Customer Relationship Management

Customer relationship management is a suite of tightly-integrated applications designed to streamline all client-facing interactions. With customer relationship management, businesses can

improve productivity and cost-efficiency, while guaranteeing a superior customer experience.

Today's marketplace is becoming more and more competitive, and businesses of all sizes across all industries are challenged to boost revenues and expand market share by finding new, more effective ways to attract, acquire, support, and retain customers.

Additionally, they must improve profitability and increase shareholder value by maximizing operational efficiency and minimizing overhead costs. That's why so many companies are turning to customer relationship management solutions.

Customer relationship management solutions are a family of tightly-integrated software applications that span all client-facing operations throughout a company.

Comprised of modules for contact management and sales force automation, marketing campaign automation, call center or contact center management, help desk automation, and advanced business intelligence, customer relationship management solutions are designed to coordinate and streamline the disparate, repetitive, manual processes that often exist across multiple divisions and business units.

Additionally, they can help consolidate and centralize the common company-wide data silos that can lead to errors and inconsistencies in service delivery. As a result, the efficiency and effectiveness of all customer transactions is dramatically improved, and service quality is optimized at every single touch point.

With customer relationship management solutions, companies can enhance the accuracy, timeliness, and success of all customer interactions and related processes. This includes enabling:

Marketing teams to understand the behaviors and preferences of their target audience, intelligently plan and execute sophisticated and personalized campaigns and promotions through multiple communication mediums, and closely monitor and analyze the results.

Sales representatives to efficiently prioritize and manage hundreds of new leads, prospects, and opportunities by better coordinating activities, more rapidly finalizing and closing existing sales cycles, and boosting the value of each deal.

Call center agents to provide a convenient experience to customers by quickly answering their inquiries and providing them with the information they need. Customer relationship management solutions can also transform these cost centers into profit centers by helping staff to actively participate in up-sell and cross-sell initiatives, and other sales and marketing promotions.

Support staff to promptly address customer issues by leveraging a comprehensive knowledge base, coordinating and dispatching field resources when needed, and tracking the progress of every problem from the time a job ticket is opened, until it is resolved and closed.

Management to achieve full visibility into all customer-facing activities across multiple departments, so they can accurately assess performance, and ensure that all client interactions are handled in the most responsive and professional manner possible.

But, most importantly, customer relationship management empowers these various teams to collaborate, share timely and accurate information, and work together toward the common goal of expanding market share and increasing customer loyalty. With customer relationship management, these once fragmented sales, marketing, and service departments can work in synch to build a stronger, more lucrative customer base.

Customer relationship management packages are also designed to work seamlessly within a current infrastructure, so businesses can continue to leverage their existing technology investments while creating a company-wide culture that enables more efficient execution of customer-facing workflows. For example, customer relationship management applications can link to and share data with other business systems that store vital customer information, such as accounting and e-commerce packages.

About Top CRM Vendors

NetSuite Hosted CRM Solutions

NetSuite Inc. offers hosted CRM software for small to medium businesses. NetSuite was originally incorporate as NetLedger by its founders Larry Ellison and a young protégé, Evan Golberg. The company's name was later changed to its current NetSuite.

NetSuite enables companies to manage all key business operations in a single system, which includes accounting/Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Ecommerce. NetSuite is delivered as an on-demand service, so there is no hardware to procure, no large, up-front license fee, and no complex set-ups. Finally, NetSuite's patent-pending "real-time dashboard" technology provides an easy-to-use view into role-specific business information that is always up-to-date.

NetSuite's strong all-in-one front- and back-office solutions span CRM, ERP, accounting, and eCommerce making this a one-stop package for SMBs. The company's software helps you to manage your key business operations in a single, integrated system.

NetSuite's CRM solutions include:

NetSuiteComprehensive Web-based solution for midsize businesses that integrates Accounting/ERP, CRM, Ecommerce and partner collaboration capabilities.

NetSuite Small BusinessOne complete Web-based application for smaller businesses that integrates the front and back office, managing sales, service, accounting and Web presence.

