that the CRM system supports integration with other business systems, for instance integration with warehouse control systems. Hosted online CRM software are often more difficult to integrate with other systems compared to CRM systems run inhouse.
Export/import of data: All web based CRM software should support export and import of data on formates compatible with other systems. This is especially important when using online hosted CRM software, where you want to be able to extract your own data if you should decide to move on to a different system.
Secure data storage: CRM systems hold critical and confidential information and it is of vital importance that the information is kept protected by the hosting company. When considering to use a hosted CRM solution make sure you understand how the information stored in the system is protected and backed up.
Sufficiently fast access: Successfully implemented CRM systems are used by employees continously through their working day. It is of great importance that the CRM system is readily available at all times and responds quickly. When considering a hosted web based CRM system, you should therefore evaluate the response time of the system.

You can find more information on how to select a CRM software system in these CRM books.