crm tools. CRM as a strategic management tool
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To interact with customers and other companies in most industries, CRM (Customer Relationship Management) class systems are actively used - customer relationship management systems. Small organizations use the simplest means - employees keep records and notes about customers in personal notebooks. But large organizations cannot do without more functional tools. In order to attract the attention of customers in a highly competitive field, and then be able to keep them, an effective clear strategy and a well-developed interaction algorithm are required. Let's talk about each of these conditions in more detail.
Algorithm of interaction with clients
Without the use of a CRM system with a large number of relationships, the manager risks getting confused and letting the business go by itself. CRM in the generally accepted sense is a set of basic functions for working with clients: organizing a database of counterparties, contacts, relationships and transactions; convenient tools for sorting and searching for the necessary information. Based on these data, the system generates reports on work with clients. In more detail, the following standard CRM features stand out:
- storage of information about contacts and counterparties
The system stores data on individuals, legal entities and contacts in a single structure. As a rule, a card with full information on it is created for each object. - potential client management
Special attention is paid to working with organizations and contacts that have not yet become clients of the company. Often, CRM systems provide a separate tool for working with potential customers. - transaction and customer relationship management
It is important to plan relationships with clients and entire chains of calls and meetings, and prepare for them. - conducting marketing activities
Planning and tracking the effectiveness of marketing activities is an important part of working with clients. - search and access to information
The database of a CRM system can store a huge number of records, but the search features help you quickly find any record. - work with clients
The system can be used to plan relationships and collect statistical information on them. All work on the client is recorded on the appropriate cards. The history of these actions can be viewed at any time.
But interaction with clients is only one component of effective work of the company. And for all its merits, it means nothing without the following condition - a built-in business strategy.
Building a business strategy
What ultimately determines the profit of a company whose activities are aimed at serving customers? Of course, it has a direct relationship with the number of people using its products or services; with the quality and speed of service; with the management of after-sales activities, etc. However, each organization focuses on its individual indicators, which form its own effective strategy. In turn, all the work of the company consists of some standard processes or those that have settled in it over time. Among them, one can always single out the main one - an end-to-end business process: from the moment the client contacts the company until the moment the goods or services are provided.
Rice. one. End-to-End Process Example
From this we can conclude that the implementation of the strategy is a well-organized end-to-end process. Here, quality is also understood as such an important factor as the involvement of all employees in the sales process. This does not mean that someone will have to perform additional duties besides their own. This work can be entrusted to the system if it is configured so that each department of the company will work on the implementation of client processes, while simply doing their usual work.
To achieve this goal, it is enough to combine two main components: a built-in algorithm for interacting with customers, that is, CRM, and a company strategy reflected in processes (BPM).
Benefits of integrating with a BPM system
BPM (Business Process Management) systems provide great opportunities for managing business processes. They allow you to turn a set of instructions into executable and controllable processes and manage the effectiveness of the company.
The main goal of such systems is software support for the concept of process management of an organization. Combining with CRM, the BPM system becomes a powerful tool for building end-to-end processes - from a customer call to order fulfillment.
The peculiarity of the implementation of CRM + BPM systems in a company is that, first of all, the organization's business processes are modeled in a graphical editor. This takes into account the organizational structure and characteristics of the company. Then the resulting graphic scheme is loaded into the system, and business processes immediately begin to execute.
An unlimited number of instances of the same business process can be launched at the same time - all of them will be implemented in their own way, based on the same model. At the same time, lists of tasks to be performed by employees are automatically generated.
It is convenient to monitor and control the execution of tasks within business processes. For each process instance, a card is created that contains all the necessary information on it: current parameter values, user comments and questions, tasks currently being performed, their executors and statuses, etc.
From the process card, if you have access rights, you can control its progress. For example, change the execution parameters of the process or stop its execution.
Rice. 2. Business process card
Another convenient means of monitoring the execution of processes is monitoring its process map. You can use it to find out which tasks within the framework are currently running and which have already been completed. You can view the process map at any time from the process instance card.
Rice. 3. Business Process Map
With this approach, in the real practice of the enterprise, it is possible to bring the execution of business processes as close as possible to their ideal model, which provides for the company's strategy.
The system, which combines the capabilities of CRM and BPM, is able to quickly adapt to changes in the company's business processes. This is a big plus for the development of its management model.
In general, all functions of the system can be divided into four groups: design (simulation); execution; control and monitoring; process improvement.
Automation of daily routine processes, which is achieved by means of the "CRM + BPM-system", allows you to free up time to improve the quality of interaction with customers. Fast order processing (appeals), timely communication with the client, control of relationships - calls, meetings and transactions, the transition of clients from status to status (potential and permanent), control of client activity - all tasks that can be performed by the system do not require real actions employees of the company and are performed automatically.
For example, a manager needs to call the client a week after closing the application and ask about the state of affairs. Who will remind him of making this call and other typical steps in his work?
When working with the system, it is enough to enter the “Create a call” action into the process of working on an application once, set the time, subject and other parameters, and each time this process is completed at the right time, a record about the need to make a call to the client at a specific time will automatically appear in the Manager’s Calendar. time. This will protect the user from mistakes and reduce the number of customers missed due to inattention.
Rice. four. Call creation options
If the company accepts calls by phone, then the CRM + BPM system can benefit from this too. IP-telephony facilities are used for effective interaction with clients. With automatic registration of all telephone conversations and filling in the fields of the call card, managers will not have to spend time on this. It remains only to indicate the results of the conversation on the call card and plan the next relationship.
Rice. 5. customer relationship card
Click on the image with the mouse to enlarge it
All employees clearly see their tasks, and if they have rational proposals for improving business processes, with proper refinement, they are able to increase the efficiency of the organization. Especially if you can make changes on the go, without stopping the system, and immediately check their effectiveness in practice.
Rice. 6. Opportunity to improve business processes
Conclusion
Whatever the CRM system, no matter how many functions it supports, without a strong connection with the company's strategy and business processes, it loses its meaning. Strategic management through CRM is possible under one condition: when the key processes of the "red line" pass through the activities of the entire company, its divisions and employees. Summing up, we will derive a formula for the success of a client business: Database (CRM) + Processes (BPM) = Increase in Sales.
CRM (Customer Relationship Management - Customer Relationship Management) is NOT a software product and NOT a technology. This is NOT even a set of products. CRM is a concept and business strategy aimed at building a sustainable business, the core of which is a "customer-centric" approach.
This strategy is based on the use of advanced management and information technologies, with the help of which the company collects information about its customers at all stages of its life cycle (attraction, retention, loyalty), extracts knowledge from it and uses this knowledge in the interests of its business by building mutually beneficial relationship with them.
The result of applying the strategy is to increase the company's competitiveness and increase profits, since properly built relationships based on a personal approach to each client allow attracting new customers and helping to retain old ones.
ERP systems appeared when product and business processes that ensure its production, that is, accounting, control and distribution were considered basic. This was the era of "back office" automation.
CRM systems have become needed in a highly competitive market where the focus is on client. The main task of CRM systems is to increase the efficiency of business processes concentrated in the "front office", aimed at attraction and retention customers - in marketing, sales, service and maintenance, regardless of the channel through which the contact with the client occurs.
At the technology level, CRM is a set of applications connected by a single business logic and integrated into the company's corporate information environment (often as an add-on over ERP) based on a single database. Special software allows you to automate the relevant business processes in marketing, sales and service. As a result, the company can contact the "right" customer at the "right" time, with the most effective offer and through the most convenient channel of interaction for the customer.
In practice, an integrated CRM system ensures the coordination of the activities of various departments, providing them with a common platform for interacting with customers. From this point of view, the purpose of CRM is to correct the situation when marketing, sales and service departments operate independently of each other, and their vision of the customer often does not coincide, and actions are inconsistent.
From the point of view of business management, the effect of the introduction of CRM is manifested in the fact that the decision-making process is transferred to a lower level due to automation and unified. This increases the speed of response to requests, increases the speed of turnover of funds and reduces costs.
Finally, CRM includes the ideology and technology of creating stories the relationship between the client and the company, which allows you to plan your business more clearly and increase its sustainability.
Figures and facts:
- It costs five times more to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one.
- Most Fortune 500 companies lose 50% of their customers every 5 years.
- A satisfied customer will tell an average of 5 friends about a successful purchase. Dissatisfied - at least 10.
