The future of crm

THE FUTURE OF CRMBROUGHT TO YOU BY: INFOGROW CORPORATION

“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to

an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that

automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.”

~ Bill Gates

Building upon what Bill Gates has said it, is important to remember that there is no magic button that will fix all of your organization’s issues. But with proper planning and foresight technology, like CRM, you can make a world of a difference.

Now before we dive into the future of CRM, let us quickly walk through the history thus far.

1980’s: Basic Database marketing

collection and analyzation

1986: ACT! A digital rolodex

– Content Management

Software

Early 1990’s: Sales Force Automation – more useful customer

information

1995: Modern day CRM is

named

Late 1990’s: ERP vendors

tried to dominate

CRM Market – push in

broadening the CRM services ensued

Early 00’s: CRM

managing all business

relationships is common opinion in industry

2007: Cloud based CRM

emerges

Late 00’s- present: CRM continues to

integrate, including

more social and customer

service solutions

Every day CRM is continuing to adapt to not only the needs and wants of companies, but also the needs and wants of the clients served by those companies.

While not every organization currently has a CRM system, that is the direction that business is heading in and the quicker it is adopted, the better clients are served.

With this in mind, the following are our predictions for the future of CRM:

#1 MARKETING AUTOMATION

• Marketing Automation will continue to integrate with CRM systems and become an increasingly important tool for organizations.

• Features, functions, data, and actions all from within one user interface will continue to evolve and be deployed from the leading CRM application providers.

#2 SOCIAL MEDIA INTEGRATION

• Social media streams will be gathered, collected, and connected to accounts and individuals within the CRM application.

• No need to jump out to LinkedIn or a news source, it will be all through one CRM user interface.

#3 MOBILE

• All platforms will move to be more effective for mobile users, with functionality as close to that of a desktop as possible.

• Leading CRM platforms will be device-agnostic and ubiquitous.

#4 INTEGRATED MAPPING AND ROUTE PLANNING

• Beyond that of just maps and directions.• Intelligent route planning based on location

awareness and pre-scheduled activities to optimize time and expense for mobile workers.

#5 GAMIFICATION

• To help drive user adoption and move forward toward user optimization, gamification principles will be applied.

• For example:• Clearly defined organization goals• Better record keeping - in tracking leads and customers• More frequent feedback - internally and externally• Consistent user coaching on how to better serve clients

and get more leads

#6 PREDICTIVE/PROACTIVE/SUGGESTIVE

• With all the data and ever-improving business intelligence applications, the leading CRM applications will start to be more predictive and suggestive.

• One such approach for multi-channel sellers is called Next Best Offer – this is an offer that is made based on the buyer’s previous behaviors. (Think Amazon’s suggested books).

#7 CRM IS A BUSINESS PROJECT NOT A TECHNOLOGY PROJECT

• Just like when ERP arrived, it has taken a few years for CRM implementers to learn that not addressing the human element, required for a significant business application, dooms it with problems.

• Fortunately, CRM that is used successfully is now a business imperative for all organizations. So changes in management principles are being considered when planning a CRM initiative.

What are your predictions?

Do you have any thoughts on the future of CRM?

Let us know what you think in the comment section!

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