Exploring The Benefits Of Cloud-Based Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

The Importance of Customer Relationship Management

Discuss About The Customer Relationship Management Mechanisms.

Customer relationship management is a process that is used to manage the interaction of the company with its present and potential customers. The data of the customers are analysed with the help of this system so that the company can improve its services and relationships with the consumers. This further helps the organization in driving their sales growth and revenues in the market. The cloud CRM is mainly related to the technology that is used for the purpose of customer relationship management. The process of customer relationship management mainly refers to practices, principles and the guidelines that are followed by an organization when they interact with customers (Khodakarami and Chan 2014). CRM serves an important purpose to enhance the experience of the consumers. The data of the customers of the organization and the CRM tools are present in the cloud and are delivered to the customers with the help of Internet. The cloud based CRM mainly offers a host of services to the customers with the help of internet and various web-based tools. The employees are able to log in to the system of CRM from any computer or device. The cloud CRM also provides the customers with different mobile applications so that it is easier for them to use the software on their tablets and smartphones. Cloud CRM can thereby be stated as an improved version of the normal CRM based applications that are used by the organizations. Cloud CRM can also be termed as the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) CRM (Nyadzayo and Khajehzadeh 2016). The cloud based CRM process can be termed as the improved and more sophisticated version of customer relationship management based process. The cloud based CRM process is faster as compared to the traditional customer relationship management related process used by organizations. The analysis in the assignment will be mainly based on the effect of cloud CRM on sales performance management.

Cloud based CRM is used by various organizations in the modern business environment which enables them to connect with the consumers in an effective manner. The speed of the CRM process has also increased due to the usage of cloud CRM by the modern organizations. This system proves to be useful for the small business organizations which do not have in-house IT based expertise. The vendor of the cloud has the responsibility to manage the software and further provide updates across the entire system (Navimipour and Soltani 2016).

The Advantages of Cloud-Based CRM

The cloud based CRM provides many benefits to the organizations which are discussed as follows,

• The deployment of employees on the site proves to be process which is labour intensive in nature. The cloud based solutions help in decreasing the burden from the IT team of the company and the performance of the sales team on the site can be managed.
• The deployment of the CRM on the site will require the company to purchase hardware for solving the issue. On the other hand, in case of cloud CRM, the organization just needs to subscribe to the specific software or system with the help of which the sales team can be easily deployed on the site.
• The upgradation of the CRM software takes place automatically on a regular basis in the cloud. This will enable the organization to use the updated and strongest version of the specific software and the analyse the performance of the sales team accordingly (Soltani and Navimipour 2016).
• The cloud based operations are not based on any specific system or a single machine. The assets and data can be accessed by the team of the organization from any location which can help the organization to analyse the sales performance of the team.
• The recovery from any kind of disaster is also easier for the organizations with the help of cloud CRM. The security of the data of consumers is the responsibility of the systems that have been developed in the software.The data of the sales performance is also stored in a secure manner.
• The scalability of cloud CRM is also flexible in nature. The size of the software can be changed based on the needs of the organizations and the increasing size of the sales team.
• The productivity of the sales team is also increased with the help of cloud CRM. The software makes it easier for the team to customize a particular solution so that the performance of the sales team can be managed and needs of the consumers can be fulfilled(Choudhury and Harrigan 2014).
• The information about the sales performance that is shared with the help of cloud CRM is based on real-time and provides the current of the entire system. The members of the organization do not need to search for latest information when the opportunities of growth are present.
• The collaboration of the sales team of the organization and the consumers is also increased with the help of the cloud CRM based applications. The management can spend more time in the pooling of new ideas and resources as the information related to sales team performance is easily available on the cloud(Garrido-Moreno et al. 2015).
• The security levels that are provided by the service provider of CRM is larger as compared to the traditional CRM process used in the organizations. The organizations always rely on the security or safety of the sales performance data that is provided by the cloud CRM based service provider.