- Most of the clients pay off only after a year of working with them (accordingly, if the client “left” before this period, then he incurred losses)
- Increasing the customer retention percentage by 5% increases the company's profit by 50-100%.
- About 50% of the company's existing clients are not profitable due to inefficient interaction with them.
- On average, the company contacts 4 times a year with an existing client and 6 times a year with a potential one.
- Suppliers of CRM class products promise to increase the profitability of enterprises by tens of percent, and the profitability of projects - from 200 to 800 percent in 2-3 years.
Historical roots
The basic concept of CRM (focus not on the product, but on the client + personalization) is rooted in the past.
A classic example: when there were no supermarkets, the bulk of goods were sold through many small shops. Local residents bought everything they needed there, without bothering to travel to the city for groceries. The owner of the store knew all his customers who lived in the neighborhood by face and name. Knew their needs, habits, tastes, financial condition, personal life facts, etc. He knew who, when and why would come. And everyone knew him. The business was built on the loyalty of these regular customers. Now this would be called personalization.
Then came the era of consumption. Supermarkets have grown. Bulk product. Bulk Buyer. Everything is quality. Everything is beautiful. Sold on every corner. But - faceless. Forgot about personalization. After all, it is impossible to assign a seller to each buyer. And want.
In an era of competition, the quality of goods is approximately the same everywhere. The rate of profit has fallen. The only way to survive in the competition to stand out from other sellers of goods and services is to offer a product to each client personally, taking into account his individual needs and characteristics.
And then it turned out that at the current level of development of computer technology, you can “return to the past” and provide personalization even in mass sales. The store owner used to keep information about a hundred of his customers in his head. The database can store and process one hundred thousand. And to offer everyone exactly what he is used to and what he may want.
The Pyramid of Values in the Age of CRM
Thus, now the accents have noticeably shifted. If earlier the client got an idea about the company based on its product, now he builds his attitude towards the company as a whole - as a partner with whom he interacts through various channels - from a phone call to the Internet and a personal visit. At the same time, consumer requests have become much more differentiated, and forms of interaction have become personalized (see Fig. 2).
In addition, the pyramid of values has changed. A typical manufacturer's strategy in an industrial economy was aimed at customer satisfaction and was built on the basis of the following "pyramid" of motives (Fig. 3):
- Product Availability (Company has what I want)
- Value (Price meets my expectations)
- Convenience (The product is easy to get and use)
- Trust (I am confident that the product is reliable and of good quality)
In the era of the electronic, "new" economy, the highest goal is loyalty, and mutual- not only the client is loyal to the company, but the company is also loyal to the client). From the achieved level of satisfaction, a new pyramid is built (Fig. 4):
- Satisfaction (My needs and requests are provided)
- Consistency (Company acts based on my interests)
- Personalization (The company demonstrates that it knows and meets my personal wishes)
- Merging (Relationships are built on my terms and under my control)
Within the framework of the "second" pyramid, the task of CRM is to cover ALL channels and points of contact with customers and coordinate them, to have a single method and technique of communication. Each contact should work to attract a buyer! The customer wants to be served with the same quality regardless from the interaction channel and get a fast professional response! Information delivered to the client at his request should be accurate, complete and consistent. There should not be different answers to the same questions from different representatives of the company.
Thus, the understanding came that client base – this is the most important assets companies that need to carefully and efficiently to rule. "Growing" the client is seen as a necessary condition for successful work with both current and prospective clients. It is interesting to note that price is far from being a decisive factor in instilling loyalty and making repeat purchases. For example, a study conducted by DELL showed that the motives that led to a repeat purchase through their online store were in the following order:
- Quality of service.
- Delivery of the order on time.
- Possibility of delivery to any place
- Ease of ordering
- A wide range of products from the company
- Access to complete information on all products
- Convenient site navigation system
Thus, investments in technologies for working with existing customers directly affect their loyalty, and hence the efficiency and sustainability of the business. In terms of money, loyalty leads to the following results:
- The client becomes less sensitive to price, which means that a higher price (up-sell) can be set for a product (service) without the risk of losing turnover.
- The cost of selling products and services to existing customers is significantly lower. As a result, profitability can be higher even if the price is lower than that of a competitor.
- A client can be offered a number of additional services (products) (cross-sell), thereby increasing the company's turnover.
Thus, the concept of CRM is very multifaceted. Although some of its elements have been cultivated before (for example, the emphasis has long been placed on ensuring the highest quality of product and service), they are not sufficient by themselves. After all, even high-quality service is not necessarily personalized. We still work with the “average temperature in the hospital”. Let it be high.
The essence of the CRM concept is that the most desirable and profitable customer has the right to priority and exclusive service. In addition, the concept of CRM focuses the company on long-term relationships with the client. In particular, a client, albeit little by little, but regularly consuming a product or service over a long period of time, is usually more profitable for the company than a “stray” customer who has made a large, but random order. The first has the right to count on the best service and big discounts.
Finally, the essence of CRM is to learn from your client, get feedback and work the way the client wants. The bottom line is that now it’s not enough to say to the client: “We are here.” We must say: “We are here for you, and we work here for you and give you what is valuable to you, anticipating what you want.” Goals, processes, structure
The functionality of CRM covers marketing, sales and service, which correspond to the stages of attracting a client, the very act of making a transaction (transaction) and after-sales service, that is, all those points of contact where an enterprise interacts with a client.
In the early 90s, when CRM had not yet taken shape as a single concept, nevertheless, there was already a set of building blocks, the development of which led to what we see today, namely:
- Various systems for collecting information about customers, partly including the beginnings of SFA (Sales Force Automation) - Automation of the activities of sales representatives.
- A number of marketing databases that provide analysis at the level of the product (its sales), but are poorly integrated with sources of other information.
- Systems for delivering information to the client (direct mail, etc.).
- Basic analytical tools used to analyze the behavior of a buyer in a discrete purchase, but without considering its life cycle.
Only in the 90s, all these systems were integrated into one whole within the framework of the CRM concept. For example, when conducting marketing campaigns, it is necessary to ensure the exchange of information used by the marketing department and the sales department in order for this process to be effective and optimal. In this case, automatic distribution of the list of potential customers between sales agents, or automatic assignment of tasks to employees of the sales department can be used.
Therefore, almost any CRM software has the appropriate modules (marketing, sales, support and service). However, there is no absolutely universal solution. Each software product has its own strengths and weaknesses and has the best functionality and performance, usually in one of these areas. Therefore, a company in which CRM is being implemented should highlight the priority areas of automation and start from them, gradually building up the entire system.
Accordingly, CRM should provide means of entering information into a single database (both by employees of the company and by the client himself, for example, through a WEB site during registration or purchase), and the data should be centrally updated with each new contact.
The next level is data processing tools (ranking, clustering, aggregation, visualization, etc.). Finally, the means of access to all information - both input and output by all departments of the company. At the same time, a sales agent may need, for example, a customer's purchase history and a forecast of his preferences - what can be offered to him next time, while a marketing department, for example, needs an analysis of target groups. That is, CRM allows a different form of information presentation for different purposes and different departments.
On fig. 5 shows a simplified structure of information processes within CRM.
It is important to note that with the growth of information detailing and its value from the point of view of analysis, its cost, complexity, formalizability and variability increase. For example, geo- and demographic characteristics are relatively stable, but have long been studied. Whereas the history of personal transactions, including financial ones, the history of contacts, preferences that allow building a client profile and predicting his behavior are obtained with difficulty, usually in an interactive mode, require accumulation time and are in constant dynamics.
So, there are 3 main goals for using CRM systems:
- Operational (operational access to information in the course of contact with the client in the process of sales and service)
- Analytical (joint analysis of data characterizing the activities of both the client and the company, obtaining new knowledge, conclusions, recommendations)
- collaboration (the client is directly involved in the activities of the company and influences the processes of product development, production, service)
At the same time, the results of the analytical use of CRM go beyond the scope of CRM itself. For example, the analysis of time and costs for the sales cycle, at different stages and phases of sales allows you to optimize cost reduction. Identification of priority customers according to different criteria (income / costs) allows you to increase the profitability of the distribution channels. Identification of typical problems / requests, development of a typical response to them allows you to minimize the response time of the employee (which means, again, reduce costs - after all, the company pays for the phone!). Analysis of sales channels allows you to identify problematic departments and business processes, understand which channels you need to focus on, how to restructure the problem area (department), etc.
