CRM Software Tools - Business - Management

CRM (customer relationship management) is concerned with tracking customers, customer-support calls, quote requests and actual sales. Many types of CRM software tools exist to standardize and automate CRM functions. They can generate email lists for the purpose of marketing to prospective and current customers. CRM software tools commonly track leads, prospects and completed sales. And many CRM software tools allow companies to track the number of people who requested information, the number of leads generated by the sales team, the effectiveness of sales techniques at generating leads and sales data per region or agent.

Tool TypeseCRM refers to web-based, self-service CRM software. It is an online customer relationship management tool used by the sales team, though it is often found on the software vendor's servers. CRM software tools may come as part of an ERP (enterprise resource planning) system. CRM is also usually compatible with commonly used software applications.

Web-Based CRMWeb-based CRM is available to anyone, anywhere, making it a particularly appropriate choice for customer relations management by companies that have a distributed and mobile sales team. It can run on both the CRM software company's server and on a cloud network managed by the CRM software vendor, however this may be at extra cost.

eCRMECRM tools enable customers to enter their own information, respond to surveys and polls sent automatically by the software, and update their own information. Their cost is low because they require very little effort by those who purchase it. They are also cheap to maintain because customers do it themselves. Moreover, in the event that there is a major disaster at the companys headquarters and information is irretrievably lost an ECRM stored in a cloud-computing network will have a stored copy.

ERP CRMMany ERP software vendors include a CRM module within their package. It may be an add-on module to the ERP application or come with the enterprise implementation. ERP CRM software tools are automatically compatible with the supply chain applications the user already has; this is a massive plus.

Common Software ToolsQuickBooks Online Edition is a good example. It turns QuickBooks financial software into a CRM software tool. Microsoft Outlook can be utilized to hold address books. Microsoft Dynamics links into it to create a CRM software tool.

CRM TrendsThe CRM industry is embracing the cloud. Its moving away from individual applications toward eCRM, even in the case of small businesses and individuals.

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