• The major disadvantage that is related to the implementation of the cloud CRM is not based on the cost that is associated with its usage. The rate of usage is however the major challenge of the implementation of cloud CRM. The system may be affordable in nature, however, the usage rate of this software in the remote areas is a major issue which is further associated to the costs of its implementation. The use of cloud CRM in the remote areas affect the operations of the organization related to the analysis of sales performance(Chang, Wong and Fang 2014).
• The availability of devices for the usage of CRM in the organization is another major disadvantage of the implementation of this software. The costs that are incurred in updating the devices and changing the data service terms may not be balanced with the less costs related to the usage of cloud CRM and the analysis of the sales performance with the help of the software.
• The adoption of cloud CRM is based on the willingness of the employees and the entire organization. The employees and the sales team are a major part of the entire implementation based process and their cooperation is important for the success of the entire system. The resistance which can be provided by employees can have negative effects on the implementation process of CRM in the organizations (Tseng and Wu 2014).

Cloud based CRM has become a huge buzz in the recent business environment and the organizations have also understood the benefits of using this system. The importance of CRM is not related to the size of the organization and the number of employees who are the members of the companies. The big business organizations invest their money easily on the cloud based CRM for the analysis of the performance of the sales team, however the small organizations are still quite reluctant to do so. The cloud based CRM has helped in change the ways by which the organizations think about the software that is used for measuring the performance levels of the sales teams. The entire process of management of performance of the sales team has changed entirely with the implementation cloud CRM (Fjermestad and Cho 2015). The new type of cloud CRM helps in lifting the business to the cloud and manage the customers and the sales team performance in an easier way. The process of installation of cloud CRM is hassle free and simpler than the traditional CRM process. The costs of implementation are also quite less and the complexity is reduced. The accessibility of the cloud CRM is also quite high as compared to the traditional processes that were used by the organizations previously. The usage of cloud based CRM is easier and the employees can track the real-time information of the consumers with the help of this process. Internet is the one and the only requirement that is related to the usage of cloud CRM by the managers (Alamgir and Uddin 2017). The small and the big organizations can easily afford to implement cloud CRM to increase the efficiency of the different processes. The levels of security of the data of sales team performance is increased with the help of the cloud CRM implementation instead of traditional customer relationship management processes. The reliability of operations of various organizations is increased with the help of the usage of cloud CRM in an effective manner. The flexibility that is introduced in the system with the help of cloud CRM is helpful in increasing the entire speed of operations (Raab, Ajami and Goddard 2016). The compatibility of the organization with the advance technologies is increased with the help of cloud CRM related capabilities. The efficiency of various organizations is increased with the help of cloud CRM implementation. The important task of the organizations in this case is to select the best cloud CRM software that suits the needs of the company. The automation of various tasks helps in increasing the speed of the different work processes of the company (Haislip and Richardson 2017).

Real-Life Examples of Cloud-Based CRM

Cloud computing offers various services which are related to the reliable speed, security and infinite expansion process. The business organizations need to evaluate their needs and demands before choosing the appropriate vendors for the purpose of implementing cloud CRM. The requirements related to cloud hosting or cloud CRM are different for various organizations. The services provided by various cloud hosting service providers however have some common features. The process of cloud computing involves many processes that are based on hosting a network for the purpose of managing and processing data online (BARTOLACCI and Meixell 2015). The different services that fall under cloud hosting service providers are as follows,

• Software as a Service or SaaS – which is a practice related to the usage of network for the purpose of managing data and processing the same. The data is mainly based on the consumers of the organizations.
• Platform as a Service or PaaS – This a method of cloud computing based on a particular platform. This allows the clients of the company to develop and further manage their applications and software.
• Infrastructure as a Service or IaaS – This process delivers the infrastructure based on data management to the clients of the company (Kasemsap 2015).

The requirements related to cloud hosting of organizations is based on the structure and the needs of the organization as a whole. The levels of security and service quality of the different service providers are however similar. The services that are offered by the providers need to be effective in increasing the efficiency and speed of operations of the different organizations.

The usage of cloud based CRM in the organizations have increased in the modern business environment by around 87% from the year 2008 to the year 2014. The small business organizations are also adopting the cloud CRM software which has helped them in increasing their efficiency (Lal and Bharadwaj 2015). The business organizations are reducing the usage of traditional CRM software and are using cloud CRM. The management of customers and their data has become easier with the usage of cloud CRM. The labour required for the purpose of implementing traditional CRM was much more as compared to the amount of employees required in the cloud CRM process. The usage of resources for the purpose of providing the satisfaction to the consumers has also been reduced by usage of cloud CRM (Romano Jr and Fjermestad 2015).