The table below systematizes the opinions of the interviewed experts about priority industries in terms of demand for CRM.
Table 6.4. In which industries is there the greatest demand for CRM-solutions.
Priority sectors
Banks and insurance companies, telecommunications companies, retail companies
Finance, insurance, telecommunications, trade, distribution
In the banking sector, insurance companies, telecommunications, the high-tech industry (production and sale of computers and software, system integration), trading and distribution companies, large multinational corporations.
Sergey Chernov, Analyst of the Analytical Center of Parus Corporation
For trade enterprises, service maintenance of household appliances or cars, companies providing communication, tourism, transportation services, producing and supplying various kinds of automation systems
The banking sector, telecommunications, high-tech and pharmaceutical companies, potential users are almost all companies selling mass-produced products.
In wholesale/retail trade, telecommunications, banking and financial sector
Anatoly Levikov, Head of CRM Practice, Department of Corporate Management Systems, IBS
Finance (banks and insurance organizations), as well as telecommunications. In the world, a great demand for CRM-systems is also observed from auto dealers, manufacturers of pharmaceutical products and computer equipment.
Marina Anshina, Head of Development and System Support Group TopS
Telecommunications
Boris Kharas, Senior Manager, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Telecommunications, financial services, trade and distribution
Telecommunication companies, banks, investment companies
Alexander Skorokhodov, executive director of the Banking Production Center.
Finance (banks and insurance organizations), telecommunications.
Insurance companies and banks
Overview of CRM solutions in Russia
If in the Western market the number of CRM systems is measured in hundreds, then in Russia there is a rather narrow range of solutions, mainly large suppliers that have been offering their ERP systems for a long time. At the same time, the number of domestic CRM developers is increasing almost every month. Thus, the Russian buyer is already faced with the problem of choosing from two dozen systems. True, the solutions are radically different from each other, as they are aimed at different segments.
According to experts, SAP and Oracle have good chances in the field of complex integrated solutions, including CRM as one of the blocks - both of them declared CRM one of the main priorities for this year in business development. In addition, both companies have strong market positions. Serious activity in the field of CRM was deployed by hardware suppliers - Cisco, Avaya, focusing primarily on call-centers.
Solutions from Siebel, the world leader in CRM, have come to
Russia thanks to the efforts of Russian companies, but he himself
Siebel is not interested in Russia as a potential market. A fully localized version is only expected to hit the market within a few years. So far, the implementation of this product, which is already real in Russia, is associated with big language problems for the staff.
The solutions presented in Russia have very significant differences in methodology as well. Thus, Russian developers insist that their applications better take into account the differences in the local market, although they have less experience in working with a large number of clients.
At the moment, there are almost no specialized CRM packages of an industry nature in Russia - pharmaceuticals, banking and insurance sectors, tourism, etc. Although in the West such solutions are very popular, because if you buy a universal development, it still needs to be significantly improved, leading to specialized needs. And this is due to the extra costs of implementation, staff training, which is not desirable. And in any case, it leads to a loss of time, this is especially important for companies that work in industries where seasonal fluctuations are strongly affected (tourism, real estate agents, etc.).
How data was collected for this study. From open sources - the press, the Internet, personal conversations with experts - a list of all CRM providers, both Russian and foreign, was compiled. Only those who have a partner or representative office in Russia were selected. Together with domestic developers, about 20 companies were included in the list. The list was updated later.
Everyone was sent an email with a questionnaire and a deadline to fill it out. After that, the answers were clarified by phone and additional material was collected on this decision - according to customer reviews, information on the website, the press, and expert opinions. The information received was carefully analyzed and structured.
Note that the study below cannot be considered complete, new solutions appear every day and more and more companies announce the provision of a range of services for the implementation and maintenance of CRM solutions. In the process of conducting the study, we met with dozens of companies, many of which plan to actively enter this market.
Now we suggest that you take a closer look at the table and study it carefully (see at the end of the article). I responsibly declare that this is the most complete comparison of CRM systems presented in Russia.
| Company name | The product's name | Release date (product) | Number of copies sold, customers | ASP capability | Scalability (minimum, maximum number of users) | PDA Support |
| Oracle Corporation | Oracle E-Business Suite (including ERP, CRM and B2B) | May 2000 | >1,000 clients in the world (including previous versions of CRM), version 11i - about 400 | Yes (100% Internet architecture) | 5-7000 (real implementation in Oracle), implementations up to 20000 users are planned | Yes, Palm Pilot |
| InvensysCRM | Since 1990 current version (4 2) released in December 2000 | In the world - more than 700 installations in Russia there are no installations yet ABB Components, ABB Robotics, Bang & Olufsen, EDS, GSX (GE Information Systems), Lanier, RMC, UNU, Barco and Venzon | Yes | Yes | ||
| Sputnik Labs | SalesLogix, manufactured by Interact Commerce Corp, www.saleslogix. com | First version - 1997, Current version - SalesLogix net (SalesLogix version 5 0) - January 2001 | More than 3500 clients in 67 countries, the number of sold licenses is measured in hundreds of thousands, among the clients are British Airways, Deutsche Bank Dow Jones, Ericsson, Hewlett Packard the SalesLogix Support module is being implemented | Yes, through partners (Delinea Corporation, ScionASP) | There are no technical restrictions (there are configurations from 1 to 1000 users), the supply of licenses - from 10 users | Yes, Palm Pilot |
| 000 "IBS" | Siebel System eBusiness 2000 MME | 2000 | Yes | Minimum - 1, maximum - unlimited | Yes, Palm Pilot Organizer | |
| Electronic Automation integrated systems and communications |
Intelligent CRM Suite (manufactured by Computer Associates www.ca.com) | October 2000 | Yes | 1 to 13500 | Any device with Internet access, including WAP | |
| Clientele | More than 3000, including British American Tobacco Industries Nestle SA, American Express Times Mirror Magazines, Walt Disney Companies operating in Russia include Mary Key, Karl Storz and others. | - | The number of concurrent users can reach 500 | - | ||
| IT | UCI (Unified Customer Interaction) - manufacturer of Altitude Software | Latest version 6 June 1, 2001 | 300 system installations in Europe (ABN AMRO Bank - Netherlands Mobitai Communications - Taiwan, NSB Railway Norway - Norway) | Not | 3 - 200 (possibly more) | Yes |
| Actis Systems | SalesLogix.NET | Last release - March 2001 | Over 3500 clients worldwide | Yes | The minimum is 1, the maximum is unlimited. To date, installations for several thousand users are known. | Yes, Palm OS and Windows CE compatible devices |
| Customer support systems Customer contact management | 2000-2001 | MTU Intel (10 licenses), MKS (18 licenses), TopS (10 licenses) | Yes | 3 - 20000 | Yes - Palm Pilot | |
| LANIT | Navision Financial Contact Manager module | 1996 | Not | 1 - 300 | - | |
| Parus Corporation | Business process management / SAIL-Client | October 1999 | 5 implementations, including LUKoil | Yes | 5 - 100 | Not |
| Pro-Invest-IT | sales expert | It went on sale in the spring of 2000, version 1 4 was released in May 2001 | More than 200 LUKoil, JSC "Hewlett-Packard", Promo ru, Rainbow Technologies, Publishing House "Economic newspaper" (AKDI "Economics and Life"), "Garant-Park1 | Not | Not limited | Not |
| consi | ConCi- MARKETING CONCi- PRICE MONITORING | First version 1992 Last - autumn 2000 | More than 50, including Kazan Helicopter Plant, Perm Printing Factory of Goznak, Irkutskkabel, Kostromakabel, etc. | Not | Within the scope of MS-Access | - |
| Internet company Bmicro | Client - Communicator | December 1999 | 50 | Not | 3 - 300 | Not |
| Company name | C o n t a c t M |
A c c o u n t M |
S a l e s M |
T i m e M |
C u s t o m e r S |
F i e l d F A |
T e l e m a r k e t i n g t e l e s a l e s |
M a r k e t i n g |
L e a d M |
P M R |
K n o w l e d g e M |
e - B u s i n e s s |
B u s i n e s s I |
U s e r S |
| Oracle Corporation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Group of companies "Alfa Integrator - BAAN Eurasia" | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sputnik Labs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 000 "IBS" | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| EpicRus (until November 2000 - Platinum Software) | - | |||||||||||||
| IT | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not | Not | Yes | Yes |
| Actis Systems | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Dia | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| TopS LTD CRM solutions based on Remedy Inc. products. | Yes | No, but maybe but sde- lat |
No, but maybe but sde- lat |
No, but maybe but sde- lat |
Yes | No, but maybe but sde- lat |
No, but maybe but sde- lat |
Yes | Yes | No, but maybe but sde- lat |
Yes | No, but maybe but sde- lat |
No, but maybe but sde- lat |
Yes |
| LANIT | Yes | Yes | Not | Not | Not | Not | Not | Yes | Not | Not | Not | Not | Not | Not |
| Parus Corporation | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (except CTI) | Yes | Yes (except CTI) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Dia | Dia | Yes | Yes (except CTI) |
| Pro-Invest-IT | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (hour- tich- but) |