NetSuite CRM Offers a Web-based CRM solution that gives your company all the traditional CRM capabilities you need to manage marketing through customer acquisition.

NetSuite CRM+Total Customer Relationship Management CRM solution for businesses large and small with customer-centric view to manage initial and on-going relationships over the phone, in person, or on the Web.

The NetSuite platforms include:

NETERPComprehensive Web-based Accounting/ERP solution for midsize businesses that includes order management, purchasing, financials, Ecommerce and more.

NetCommerce Ecommerce solution provides comprehensive ecommerce tools integrated with inventory and order management and sales, service and marketing

NetFlexThe NetFlex Applications Program facilitates third-party software vendors to extend and enhance the NetSuite application using the NetFlex Web services platform.

The company's patent-pending "real-time dashboard" technology provides an easy-to-use view into role-specific business information that is always up-to-date. At times, the comprehensive functionality adds to the product's complexity. Service thresholds and per-module pricing can increase your costs.

NetSuite has thousands of customers globally ranging in industry, business size and software solutions.

The NetSuite advantage

If you’re looking for more than just standard customer relationship management (CRM) functionality, then NetSuite CRM may be the solution for you.  NetSuite’s robust, full-featured CRM offering empowers small and mid-sized businesses with the tools and technologies they need to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the broadest range of customer-touching processes. 

NetSuite goes beyond traditional CRM by incorporating cutting-edge, fully-integrated capabilities for document management and publishing, order and incentive management, Web site management and analytics, project tracking, and customer self-service. 

Unlike other CRM software packages that focus primarily on prospect and opportunity management, NetSuite enables effective management of the entire customer lifecycle, tracking and storing complete customer purchase histories and order information. 

As a result, sales staff can produce more accurate forecasts and generate more revenue, while marketing teams can boost ROI by deploying more successful programs and promotions. 

And, NetSuite CRM integrates seamlessly with any corporate Web site, making it an integral part of the selling process. So companies can further leverage this powerful marketing tool (which is often the preferred method of interaction for prospects and customers) to implement more effective cross-channel communications, increase conversions, and enhance service delivery. 

NetSuite CRM is a fully-hosted, on-demand solution that is available in two editions.  NetSuite CRM provides features to support sales force automation, marketing automation, and customer service and support. Additionally, it delivers a real-time key performance indicator (KPI) dashboard, business intelligence and analytics, productivity tools such as email integration and group calendaring, and full customization and application building functionality.

NetSuite CRM+ provides all the capabilities of NetSuite CRM, plus advanced sales force automation features such as expense reporting, incentives, and order management; a partner relationship management module; Web site building, hosting, and analytics; and a comprehensive customer knowledge base.  

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Solutions

Microsoft Dynamics® business software offers a wide spectrum of feature-rich, affordable CRM solutions to help you meet your specific needs.

Whether you run a small, growing business or a large organization with a high number of customers and large sales and marketing teams-you can use Microsoft Dynamics® to help you manage relationships even better.

Microsoft Dynamics® On-premise Software

The Microsoft Dynamics® suite of CRM-related solutions includes:

Microsoft Dynamics® CRM

Microsoft Dynamics® AX for field service Microsoft Dynamics® AX for sales and marketing Microsoft Dynamics® GP for field service Microsoft Dynamics® NAV for sales and marketing Microsoft Dynamics® NAV for service management Microsoft Dynamics® SL for field service Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 with Business Contact Manager

The CRM solutions and capabilities within Microsoft Dynamics® connect closely to other Microsoft technologies that you may already use. This brings together data, helping your sales people to answer customer questions without making the customer wait.

When your employees use the CRM functionalities of Microsoft Dynamics®, they work within a familiar Microsoft software environment. This helps reduce distractions of having to learn and work with disparate software tools.

Microsoft Dynamics® solutions are typically implemented for you by a Microsoft partner with the right industry and technical expertise.

The Microsoft CRM advantage

Microsoft CRM is a robust package designed to address the needs of mid-sized businesses, or satisfy the requirements of individual departments within larger enterprises. With Microsoft CRM software, companies can achieve higher productivity and greater sales success by leveraging rich CRM functionality such as account and contact management, order processing and tracking, lead management, competitive monitoring, and workflow coordination.

