Customer experience and satisfaction is key to the growth and success of an organization. In the highly competitive world today, with various products and services to choose from, companies need to prioritise their sales, marketing and service efforts. Customer Relationship Management or CRM is one of the best software that helps in improving and aligning your business process.

If you are an existing user of CRM and want to upgrade or, planning to implement the CRM software for the first time, then you need to outline the business requirements and objectives and see how this software will help in achieving your business goals.

What you need to understand before selecting the CRM?

• Analyze and outline as to what your business wants to achieve from the CRM software
• Match your objectives with the features and functionalities of the CRM systems based on the vendor guide or other criteria
• To implement a CRM, do a thorough research on what technology is being used, what is that you want to improve with technology, how many people will be using it, how can the new software help and do we need any additional software along with CRM
• Consider CRM as an ideology to build and improve customer relations and not only as a technology tool yielding results.
• CRM software does not fix business issues in a single go. It is a tool enhancing operations based upon your business strategy.

Understanding on how to choose CRM vendors

Once you understand on how to strategize your business objectives before implementing a CRM software, then you need to carefully select CRM vendors. We have a plethora of CRM software available in the market like HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, Insightly, bpm’online and many more.

Important checklist before choosing CRM vendor which includes:

• Do some analysis on the features and functionalities available in the CRM. Select the ones which is applicable for your business, easy to use, and which suits your budget.
• Know how the vendor is performing. This can be done with the help of review or other platforms like Gartner’s report, Forrester Wave, G2 Crowd, Capterra and more.
• Based on your audit, charter a list of top vendors and select the one which meets your business requirements.

Best practices in selecting the right CRM

Once you have shortlisted on a few vendors, deciding on the perfect CRM vendor is quiet challenging. Do a background evaluation about the CRM offered by them like; whether they have worked on similar model like your business, how cost effective they are, time taken to implement the software, whether they have updated the features, what kind of support they offer.

Listing down few important ways to narrow down your choice of CRM

• Create a scoring system amongst the selected vendors and see how the features in each product matches with your business requirements.
• Ensure that the CRM integrates with other software in your business process like the HR software, Accounting software, website, etc.
• Each vendor will have his own sales pitch while presenting or giving a demo of the CRM. Take time and see what fits best for your business.
• Don’t just go by the words of the sales reps in taking the final decision, request for a run through or a free trial of the CRM.
• Incorporate all the users while selecting the software, as the better user adaptability the better results.
• Select for vendors niche in your industry which also helps in understanding the companies they have worked with.

Important platforms to evaluate CRM performance

Now that we know there are various CRM software available, we need to find the one with the best features suitable for your business requirements. And here the reviews and reports on CRM can help you selecting the best one. Few of the platforms which are:

G2 Crowd is a peer to peer review site wherein organisations can offer feedback on the products used. They have 400 plus product categories with ample number of reviews that helps organisations in effective purchasing decisions.

Gartner Magic Quadrant a publication platform evaluating technology based companies helping potential buyers in analyzing the company before selecting a product, solution or service.

Capterra is a review platform that basically connects with business owners and software companies assisting businesses in selecting the right kind of software.

Financesonline is a well-known B2B and SaaS review platform wherein experts and user reviews are provided. With more the 11000 user reviews a business can find the perfect software solution that matches their criteria.

Forrester Wave is a publication that outlines the vendors products and services in a detailed way and helps buyers in taking the right purchasing decisions for a product or service in the technology marketplace.

Why choose Creatio (formerly bpm’online) CRM?

Creatio (formerly bpm’online) is one of the leading CRM platform and global business software company. Creatio (formerly bpm’online) CRM enables companies big or small to adopt the agile processes quickly into their business. Marketing, sales and services can be aligned in a single platform with this CRM.

This CRM is flexible and user friendly. It can be used across various industries like; Financial services, professional services, retail, wholesale, and distribution, telecom, real estate, transportation, and others.

Key benefits of Creatio (formerly bpm’online) CRM

• Out-of-the-box applications in Creatio guide users through the most effective actions and make it easy to start using the system and bring industry best practices to their work.
• It provides a 360 degree customer view which helps in tracking complete customer details
• Creatio delivers end-to-end processes to manage the complete customer journey. As the marketing, sales and customer services are aligned in a single platform companies can effectively manage every step of the customers’ interactions.
• User friendly interface which makes working with the application easy and smooth
• Creatio CRM integrates with Gmail as well as Outlook.

AgilizTech, leading partner for bpm’online CRM implementation helps businesses to successfully channelize their sales and marketing activities. Our portfolio in CRM implementation spans across various industries like aviation, financial services, healthcare and more.

To get a deeper understanding on the factors to consider before you take a final decision on buying a CRM please refer the eBook CRM Buyer’s Guide 2019. The eBook is an insightful read helping CRM buyers make intelligent and smart buying decisions based on their requirements. “CRM Buyer’s Guide 2019” by Creatio.