Yes | - | Yes | Yes | - | Not | Not | Not | Not | Yes |
| consi | ||||||||||||||
| Internet company Bmikro | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | - | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not | Dia | Not | - | Yes |
| Company name | Strengths (according to the companies themselves) | Support, paid / free (documentation in Russian, technical support by phone, e-mail, additional training, books, etc.) | Interface language; support for other languages | Other |
| Oracle Corporation | Full support for CRM functionality (see above) assuming modularity, consistent customer interaction channels, Web-based architecture (= low cost of ownership), integrated CRM+ERP solution (complete view of customers and no huge integration costs), powerful business tools -analysis. | Free of charge - documentation in electronic form, for a fee - technical support by phone, e-mail, access to a Web site with technical information, training, implementation services | 28 languages, Russian - in the process of translation | Financial stability of the supplier, the presence of an office in Moscow, huge investments in the product (1300 developers of the CRM system), a wide network of partners in Russia |
| Group of companies "Alfa Integrator - BAAN Eurasia" | A time-tested solution (more than 11 years on the market). Modular architecture, fast implementation cycle (3 months). Integration with BAAN IV / V ERP systems. Integration with e-commerce systems (BAAN E-Enterprise). Maintaining client data from the moment of its attraction (marketing promotions). Availability of a web-based user interface. Used within the software company itself. Focus on Microsoft technologies. | Free of charge - documentation in Russian for a fee - technical support (phone, e-mail, Web) training, consulting services | English, German, French, Dutch, Russian | Contains standard templates for answers to customer questions, supports dynamic lists of preferences Developed reporting system (internal and external) Tools for customizing existing and developing new applications. |
| Sputnik Labs | Sales leader in the Mid-Market segment, the best price / quality ratio for the Russian market, the most complete functionality among similar systems, coverage of all stages of the customer's life cycle, interaction with partners, the ability to fully work using the web, including interaction with partners. Rapid implementation (1-3 months), openness (easy integration with other information systems, the ability to make custom settings, change the interface, add functionality on your own) | Standard - round-the-clock onlme support, hotline by phone, fax, e-mail, free update of releases within the current version, delivery of service packs Price - 20% of the software cost Additional - extended service programs, multi-level training | Standard software deliveries - with an interface in English and a number of European languages Support for Russian, the ability to create screen forms in Russian | A unique toolkit for automated processes with an intuitive graphical interface. |
| 000 "IBS" | A single application for the work of all employees of the company (salespeople, support, marketing), scalability (the ability to upgrade to Enterprise availability of industry solutions, support for Service Agreements (SLA) project management Workflow Management, an intelligent routing system for requests, potential deals, etc., visual presentation client's organizational structures TAS (Target Accounting Selling), Strategic Selling, easy customization for a specific customer Differentiation of access to the level of individual records User-friendly interface. | Paid - technical support by phone, e-mail, training | English, Russian, Spanish, French, German | Standard templates for documents (Word, Excel, etc.) A large number of pre-configured reports Thin client Ability to remotely synchronize and work within a holding structure |
| Electronic Automated Systems and Communications | Highly scalable solution with the broadest integration and automation capabilities Easy self-configuring access to the right information for both customers and staff Patented "artificial intelligence" system for automatic proactive responses to technical or business problems Consists of separate products, which allows you to choose only what is right to the buyer in terms of functionality and price. | The first year is free (included in the price), for a fee - additional training | English. Others - built-in localization capability | |
| EpicRus (until November 2000 - Platinum Software) | Russian English | |||
| IT | The solution is implemented on the principle of a "thin client" Transfer of voice messages and sessions between agents Reliable operation even at peak loads Open architecture with the ability to support various hardware platforms Possibility of flexible customization for specific customer requirements. | Technical documentation - free of charge, other support - for a fee | Today - English, in the near future IT Co. plans to start localizing the system for domestic users | It is possible to obtain a large number of business reports on interaction with the client, his requests and business activity. Integration mechanisms with billing systems, e-commerce systems and financial applications are offered, allowing you to get a visual idea of work with the customer at the company level. |
| Actis Systems | The possibility of flexible individual settings for each client, being integrated packages, the system is able to solve a very wide range of tasks easily integrated with various applications, has a low cost of ownership, a large number of installations around the world guarantees high quality and reliability of this system allows multi-level access to information - LAN , Web or Wireless is aimed at providing a quick payback (return on investment) | Warranty - 6 months - free of charge Technical support - 10% of the cost of licenses. | The main language of the product is English It is possible to quickly localize the product into almost any language | |
| TopS LTD CRM solutions based on Remedy Inc. products. | Flexibility, scalability, reliability, multi-platform, great integration opportunities, openness, compliance with standards, speed of implementation (several months) | Documentation in Russian, annual support is included in the price of the system, training | English, Russian, French, German, any language can be supported | |
| LANIT | Easy to learn and use for the user | Free - documentation in Russian Paid - technical support by phone, e-mail, training | Russian English | |
| Parus Corporation | Decision support mechanisms The complex is successfully operated on the basis of the Parus corporation, including the regional network (according to the results of the international Business Soft competition, the hotline of the Parus1 corporation was recognized as one of the best in the country). needs of the enterprise Built-in WorkFlow and DocFlow mechanism Seamless integration with ERP Full-featured WEB-interface | Free - documentation in Russian Paid - technical support by phone, e-mail, Internet, training | Russian | Built-in mechanism for delivering messages/notifications (mail, GSM, paging communication) Possibility of expanding the functionality by the company's own IT specialists |
| Pro-Invest-IT | Easy to use and install Low price Constant development of the program High speed of work High efficiency of use for solving the problems of organization and management of sales and marketing | Free - all documentation, technical support | Russian Others - no. | Proven reference solution for companies that use direct sales to work with clients Best CRM system according to Business Software 2001 |
| consi | Proven solution (many installations), low price, fast implementation speed (less than 3 months), collects all information about the client and his operations, designed for both internal users (organization of targeted marketing) and external users (receiving a report on the status of the account, personalized financial information) There are real clients who have been working for many years | Computer training system, multimedia, animated help, books with methods | Russian | Complete focus on users who own MS Office |
| Internet company Bmikro | Full adaptation to any type of activity - an arbitrary number of data types (lists and directories) + up to 150 attributes per 1 record, several built-in report generators | Free - documentation in Russian Paid - implementation + configuration | Russian | There is a special implementation questionnaire We can prepare a ready-made, customized database for a remote client and send it by e-mail |
I will comment on each point.
The first items are standard: the name of the company - the supplier of the solution or its representative in Russia, the full name of the product and the release date. Also note the release date. Some systems have been on the market for a long time, others, despite their youth, also have several hundred, and sometimes thousands of installations.
The number of copies sold by all companies is high, the Western ones account for thousands, for Russian manufacturers - hundreds. It is worth distinguishing between the number of customers and the number of sold licenses (copies), since one customer can buy several thousand titles at once.
We can say that all solutions have already proven their capabilities. Another thing is that not all of them have a Russian version and experience of implementation in Russia. Most foreign solutions have never been delivered to our country.
If you are faced with the question of choosing such a system, we advise you to clarify the experience of the company in general and CRM systems in particular.
No matter what they say about the advantages of a particular system, the price was, is and will be the main selection criterion for a long time to come. Most often, the price for one user place (license) is called. But to the final price, you still need to add the price for a server license, consulting, training, subtract volume discounts. Some companies are just bringing their products to the market and do not yet have a clear pricing strategy. Plus, it is difficult to calculate the final cost without having real experience in implementing systems of this class. The cost of a solution of one level can differ by a significant amount. In this article, we do not provide a price level, but it can be ordered separately (see at the end of the article).
