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.

No matter what you deal with: products or services, there are always plenty of avenues that you can explore to position your wares for the end user’s attention. Marketing, though, has come a long way since. It isn’t about positioning your wares for the masses, but also about generating dialogue around it so that your product or service remains alive and buoyed long after it has already been purchased or availed. Banking services also have a similar set up where marketing goes.

To get the best out of a marketing effort in the banking sector, there are some best practices that can be suitably deployed:

Campaign positioning: The most appropriate way to approach a banking sector marketing deal on social media platforms is to ensure that there are smart campaigns that can position the bank as not just a banker, but also as a thought leader and an initiative that can help the end user in all that his needs may require for the field. With strongly created campaigns, banks can help positioning themselves to the masses in a way that can promote their products and services with ease.

Keep listening: It is important for a bank to understand the pulse of its audiences. It is very valuable to pay attention to your users and their needs, and to understand what their requirements from a banking company are. A user should be able to find the marketing message as a useful call to action that would help translate into conversions offline. In that regard, it is important to make sure that there is constant vigilance.

Always keep the door open for communication: In the banking business, it is not enough to just project the right data, but to also build trust. People need to entrust their money in your hands, and it is important to ensure that there is enough attention and value attached to the engagement quotient in a marketing endeavour. Users may have negative or positive feedback – but it is important to ensure that both are given as much importance and receptivity.

Engage, engage, engage: Banking sector companies have one thing going for them: they are almost always invariably in need. As long as the world runs on money, banks always have value and presence among the masses. To that end, while most people might be wont to say that there is no extra effort necessary in bringing users into the fold, it is actually extremely important to keep the audience engaged. People will not invest their money in an avenue unless and until they have the right kind of trust – and for that to happen, it is important to build rapport and trust among users.

This article explains the primary basis of Analytical CRM, and explains how it can effectively help power a business endeavour by augmenting its marketing capabilities.

With the internet proving to be a hotbed for all kinds of marketing plans, there is an immense need for companies to understand the pulse of their customers to determine their marketing mix. To cull out the right information on the pulse of their customers, the core factor they most need is information. Analytical Customer Relationship Management (CRM) refers to a mechanism that offers this information. As the name suggests, Analytical CRM is a mechanism that allows the procurement and analysis of customer data. It is a dynamic customer management tool, and is effective when it comes to assisting, planning and executing marketing plans.

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.

The steps in the process are as follows:

• Data is collected at every stage of the customer life cycle to determine the customer’s behavior.
• 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.

“Analytical CRM” – http://www.managementstudyguide.com/analytical-crm.htm

Analytical CRM can really be the wind beneath the sails of any business endeavor For starters, it helps you segment your customers by dividing them into groups of those who are likely to use your products and those who aren’t. In doing so, it enables an organisation to market individually and directly to a customer based on the data so gained. Secondly, it also helps you understand your customers and their behavior. With the help of the tool, an organisation will be easily capable of identifying which customers are most profitable and which ones aren’t, and which ones are potential clients and which aren’t.

Effectively, the use of Analytical CRM tools can be immensely rewarding for an organisation’s business. All it takes is to stay tuned to the customer’s wants and needs. With that, the marketing mix can be maneuvered neatly to earn the organisation profits.

So you have a brilliant product. You want to price it a certain way. Your customers like your product, but don’t like your pricing ideas. They stop buying your product, and you’re looking into space with a sad, puppy dog face. Not good, not good. Here’s all that you should know when you’re dealing with a situation like this!

The first thing you should know about your end user is that he has an attention span that is much longer than that of the average cocker-spaniel. Which means, therefore, your customer is a receptive body to information, and is always discerning of ways to help him access the best of products without making a black hole out of his pocket.

As an organisation with something to sell, how do you capitalise on that attentiveness and pivot it to your advantage? Simple. Customer listening and Responsive marketing is all you need. The name says it all: it just involves keeping an eye out for what’s happening out there, and gauging your customer’s needs. The moment your customer frowns, you’ll know what to do.