Additionally, Microsoft CRM software enhances cross-department collaboration with broad functionality that spans both sales and customer support operations. So critical data can be viewed, updated, and shared across multiple teams in real-time.  

Microsoft CRM software offers:

* Integration. Of course, Microsoft CRM can be seamlessly integrated with commonly-used Microsoft applications such as Office or Dynamics Financial Management.  But, it can also utilize SOAP/XML to link to ERP and other third-party business systems, to provide complete insight into customer activities and information. 

* Customization. Microsoft CRM software allows for customized configurations of data schemas, forms, and business processes, so the solution can be tailored to meet each company’s unique needs.

* Convenient access. Microsoft CRM software offers flexible access methods, and can be utilized directly through Outlook, or via the Web. 

* Reporting. The reporting capabilities within the Microsoft CRM software package enable users to rapidly generate forecasts, monitor activities, measure sales and service performance, uncover critical trends, and identify opportunities.

Microsoft also focuses much of its development efforts on solution usability, and strives to make its customer relationship management offering the most user-friendly solution on the market today. The Microsoft CRM interface, much like the interface of other Microsoft applications, is highly intuitive, and enables users to get up-and-running quickly with minimal training.  

Microsoft Dynamics

Microsoft Dynamics CRM software is designed for small and mid-sized businesses, or divisions or departments within larger enterprises.  First introduced in early 2003 as Microsoft CRM under the company’s Business Solutions umbrella, Microsoft Dynamics CRM software has gained a strong foothold in the mid-market – with a customer base of more than 150,000 using the solution in more than 22 languages.   

In an effort to more closely align its branding strategy with its product roadmap, Microsoft re-introduced its Business Solutions product line as the Microsoft Dynamics suite in mid-2005.  All applications in the suite – including customer relationship management, supply chain management, and financial management – share a common architecture and role-based interface.  Additionally, they all tightly integrate with Microsoft Office. 

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM software suite includes several modules that help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of a wide range of customer-facing processes:

Microsoft Dynamics CRM.  A powerful set of tools that allows sales and marketing users to track and manage customer interactions from first contact through purchase and post-sale. 

Microsoft Dynamics Field Service (formerly Axapta and Great Plains).  A robust solution that helps to streamline field operations, improve response times, and minimize service-related costs. 

Microsoft Dynamics for Service Management. This application, previously known as Microsoft Navision, helps coordinate service resources and activities to improve the customer experience and reduce expenses.  

Microsoft Dynamics for Sales and Marketing (formerly Axapta and Microsoft Navision).  This application helps simplify complex marketing strategies and improve the effectiveness of sales and marketing efforts by combining sales force and marketing automation with support for lead tracking and management, telemarketing, surveys, eCommerce, and more. 

With Microsoft Dynamics CRM software, mid-sized businesses have all the features and functionality they need to improve customer acquisition, service, satisfaction, and retention, while optimizing sales and marketing productivity and increasing revenues and profitability. 

User’s Review on Microsoft CRM

Nikon has been using Microsoft Dynamics CRM since February 2007. Its implementation was exceptionally smooth, observes Diepenseifen, “Technical implementation was absolutely without any problems. It boiled down to preparation—by adequately specifying all requirements in advance, we avoided delays during the course of the project.”

Staff Easily Access Data in a Single Location High Employee Acceptance Increased Quality of Sales Reports

Microsoft® Dynamics™ CRM 4.0 allowed AEGON Religare a granular view of its customers, helping the company to design better products, improve service levels and reduce operational costs significantly.

Improves Efficiency Across Branches Enhances Customer Satisfaction Provides Greater Customization

Cranes software:

By implementing Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0, Cranes Software has created an integrated and user-friendly solution that works well with existing technology.

Improved Customer Service Ease of Use Instant Access to Customer Information

Oracle On-Premise CRM Solutions

Oracle, the world leader in CRM, claims five million live end users and more than 100 million registered self-service users. The company offers four comprehensive Customer Relationship Management (CRM) product lines that leverage enterprise data to drive profitable customer interactions. Oracle's products cover the breadth of CRM functionality—from sales, marketing, and e-commerce, to customer service and analytics.