In Europe and the US, ASP-based CRM solutions are now being distributed, that is, the ability to maintain the system on the side. This allows you to reduce costs, reduce the size of investments and, of course, remove the headache of solving almost all technical problems (security, reliability, electricity, round-the-clock availability, etc.).
As far as we know, none of the supplier companies in Russia yet offers such an opportunity. Although already many systems are ready to offer such services. As in many other areas, there is a question of financing and launching such a project, and most importantly, trust in ASP. After all, no one wants to lose the most precious thing a company has - customers, and in Russia they are not used to trusting each other. So it is hardly worth expecting the appearance of this service in the near future.
A special item are the technical requirements. This item of expenditure can cost no less than the CRM system itself. Since the requirements for technology are the highest - powerful servers, a large amount of disk space, a good local network and an Internet channel.
It is important what additional software the chosen system requires - you will have to pay for database licenses and some OSes separately, and a lot, given the large number of copies, because ideally every employee should have a CRM system. Just access to other people's segments will be limited. It also matters that if you install a new operating system or other software for yourself, then you will have to look for new additional staff. And it's hard to find now. It is almost impossible to find good programmers and system administrators in the regions, who are already dismantled. And in Moscow, the demand for these professions is constantly growing.
As a rule, CRM is installed by those companies that have already used ERP systems, and therefore, there is a certain database, software, and all this must be saved and transferred to a new system. It's more difficult here. Not all CRM-solutions are paired with ERP, which can negate all its advantages - both functional and price.
If a company has agreed to invest a lot of money in CRM, then it hopes not only to survive in the market, but also to develop successfully. Therefore, sooner or later it will need more users. It is possible that there is no money right away to provide all jobs with access to the system, but over time this will become necessary and investments will appear.
Modern systems allow most often to start work even from one workplace and bring it up to several thousand, or even tens of thousands. All companies mentioned it. The difference is that some systems already have real experience of implementation and operation on a similar scale, others note only the theoretical possibility of such scaling.
When a company employee is on a business trip or simply not at his workplace, he may still need information from the system. If you spent money on implementation and installation, then you need to use all the advantages of CRM and at a distance. Moreover, it is not so difficult, it can be accessed through a standard web browser on the Internet or using any mobile device (PDA). Its cost is an order of magnitude less than, for example, a laptop.
Let's say you go to a meeting with clients or partners in another city (country), and even on the go in a car or airport, you can get all the necessary data on the PDA. And when using the Web in a hotel, there may be problems with the keyboard and encoding (no Cyrillic).
This point deserves special study. Here are all the features of the system. The classification used is Western, so the name of the modules is left in English (decoding below). At the same time, within the system, functions can be distributed differently and even called differently. CRM is a young direction, and the terminology has not yet had time to fully form.
All modules are very closely interconnected, and you can easily switch from one to another, often without even noticing the transition (roughly, like hyperlinks on the Internet or like switching functions in a text editor). The classification is made more to systematize the capabilities of CRM systems.
To illustrate the possibilities, let's cite the opinion of one of the users of the EpicRus CRM system, Sergey Kanev, head of the Moscow representative office of BCC (system integration): "Each company that works with a client should have a tool for structuring this work. Since any client base is an intangible asset , Clientele offers an algorithm for working with the client.
In addition, it helps to accumulate information on the history of customer relationships, which is a strong support for sales. For example, if there is a successful sale to a client in St. Petersburg, then there is a possibility of a sale to a branch of the same client in Krasnodar. Since VSS managers work in St. Petersburg, Moscow and Krasnodar, now any manager can look at the sales history of a client in other cities and get more complete information.
The BCC company uses Clientele in two directions: both sales and service. In general, we can say that the CRM system is primarily an algorithm for working with a client and a tool for summarizing information.
Previously, each manager had information only for his region, with its regional specifics. Now he provides this information to other managers and in turn receives information on other regions. Many situations that previously required additional meetings are now resolved automatically."
It is usually useful to know the strengths and weaknesses, especially since the choice of a CRM system can radically change the way a company works: either to work successfully, or to lose time and hastily work off the money spent.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to assess the weaknesses of these systems. To do this, you need to at least try each of them and see how the already implemented systems work at several enterprises, especially when you consider that all foreign programs need to be localized, that is, translated, adjusted to Russian reporting, etc. This will take a lot of time and money. And time does not wait. In this regard, Russian developers have some advantages.
Talking about strengths is not easy for the same reasons. Therefore, we entrusted the story about the advantages to the companies themselves, and, for obvious reasons, did not ask about the weak ones.
Judging by the responses of Western experts, the implementation of a full-fledged CRM-system takes a long period, depending on the system and what the company used from several months to several years. In any case, the buyer will need technical and consulting support for a long time, plus staff training, detailed documentation.
As can be seen from the tables, most often all support is paid and probably makes up a significant part of the income for sellers. At the same time, the documentation (it is not known whether it is in Russian?) is included in the cost of the system. It is noteworthy that some note the presence of round-the-clock online support. For example, this service is offered by Sputnik Labs, this may be especially important for regional clients, where the time difference can reach 5-9 hours. The client receives an access password to the support site, where he can find the answer to his question in the intellectual knowledge base.
Not only highly qualified personnel will have to work with the system, but also ordinary "fighters" of the company: from the secretary (by the way, it is very important how this service is set up and its relationship with CRM) to warehouse managers. Therefore, it is necessary that the system be simple and in the staff's native language. It's sad, but Russian versions are often the latest, although our market is also very interesting and promising.
We have included this item so that each company can add something else that it considers necessary.
In the pivot table, we have collected all the CRM solution providers that are actively present on the domestic market. Although the solutions are very different and it is not always correct to put them in the same row. For example, domestic developers often position themselves as solution providers more for the sales department than for each employee of the company (although this is possible). So, for example, "ConSi" operates. There is no need to buy hundreds of copies - a few jobs in the sales department are enough for now.
Expensive western CRM-systems not only automate typical processes of working with clients, but also allow you to better customize the system to the needs of a particular client. Therefore, they require implementation and refinement, which significantly affects the price. But the "boxed" product Sales Expert ("Pro-Invest-IT"), which can be configured independently, costs only $ 1,570 for an unlimited number of installations (this is comparable to the price for two places in Western systems, most often their price fluctuates in around 500-800 dollars per workplace). Sales Expert is a tough but ready-made CRM solution that sets clear rules for working with clients. Perhaps the given functions will be enough for you.
Of the complex Russian solutions at the moment, only the product of the Parus company can be named. As Aleksey Kazarezov, commercial director of Parus, noted, this product was "tested" within the corporation for about a year, working with regional partners (dealers, business partners, regional branches, etc.) - for Parus they are also a kind of client ( consumers of his developments). For example, with the help of the new module, messages of three types were quickly collected (by e-mail): "error", "wish", "question (consultation)". Then they were sent for processing to the appropriate managers, who evaluated them and transferred them to production (messages like "error" and "wish") or answered the question.
Each appeal was analyzed and processed according to the relevant regulations; in general, this gave an increase in processing speed and error correction by 30%.
In addition, the module was tested in the field of specific work with clients: collecting information about a potential customer starting from the first contact; absolutely all available information about the client was entered into the database about the client - visits to the demo hall, questions by phone, visits of managers and much more. As a result, a serious data bank was accumulated containing a complete history of relationships with this client (both organizational and financial). Of course, replenishment of information and collection of requests contained in the module's database is possible not only using the keyboard (for example, during telephone or personal contacts), but also via e-mail and the Internet (as in the example with regional partners). At the same time, the client can monitor all stages of his request (depending on access rights or using special notifications by e-mail, pager, etc. - in accordance with a customizable schedule).
In the future, the customer database can provide a lot of useful information. For example, if a company that sells household appliances has in its database information about which appliances the client has already purchased, then at the next purchase it can not only give an appropriate discount, but also choose a model that is optimally combined with the existing set. In this case, it will not be necessary to ask the client, in addition, it does not matter which sales manager led him earlier.
