CRM-SYSTEMS FOR BUSINESS

CRM is a software package for automating interactions with customers or partners. A properly tuned and debugged CRM system should be in any stable commercial company, same for a state or public organization that works with individuals or legal entities. In many cases, it will be more efficient and more profitable to order the development of a CRM system, but sometimes you can limit yourself to its free or boxed version.

The main advantage of implementing a CRM system (from the point of English Customer Relationship Management), which a commercial company can feel within just a couple of months after installing / configuring the system and training personnel, is an increase in sales.

The percentage of growth largely depends on the specifics of the business and the degree of automation of business processes. As well as on how it was possible to automate the communication of personnel with clients or partners. According to an average assessment of experts for medium and large companies, possible growth is estimated in the range from + 15% to + 35% and higher.

In what cases such a tangible growth is possible, and why a rather expensive CRM-system project can give better results in comparison with the use of universal open-source and shareware type CRM-programs?

The development and implementation of a CRM system are most demanded in situations when there is a quantum leap in business and company management. That is, the number of communications (sales, transactions) during the day, as well as the number of business contacts (phone calls, emails, SMS notifications) that the manager performs during the month, exceeds the threshold available to the person’s RAM. In this case, the resource that the staff spends on maintaining documentation and compiling tables in Excel can be redirected to perform direct duties.

The following functions can be redirected to the CRM system:

• automation of order fulfillment and conclusion of transactions with status monitoring for each specific position;
• workflow simplification due to the automatic formation of contracts, acts, accounts and invoices;
• maintaining a single customer base with detailed information about each contact and history of interactions;

• automation of communications with the unification of all communication channels through one program – from voice telephony and SMS messages to e-mail newsletters and communication in instant messengers;
• management of a sales funnel with visualization of a business process according to the stages of working with partners – from the first contact to the closure of a final agreement or a sale;
• building individual business strategies and marketing policies for specific clients and customers based on financial or behavioral analytics;
• long-term planning of business communications and the establishment of automatic time and cost accounting services;
• automatic personnel management with a visual assessment of the effectiveness of each of the managers based on business intelligence, etc.

Any CRM system should include several software modules that provide automation of company management:

• a server database, which can be located on the company’s server or on the cloud server of the developer or service provider. This is the main data storage of the CRM system with the contact database , transactions, and documents;
• software interface (front part) of CRM-system – these are modules that are installed on managers’ computers or smartphones to access the database (cards of goods, customers, documents, etc.);
• the operational and analytical part of the CRM system is software components for generating operational and analytical reports, conducting statistics, etc.

In practice, a manager who sells a product / service, makes a call with a commercial offer, or sends a document by e-mail can do all this using a CRM system. Information about a partner or a client is entered into the system once, and, for example, a customer who simply inquires a product or service over the phone will receive the “First Call” status. A customer who has left an application with a list of the necessary items on the website will fall into the category “Order formation”.

The next day, even if the manager who worked with clients cannot return to their duties, business processes will not stop. The CRM system itself will remind a new person who needs to call back or send a commercial offer by e-mail, who needs to prepare documents to pay for the goods, and who is waiting for shipment and delivery of already paid items. At the same time, the program in a convenient form will provide the head with statistics on sales of a particular product, a report on the manager’s work, or analysis of client behavior.

As a result, the business owner may not be afraid that:

• the manager will forget to contact a partner or client;
• staff turnover will slow down business development;
• a valuable employee will quit and take his contact base;
• decrease / increase in the effectiveness of sales or employee work will go unnoticed.

In addition, the development and implementation of a CRM system allows you to abandon an unjustified increase in staff. Available funds, in this case, will be directed primarily to business development.

Thinking about the development and implementation of a CRM system, they usually compare the following options:

• use of a CRM system, which is distributed according to the principles of Open Source (open source software);
• the use of a universal boxed version of a CRM system – a commercial program with limited functionality and a set of licenses that allow it to be used on several computers or smartphones;
• development of a CRM system for the needs of a particular company, taking into account all the needs and the specifics of the organization’s business.

The choice in most cases is made depending on the budget and the size of the commercial structure or state-owned enterprise. You need to understand that the functionality and structure of box-type CRM systems is focused on average needs.

Free CRM-systems most often appear after a large company has developed a CRM-system for their own needs and opened its program to the world. Therefore, such decisions are relevant primarily for those companies whose business models are simple or resemble the business model of the original organization. This option is best suited for start-up companies interested primarily in lead processing (attracting potential customers).

At the same time, improving the use of a free CRM-system requires the involvement of programmers.

• Boxed CRM-systems are considered a budget option (in comparison with the development of CRM). There are most suitable for small and medium-sized businesses interested in certain automation of business processes. It is only important to understand that the use of boxed versions of programs often implies the need to pay for support, tuning and improving the system. You will have to pay for increasing the number of licenses, for improving the functionality, and for staff training. As is the case with free CRM-systems, the structure of universal boxed versions of programs does not always meet the needs of a particular organization. Payment for the boxed version can be charged in the form of a one-time perpetual license for the program without additional support, subscription (temporary license) for a certain period with the possibility of various individual services (revision, consultation, etc.), a license for a copy of the program with the ability to configure it and changes etc.
• The development of a CRM-system involves the complete automation of business processes for the needs of a particular organization. This option is more in demand by medium and large businesses, who believe that it is more profitable to make a system for themselves and get higher sales growth than to be limited to guaranteed expenses for a boxed version with rather lower growth.

As in the case with the development of other software, the cost of developing a CRM system is determined by the man-hours (labor costs) that are needed to implement this task. Conventionally, the task of developing and implementing a CRM system can be divided into the following stages:

• initial analysis of the organization’s business processes and the construction of automated strategies;
• drawing up a detailed technical task;
• direct development of a CRM system (building architecture, design, writing code, debugging, testing, documentation, etc.);

• installing a CRM system on a server with the installation of appropriate programs and databases;
• implementation of a CRM system with the installation of end programs on computers and smartphones of users with staff training;
• audit and technical support of the end product.

The time required to develop an advanced level CRM system is about 1000 hours.

The portfolio of our projects already includes implemented CRM systems of entry-level and advanced levels, made for the needs of customers from various industries (travel company, taxi service, restaurant management, housing and utilities management company, etc.).

One of the solutions – a boxed CRM-system for developers “NOVOSTROY” – optimizes the reservation and purchase of real estate online. In this case, a simple property selection service (housing, parking, commercial real estate) was implemented on the site of the developer with the automation of the sales department.

CRM-system “NOVOSTROY” makes it possible to maintain an online database of real estate, customers, documentation, as well as real estate agencies and sales managers. Without additional data synchronization, all the information necessary for the user (client, manager) is displayed on the web and mobile devices in real time.

The project implementation period was 74 days, and the system was used for the needs of RC “Club Marine” in Odessa.