Evaluation of CRM SystemsAre Cloud-Based CRM Systems Suitable for EuroNetBank?
Introduction
For quite some time, businesses have not been able to keep tract on the activities that are carried out between sales, marketing, and other departments. Notably, various organizations have worked towards helping keep pieces of information about their customer life circle. For instance, ENB, a mid-sized European financial institution has been trying cloud based CRM and bespoke advancement projects to back its business approach since 2013. This has facilitated the corporation to establish a stout CRM background with a repository and data mining models needed for customer subdivision. All in all, storing of basic information and records in an organization has never been an easy task for many businesses. However, with the introduction of Zoho CRM, the use of project management in storage of various pieces of information has been easier for not only ENB, but also for other businesses. There are a number of scenarios where the company’s sales and marketing resources would require having a clue on the progress of the overall client’s deliverable. Nonetheless, this type of data is often stored in a different place; simply a project management structure. By getting several projects within Zoho CRM, the company can be able to manage the whole customer life cycle. This would begin right from creating distinct leads to signing up deals, and accomplishing projects that are combined in one place. Using project management system that utilizes Zoho CRM is quite essential in helping organizations come up with the most suitable control systems. This research paper would comprehensively discuss the various factors that have affected the use of Zoho CRM in business.
Aim
To study Zoho CRM and the customer life cycle and analyse how they both work together.
Objectives
The main objectives of the research are meant to:
(i) Examine various ways through which Zoho CRM affects project management in organizations.
(ii) Discuss the customer life cycle in relation to the aspect of Zoho CRM
(iii) Evaluate the sales and marketing strategies that can help in making project management system successful.
Specific Assessment Criteria
Managing Leads/Prospects/Customer/
In case there is an opportunity for further consultations with a lead, it is possible to convert it into an active account, profile, contact, and potential. Besides, once the negotiations are over and the lead status has got to a certain stage, it might be capable of being termed as a potential. On conversion, any information regarding the lead details are transmitted in creating a specific account, contact, and a potential (Rajola, 2003). One is able to map the lead fields using the details of the account, contact, and potential in a manner that the details are transmitted to the necessary fields.
• Once a conversion of leads is done into a specific potential, the lead status gets changed to the Converted Leads Homepage.
• One can then view the entire list of converted leads through the selection of the Converted Leads list show.
• When a lead has been converted, it can never be reversed to a lead.
• Finally, an account gets created on lead conversion in case the Company Name data is available for the given lead.
Analytic CRM offers a background support that facilitates a wide culture of campaign and sales. This is specifically a tailored management concept where team members are capable of managing the whole customer portfolio due to the support of every client by a devoted account manager. In regard to this, ENB has nurtured a campaign culture to back and manage its sales and marketing operations.
Why Convert Leads
Conversion of leads is quite essential in ensuring that certain information that is essential for marketing is put in place. Notably, a Lead that is used in Zoho CRM is often converted into three forms namely, an Account, a Contact, and Potential. A lead might be able to show interest in a company’s products or services while offering a chance of further negotiations with the lead. Conversion of leads is also important since it ensures that an organization’s marketing strategies are carried out in a way that will benefit both the company and the customers. Besides, this would help firms in ensuring that they are in touch with their customers and create the best opportunity for the consumers to interact with the company through online communications (Nemecek & Vanková, 2011, p. 255).
How the Data in A Lead Record Changes
When you change over a lead, Sales force makes another record, contact, and, alternatively, an opportunity utilizing the data from the lead, a new lead conversion occurs. Any fight individuals are moved to the new contact and the lead gets to be perused just. In the event that a current record and contact have the same names as those defined on the lead, you can decide to overhaul the current record and contact. Data from the lead is embedded just into clear fields; Sales force does not overwrite existing record and contact information. All open and shut exercises from the lead are joined to the record, contact, and opportunity. You can allot the manager of the records, and timetable a subsequent assignment. When you allot another manager, just the open exercises are relegated to the new holder. On the off chance that you have custom lead fields that data can be embedded into custom record, contact, or opportunity fields. Changed over leads can’t be seen, in spite of the fact that they show up in lead reports. Sales force upgrades the Last Modified Date and Last Modified By framework fields on changed over leads when pick list qualities included on changed over leads are changed (Shabdar, 2009)
Efficiency of Customer Communication
Zoho CRM is quite effective in managing customer communication since it gives customers a platform that can enable them to give their divergent views about the sales and marketing services of the company. When you change over a lead into a current record, you do not consequently take after that record. Then again, when you change over the lead into another record, you naturally take after the new record, unless you incapacitated food following for records in your Chatter settings. The lead’s Data.com Key field quality exchanges to the contact’s Data.com Key field. On the off chance that you utilize Data.com Corporate, no D&B Company record is made, however the lead’s Data.com Key field quality exchanges to the contact’s Data.com Key field (Rajola, 2003). For instance, the multi-channel sales promotions at ENB backed with CRM tools integrate the use of call centre campaigns together with electronic networks to allow the standard use of features thereby facilitating customer contact.