Oracle CRM, which now includes Siebel, is the world's leading solution for maximizing the value of your customer relationships. With an unmatched range of products, industry expertise, and deployment options, Oracle is the right choice for CRM.

Only Oracle lets you take advantage of your rapidly changing business environment through codeless configuration of critical business processes

Only Oracle is pursuing next-generation SOA, native applications that enable fully customizable, industry-specific CRM business processes

Only Oracle is certifying all of its enterprise CRM applications on the most open, SOA-based middleware available: Oracle Fusion Middleware

Only Oracle is focused on preserving the business strategies of all customers through on going development for all product lines

Oracle has made a number of strategic acquisitions-including Telephony@Work and Sigma Dynamics-to further extend its CRM offerings with powerful contact center technology and real-time predictive analytics

List of Oracle CRM Solutions

Siebel PeopleSoft Enterprise Oracle E-Business Suite JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Telephony@Work CallCenterAnywhere

The Oracle Advantage

Oracle CRM is arguably the most popular, widely-used customer relationship management (CRM) package on the market today.

Built on the belief that information is the key to success, Oracle CRM is designed to improve the quality, accuracy, timeliness, and accessibility of critical customer-related data. Oracle CRM has received recognition from leading industry analysts such as Yankee Group and Gartner. 

Oracle CRM is part of the Oracle E-Business Suite, and offers over 50 powerful, fully-integrated, feature-rich applications in 5 categories – Sales, Service, Marketing, Channel

Management, and Order Management. With its broad reach and wide variety of features, Oracle CRM helps companies improve the effectiveness of every aspect of the customer experience. 

Oracle CRM Sales Helps sales, marketing, fulfillment, and finance staff to improve the way they identify prospects, leverage up-sell and cross-sell initiatives, create proposals and contracts, execute orders, manage compensation, and build relationships with customers.

Oracle CRM Marketing Empowers marketing professionals to more effectively plan, develop, launch, track, and analyze campaigns and complex trade promotions.

Oracle CRM Service Provides a single platform for managing service across multiple delivery channels, including online self-service, contact centers, and field support.

Oracle CRM Channel Management Provides partner lifecycle management, trade promotion management, channel sales collaboration, claims settlement, and performance measurement, to help sales, marketing, and finance teams more effectively coordinate and control partner relationships. 

Oracle Order Management Simplifies complex sales order processes across EDI, XML, telesales, third-party channels, and e-Commerce. It automates all related activities from end-to-end, including capture, transportation, and shipment.

. Oracle has also broadened their CRM offering through mergers with PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, and Telephony@WorkThe completeness of the Oracle CRM solution can be attributed to the company’s acquisition of Siebel Systems in mid-2006. This integration further extended and enhanced the existing Oracle CRM suite with more advanced business intelligence, reporting, and analytics. 

Additionally, it enabled to company to make solutions available both on-premise and on-demand.  

Customer Feedback on Oracle

Unified all customer support processes on single customer and product database Integrated sales and marketing analysis and reporting with multi-location, multi-currency

support Enables new acquisitions to be incorporated and brought on-line easily

Improved service levels through proactive data-entry error checking Restored organizational flexibility, clearing the way for continued growth Created a clear pipeline for account executives and sales managers

Quickly adopted proven CRM best practices built in to NetSuite workflow Browser-based management access to pipeline and sales performance data Partner Center makes bringing new foreign affiliates into the fold easy

Salesforce.com Hosted CRM Solutions

The proven leader in on-demand customer relationship management (CRM), salesforce.com empowers customers to stand out from the crowd. We do so by delivering the most innovative technology and making it as easy as possible to share and manage business information. Our solutions combine award-winning functionality, proven integration, point-and-click customization, global capabilities, and the best user experience and the result is CRM success. That's why Salesforce has earned the trust of its customers and a customer satisfaction rate of over 97%.

