https://www.xperience-group.com/news-item/meet-our-crm-expert-david-curtis/
David has been part of the Xperience team for 19 years, operating in Sales with a strong focus on our CRM and ERP offering. David has worked closely with our customers over the years and therefore, has gained a key insight into the common CRM challenges and needs for organisations.
David answered a few questions around common themes within CRM and our customers, and shared his CRM advice for organisations who are thinking of upgrading their systems.
Each organisation is different however there are many common challenges that companies face with existing CRM systems and processes. Firstly, there are usually too many separate systems & spreadsheets in use that should either be integrated with or incorporated into CRM altogether. Existing CRM solutions often structure and capture data poorly and lack reporting capabilities. CRM processes are often manual with users having to waste their precious time duplicating data at many stages within the customer journey. Little to no integration with back office accounting solutions and the Microsoft 365 applications such as Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, results in further operational inefficiencies. These are just some of the challenges that organisations face when they are stuck in a growth restrictive CRM instead of the modern workspace of today.
Common challenges to look out for:
I see more and more organisations chasing the holy grail that is a single pane of glass for their applications, all of which need to seamlessly integrate with one another. The pandemic has pushed Microsoft 365 and its productivity / collaboration apps to the front of the queue where a modern workspace is concerned. The way in which data bi-directionally flows between CRM and these apps will be crucial going forward. AI and predictive insights will become more mainstream given a need to better manage and report on data held in CRM.
In 2022, it is predicted that CRM will become increasingly automated. For example, using chatbots to communicate with customers and queries automatically, or using automated email workflows to nurture sales prospects down the funnel. With that said, I would advise looking into the current functionality of your CRM system and its ability to achieve this level of automation and keep up with current trends.
A modern cloud CRM solution should remain evergreen and as such I would expect latest product innovations and updates to be rolled out automatically, either annually or bi-annually by the CRM vendor once authorised and scheduled by the system administrator. A modern cloud CRM solution should remain evergreen and as such I would expect latest product innovations and updates to be rolled out automatically, either annually or bi-annually by the CRM vendor once authorised and scheduled by the system administrator. Cutting edge solutions are taking this one step further with continuous updates and improvements. Basic configuration changes such as new fields, workflows (business processes), reports and dashboards should be easily introduced as and when required.
Want to chat CRM with David?