Packaged Functionality
Zoho crm comes mainly in four main packages that suit all the users who might want to use the system. The packaged functionalities of these packages are different and depend on the user demands. The most common packages include: Free Edition, the Standard Edition, The Professional Edition, and The Enterprise Edition. Besides, every Edition is packaged in a way that contains a number of features meant to differentiate it from all the other Editions. Notably, these Editions are often based on different business demands and a marketing and sales agent is meant to choose that which fits them most. It is also important to note that zoho CRM supports customer lifecycle through its CRM Plus where new features associate to avail insight and information from the time a customer clicks an ad to the time the customer involves in social media.
It is crucial to bear in mind that the cloud based CRM assessment philosophy allows the establishment of the functionality interface that permits customer opinions and other system applications. It also facilitates the mapping of not only the ENB activities, but also other business developments as well as the review of sales and advertising campaigns functionalities. Through an integrated philosophy, management of numerous marketing campaigns are possible at ENB. In addition, zoho CRM permits the creation of an operational CRM front-office solution to allow as many views as possible form the clients.
Zoho Scalability and Stability
Zoho is a software the has been designed to handle varied customer information and life cycle hence offering high stability and can be used for quite some time before it shows any problems to the users. In addition, Zoho CRM gives the marketers an opportunity to analyse the customer life cycle through a 360 degrees view. The number of users for a single package of Zoho CRM can be designed in a manner that best fits the given organization. Its cost is displayed as below:
Zoho CRM can support the Customer Lifecycle since it enables marketers to keep tract of customer’s information hence giving them an opportunity to know when a customer’s taste and preferences have changed. In addition, it enables the companies to ensure that they are in contact with the customer to help know any problems with the products and the customer life cycle. The navigation bars in Zoho CRM are designed in a way that makes it easier to access the customer’s contact details and even edit the details.
Divisions: The new record, contact, and opportunity are doled out to the same division as the lead. In the event that you overhaul a current record amid lead change, the account’s division is not changed, and the new contact and opportunity acquire the account’s division. Existing contact when you redesign a current contact with a lead that you are changing over, lead data in multi-select pick list fields persists to the current contact just if the matching fields for the contact are clear. The system also accommodates both small and large user base and transactions thereby meeting its expectations.
Familiarity with the User Interface
Neighbourhood Lead Names and the Company Name (Local) on the lead consequently maps to Account Name (Local), alongside their related standard name fields.
Individual Accounts: If your association utilizes individual records, you can change over prompts either individual records or business accounts. Leads with a clear Company field are changed over to individual records. The default individual record sort for your profile is connected to the new individual record. Note that you can just make leads with a clear Company field utilizing the Force.com API. Leads with a worth in the Company field are changed over to business accounts. The default business record sort for your profile is connected to the new business account. As a best practice, use distinctive lead record sorts and page designs to separate leads that will be changed over to individual records from those that will be changed over to business accounts. Specifically, expel the Company field from the page formats of leads that will be changed over to individual records, and make the Company field needed on the page designs of leads that will be changed over to business accounts (Metz, 2011). In addition, the user interface accessibility in terms of Open Office and Microsoft Office is valuable and must have uniformity across the CRM software.
The Role of Marketing and/or Sales Campaign (Within the Context of CRM)
CRM and showcasing computerization have purposes and capacities that are connected and integral however altogether different, and these distinctions are remarkable to what we’re attempting to fulfil with B2B request era. A few CRM merchants as of late have proposed that their stages are fit for a scope of promoting computerization capacities, yet this is a horrible exaggeration of these abilities. Likewise, I’d be careful about the point of view of embracing advertising computerization for B2B request era purposes without synchronizing it to a CRM stage.
ENB Application of Work Flows
Zoho CRM gives out-of-the- box dashboards for diverse modules including stock, items, cases and arrangements, crusades, opportunities, contacts, records and leads. Zoho offers adaptable dashboards. Though, if there should be an occurrence of Sales force; Contact Manager or Group Editions don’t offer custom dashboards. This disadvantage of Sales force propels organizations to move towards its high cost releases.
Zoho CRM gives backing to Firefox 3.0 and IE7 programs. Sales force offers constrained capacities for FOC ‘Lite’. In Zoho CRM, client can include fields by method for move and customize configurator. While, Sales force offers constrained personalization for end client and this personalization is material just to the home tabs and dashboards.
Scheduling of Customer Service
Zoho CRM facilitates in delivering customer service through the creation of reports that enhances data analysis and apprehension. This is possible through the Zoho Creator feature and the scheduler that permits a wide range of possibilities for task automation. The availability of Zoho creator enables one to operate with user friendly features that offer drag and drop user interface for building reports, tables, graphs, and pivot tables, among others. The two features (zoho creator and scheduler) operate by enabling the user the drag and drop options thereby enhancing the completion of a particular task.