These functions are also available in Western systems, but there is still very little experience in implementing such CRM solutions, so we cannot yet fully reveal the possibilities hidden in foreign developments. Often there is confusion, what is delivered to the client - ERP or CRM? It is beneficial for the buyer and the seller to say what exactly CRM is, but there are only a few real examples. By the way, interesting examples of the implementation of CRM in the West can be found in the latest book by Bill Gates "Business at the Speed of Thought".
When reading pivot tables, the following explanations should be taken into account:
Contact Management - maintaining an extended record for each contact, a separate profile for each client, maintaining contact histories, organization charts and the ability to group clients into various groups, etc.
Account Management - maintaining information on counterparties (including clients, partners, agents, competitors). All information, including the history of relationships, planned/implemented transactions, contracts, financial/accounting data, etc.
Sales Management - maximum information and opportunities related directly to the sale - cycles, statistics, geolocation, report generation, sales history, etc. Looking at sales as a process with its division into stages and steps allows for forecasting and effective sales management.
Time Management is a module that helps coordinate the work of all departments in time - a calendar, a list of tasks, as well as various modules for interfacing with fax, e-mail, and other means of communication.
Customer Service - interactive customer support (Internet, virtual private networks, etc.), the ability for customers to get the necessary information themselves, planning work with customers, call statistics, report generation, accounting for the time spent by specialists, the ability to estimate the cost of support, etc.
Field Force Automation - the possibility of group work with clients divided by regional, industry and other characteristics, joint work of geographically remote divisions.
Telemarketing/telesales - integration with a call-center, keeping statistics, recording standard questions and answers, and making full use of many other possibilities of communication with customers via e-mail, IP-telephony, etc.
Marketing - a statistics module, planning and maintaining various marketing campaigns, monitoring returns and calculating efficiency, modeling, auxiliary (training) material, consumer segmentation and more.
Lead Management - Management of relationships with potential customers: collecting initial information, distributing contacts between employees of sales departments, tracking the effectiveness of sources of primary contacts.
Partnership Relations Management (PRM) - relationship management with partners.
Knowledge Management - knowledge management, collection of all necessary reference information (maps, industry info, analytical materials, statistics) for the company's work, creation of separate news sections (for example, for managers who run the fuel and energy complex, processing industry), integration with Internet sources, powerful search tools.
e-Business is a module responsible for the CRM web part, which may include a company website, online store or B2B site, interaction with customers via the Internet, etc.
Business Intelligence - the availability of automatic capabilities for monitoring and escalating problems, taking preventive actions, generating individual reports and reports based on templates (as a rule, there are many ready-made forms), planning, modeling. – education, employment, contacts, everything related to people in the field of CRM.
Objectives, methodology and sources of research
This study is an initiative work of the Cominfo Consulting company, carried out jointly with the "Business Online" magazine.
The aim of the study is to analyze concepts CRM in terms of its relevance in Russia, analysis of the structure and prospects demand in Russia for products and solutions positioned as CRM (including motivation, implementation features, trends), as well as market analysis suggestions CRM solutions presented in Russia, including the collection and systematization of information about relevant products and their suppliers.
Thus, the main consumer of this study are companies that are interested in implementing CRM solutions and need systematic information on products and suppliers. In addition, the study is of interest to software developers and vendors, system integrators and consulting companies that are involved in the implementation of CRM.
Sources of information and research methodology
The collection of information during the study was carried out on the basis of:
- Analysis of publications from more than 100 open and closed sources, including professional publications, reports of foreign research and consulting companies, Web sites and other sources (a partial list of Internet resources is given in Appendix 2).
- Personal interviews with experts from consulting companies, system integrators and CRM solution providers (listed below).
- Questioning of representatives of enterprises - potential customers of CRM-solutions.
- Questioning of representatives of companies - manufacturers and suppliers of CRM solutions presented in Russia.
The respondents included about 200 enterprises in Moscow, the Moscow Region and the Central Region, as well as the Moscow offices of large holding structures with an extensive territorial structure throughout Russia. Separately, 70 companies in the telecommunications industry were surveyed - traditional and alternative fixed-line operators, mobile operators and departmental networks.
List of involved experts
- Sanal Ushanov, Accenture Moscow Office Manager
- Pavel Cherkashin, President of Sputnik Labs
- Roman Samokhvalov, Oracle Business Development Manager
- Sergey Chernov, Analyst of the Analytical Center of Parus Corporation
- Sergey Aslanyan, director of the consulting department of Actis Systems
- Alexander Yakunin, CEO of Navision CIS
- Anatoly Levikov, Head of CRM Practice, Department of Corporate Management Systems, IBS
- Marina Anshina, Head of Development and System Support Group TopS
- Boris Kharas, Senior Manager, PricewaterhouseCoopers
- Maxim Filamofitsky, CTO of RosBusinessConsulting
- Alexander Skorokhodov, Executive Director of the "Banking Production Center"
- Maxim Solovyov, Sales Manager at Avaya Communications.
Terms of the study
The study was conducted in May-July 2001. Since the publication of excerpts from the study in the July issue of the journal "Business-on-line" to the authors began to receive additional information from suppliers and customers, it was decided to update the study once a month.
Introduction
Objectives, methodology and sources of research
1. Basic concepts of CRM.
1.1. Historical roots
1.2. Customer-centric approach
1.3. Client lifecycle.
1.4. Pyramid of values in the era of CRM.
1.5. How to move from concepts to technologies?
2. Functionality of CRM systems.
2.1. Goals, processes, structure.
2.2. main functional blocks.
2.2.1. MA - Marketing Automation (Marketing Automation).
2.2.2. SFA Sales Force Automation (Automation of activity of sales representatives).
2.2.3. CSS - Customer Service & Support (Automation of the support service and customer service).
3. Implementation of CRM: process, features, effect.
3.1. Stages of implementation: CRM step by step.
3.2. Foreign experience of implementation.
3.3. Features of national CRM.
3.4. Integral effect of application implementation.
4. Call-centers and Contact-centers as a key channel of interaction within CRM
4.1. Basic concept.
4.2. Call-center and Contact-center functionality.
4.3. Call center applications related to sales and marketing
4.4. Call center applications related to the service (user support)
4.5. Advantages of Call and Contact-centers within the concept of CRM.
5. Market of CRM-solutions abroad.
5.1. Overview of the main decisions.
5.2. Functionality of CRM solutions. Summary table for 67 companies.
5.3. Trends and prospects.
5.4. Solutions for Contact Centers. Summary table for 60 companies.
6. Market of CRM solutions in Russia.
6.1. The main factors influencing the development of the market.
6.2. Demand.
6.2.1. Market awareness of CRM
6.2.2. Structure and features of demand
6.2.3. Motivation of enterprises in the implementation of CRM.
6.3. Sentence.
6.3.1. Criteria for choosing a solution.
6.3.2. Consolidated catalog and analysis of 20 products, manufacturers and suppliers represented in Russia.
Conclusion and conclusions.
Annex 1. Glossary of terms.
Annex 2. Additional information resources on CRM on the Internet.
Manufacturers and suppliers.
information portals.
Research and consulting companies.
Professional organizations, publications, conferences.
Resources for call-centers.
We have been on Habré for 2 years with a tail. During this time, we have written more than 50 articles in which we shared our experience: working with terms of reference, development management, using CRM in serious companies, touched on employment and education issues, answered the simplest and very complex questions (already beyond Habr) . And still, our managers and implementers hear the same question: why does a business need CRM, what will it change specifically in my company? Of course, answering this question is not easy: a lot depends on the industry and the size of each business. But we will try - sincerely, without calculations, schemes and other difficulties.
What is business?
It is always a complex system consisting of people, means of production, production object, money and information. The interactions between these elements are called business processes. The goal of a business in 99% of cases is to make a profit. Profit is most often brought by consumers of a product, product or service - customers, partners, etc., another element of the business system. Well, to complete the picture, there are competitors that need to be bypassed - in quality, functionality, speed, service, retention methods.Any business had a moment when the first client appeared - this is a real holiday, the first awareness of the right path, the first payment. Everyone remembers and often loves this client. But over time, more and more customers appear, relations with them are getting worse - not because the employees are lazy, but because the probability theory works: the larger the sample, the higher the likelihood of an adverse event. There will always be someone dissatisfied, angry, someone will not like the voice of a supporter or the tone of a salesperson, someone will not cope with the product and will be angry with himself, pouring out dissatisfaction on the head of the company.
