Most businesses today wouldn’t know what to do without their customer relationship management (CRM) system. Increasingly, most wouldn’t know what to do without their cloud-based CRM system specifically, either. It is this reliance that shows how important modern CRM systems are to customer care.
The way in which businesses have used CRM systems have changed, but they remain vitally important. This is shown by 92.2% of small businesses, 98.2% of medium-sized businesses, and 99.7% of enterprises keeping their customer data in CRM systems.
Today’s CRM systems carry out more tasks than ever. They don’t just allow businesses to store information about their customers. At their base, they allow businesses to target, acquire, understand, and collaborate with customers.
On top of that, modern CRM systems are used for contact management, activity management, lead management, sales management, relationship management, sales processes, customer intelligence, project management, forecasting, revenue management, partner management, team selling, and vendor management, among other things.
Modern CRM strategies match these capabilities. These strategies allow businesses to utilize differentiated customer experiences and truly utilize their data. It’s because of this that cloud-based CRM systems are the future – and why many businesses have already made the jump.
Rise of cloud-based CRMs
The rise of cloud-based CRM systems has matched the general acceptance of cloud. In fact, cloud-based CRM spending is already higher than non-cloud-based CRM spending. Salesforce is a driving force for the growth in cloud options, and businesses are embracing it. More enterprises have been attempting to integrate CRM apps onto the cloud in recent years.
Vendors have focused on producing these apps that solve very specific issues, catering to businesses that purchase CRM systems to address specific needs. This is a shift from old CRM models, which were an all-encompassing way to aid sales, marketing, and customer service.
Businesses are looking at AI and predictive analytics in particular as ways to use their CRMs. This allows businesses to cater experiences to their customers and understand what these customers are looking for. This is especially the case as customers continue to look to self-service – an area that the cloud thrives in.
Benefits of cloud-based CRMs
The specialization of CRM apps matches a greater trend in cloud and has brought development in online customer care. As well as AI and predictive analytics developments, APIs also enable automation. This is predicted to go even further, with cloud-based CRMs potentially evolving to include actionable customer intelligence that is gleaned from interaction data.
Other specialized services for cloud-based CRMs include subscription management, increased intelligence throughout systems, project management services, and operations. Vendors are essentially looking to build smarter CRM systems through the cloud.
As well as this, cloud-based CRMs also enjoy all of the benefits that the cloud as a whole brings. Crucially, this includes the ability to access information from anywhere. Regardless of location – or department – employees are able to serve customers. What customers want is fast and accurate care, and the cloud enables that.
Other crucial cloud services include data backup, automatic software updates, and scalability. When dealing with such vast amounts of data, all of these things save time, worry, and money. All of these savings can then be passed onto customers, improving their experience.
What cloud-based CRMs do is enable a better human connection for customer care. That may seem counterintuitive, but the intelligence of the cloud has improved CRM systems in ways that help customers. Businesses are flocking to cloud-based CRMs as a result.
Investing in resources that digitally transform customer care will provide a competitive advantage for your organization. Learn more in our guide Top Technology Trends for Smarter, Strategic Customer Care.