Since its founding, Salesforce.com has achieved remarkable recognition with customers, partners, investors and the media. They company attributes their success to products that are easy to learn and use, can be up and running in weeks or days, fast ROI, and customer dedication.

Salesforce.com's provides an array of CRM and business application services, which enable customers and subscribers to systematically record, store, and act upon business data; and to help businesses manage customer accounts, track sales leads, evaluate marketing campaigns, and provide postsales services.

The company's CRM services principally focus on sales force automation, marketing automation, and customer service and support automation. Salesforce.com's sales force automation services enable salespeople to be productive by automating manual and repetitive tasks; provide organized data about their current and prospective customers; and help companies to establish a system and a process for recording, tracking, and sharing information.

Salesforce.com's marketing automation services enable companies to manage marketing campaigns. And customer service and support automation services allow companies to interact with their existing customers in various areas.

These software services are available through enterprise edition, professional edition, and team editions. Salesforce.com also provides consulting and implementation services, and training.

Salesforce.com is headquartered in San Francisco, California. More than 501,000 subscribers at 24,800 companies worldwide depend on Salesforce to manage their customer relationships. The company's software is used by companies of all sizes, in all industries, around the globe.

The Salesforce.com Advantage

Among the primary benefits of Salesforce.com solutions are the ease of deployment and user-friendliness that they offer.  By delivering applications that are powerful and highly-functional, yet intuitive and easy-to-use, Salesforce.com has enabled its customers to achieve user adoption rates that are well above the industry average.  This widespread acceptance and use of customer relationship management has helped Salesforce.com clients maximize the value of their solution, and realize rapid ROI.

Salesforce.com is also a very feature-rich solution.  It offers a comprehensive suite of applications for sales force automation, marketing automation, partner marketing, call center management, and customer service and support.  

Additionally, it provides advanced capabilities such as in-depth business reporting and analytics, flexible and reliable mobile access, and point-and-click customization that allows customers to quickly and easily configure their solution to meet their unique needs. 

Salesforce.com has also earned a solid standing as the leader in hosted CRM.  The company was among the first to offer customer relationship management on-demand, at a time when other vendors were still delivering only premised-based packages.  As a result, they have perfected the hosted solutions model, and built a robust architecture that facilitates the efficient and effective delivery of CRM applications via the Web.  So Salesforce.com customers can make more productive use of their IT budgets and resources, while leveraging a scalable and agile platform that easily adapt as requirements change.

And, most importantly, Salesforce.com places a strong emphasis on customer satisfaction.  The solution comes complete with a wide range of free training and support services, as well as best practices guidance.  Additionally, Salesforce.com solutions are continuously enhanced and improved, and those upgrades are available to clients at no cost.  

Customer Testimonials on Salesforce.com

"Opting for salesforce.com’s Service Cloud solution has enabled us to manage large volumes of customer records within a data centre without incurring the massive costs normally associated with data centres. It has also provided us with an easy way to keep track of backups."

Powered by Salesforce, My Starbucks Idea brews customer feedback and community engagement

Results

More than 92,000 total ideas submitted on My Starbucks Idea, more than 760,000 total votes received, and more than 150,000 comments posted

More than 90 ideas implemented as a result of My Starbucks Idea

Linkedin:

Results

Salesforce CRM helped LinkedIn’s reps become more efficient, enabling them to handle 200% more customers and contributing to dramatic growth in revenue/customers.

Salesforce CRM provides a centralized repository for customer data, enabling comprehensive customer views across the entire organization. Fast access to metrics support planning and decision making.

Real-time campaign analytics and ROI measurements have helped LinkedIn’s marketing team generate more qualified leads and optimize its spend. Automatic lead conversion ensures all leads move toward close.

Through integration of LinkedIn’s price list with a document processing and an electronic signature application, LinkedIn reps can now generate 80% of contracts without oversight for shorter sales cycles.

With sales activity and case management, reps and account managers are more productive and can focus on closing more deals and keeping customers happy.