Time goes on - simple and intelligible business processes are overgrown with parameters, stages, responsible (sometimes very irresponsible) and then chaos sets in. Business understands that it is impossible to return to the original order, a new “cosmos” of development must come, there must be some kind of leap. And then, as if according to a joke, they begin to move the beds, then change the girls. While in the 21st century there is a fairly simple tool for bringing order to native chaos - automation. Moreover, the automation of everything: development and testing, work with texts and documentation, technical support, warehouse, logistics, advertising, sales.
Indeed, companies automate production, because you will produce more, automate development, because there is so much order, automate advertising, because the rate is lower and the conversion is higher ... But when it comes to automating all management and working with clients, notepads open, excel and google calendars. Are you seriously? CRM-system is no longer a luxury, but a means of end-to-end automation.
What does a business lose by abandoning a CRM system?
More precisely, we will tell you what a CRM system gives and if you don’t have it, you lose it.CRM is a look into the future of business. The fact is that the system accumulates and saves data on operational activities and, using built-in and custom reports, allows you to see trends, predict events, classify the client is still “on the way”.
CRM is no contact by, In the literal sense of the word. A good CRM system can collect data from the site (for example, requests), record calls, work with online chats and e-mail. By the way, we went further - some of these functions were implemented by regular means. RegionSoft CRM, part - with the help of a cool and convenient script server RegionSoft Application Server. In addition, the CRM system should be an assistant when creating newsletters - segmented, thoughtful, well-designed for each situation (you must agree, congratulations on the new year and notification of the release of a new version of your product should look different). Thus, you collect a maximum of people who are interested in your company (and sometimes those who walked by) and, again, have more chances to convert contacts into money, into loyal customers, into partners, etc. (depending on goals).
goods.ru
And yes, customer management is far from just marketing in the sense in which we all used to hate it. This is, if you like, the transformation of a group of people into business friends - that is, those who not only buy, but also appreciate the purchase beyond the material aspect. This is the future of the whole field of promotion. Today, this alignment is available not only to Apple or Chanel, but also to everyone who is ready to work on loyalty on the basis of data, and not just vaping.
The CRM system accumulates the best practices and helps you access them in one click. And again - I emphasize - we are now talking not about dry and boring sales scripts, but about document templates, designed business processes, accumulated information about incidents (yes, don’t be surprised, we also manage technical support in our own RegionSoft CRM, backlog and developer tasks). Why is it good:
- all information is aggregated in a single center and can be given access to any employee
- the adaptation of newcomers takes place as quickly as possible - in addition to training and mentoring, he can study the experience of his colleagues, and at the same time get used to the new working interface
- is preserved, really the best - what improves the qualifications of employees
- the history of information is kept, no data is lost.
Task management, notifications, tasks built into business processes are a very important automation mechanism. Thus, the team works smoothly and on time, the number of customer complaints in this direction is sharply reduced. To be honest, it's hard to imagine and it's better not to remember what it is - manual management of the affairs of each and the team as a whole. And here CRM bypasses all sorts of calendars and project management systems in that all cases are tied to clients, projects, resources, and the entire array of information is available in a single environment (thanks to the relational data storage organization model - all objects inside the software are interconnected).
Yandex.Images
CRM is risk management. An extremely important functionality that is not documented in the manuals, but has served well for more than one hundred companies. It's all point by point.
- Preventive measures to retain customers - for example, in the low season, you can make additional sales, announce promotions and all kinds of bonuses to shake the doubters. CRM also allows customers to make personalized (and quasi-personalized) offers that create the feeling of a one-on-one conversation (and often they are). Why is it important? Attracting each lead and each client has its price, sometimes quite tangible. You communicate with a client, explain the features of a product or service, conduct all pre-sale activities, and then, due to an annoying little thing, he breaks down and goes to competitors, actually at your expense. And this customer is immediately ready to buy. CRM helps to calculate such situations in advance and retain the client, in which so much effort, money and time have been invested. This minimization of outflow is one of the most solid economic risks.
- Database rotation - the CRM system helps to quickly find those customers and leads who were last contacted for a long time or never and initiate communication. Such clients are good because you do not need to spend money on attracting and informing them - they already know you at least a little, but they know each other. For example, we like the way the rotation is arranged in the Russian branch of the WWF Wildlife Fund - if you transferred money or transferred one-time, you are not particularly worried, letters about animals occasionally come. And then, at the right time (and as close as possible to the number of the previous installment), an ordinary person calls and just talks like a friend, simultaneously reminding of help. It's cool, because 1) it is not a scripted girl from the call center who speaks, but a living person; 2) time passes before the rotation and you already feel that you haven’t watched the snow leopards and tigers for a long time; 3) the date, as a rule, is close to the salary :-) So, we suspect that the guys have comprehended the Zen of CRM, well done.
- The safety of the base from the human factor. The information contained in the CRM system is the most important business asset: customer base + significant events + negotiations, deals, prices, nomenclature. In general, the entire commercial life of the company. And, regardless of whether you are a tire fitting or a retailer, this is a tasty morsel for your competitors, and at the same time a rather serious increase in the cost of a sales manager in the market (if you look at job sites, you will see that they are looking for a manager with a base or contacts"). The departure of a manager with a base can be safely equated with the loss of market share. Of course, if you wish, you can hack and steal everything, but the CRM system is able to log actions and grab an unscrupulous employee literally by the hand.
CRM system is personnel management. Not those frantic fashionable mechanisms for controlling working time and tracking trips to the kitchen and toilet, but adequate mechanisms for control, planning and self-control. For example, in our RegionSoft CRM we have a progress bar for completing tasks - an employee sees where he has sagged, and manages to correct himself within the reporting period, saving the bonus. These monitors are also seen by the manager, who can reorient the employee, change tasks, or motivate them to work more efficiently.
Well, as a bonus, there are employee cards, not forgotten birthdays, adaptation of newcomers, private clients, well-established business processes with personal responsibility at the stages. All this works solely for the loyalty of employees, giving them freedom in exchange for responsibility.
A CRM system is an automated business process. The burden of routine work is shared with CRM, in which business processes are designed and debugged, and employees have more time to work with their heads, which cannot but affect revenue.
CRM system is organized data. It accumulates a single information that is available to all team members (depending on access rights), as a result, the business is not drained of blood due to the lack of information and its disgusting circulation within the company.
And also CRM is communication, integration with third-party services and 1C, warehouse, cash desk, and sometimes even production management, logistics and complex projects. It all depends on the configuration you choose from a particular vendor. Someone strives to make CRM a contact manager, someone goes into versatility and power. We tried to make CRM for everyone, only everyone has their own edition, depending on the requirements of the business.
Summing up the list of documented and not very CRM features, we can safely say that the CRM system is a guarantee of continuous improvement in all business processes affected by it and many good team habits, such as entering correct and complete information, completing tasks on time, reasoned shifts in time and personal responsibility for their work, and not the favorite “logistics didn’t bring it on time, the driver was late, the secretary didn’t pour coffee and in general the weather is crushing.”
In short - why is CRM important for any company?
Smallest and smallest- to develop automatically, not to lose a single commercial opportunity and build business processes until they turn into a mess.Medium- turn chaos into space, manage a company on data, form a pool of loyal customers who are the key to a stable cash flow. Protect data and monitor the work of personnel within the framework of their duties.
big- if the question of CRM is still in front of you, then we have bad news: you have already lagged behind your competitors. A large company should devote almost more time to automation than to finances.
Yandex.Images
So, CRM is essentially a growth point for a company, especially if it is a serious CRM that can cover the needs and tasks of several departments at once. It's time to look at the CRM system as a tool, overcome the myths in your head and just work with high efficiency. In general, to correspond to the century and the overall digital transformation, as they say at high-flown conferences.
And to put it simply, stop using a chisel, grab a perforator soon!
P.S.: Until June 30, we have -15% discounts and cool rental and installment terms for all software developed by RegionSoft Developer Studio, of course, including the flagship RegionSoft CRM.
In modern business, the need to automate various processes has become commonplace. It is already becoming difficult to imagine warehouse or accounting without the use of specialized software, sales representatives use special applications to place and send orders to the office directly from a tablet or mobile phone, a fairly large part of orders come from the site in the form of documents ready for processing. But at the same time, relationships with clients, at least in medium and small businesses, for some reason, are very often conducted without the introduction of automation and sufficient attention to accounting.I observe all this quite often, since as a business consultant I am constantly in contact with small and medium-sized businesses. And every time I have to tell my clients how to automate customer relationships, how CRM systems work, what they are, and why in a particular case it is worth choosing one or another system.
