What does Analytical CRM do? Simply put, it looks at the decision-making surrounding products and services produced, evaluates the pricing and development of new products. In a nutshell, it:

• looks at exactly what the customer needs,
• in order to encourage an organisation to respond directly to those needs,
• to effectively optimise business.

Analytical CRM uses predictive analysis as the basis of its functioning, allowing the organisation to channel its efforts effectively across the customer demographic.1 In the process, it helps analyse the demand for products, explains the potential for high demand and the kind of consumer habits that prevail, and on the flipside, the possibility of a loss of customers or inability to gain new ones. The steps in the process are as follows:

• Data is collected at every stage of the customer lifecycle to determine the customer’s behaviour.
• After collecting all the relevant data, the next step is to determine, develop and analyse rules and methods to be used to scale and optimise the understanding of the customer demographic, and to resolve relevant questions for the business undertaking.
• In the next step, efforts are made to implement or deploy results to enhance the efficiency of the system and all the processes involved.
• Lastly, the information in the form of the values of customers so derived will be combined and integrated with the strategic marketing policies of the organisation. It is at this stage that the strategy is immensely useful.

Vertical

Vertical CRM systems are bespoke versions of generic CRM software where a set of functions are added to factor-in the unique demands of a particular industry or vertical. For instance, real estate and architecture professionals would require additional data elements such as properties, lease/sale details, architectural/floor plans etc. Organization in verticals that require a high level of specificity can also opt for a CRM designed specifically for their vertical.

Customized

The majority of CRM solutions available are flexible enough to allow for some customization. Whether it is the creation/modification of data fields or creation/modification of reports, customization allows even individual organizations to tailor the CRM to match the look and feel of existing processes.

BYO

 The easy availability of open source yet robust software has ushered in the era of Build Your Own CRM systems. BYO CRMs permit you to develop a system that it not only tightly integrated to your processes but can also provide you with a best possible “fit”. The downside can be the cost of developing such a system from scratch especially if your organization is of considerable size.

CRM systems can also be classified on the basis of where the data holding servers are located as:

On-Premise

These solutions are maintained in-house. The customer purchases a version of the CRM software which is then hosted on his systems. Although these CRMs could prove to be the most expensive of the lot, it offers much the best level of control over customization and security aspects.

Hosted

Hosted CRM solutions are housed on a vendor’s servers from which the client’s personnel access the CRM through the Internet or other network services. Hosted CRM solutions are less expensive than On-Premise systems. Hosted CRM is a good option for organizations (like SMEs) looking to cut costs or who are looking at scaling up their CRM capabilities.

Cloud

The cloud is a network that delivers computing services including both application and data services over the network. Do you want to create a presentation? Both the presentation-creating software and the actual presentation are stored on the cloud. This leads to considerable savings in expenditure on computing resources. CRM solutions delivered via the cloud are the least expensive option and great for organizations just starting out on CRM.

CRM solutions are also available in the form of a comprehensive bouquet of modules or on a piece-meal basis. This enables organizations to scale up as and when their requirements demand it.