Imperatives and Best Practices for CRM Success

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems are now a well-established fixture in most enterprise technology systems. But even though these systems have been part of the IT strategy for leading enterprises for decades, the growing emphasis on the importance of the customer experience in virtually every industry has put CRM systems back in the spotlight. CRM systems are widely viewed as the primary platform for managing the customer experience.

Traditionally, though, companies have viewed CRM as a sales management and
reporting tool, with limited benefit to other areas of the enterprise. Even though the
customer experience encompasses every possible touch-point with an enterprise— including manufacturing, distribution/logistics, and service and support—many CRM platforms still focus on the sales and marketing cycles.

In the drive to engage customers more effectively and develop a detailed and
comprehensive picture of the customer, more enterprises are rethinking the role of
CRM and how it can be a resource for every department and specialization that affects the customer experience. This white paper looks at how an innovative approach to CRM systems can address the new imperatives of delivering rich, relevant customer experiences, as well as some of the best practices for using CRM to create a more customer-centric enterprise.

Identify the imperatives for more value

This whitepaper "Imperatives and best practices for CRM success" highlights the imperatives for realizing more value from your CRM investment:

• Improving CRM adoption and utility- trust the system and its data
• Using CRM to foster enterprise-wide collaboration- overcome fragmented customer relationship data
• Extending CRM beyond net-new sales. Cross-department collaboration for higher potential for additional revenue from existing customers.

Implement best practices

Additionally, the white paper covers best practices to make CRM a strategic asset for the entire enterprise, such as:

• Build customer-centricity into the CRM implementation strategy to maximize each customer relationship
• Make integration a CRM implementation priority - share the knowledge about customers
• Capitalize on emerging innovation with Artificial Intelligence

Take your CRM beyond sales and marketing support solutions:

CRM systems have the potential to be so much more than sales reporting tools or marketing support solutions. Companies in almost every industry segment are feeling the pressure to deliver rich and compelling experiences to their
customers, starting with the marketing and sales cycles and at every post-sale touch point.

With the right strategic imperatives and best practices, enterprises can use CRM as the platform that helps every customer-facing department
access the same integrated source of data to ensure that customer care is proactive, consistent, and personalized.

Download white paper: "Imperatives and best practices for CRM success", now!

Follow the 18 factors to guarantee success with CRM for your business.

Let's start the discovery for planning these strategic imperatives.