Title: 
What Crm Solution Should You Choose?

Word Count:
493

Summary:
It seems CRM technology is the buzz in business these days. And it’s no wonder customer relationship management is a powerful tool when implemented correctly. So what CRM solution should you choose?

Whether you are in a retail industry, financial services, high tech, telecommunications, computer or any other business to be successful you need to have better customer service than your competition.

This can be a much bigger task for small or medium size businesses who may...


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Article Body:
It seems CRM technology is the buzz in business these days. And it’s no wonder customer relationship management is a powerful tool when implemented correctly. So what CRM solution should you choose?

Whether you are in a retail industry, financial services, high tech, telecommunications, computer or any other business to be successful you need to have better customer service than your competition.

This can be a much bigger task for small or medium size businesses who may not have the resources available to them. A billion dollar industry is going to have all the resources. But at the end of the day they have to both accomplish the same thing.

There are ten things to consider when evaluating your CRM software.

1. Company Goals and Strategies – until you know exactly what these are you’ll have trouble dealing with the remaining 9 items.

2. Web-based, Client based – smaller companies may do better with web based services which take care of storage, updates, and anything else related to software. On the other hand client side software resides on your computers and you have full control of it.

3. Budget and the Total Cost of Owning – determine your budget before you start doing your software research.

4. Room to Grow and Expand - it is important to ensure that you have an idea of what type of growth your company will experience in the future and the software choice should account for that.

5. Rapid Deployment – how fast can you install, train, and get your CRM package up and running

6. Customizable for your Business Needs - you should choose software that allows you to customize to your specific company needs.

7. Works with Existing Systems – If you have other software in play such as Microsoft Office or Outlook you will be benefit from software that integrates with it.

8. Vendor Reputation, Product Reliability - It’s important to purchase your CRM software from a reputable vendor so that you can depend on product support, upgrades, and anything else you might need.

9. User Interface Meets User Needs — It is critical that the software work for the company and fit their plans not the other way around so buy because it fits your way of doing business.

10. Functionality – Of course functionality is required because without it there is not CRM solution.
Your CRM needs need to meet the individual requirements of each company. There are many factors you need to consider when choosing your CRM solution but not are all equal in value and you will need to determine the importance of all ten items. Different size businesses are going to have different scales of importance.

Always give attention to both the technology and business objectives. Too often business objectives get forgotten about and the technology gets too much attention. Remember this is an equal partnership and rather than the business fitting the software the software needs to fit the business.

What CRM solution should you choose? These ten points will ensure you choose the right one.