The majority of today’s businesses are familiar with the term CRM. Its overwhelming popularity is backed by the benefits it presents to companies of any scale. Regardless of how many people your company employs or what industry you are working in, CRM software is a tool that streamlines all of your business operations, giving you a better understanding of who your customers are while helping your sales team to sell smarter and faster as well empowering customer support with tools to enhance customer experience. All of this combined ensures excellent customer service and increased customer satisfaction rates. That way, your company will be able to establish a long-term relationship with your customers, which will consequently increase customer retention rates and positively affects your profits. Let’s take a closer look at the main advantages CRM in the cloud can bring to your business.
1 – Nonstop Access
The rise of CRM in the cloud is caused by the need to use access critical data from multiple devices at any given time and location. Your employees do not have to be glued to their PCs or laptops to get the information they require. Statistics suggests that 48% of CRM users now prefer accessing their software from a smartphone, with 45% opting for a tablet. Cloud CRM enables users to stay connected with other team members and customers on the go. Another important benefit is that you can get access to mobile CRM in both online and offline modes. For sales departments, mobile CRM programs also help in shortening of the sales cycle. Sales reps no longer have to waste time trying to recollect the conversation they last had with a prospect and communicate with clients while on the go. What’s more, since the data you insert will be instantly synchronized as soon as you get back online, it is easier for them to focus on the most profitable customers.
2 – Trouble-free Installation
The statistics suggest that 85% of B2B companies are not satisfied with their CRM, as they do not use it to its maximum potential. Other common complaints are that it takes too long to adopt the system or that it is too complicated. However, opting for a cloud-based deployment will definitely speed up the adoption rates since all your team really needs is a steady internet connection for you to log in and start operating the CRM. You can actually jump-start using the system as the process of implementation does not require complex installations or data migration. Moreover, you will not experience any difficulties when the version upgrades are presented either since the update process is being conducted automatically.
3 – Enhanced Integration and Flexibility
If you are searching for a CRM in the cloud to meet the unique objectives of your business, it needs to be customizable and full of integration features. The best-of-breed ones are open source systems who enable open configuration of the platform. The best-case scenario is when a user without programming skills can easily adjust every little detail of the application. Also, a genuinely customizable system should be compatible with other 3rd party applications since there’s no point investing in the CRM system that, for instance, can’t integrate and manage all of your email boxes in single environment. That is exactly why compatibility is the key to ensuring CRM’s usefulness.
4 – Affordable Investment
Understandably, bigger enterprises are more comfortable with investing in automation technology than smaller companies, but cloud based CRMs seem to target every business need these types of companies establish at a reasonable price. Regardless, allocating large sums for a one-time purchase can be tough decision for company of any scale. That is why the majority of organizations prefer to deploy online CRM solutions as they allow businesses to cut the operating expanses notably.
5 – Improved Security
For a long period of time there had been a deep rooted fear, that online CRM cannot ensure the same high security levels as on premise systems do. In fact, data security is the main reason that prevents 51% of companies from adopting CRM in the cloud. However, that concern is no longer relevant. Nowadays, advanced automation solutions like www.bpmonline.com/crm/cloud-crm take security precaution very seriously. Bpm’online enables you to safely store valuable information on the remote datacenter that secures data with numerous technologies and backs it up on a regular basis. With such high level of security the chances of unauthorized access are slim to none.
The benefits of online CRM easily outweigh the disadvantages. However, while choosing one for your organization, it is crucially important to establish straightforward criteria of the most appropriate system to meet your specific needs, and with all the benefits, cloud based solutions seem to be the best option in this case.