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So You Think You Know CRM Software?
By: Josh Whiting
A year ago if someone asked me if I
knew my way around the CRM Software Industry I would
have confidently said yes, however, as it turns out
the old saying the more you learn the more knowledge
you realize you lack, is true. When talking about
the CRM Software Industry it is almost impossible to
actually say that you know it inside out since there
are so many CRM vendors around the world, all
developing their technologies at such a rapid pace.
As if it wasn't hard enough for a company to make a
decision regarding; what they require, how it can
help their business and so on, these technological
advancements are always followed with a marketing
campaign each speaking of how much this new feature
or functionality will help you.
So the question stands at, you think you know CRM Software? This is
difficult to answer with all the hype surrounding
the industry combined with the relative youth of
Web-based CRM and the large number of vendors. It is
also difficult to produce a linear comparison since
each vendor has their own set of terms and names for
features. So where do you begin? You can learn the
basics of Web-based CRM Software fairly easily with
a quick search on Google, however I would like to
mention a few points that are more difficult to
uncover; the hidden costs associated with purchasing
CRM Software, what to avoid, how your CRM can go
beyond simply contact management and where the
industry is going.
When a company decides it's time to make the move to Web-based CRM
Software they should first develop a plan on how
they expect this new implementation to boost their
companies productivity and revenue. The largest
roadblock in achieving a fast ROI is all the hidden
costs that are not clearly listed on vendor's web
sites. In researching to develop a comparison of
some of the major players in the CRM world including
Salesforce, Netsuite and Salesboom.com, the majority
of my time was spent researching pricing for
different platforms, upgrades, implementation,
customization and customer support. Salesboom was
actually the only one at the time to have a page
with their pricing listed clearly.
To just go out and purchase a CRM Edition and think you are done is
nowhere near the truth, this is just a base point
from which pricing begins. This leads me into what
to avoid when seeking your future CRM Software. What
you need to look into and ask questions about is;
storage limits and the cost of additional storage,
maximum number of custom tabs & fields, maximum
number of applications you can add, this being
particularly relevant for Salesforce, and any other
limitation which could later force you to upgrade.
If you have implemented a CRM Software Solution and reached any of
these mentioned limitations I'm sure you can vouch
for my statement that it comes at a great cost. What
is often the case is that the edition a company is
currently working with is doing a great job but for
example they have reached their storage limits. An
edition upgrade for a company with roughly 750 users
can amount to around 2 million dollars above what
they were already paying. With this upgrade of
course comes more features and functionality however
they are features and functionality which will not
increase your ROI simply because your company
doesn't need them.
Now that the buyers beware and the negatives are out of the way we
can focus on the positives. When you implement your
new Web-based CRM you have just knocked down all the
walls separating your departments or office's, no
matter their location and you did it in real-time.
Once up and running your CRM goes far beyond contact
management software with vendor's now integrating
front and back office functionality. Netsuite has a
strong back office, which makes sense knowing their
background in back office ERP solutions; however I
find their SFA or front office not to be up to the
standards of some others. Salesforce and
Salesboom.com both offer a well rounded CRM solution
for companies of all sizes, between these two it
really comes down to price.
With more than just contact management capabilities CRM Software is
a great tool for your; marketing department with in
depth campaign and lead management tools, your
customer service department since a complete history
of all clients and cases are a mouse click away,
your back office including inventory, billing &
invoicing by taking advantage of real time workflow
processes and of course your sales force with
features like escalation rules or in more recent
times offline and mobile editions.
Today CRM Software vendors are coming out with Offline and Mobile
Editions giving new ways to never lose contact with
the office. This brings us to the future of
Web-based CRM Software, where is it going? Well over
the past year we have seen great advancements with
the use of AJAX, or as it's known to the tech world,
Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. This code
underneath your CRM Software eliminates the need for
you to refresh your web browser whenever you make a
change. This can be seen in some social networking
sites, a popular one being Facebook. Here AJAX is
used to allow for drag and drop customizations to
appearance and the arrangement of applications. The
idea is the same with CRM Software, a simple down
mouse click and drag will allow you to customize the
appearance of your dashboard without an IT
department, so you can focus on the information most
relevant to you.
The other benefit that AJAX will bring us in the future when
combined with faster internet speed is the
elimination of load time, maybe not completely but
at least the majority of it. This sort of
functionality is now only seen with On-premise
software since all information is stored within your
computer or server you don't need to wait for the
internet to download any data. AJAX comes into play
here since you don't require a browser refresh you
can continue working while only that portion of the
web page is reloaded. I predict that the gap between
Web-based and On-premise CRM Software will be much
smaller by the end of 2008 and we will see the same
trend with businesses leaving their On-premise for
Web-based CRM, like was seen in 2007.
Author Bio
I am a University graduate with a B.A. double major in
communication and political science. Always having
an interest in business management has lead me to
becoming a freelance writer for various Customer
Relationship Management vendors and sites. I also
keep up regular blogs and encourage feedback on
articles and blogs written. More info:
http://crmspot.blogspot.com
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