RightNow Hosted CRM Solutions

RightNow Technologies, Inc. provides customer relationship management (CRM) software. Its CRM software suite includes RightNow Marketing, RightNow Sales, and RightNow Service. These solutions are designed to provide real-time visibility across all customer-facing departments, maximizing the efficiency of your organization and helping to provide a superior customer experience..

RightNow Service

Provides a multilanguage and multichannel customer service solution that captures customer interactions from both traditional and online channels.

RightNow Sales

An intuitive, easy-to-use sales automation solution, RightNow Sales maximizes sales efficiency and productivity. RightNow Sales suite provides sales forecasting and reporting data, and manages accounts, track leads, organize contacts, and creates selling opportunities.

RightNow Marketing

Offers functionality to manage marketing campaigns and automate standard campaign activities. RightNow Marketing helps you to turn your ideas into reality, reduce the complexity of campaign administration and provide the actionable insight to track campaign impact.

The company also offers voice-enabled CRM applications that include: Voice Interface to Knowledge Base, Voice Interface to Incident Management, Voice Interface to Locator, Status Applications, Password Reset, Survey, and One Number Routing.

Founded in 1997, RightNow is headquartered in Bozeman, Montana, with additional offices in North America, Europe and Asia. More than 1,700 organizations worldwide use RightNow solutions including British Airways, British Telecom, Cisco Systems, Continental Tire North America, Nikon and the Social Security Administration.

The RightNow CRM Adavantage

Montana-based RightNow Technologies offers solutions that extend beyond customer relationship management to empower companies with efficient and effective customer experience management. Since 1997, RightNow has been helping businesses find the balance between providing superior customer support and preserving the bottom line.

RightNow solutions are designed specifically for companies that are looking to get up-and-running quickly, without a lot of customization or add-on work. The company has used its strong

background in large call centers to build a solid base for its customer experience management offerings. Currently, RightNow solutions are in use at more than 1,700 organizations worldwide.

The RightNow customer experience management suite provides a variety of applications to help businesses win and maintain more clients:

Service and Support

RightNow Service enables companies to improve the effectiveness of service delivery through all customer support channels, so they can answer questions, respond to problems, and resolve issues faster.

Marketing Automation

RightNow Marketing allows for more efficient execution and management of campaigns and promotions, and improved administration of leads. So critical marketing messages can be delivered to prospects and customers in a timely, consistent, and cost-effective fashion. 

Sales Automation

RightNow Sales provides sales staff with the ability to better manage their contacts, accounts, and pipelines, as well as related tasks, activities, and processes. It also offers pre-built sales methodologies for several vertical industries, including media, automotive, and telecommunications. 

Contact Center

RightNow Voice enhances contact center operations with innovative interactive voice response (IVR) and speech recognition capabilities. So customers can utilize faster, more convenient phone-based services, participate in surveys, report problems, and more. This technology is available as a result of RightNow’s acquisition of Convergent in mid-2005.

Reporting and Analysis

RightNow Analytics provides complete visibility into all interactions across sales, marketing, and service operations. So company decision-makers can quickly see what’s working and what’s not, and take corrective action when needed. 

RightNow offers both on-demand and on-premise applications. However, approximately 90% of the company’s customer base utilizes hosted versions of the RightNow product line.

RightNow CRM’s Clients

1. TD Bank2. My Space3. Sony Online Entertainment4. Electronic Arts5. Irobot6. Nikon7. Drugstore.com8. British Airways9. Thomas cook

Customer Review on Rightnow CRM

Electronic Arts uses RightNow to provide a flexible worldwide platform for their customer support.

Motorola uses RightNow to capture the needs of their customers on a global level. Using RightNow CX, RealNetworks has decreased email response time and increased

customer satisfaction. Big Fish Games uses RightNow to better staff their department, forecast growth, and cross

train employees to maximize efficiency. With its comprehensive customer portal, Sony Online Entertainment’s Free Realms page

enjoys an 88 percent web self-service rate. Achievements

RightNow Helps British Airways Maximise Its Return On Customer Service Investment

Increased customer utilization drives out more calls from contact center for heightened ROI

RightNow-enabled contact center improves customer experience across Executive Club Ease of use and additional functions improve overall customer experience

“The returns from implementing SmartAssistant have been astonishing; we expected between 12% and 15%, so we were staggered by the 60% reduction in email.”