Handling Customer Relationships
In the event that you make a lead, change over it, and afterward append it to an individual record claimed by another person, the individual record holder turns into the contact manager. In the event that you change over a lead claimed by another person and join it to an individual record that you claim, the lead holder turns into the contact manager. Record Types: If the lead has a record sort, the default record kind of the client changing over the lead is allotted to records made amid lead change. The default record kind of the client changing over the lead decides the lead source values accessible amid transformation. In the event that the sought lead source qualities are not accessible, add the qualities to the default record kind of the client changing over the lead (Singh & Diamond, 2012).
Sales force to Sales force: When you change over a lead, Sales force to Sales force inactivates the imparted record and overhauls the External Sharing related rundown in your association’s lead record with an Inactive (changed over) status. Because of inactivation of the imparted record, changes to the Lead Status amid change aren’t reflected in your association’s lead record. Standard and Custom Lead Fields The framework consequently maps standard lead fields to standard record, contact, and opportunity fields. For custom lead fields, your overseer can determine how they guide to custom record, contact, and opportunity fields (Blanchard, 2012).
The framework relegates the default pick list values for the record, contact, and opportunity when mapping standard lead pick list fields that are clear. On the off chance that your association uses record sorts, clear values are supplanted with the default pick list estimations of the new record holder (Nemecek & Vanková, 2011, p. 259).
Navigation
Region Management: If your association utilizes domain administration, the new record is assessed by record task standards and may be appointed to one or more regions. On the off chance that the principles allocate the record to precisely one region, then the open door will likewise be doled out to that domain. In the event that the guidelines dole out the record to numerous regions, then the open door is not doled out to any region.
Triggers: During lead change over, Apex triggers are terminated, and generally obliged custom fields and approval tenets are authorized, just if acceptance and triggers for lead believer are empowered in your association. Sales force disregards lookup channels when changing over leads if the Enforce Validation and Triggers from Lead Convert checkbox on the Lead Settings page is deselected. Work process: You can’t change over a lead that is connected with a dynamic approbation handle or has pending work process activities. Changing over a lead to an individual record won’t trigger work process rules. At the point when a lead is changed over by somebody who isn’t the lead holder, all work process undertakings connected with the lead that are appointed to that client, aside from email cautions, are reassigned to the lead manager. Work process assignments relegated to clients other than the lead manager and lead converter are not changed (Barnatt, 2010).
Availability of Report Creation
Analytical CRM report is a document that aids businesses or organization in making informed decisions based on customer data they have so as to improve their marketing and sales efforts thereby realizing high profits, quality as well as revenue. Thus, CRM analytics entails all programming that examines data concerning a specific entity’s clients and presents it for decision making. Consequently, Zoho enhances report making, forecasting and better collaboration, use of charts and pivot tables, and analysis of team productivity, among other roles. On the other hand, there are the standardised reports that are generally integrated in the CRM software applications and are customized to meet the requirements of the organizations. Query based reporting, on the other side, avails the user with a variety of tools that can be utilized to build particular reports. It is time consuming hence not suitable for regular standard reports (Bailey, 2011).
Zoho offers a genuinely broad list of capabilities of CRM, which is intended for organizations with moderate and basic necessities.
Zoho CRM is sensibly valued and gives solid multilingual backing. Zoho offers a minimal effort arrangement than other cloud CRM arrangements. The evaluating of Professional Edition of Zoho CRM is $12/client/month, and for Enterprise Edition is $25/client/month.
Recommendations and Conclusions
In order to come up with the best sales and marketing management plans, most teams need to ensure that they make good use of zoho CRM. Notably, it is quite imperative for companies to use internet based marketing programs that will ensure that everything works in accordance to the company demands. You utilize CRM to deal with your client connections that are meant to help businesses make more capital and grow. Yet the lion’s share of your client discussions happen through email. No issue, Mail Magnet for Zoho CRM catches, gathers, and disseminates vital client email movement all inside your CRM framework. Each redesign, improvement and opportunity is quickly imparted to suitable colleagues, without you needing to recollect who to duplicate or forward. You can even get notice and answer to client messages inside CRM, sparing you the time and bother of flipping here and there and then here again between applications. With Mail Magnet for Zoho CRM there is no hole between what’s said and what needs to be carried out. Nothing gets lost in an outright flood, and everything is put away and sorted out for simple, moment access.
In conclusion, Zoho CRM is intended to robotize your business process and assemble better associations with your clients. It helps you to get knowledge into the conduct of the clients and change the business operations to guarantee that clients are served in the best conceivable way (Barnatt, 2010).
APPENDIX A – Evaluation Criteria
Explain the role that converting a Lead into other types of records has within the context of CRM and how relationships within CRM develop over a period of time and how this is supported in a CRM system.
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