Puzzled? Stick with me. I’m going to tell you a story. Heard of these guys called Uber? They go by the tagline “Everyone’s private taxi”. They got up to some interesting stuff, running this really lucrative business of having taxis to ferry people from their doorstep to the airport.

This was a very comfortable scheme of things for those that used the service: imagine, great service, fancy cars and a ride to the airport, all at normal rates! (I might have said that that’s the Indian dream, but that’s changed after these elections, and we’ll talk about that later over some chai and pakoras. See what I did there?). Chennai adopted this awesome scheme of things, and for a while, there were many happy people in the city.

Uber got famous, had more clients hopping on and off their vehicles while staying put on their bandwagon in the hope of getting the best out of fancy cars at reasonable rates. Then came the deal breaker: Uber’s success made it feel that a change was in order, one that resulted in the fixing of an arbitrary rate. The average ride to the airport now became Rs. 1200. Not a cool rate, no matter how fancy a car! Consequently, people were not happy about it at all. A bunch of angry users does to a business what a bunch of ants do to a tiny square of sugar: they destroy it.

Uber then decided to undo its mistake, and swooped in to fix it.

Let’s take a moment and reflect on this. What Uber did is not just a band-aid solution, but a clear cut example of customer listening and responsive marketing. All that Uber did was to look at the impact its decisions had on its customers, to listen to what its customers had to say and watch what they had to do in response to its policies, and then, to pivot those policies accordingly to ensure maximum usership.

Although there are many benefits attached to ACRM, it is necessary to keep in mind, a few areas that may help leverage it.

1. Convergance and integration: A company wide analytics solution which integrates ACRM and traditional BI solutions should be the ultimate destination in the marketplace. Usually the entire customer experience is broken down into components and assigned to different departments or lines of businesses which leads to challenges in integration. Systems and processes must be in place so as to collect and converge customer data from various channels into a centralized database.

2. Speech-Text analytical solution: Vendors across the globe are providing companies with platforms for speech analytics solutions by joining forces with text analytics solutions so as to deliver more robust and rich platforms that can integrate with a unified repository.

3. Predictive analysis: Predictive analysis is one of the keys to a successful ACRM program. Integrating this helps companies make long term decisions based on actual customer behaviour and trending data. Although it is an expensive affair ( around 10% or lesser number of companies use predictive analysis today), forecasting capabilites enable organizations align future direction based on actual data which proves to be very helpful.

4. Reporting: In today’s world, new visual applications such as dashboards, 2-D and 3-D visualtisations have replaced traditional methods such as raw data, statistics etc. Rather than having text and number heavy information, these modern tools enable users to grasp information and the context behind it, a lot better and quicker. Establishing a heirarchy of needs for loyalty programs and presenting data such that it is relevant to stakeholders is what companies should aim at.

Though these areas provide a business with a rough outline on how ACRM could be leveraged, it depends on the company and the kind of relationship they share with their customer base to get data which could help enhance their analytics.

References:

http://www.managementstudyguide.com/analytical-crm.htm

http://www.tgc.com/dsstar/01/1127/103729.html#top

http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/definition/CRM-analytics

Social customer relationship management is not a new concept aimed to replace the traditional CRM. It’s basically an upgrade of how we manage our customer relationships in today’s time, where consumers are smarter, more informed and vocally empowered. In order to fully understand why businesses are adopting social CRM over traditional CRM, you need to be fully aware of the numerous benefits it offers to businesses.

Data :
One of the main objectives of any company to adopt customer relationship management is to ensure repeat sales and customer loyalty to brands, as the cost of generating a repeat sale is much lesser than the cost of generating a fresh sale. Keeping this in mind social CRM provides marketers with ample personalized data about their existing list of customers as well as prospects, making it easier for them to cater to these customers’ demands proactively and to maintain a strong bond with them.

Leads :
Social CRM makes it easier for marketers to generate more leads through referrals of their existing list of customers and capitalize on these, as personalized information about a customer’s interests, preferences, dislikes and behaviour patterns are easily available.

Feedback:
Daily one to one interaction with customers help brands get genuine feedback about their product or service in real-time. Feedback is easier to generate because it comes naturally to customers on social networking sites. Companies save a lot of survey and marketing money due to this.

