CRM is like an unstoppable juggernaut. One of the few software markets that had its growth unchecked by the global economic meltdown, it has since stepped up a gear, with worldwide CRM spend growing 13 percent from 2013-2014, according to Gartner.
With current expenditure continuing in the same vein, investment looks set to top $25 billion this year. Whichever way you cut it, that’s pretty punchy.
So those are the hard facts. But reading between the lines, what does this growing focus on CRM tell us about today’s businesses?
The customer experience is more important than ever
CRM software alone won’t improve customer interactions, but in a day and age when these systems connect and support all of the consumer touchpoints, it does play an important role in improving customer experiences.
This is important for businesses at a time when customer experience is a key business battleground. The CX Index by Forrester has revealed that the number of poor experiences has hit an all-time low, while the gap between the best and worst companies is narrower than ever.
Soaring investment in CRM shows modern brands need to create transformational customer experiences
In 2007, the first year that Forrester conducted its CX Index, 35 percent of companies scored by consumers had either a “poor” or “very poor’ score, while 0 percent had “excellent.” Last year, 11 percent of companies were rated as “poor” or “very poor” and 11 percent were rated as “excellent.” Furthermore, while the biggest cluster of scores was between “poor” and “OK” in 2007, in 2014 around 80 percent were clustered between “OK” to “good.”
Put simply, “OK” is the new “poor!”
Brands need to be better than ever to stand out in this scenario. And whether helping call centers obtain better insights in making the right decision or enabling salesperson to have up-to-date customer information to support a more personal interaction, CRM is helping organisations to drive up the quality of experience they deliver. And this has not gone unnoticed, judging by the investment figures.
Organizations are striving to become digital disruptors
Forrester’s Kate Leggett describes digital disruptors as organizations that use “digital tools or platforms to deliver better product experiences to customers in less time and for less money.” Two years ago, research by Forrester revealed that nearly 90 percent of business leaders were expecting digital advancements to impact them soon, and that only 32 percent reported they were ready to rise to this challenge.
Mobile, social and e-commerce represent three of the key digital pressure points for organizations, and enterprises are prepared to invest in transformational projects to improve customer interactions on these platforms.
And the foundation stone of digital success in these areas is CRM, which plays a role in enhancing the experience at these touchpoints.
In the Gartner report, “Market Trends: CRM Digital Initiatives Focus on Sales, Marketing, Support and E-Commerce,” the analyst states that not only are businesses embracing CRM to build better multichannel customer interactions, but they are also capitalizing on it to realize their digital dream.
As co-author of the report, Joanne Correira, notes: “CRM will be at the heart of digital initiatives in coming years. This is one technology area that will definitely get funding as digital business is crucial to remaining competitive.”
Businesses want sales and marketing to work closer
In recent years, organizations have worked hard to bring sales and marketing closer together in a bid to increase efficiency and improve results—MarketingProfs, for instance, reports that companies with aligned sales and marketing generated 208 percent more revenue from marketing.
And in a growing number of organizations, CMOs and sales directors are prioritizing this collaboration – last year, CMO Council research found that 38 percent of CMOs said that aligning and integrating sales and marketing was a top priority.
In an ideal world, the two teams would work in sync, with marketing helping sales to identify key opportunities, and the sales team chipping in to identify key customer personas and business painpoints.
Unfortunately, in many cases, there has historically been bad blood between the teams: salespeople have had a history of blaming bad results on the quality of leads coming from marketing, while marketers have argued that poor sales practices have been at fault, in particular the failure to follow up on a lead.
While there are a host of important steps to improve collaboration—including the alignment of goals and a focus on cross-departmental communication—the integration of sales and marketing software is also key. CRM systems can provide a platform for the two departments to work as a single team, with lead generation tools and opportunity management in the same place to support collaboration and provide greater transparency.
