Business intelligence (BI) tools, used to prepare, present and analyze data are now transforming the small businesses. The chief role of BI is to convert tons of raw data into useful information that the business executives can use. Small businesses will grow if and only if it can break down and analyze the information available on its server. BI tools help businesses make smarter decisions and also in Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Businesses must always find ways to understand their customers better. This is where BI solutions like YellowFin and Looker play a massive role.BI tools also help in boosting data governance and compliance. Thus BI helps small business owners avoid mistakes by keeping data accurate and up to date.Read more at: https://www.business2community.com/business-intelligence/how-business-intelligence-tools-are-transforming-small-businesses-02208030

The internet makes the world a small place. It brings everybody and everything closer and helps in communication. Customer Relationship Management or CRM as we call it is getting revolutionized by the Internet of Things (IoT). They are now being able to access data from IoT to enhance customer experience and improve services. Companies are able to shift strategies, change decisions in a flick of a second, because all information is now available at the tip of their finger. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/crm-joins-the-internet-of-things-73690

Nowadays, organizations are gathering data by integrating Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools with business intelligence (BI) platforms. The difference between CRM and BI is that CRM is a customer database to store information on interactions and sales history while BI provides strategic solutions for overall business functioning, and not just customer sales. But, now the question is how to integrate CRM and BI platforms. Annie Bustos (a valued contributor to Business 2 Community) writes in this article link about some best practices to ensure a smooth integration between these two powerful tools. They are: Understand what you are looking for, populate CRM with good data, create a real-time transfer of data, refine customer segmentations, leverage the data for testing and always ask for help.  

Read more at: http://www.business2community.com/business-intelligence/6-tips-integrating-business-intelligence-solutions-crm-01541585#yZlXhSkAZwpT5ewK.97

In this digital world at every touch point huge amount of data is being created in seconds that tells us about the needs & wants of consumer. The capability to extract valuable insights from the huge data poses a critical challenge for any modern organization. It has become an more & more important to efficiently & effectively ( both in terms time & labor) to  conduct data mining and extract valuable information out of big data to meet the strategic objective of an organization. In this paper MAS (multiple agent system) concept is being introduced to extract value data from CRM aspect. It also gives us a 3 point model to extract out potential valuable data to manage CRM optimally.Read full article at =_blankhttp://www.csroc.org.tw/journal/JOC26_4/JOC26-4-7.pdf

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a management tool that gives businesses the opportunity to engage and interact with current and potential customers. The advantages of CRM are numerous. It streamlines customer service, provides customers with a channel for communication, and allows businesses to manage and control interactions in different ways that benefit the organization and their clients . CRM increases customer satisfaction and improve clients' experiences, integrating CRM with social media provide several benefits to businesses and customers. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/using-social-media-integration-to-optimize-crm-70291

Nowadays, companies are using advanced technologies to improve their business processes. They are also using cost-effective communication technology like VoIP. They are taking care of customers by using CRM (customer relationship management) solutions. It is found that by integrating VoIP and CRM seamlessly, a business can draw meaningful benefits. Integration between CRM and VoIP systems can bring the following benefits to the business:

Ability to make high-quality, personalized customer calls

Better handling of increased call volumes

More productivity

Cost-effective customer communication

Easier call recordings and reduced data entry per call

Scalable, mobility-ready integrated customer management and communication system. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/voip-news/10-excellent-tips-for-improving-voipcrm-integration-70227

Are you investing in a new CRM solution or want to replace the existing customer relationship management solution? You must consider several points before taking your proposal to the next level. If you consider these points, it will help in the future. First, you must compare the features against their ease of use; then you must consider how the information is presented, and lastly, you must consider is how well the CRM solution will grow with you. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/3-considerations-when-justifying-a-crm-solution-67771

CRM can be powerful if we understand its features & functionality correctly.  This article link will tell us about some tips for success that have nothing to do with the platform you choose, but it depends on how you use CRM in your organization. They are: Understand your customer experience from the customer's point of view; be prepared to be flexible; and training. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/winning-with-a-crm-69708

Customer Relationship Management is important in any sales department. But, if CRM is integrated with predictive analytics, then it maximizes sales productivity. Predictive analytics take the help of big data to predict customer behavior and they take the help of historical trend to predict customer-specific behavior. It helps the sales department in providing the right customized content at the right time to push leads into conversion. In a nutshell, the sales team benefits from CRM integration by improving productivity and generating leads. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/are-you-coupling-predictive-analytics-with-your-crm-68571