Trust:
In the past, brands could rely on their reputation and market saturation to educate their customers because if you were the biggest player in the market, customers would rely on you for information. Over time that trust has shifted from institutions to individuals. Social CRM provides brands the opportunity to establish relationships and build trust with not only the customers but also the people they trust.

Communities:
There are many brands that are widely admired and enjoy unswerving loyalty and high levels of engagement from their fans. For instance take Harley Davidson or as a matter of fact the top motorbike companies in the world. These are brands that are appreciated by people world over, even those who know nothing about motorbikes or have no desire to own the product. Social CRM help brands create sustainable and flourishing communities online for their loyal customers and fans to interact with each other and to rub off their enthusiasm towards the brand on others. This promotes brand loyalty and repeat sales and generates referrals and new leads.

Social customer relationship management has been the talk of the town for quite some time now and has generated enough debates and arguments on various blogs and publications. It is only a matter of time before it gets adopted by businesses universally.

If customers feel like they are being targeted with content that is valuable to them, they are more likely to buy from a brand and establish a long-term relationship. That is exactly what every brand wants!

Companies are aware their brand makes them a household name, but is that brand being used to its fullest customer advantage? Are you doing everything you can to maximize profits from those customers? Brands are important tools attracting customers to purchase. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) plays a significant part in helping you build your brand equity.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) increases your customer’s awareness towards your brand, brand association, and most important – brand loyalty.

The key to enabling companies to differentiate themselves and build their brand in a more effective way through more personalized marketing campaigns is by using an effective Customer Relationship Management solution.

A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution gives you the ability to understand product and services demand, to weed out unprofitable sales efforts and customers, to capitalize on emerging trends, and to market more intelligently.

A well implemented CRM application will bring together multiple sources of information to support decision-making, allowing marketing campaigns to be targeted and managed most effectively. It will act as a sales force’s compass. It will help the organization understand where it stands today, and point in the direction it needs to take. It will be an integral part of the sales team – at the start of the sales cycle it will help qualify leads, allowing resources to be directed appropriately.

It’s commonly known that it’s significantly cheaper to retain existing customers than to acquire new ones. So it makes sense to focus resources that help to build customer loyalty, increase spend and encourage longevity. CRM allows you to analyze customer spend, joining up your marketing and sales processes. Additionally, you can build detailed customer profiles – all of which aids the reduction of customer churn. CRM can help make service improvements whilst reducing costs associated with managing customers, both by making agents more effective, and by automating data entry processes.

Here are some points about why you should consider implementing a CRM solution: Improved Organization Performance and Productivity: the centralization of data results in faster customer service, improved data accuracy and the ability to quickly and easily access and share information to boost your productivity.

Improve Decision Making Through Better Client Knowledge: have a sharper competitive edge, enabling you to sell more effectively and attract new customers.

Any time Information Access: the web access option gives mobile employees instant access to the centralized data to support all their activities to improve their time efficiency while also being more prepared and knowledgeable when interacting with your clients.

Improve Client Profitability: have the information to create and sustain individual client relationships and boost client satisfaction to maximize profits. A CRM system can also help you identify and market to your most profitable customers. This approach allows you to increase your marketing efficiency while reducing the cost.

Store, Report and Analyze Customer Feedback: including quality control and evaluation results, to ensure a prompt reaction to any scenario that may arise.

Better Management Information: parameter driven reports, history tables, instant data field creation for the information you didn’t know you needed yesterday.

Enhanced Quality Checking: including a range of built-in features, such as the Automatic Version to check if you are working from the latest version and full audits of all actions between your organization(s) and your client.

Minimize Delays: you can start using and benefiting from the powerful features of a CRM solution immediately, with migration of your current data and virtually no disruption to your everyday operations, you can carry on doing what you do best.

Improved Organization Performance and Productivity – the centralization of data results in faster customer service, improved data accuracy and the ability to quickly and easily access and share information to boost your productivity Organizations must keep focused on their strategy and find ways to achieve more with less. Tools which help companies maximize revenue opportunities and reduce operational costs will strengthen the organization and position it well for a secure future. CRM is one such powerful tool which, if fully harnessed, can play a vital role in sales, marketing and service provision.

