In an era where communication with customers is spread across multiple touchpoints, and the discussion revolves around multichannel interactions, the management of customer relationships gains significant importance. As the process of connecting with customers transforms into delivering a holistic experience, consumers expect this experience to be comprehensive. Increasing sales and creating loyal customers are only possible by meeting these expectations. The key to achieving this lies in using CRM (Customer Relationship Management) applications that operate in the cloud.
Regardless of whether a company is small, medium, or large, the relationships they establish with their customers underlie the success of all businesses. Businesses that can effectively manage customer relationships gain a competitive advantage over other brands offering similar products and services. Today, customers are not solely focused on products and services offered by brands. According to Sprout Social data, investing in consumer relationships directly impacts business revenues. 57% of customers state that as loyalty to a brand increases, the likelihood of spending also increases. Furthermore, 76% tend to prefer their loyal brands over competing ones.
On the other hand, the foundational stages of customer relationships, including marketing, sales, and customer service, provide a constantly open ground for innovation and improvement. It is crucial to collect data from these processes, analyze the obtained data to identify areas where consumers or employees struggle, establish connections, or get lost, and transform the data into meaningful insights. Improving processes and continually enhancing the customer journey is only possible through these means. Brands that want to manage all these processes from a single platform and monitor the stages of relationships with customers in real-time prefer cloud-based CRM solutions.
What is Cloud CRM?
CRM is a software system that enables business owners to easily track all communication with their customers and develop relationships with potential customers. Cloud CRM software allows the management of customer relationships to be moved to cloud platforms, making it possible to discover sales opportunities, manage sales funnels effectively, and closely monitor marketing efforts. CRM solutions organize administrative processes in sales, marketing, and customer service departments, providing sales teams with the opportunity to prioritize customers based on their importance. Businesses that want to grow need to evaluate every sales opportunity. Cloud Customer Relationship Management applications make it easier for sales teams to do this. Without a centralized and automated CRM software, sales teams may risk losing track of customer interactions and missing business opportunities.
Benefits of Using Cloud CRM
Thanks to the opportunities provided by the cloud, CRM solutions offered as Software as a Service (SaaS) models, in other words, without the need for businesses to make any additional software license or hardware investments through subscription, point to a growing market. The CRM market is expected to reach a volume of $44.17 billion with an average compound growth rate of 14% annually in the 2021-2025 period.
Although there are endless benefits to using software solutions in the field of customer relationship management, let’s try to summarize them in a few points:
1. Manage all processes from a single platform: In the era of multichannel customer relationships, companies using a common system for different departments and teams allow them to transparently share domain-specific knowledge with other departments. Thus, businesses can manage processes from a single platform, making it possible to make accurate strategic decisions.
2. Increase efficiency: Correct strategic decisions help prevent unnecessary workflows and inefficient processes. Insights gained by marketing teams facilitate the identification of customers that sales teams will prioritize, and the experiences of sales teams strengthen the services offered in the field. Teams that acquire more information about the field can use clues to guide marketing activities.
3. Targeting and personalization through segmentation: Cloud CRM software, especially, facilitates the work of marketing teams through segmentation. Since the needs of each customer are different, grouping customers according to their expectations and customizing marketing activities for these groups enables more effective campaigns.
4. Use data to improve processes: Thanks to cloud CRM solutions, businesses can obtain data from marketing, sales, and customer service activities of all departments. This collected data can be used to improve subsequent processes.
All these benefits, when looked at in the big picture, result in direct and indirect increases in the performance of sales teams. This, in turn, translates into more loyal customers, more revenue, and more competitive advantages for businesses.
How Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Addresses Customer Relationship Management
We mentioned that customer relationship management is multichannel, and brands need to connect with customers at multiple points. Microsoft, which provides businesses around the world with the opportunity to use the most powerful ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and CRM solutions, successfully covers all these points with the Dynamics 365 CRM solution family. Microsoft addresses CRM processes with five solutions: Marketing, Sales, Customer Service, Field Service, and Project Service Automation.
1. Improve the customer journey:
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing provides marketing teams with the ability to create multichannel campaigns, identify potential customers ready for sales, and conduct activities that are in harmony with sales teams. With D365 Marketing, marketing teams can run campaigns on various channels, score potential customers based on user interactions, and provide high-potential insights to sales teams.
2. Empower sales teams:
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales gives sales teams the opportunity to better understand customer needs, have better control over the sales process, and increase sales opportunities. AI-powered D365 Sales makes it easier for teams to monitor customer relationships and automate sales strategies. Data that meticulously examines past sales processes allows the improvement of future processes. Additionally, teams can access the activities of all team members in real-time from their internet-connected mobile devices, regardless of time and place.
3. Facilitate customer services on every channel:
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service enhances the post-sales experiences of customers. D365 Customer Service, which offers the possibility of intelligent service on every channel, creates value in every interaction for an impressive customer experience. This solution allows obtaining detailed information about customer experiences through surveys, feedback, or discussion forums, facilitating the effective use of service staff and resources.
4. Elevate your success in the field:
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service empowers businesses providing field services in face-to-face interaction channels. Focused on keeping customers and field representatives connected and maintaining fast, transparent communication in channels that require face-to-face interaction, D365 Field Service enhances operational efficiency with technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT). It optimizes inventory management and allows customers to schedule field service appointments from their personalized dashboards.
5. Increase project profitability with integrated planning and analytical capabilities:
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Project Service Automation completes the last step for the perfection of customer relationship management. D365 Project Service Automation, which connects all teams with collaborative tools specific to the project, visualizes costs and profits with powerful project planning features and intuitive dashboards. Thus, D365 Project Service Automation, providing more effective project management skills for businesses, contributes to customer trust.
As a Microsoft Silver Partner in the cloud platform and ERP field, a Microsoft Gold Partner in the data center, application integration, and DevOps fields, ATP supports customers who want to integrate Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Microsoft’s enterprise ERP and CRM solution family, with their business processes using ATP expertise. ATP, providing remote and on-site Microsoft Dynamics training, project implementation, version upgrade, and post-project support services, successfully meets all the needs of companies with its customized solutions running on Microsoft platforms.
For more information about ATP and to choose ATP as a technology partner in your digital transformation, you can visit this link.