The cloud based CRM services are provided by many different organizations according to the needs and the demands of the businesses. The different real-life organizations that provide cloud based CRM services are as follows,

• com is a cloud based on-demand customer relationship based software which offers applications for small, medium and big organizations. The app has the capabilities to include various activities of the business organizations including market automation, sales management, customer service. The application helps the organization to manage the accounts of the customers and track the sales based on their previous data. The app further allows the users to synchronise their contacts, emails, calendars and tasks. The small businesses benefit from the variety of services that are provided by the app. The CRM Salesforce related solutions are available for software-as-a-service or SaaS deployment. The technology that is provided by the organization covers the security and the database of the consumers (Valmohammadi 2017).
• Infusionsoft is an organization which provides marketing and sales related services which are cloud-based in nature. The software offers facilities like, customer relationship management (CRM), e-commerce functionalities and automation of marketing. The business organizations can analyse the data of the customers with the help of the various analytical tools that are available in the software.
• FreeAgent is a cloud based CRM software which helps in the effective management of the relationship with consumers. The solution helps the users to manage the contacts, emails, calls, leads, accounts of the customers. The application helps the users in capturing the leads and upload the data from the purchase lists, the websites and the excel spreadsheets (Malik 2016).
• Chime is also a CRM software which is cloud based and helps the companies in the management of customers in a faster and efficient manner. Automated alerts are sent by the application with the help of mails when a new lead enters the company.
• Claritysoft is a web based CRM software which helps in the successful management of the customers and the leads which can be converted into resources for the company. The application offers customer service, social customer relationship management and automation of sales. The key features that are offered by the software include, activity management, account management, pipeline management and calendar management (Wali, Wright and Uduma 2015).
• SalesNow is also a customer relationship management software which is web based in nature. The application provides many different solutions to the various business organizations. The services that are provided by this app include, sales automation, management of the customers and tracking of sales. The active deployment of CRM services is also a major activity that is conducted by the application.
• Spark provides cloud-based customer relationship management based software which provides services to the small and the midsize organizations. The application offers services like, sales automation, inventory management, reporting and branding related options (SB and Bala 2014).
• Oracle also provides e-business or cloud-based CRM software which contains the integrated applications required for global business. The suite includes customer relationship management or CRM based solutions which are designed for the purpose of improving the sales, marketing and the service based departments of the various organizations. The e-business suite of Oracle helps in the streamlining of various business processes. The marketing applications also include the management of marketing resources, the automation of the marketing activities and the management of tradeshow. The application provides support through the online knowledge base on the mobile phones of the users (Wali, Wright and Uduma 2015).

The various applications that have been discussed provide CRM based services to the organizations belonging to different industries or sectors. The organizations however need to select the appropriate CRM software which can help them in managing the performance of the sales team and providing satisfaction to the consumers. The users of these applications are able to take advantage of the data of the consumers and detect their needs and demands accordingly. The management of the performance of sales team customer relationship is essential for the successful operations of the organizations. The cloud based CRM helps in the management of the performance of the sales team in a compact manner and speeds up the entire process. The cloud based CRM software have been helpful for the organizations to increase their productivity, speed of services and ways of operations as well (Malik 2016). The cloud based customer relationship management software is helpful for the small business organizations so that they can increase their revenues and customer base.

The Positive Effects of Cloud-Based CRM on Business Processes

Conclusion

The report can be concluded by stating that the cloud based CRM process has helped in increasing the efficiency of business organizations to a large extent. The cloud CRM method has many advantages which are related to the successful operations of the company in the market. The data of the sales team and the customers are managed in an effective manner with the help of web-based CRM services. The management of data is important for increasing the customer base and the revenues of the company. The main purpose of this report has been analyse the benefits, the challenges and the technologies that are related to the successful implementation of cloud based CRM processes in the organizations. The real-life cloud based software applications are also analysed in the report which provide different services to the organizations belonging to the different industries. The CRM applications further help the organizations to maintain the data of a huge number of the sales teams and analyse their performance to improve the operations. The CRM applications have a positive effect on the various processes of the modern organizations. The organizations however need to overcome the various disadvantages to take full advantage of the usage of the cloud based CRM software.

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