In the today’s software industry, also on the dynamic and emerging markets it’s hard to decide what software to use when it comes to CRM. The reason why it’s hard is because most of the solution are not onesize- fits-all and to be honest there is not such solution, all vendors have their focus on specific verticals or specific features.
- The main thing to keep present when making an investment in a CRM solution, for my opinion, is the ability to be inter-connected. What does that mean? It means that your CRM platform must be able to exchange data, sending and receiving to third party platforms, for the simple reason… business it’s getting more and more dynamic, which in itself is translated into having more demand for different software solutions, and as such, you should have the ability to exchange this data from one platform to another, so in very simple words, your CRM is your orchestrator, like the central hub of your company, this because the customer is the first class citizen into your company and the CRM deals with customer’s data… so to speak.
- Another major part which it’s important to look at, is the ability of the CRM platform to adapt to the business flow a client have. This is very important topic because business change very rapidly, the dynamics of a business are really to be considered, as something which may work today for the business, might not work tomorrow, due to marketing strategies or sales strategies are changing, or even the internal hierarchy and procedures are changing. If the client is about to adapt the business to the CRM solution, that won’t make any sense in the long run, as it would be hard to operate and compete in the market.
- A CRM Software should be as much open as possible, so the client might elaborate the data coming in and going out, due to the fact that data formats are not standard, and channels from where the information is collected, such as leads capture or any other form of data, must be easily accessible through APIs.
- Another feature which might seems a small one in the first place, but it has extreme importance, are the Webhooks. This is a new term in the SaaS industry but not a new thing, it has been there for years, but recently widely used from systems. An webhook would allow you to send data to a third party platform when a very specific event is happening, let say when you get a new lead, or when you get a new deal/opportunity.
- The ability to understand the overall concept of how the CRM software operates is crucial, many CRM operates in different ways, they treat and ellaborate data differently. So in order to make full use of the CRM platform, you have to understand it, if you don’t you simply won’t be able to use it. This is also related with the fact on how fast the business is growing, and there are needed to make new implementations for all features, which should be understandable in the first place.
- Sales teams are typically busy on their day to day routine, subsequently they have no time to frequently check CRM for upcoming tasks or meeting or phone calls. It should be the CRM itself reminding them for upcoming events, using all possible channels. This way the company increases the efficiency of the sales team, which is the core of the company existence.
- Among the top items which someone should look when buying a CRM solution is the support team, and how fast they react to issues and demands on explaining how to implement one thing or another. This is very important on a SaaS model, because the company (your client) is operating the full business into the CRM platform, and the expectations are high when it comes to support.
However, all items above are different from one company to another, but for us at Flexie, the key thing, is that the CRM must be inter-connected, that would bring the client’s company to another level, and create flexible flows for data to travel and be elaborated from one platform to another. As the client’s business keeps growing, we must be there, always to support and innovate new technologies which resolve vital problems.
About the Author
Eriol Gjergji is the Founder of Flexie CRM, a platform which handles almost All business operations and needs. Starting from marketing automation, business ows automation, managing sales and a lot more. Eriol help organizations to implement best strategies on how to manage their data and business ows on top of digital platforms and tools. Through Flexie he envisions helping companies in digital transformation and move forward in the online economy era.