Hosted CRM or On-Demand CRM

Hosted CRM or On-Demand CRM is a type of CRM software installation where the software is hosted by a CRM provider and accessed by the client business online (through the web) via the provider’s secure servers. It could also be installed as a “Cloud”-based offering. The users at the client’s end access this service generally through their browsers.

On-premise CRM

On-premise CRM is a type of CRM where the CRM solution is maintained in-house. The CRM solution is licensed by the customer and hosted on the customer’s systems.

Difference between Hosted and On-Premise CRM Solutions

This article will try and cover the main differences between Hosted and On-premise CRM solutions:

* On-premise CRMs require the installation of extra servers, associated systems and other hardware and software. This results in extra hardware and software costs. Hosted CRM systems do not require extra hardware or software to be installed. Users can access the CRM through their desktop browsers. All that is needed is a dedicated broadband line for Internet access for accessing the CRM software and most organizations already have one. This results in substantial cost savings in relation to On-premise CRM.

* On-premise CRMs incur additional costs whenever the CRM software undergoes updates. Hosted CRMs save substantially on such costs as this model is generally version and update independent. All such aspects are taken care of by the vendor.

* Traditional CRM systems like the On-premise ones require trained manpower for installation, training and trouble-shooting. Hosted CRMs again provide savings in this area as there is no requirement for trained manpower at their end; the vendor takes care of trouble-shooting and if required can provide training at additional cost.

* Hosted CRMs are generally installed as stripped-down versions of a complete suite; as and when the client requires added functionality, more modules are added. This might mean additional fees and negotiation with the vendor which could lead to delays in implementation of additional modules. On-premise solutions are a complete bouquet of modules and there is no necessity for adding additional modules; delays associated with such addition are not encountered here.

* On-premise solutions because they are hosted in-house offer the best-in-class security and control over customization especially as trained manpower is already available for control over technical aspects. Hosted CRMs cannot match the level of security or customization control that On-premise solutions offer.

* On-premise CRMs are ideal for large organizations that require an extensive implementation of CRM. Hosted CRMs are great for smaller organizations who are just starting out with implementing CRM solutions.

What is Hosted CRM?

Hosted CRM or On-Demand CRM is a type of CRM software installation where the software is hosted by a CRM provider and accessed by the client business online (through the web) via the provider’s secure servers. It could also be installed as a “Cloud”-based offering. The users at the client’s end access this service generally through their browsers.

Hosted CRM is an example of the SaaS (Software as a Service) concept. Traditional software deployment requires servers, server software and/or client software, and the staff resources to install and maintain both the hardware and the software. Hosted CRM requires only a browser-equipped PC with a broadband Internet connection. All the functionality and the benefits of a traditional CRM application are served over the Internet.

Benefits of Hosted CRM

* Hosted CRMs are quicker to implement.

* Hosted CRM helps save on hardware costs, especially in terms of servers and associated systems. Although Hosted CRM requires a reliable bandwidth supply, the cost in terms of getting one is minimal as an organization already would have a dedicated supply from reliable ISP(s).

* Hosted CRM also helps save on software costs especially in terms of software upgrades and adding on more modules to expand functionality when compared with traditional CRM systems.

* Traditional CRM systems requires trained manpower for installation, administration and trouble-shooting. Such manpower costs can be saved when using Hosted CRM.

* The low-cost offering of a Hosted CRM is a great, risk-free way for an organization getting to grips with a CRM software for the first time.

Hosted CRM implementations

Microsoft Dynamics, Salesforce’s Sales Cloud, Oracle On Demand CRM, Zoho CRM, Sage CRM and SugarCRM are some popular examples of Hosted CRM software implementations.

Cloud-based Hosted CRM 

Web- or Cloud-based Hosted CRM solutions are a great option for any organization regardless of size but just like any other technology investment it is important to do the necessary homework and opt for the CRM solution that best fits an organization’s needs in terms of budget, performance, security, training/support and scalability.

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.