What happens if the work of the sales department is carried out without an accounting system? Each sales manager works in a way that is more convenient for him, records calls and other types of interaction with customers at his own discretion: someone - on paper, someone - in Excel tables, and someone does not consider it necessary to record the process of their own work.
It is very important that data import is fast, simple and transparent. Without the convenient automatic transfer of all contacts and other important information for the work, the launch of the system is likely to fail. Of course, you can enter all the data manually, but it is very long and inconvenient. And if you enter this data in parts, then the risk of duplication of customer cards increases, as a result, confusion and overlays await you.
Personally, I really like the option of transferring data from an Excel spreadsheet, this option is universal, quite visual and convenient. In Excel, it is possible to unload from almost any system, including 1C. And uploading data in this format to the system is also quite fast and convenient.
Availability of localization
This parameter is not the most relevant today, since most of the powerful well-known CRM systems have long had Russian localizations. But, nevertheless, when choosing software, you should always pay special attention to this parameter, since without Russian localization, you and your employees may experience difficulties in working. In addition, I believe that it makes no sense to deprive yourself of the comfort of work, if you can avoid it.Licensing: Open Source or proprietary architecture?
The difference between Open Source and proprietary architecture is that in the first case you get an open source system, and in the second you get a closed source system. It is clear that here we are talking about licensing options for Stand-Alone software products, since any Saas system has a closed code by default.Proprietary (closed) architecture is sold mainly by large developers. In this case, you get a powerful system in which you can make changes within the limits indicated by the developer. I personally do not see anything wrong here, because, as I wrote above, medium and small businesses rarely require any non-standard solutions at all.
The Open Source license (open source) distinguishes developments created mainly on the basis of some kind of CMS. In this case, you get extremely wide opportunities for integrating and working with a website or other system. On the other hand, such CRM modules lose out in many respects to large CRM systems specifically designed for customer relationship management.
Contacts and counterparties
When choosing a CRM system, pay special attention to how directories are implemented, what is their structure. So, if you work only with individuals, then one level will be enough for you - this is a contact (client). In this case, in principle, any variant of the contact directory structure will suit you.Another thing is if you work with legal entities. In this case, your contact is an organization. But different people can call on behalf of this contact, for example, an accountant, a supplier, a storekeeper, a manager, etc. It is very important that the CRM system provides for the ability to create a card for each contact person (contractor) separately, as well as combine them into one common contact, organization. This is very important, since otherwise it will not be possible to organize a sufficient level of automation for monitoring work with clients.
System cost
Any businessman, before implementing this or that software solution, asks himself, how much will it cost? When determining the price of CRM, you need to understand that the numbers that you see on the sites in the "product cost" or "license cost" section are only part of the total costs. Therefore, it is worth figuring out what makes up the total cost of implementing a CRM system.The total cost of the product consists of several parts:
- The cost of a license (acquisition). This may be access payment for "cloud solutions" or the cost of 1 copy.
- Transferring data to the system. You will definitely need to somehow transfer contacts and other data. Therefore, the presence or absence of a ready-made module, as well as the complexity of preparing data for import, will also affect the final cost.
- Improvement cost. Even if you bought a “box solution” or access to the saas version, some improvements will still be required. You will need to configure access rights, reports, tasks, etc.
- Escort cost.
When implementing any software, there are some difficulties. Even if the seller of the software product tells you that it is enough to make a payment and you can immediately start working, all the same, in practice there are problems, malfunctions, overlays due to the human factor (employees still do not know how to use the new system or do not know how well, etc. ).
You will also face indirect costs during implementation. So, your employees, instead of performing direct duties, will devote part of their time to training and testing the system. Also, the manager will be forced to devote part of his working time to solving issues related to the implementation of CRM, as well as to monitoring work to solve this problem.
If you understand in advance that there will definitely be costs at the implementation stage, if you are ready for the need to allocate time and effort to implement a CRM system, if you prepare for possible overlays, then all these costs can be minimized, and the process itself made as simple as possible and painless.
License cost
Depending on the type of CRM system you choose, there are various options for purchasing a license. You can:- Buy a perpetual license.
- Buy a license (subscription) for a specific period (month, year, etc.)
- Buy a copy of the program to install on your own server.
- A perpetual license is purchased once and is valid on an ongoing basis. This is convenient, but the amount that needs to be paid immediately is usually quite significant.
When comparing the cost of licenses, one should also take into account the marketing moves that sellers often resort to. So, very often sellers of CRM-systems on the site advertise the minimum price of a service package, which will be valid only under certain conditions. But in reality, you will have to pay more for this system.
For example: on the page with the description of the service package, the price is $40 per 1 user per month. But if you carefully read the entire text, including the callouts and notes, it turns out that this price is valid only if you purchase at least 10 licenses at the same time for a period of 1 year. And if you only need 9 licenses, the price will be different.
Such marketing tricks are very typical for the IT market. But I plan to talk in detail about the tricks of licensing in a separate article. And now it’s enough just to remember that you need to be attentive to the conditions of price formation so as not to be deceived in your calculations.
In the case of purchasing the program, you pay once for an unlimited number of licenses. You will not need to pay for access to the program either periodically or in the event of an increase in staff. But any updates for your program will be paid.
Improvements and launch of the system as part of its cost
Work on setting up, finalizing and launching the software should also be taken into account when calculating the total cost of the CRM system.You will need:
- Install the software (when purchasing the program, you will need a lot of work, setting up the server and much more; in the case of Saas solutions, you may need to install client programs on computers, tablets, mobile phones)
- Set up user groups, set access rights for all groups of employees who will work with the CRM system.
- Integrate the CRM system with other services and programs (set up information exchange with the website, 1C databases, telephony, etc.)
- Transfer data from other systems and programs.
For example, I usually offer my clients a service such as phone fixing. This is a very common problem: in 1C counterparty cards, in Excel tables and in many other programs, customer phones can be recorded in an arbitrary way. As a result, some of the records end up in the “+7….” format, some start with an eight, some are landline numbers without any area code, etc. In order for these phones to be correctly entered into the CRM system, they must be standardized, given in a certain form (most often in an international format).
It is also important to understand that you will need improvements in any case. Even if you get a completely ready-made boxed solution, you still most likely need to modify something. It is better to focus in advance on what you will need to pay for the services of a specialist in this matter as well.
What to refine if a Saas solution is chosen?
On the one hand, when using a Saas solution, you do not have access to the code, and therefore there is nothing to modify by the programmer. On the other hand, Saas platforms provide a wide range of options for customizing various forms and reports, business processes, user rights, the appearance of your working system, etc. This work should also be entrusted to a specialist.
In addition, you will need to integrate your CRM system with the website, 1C programs, telephony, etc. This work is also performed by a specialist, and therefore its cost must be taken into account.
Standalone solutions require additional investments: buying or renting a server, setting it up, buying additional software, etc. It is important to understand that when you buy a Standalone solution, you are buying just a copy of the program. And all further costs associated with its installation, configuration, its use, you incur.
Escort
You need to understand that failures occur in any system, and this primarily concerns Standalone solutions. And support is the work of a specialist, and it should also be paid.When choosing Saas solutions, you may not need maintenance or it will cost a minimum amount. Most often, a once-tuned solution works fine, unless, of course, you try to experiment with the settings yourself.
Why Saas systems do not require ongoing support:
- Such systems are usually very well debugged, and specialists constantly monitor the performance of the software.
- The functionality of such systems is quite limited, since it is designed to solve a certain range of tasks and nothing more.
- The interface is usually intuitive, and most of the actions do not require the help of a specialist.
Epilogue
In this article, I did not set myself the task of fully and in detail describing CRM systems. I wanted to clarify the following questions: what is it, who needs it and why, and on the basis of what parameters is it best to choose a CRM system for small and medium businesses. I hope that I was able to help you understand these issues. A lot has already been written about the diversity and features of various CRM systems, perhaps I will also return to this issue more than once. And here and now I tried to explain the basic things with which acquaintance with any CRM system begins.At the same time, the process of implementing a CRM system is practically no different from implementing software. I wrote in detail about how this happens in the article.
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