When times are tight it's natural for businesses to look for opportunities to cut costs and even to pause spending in some areas of the business. We’ve seen businesses take a more conservative approach to investment in things like technology and in many cases, project spend and investments in technologies like customer relationship management (CRM) software has slowed right down.
Our advice is that it’s the wrong time to stop investing in technology. Effective use of technology can help organisations weather the storm of recession and create an advantage over competitors when it is needed most. But, we agree, it is more critical than ever to invest wisely and get support to ensure a good return on the investment.
One of the most important technologies for businesses to invest in is CRM software. In the face of a recession, businesses must be able to retain customers and find new ones. CRM software is designed to help businesses manage customer relationships more effectively, enabling them to communicate with customers, track interactions, and analyse data to gain insights into customer behaviour.
CRM software can also help businesses automate certain tasks, such as email marketing campaigns and social media management, allowing them to save time and focus on other important aspects of their business.
With the nervousness we’ve seen in the market around investing in technologies like Salesforce CRM, our focus at Datacom has been on providing CRM offerings that are cost-effective, offer high value, and present low risk to businesses. Our team has developed our SmartStart GO packaged offerings for Sales, Service, CRM (Sales and Service) and Portals that are packed with value, based on best-practice processes and standards, negate the need for weeks of costly discovery workshops, and can be delivered in just 3-4 weeks.
Anyone who has implemented CRM successfully knows, though, that it’s not a simple one-and-done exercise – CRM takes a lot of effort and experience to get right and needs to evolve in step with the needs of the business as well as the needs of the customers.
To that end, we developed our SmartStart GROW offering that ensures businesses are well supported throughout their first year of CRM implementation by delivering a customised schedule of six three-day work-packages over the first 12 months. This ongoing support is designed to course-correct, enhance or expand the way companies are using the Salesforce platform and ensure their business gets the boost that CRM should provide.
Restraining spending can feel like the instinctual move in a tight market, but investing in tools like CRM can help your business yield wins with new and existing customers. The risk of falling behind is real, but the right strategy and focus can ensure your business finds and wins customers more efficiently than ever before.
By analysing customer data, businesses can see which products and services are most popular; which customers are the most profitable; and which are most likely to buy again. Armed with this knowledge, businesses can develop more targeted marketing campaigns and focus resources on the most profitable customers.
By tracking customer interactions and analysing customer feedback, businesses pinpoint where customers are dropping off, and identify areas where they need to improve and make changes to their products and services as a result. This can help to build stronger relationships with customers and increase their loyalty to the business.
As Salesforce New Zealand MD Hamish Miles points out, in the current economic climate every business is looking for opportunities to work smarter and be more automated, productive and competitive. By automating certain tasks, businesses can save time and resources, allowing them to focus on other important aspects of their business, such as product development or customer service. This can help to improve the overall productivity of the business and increase its profitability.
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