A combination of customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing automation can make an organization understand how to make effective marketing campaigns and what needs to be improved to make them even more effective. Marketing automation is ineffective if the integration of CRM and marketing automation is not correct. For CRM–marketing automation integration to be successful, all the parties i.e. from the sales team to the automation vendor must be at par and if data are inconsistent or duplicated, it can create problem in a marketing strategy or campaign. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/3-factors-to-consider-when-integrating-marketing-automation-and-crm-66138

Customer retention is the hardest part when maintaining quality leads. But, with the help of CRM, it is easy to make sure that one is following a process that will boost business. CRM system helps to create more productive campaigns and by monitoring response rates helps to build a successful business. Read more at: http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/digital-marketing-lead-generation/can-crm-be-your-new-lead-retention-tool/1621

Customers are choosing when and how to interact, turning customer relationship management (CRM) and data analysis as the most important thing. So, retailers now need to know about how to engage customers.  Customers have short attention spans and to overcome this, retailers have to offer a more personalized experience. CRM has been used to build a profile of a customer and thus can identify their likes and dislikes, past purchases and interests which in turn will help them to interact with customers in a better way. Personalizing the online experience and product offering is the key to make customers feel valued and listened to by the brand, thereby ensuring that they are likely to revisit in future. Read more about this in the following article link: http://digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/customer-experience/how-can-retailers-get-more-personal-with-their-customers/1411

Choosing the right CRM System is very important, especially for small businesses. When one selects a CRM system, it is important to decide what features are needed, which ones would be nice to have and which ones are not needed. CRM systems need to be realistic and easy to use. Vendor stability is important while choosing a CRM system of any size. CRM systems should help a company to grow, get you closer to your customers and increase the bottom line. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/rightsize-your-crm-65250

Gartner research forestalls that the customer relationship management (CRM) market will be worth $36.4 billion by 2017 because staying in touch with customers is the key for surviving in any business. The main purpose of a CRM solution is to provide any business with data that helps you to take the best decision and build relationships that establish strong customer loyalty. To do that, it’s important to track all types of interactions with your customers. Jeff Orloff (content developer for an e-mail security awareness company) in his article writes about some important customer touch points that are commonly tracked. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/3-customer-touch-points-you-arent-tracking-in-your-crm-system-64884

Organizations forget the benefits of a customer relationship management (CRM) solution. They forget the benefit of having a centralized database in which they can store customer information. In this age of Big Data, the centralized database would not only help the sales team but also other departments. Management will be able to review customer records from one location when their time is limited. Organizations can train the users in one system rather than in multiple systems. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/centralized-data-for-crm-64692

An organization can convert information into customer intelligence to strengthen relationships and maximize profits by integrating Knowledge management (KM) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Knowledge management (KM) is the practice of identifying, capturing, distributing, and using information for a company’s benefit and CRM is all about data. The more information a CRM system receives, the better it performs. When a CRM system is integrated with the KM system, it creates an environment in which employees can share insights for the benefit of the company and the customer and customer knowledge remains with the company regardless of turnover or job changes. KM integration helps only if the database is properly maintained and employees actually use the application. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/knowledge-management-can-make-your-crm-project-a-success-64662

To measure CRM one must choose the right metrics. It is the most important decision you will have to make when you launch a CRM program. Metrics should be meaningful i.e. they should relate directly to the outcome desired. It should also be achievable. To know more, follow: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/making-crm-metrics-work-64584

When a company implements CRM Solution, usability should be the most important criteria because it is found that CRM systems work only if they’re used; if the system is too complicated, it will never serve the purpose for which you purchased it. But, we should know what is meant by usability. Usability refers to the ease of use. It measures how well a user interacts with the CRM application. But, it is not this simple. There are many factors to measure usability. Jeff Orloff (an analyst with Studio B) writes in his article about usability in details. Read more at: : http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/usability-as-a-selection-criterion-for-crm-63210

CRM software is used in many organizations. But first, we need to know what a CRM Software is? CRM software helps to keep track of an organization’s current and future client interactions. There are many CRM solutions available in the market, and choosing the right one is critical. The right CRM solution should be used fully and should not hinder business processes or operations. Some CRM systems have extra features that may not be used to their full potential and therefore is a waste of money. Coordination across each department is another aspect while choosing a good CRM. But we have to remember that successful CRM is not limited to the functionality and capability of the system itself; it relies on employees making successful contact with customers also. Read more at: : http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/the-secret-to-crm-success-what-your-competition-doesnt-want-you-to-know-63230