- Chris Carmichael, Technical Editor, BA.com

British Airways began using RightNow to create AskBA, a customer service implementation that answered 55,000 customers’ questions every week. This was at the forefront of the airline’s vision of customers serving themselves on ba.com. A top priority was to explore the ways they could use RightNow to deliver increased functionality and further improve ROI.

With the RightNow-enabled customer contact center solution, BA was able to simplify internal processes so that all Executive Club-related information could be gathered into a common system for use across multiple contact channels. Based on the best practices suggested by RightNow, BA provided clearer sign posting and doubled utilization overnight. SmartAssistant also reduced email by 60 percent. 

SAP CRM provides a central marketing platform that enables organizations to analyze, plan, develop, and execute all marketing activities through all customer interaction points. This integrated application empowers marketers with complete business insights – enabling you to make intelligent business decisions and to drive end-to-end marketing processes.

SAP CRM supports critical marketing processes, including:

Marketing resource and brand management Segment and list management Campaign management Loyalty management Trade promotion management Lead management Marketing analytics

SAP CRM supports your key sales processes, including:

Sales planning and forecasting Territory management Accounts and contacts management Sales analytics

With SAP CRM, you can optimize your partner channel management processes including:

Partner management Channel marketing Channel sales Partner order management

SAP CRM enables a complete range of Web channel processes, including:

E-marketing E-commerce E-service

Customer Feedback on SAP CRM

Colgate-Palmolive

The Global market leader launched a major business planning project with support from SAP Trade Promotion Management. The result: reallocated trade spend, improved operations, better volume forecasting, streamlined promotion planning – and strengthened brand equity. Focused on consumer trade spend anticipated following:

First phase of implementation Improved operations and better demand planning Streamlined promotion planning, administrative efficiencies Delivered positive impact on cash management

ConAgra FoodsConAgra Foods reduced its inventory and cut costs after it replaced its disparate supply

systems with a single integrated application suite. By leveraging the synergies between its SAP applications and an SAP-endorsed business solution from SmartOps, the company soon achieved measurable results.

Aquarion Water Company  

This public water supply company completely overhauled its IT infrastructure with a big-bang implementation of SAP for Utilities. The result: a common view of real-time information, more efficient scheduling of repair calls, better customer service, and faster response times.

Best CRM Software/Vendor

CRM Solutions are available in two different categories i.e. On-demand and On-Premise. Web-based CRM and on-premise CRM solutions share many of the same characteristics. They both offer a comprehensive feature set, providing capabilities that span sales, marketing, call center, and service operations, as well as advanced forecasting, reporting, analysis, and performance management.

Additionally, both Web-based CRM and on-premise CRM solutions provide sophisticated role-based security, and the ability to seamlessly integrate with a variety of other business systems within your environment, including e-Commerce applications and ERP packages.

However, there are many distinct differences between Web-based CRM and on-premise CRM packages.

Web-based CRM is ideal for any business that wants to automate and enhance their mission-critical customer-facing processes, but doesn't have a large IT team or a huge technology budget. With Web-based CRM, all hardware and software required to support the application is housed at a remote, off-site location and supervised by a third-party service provider. The service provider will also oversee all the work associated with deployment and administration - including installation, integration, testing, and routine maintenance - and store and manage all application data.

Hence the Ondemand or web-based CRM’s are highly affordable, easy in deployment and they yield return on investment rapidly.

Oracle, Salesforce.com, Netsuite and RightNow provide on-demand or web-based CRM Solution.

On-premise CRM applications require all software and hardware components to be housed by the company that will be utilizing the solution at their own on-site location. The company's internal IT staff will be responsible for overseeing the installation, integrating the solution with other existing systems in the infrastructure, and managing the roll-out to end-users. They will also have to provide ongoing maintenance, such as upgrades.

There are a few reasons why companies choose on-premise CRM over Web-based CRM. Although they require a major upfront investment, on-premise CRM solutions can offer greater control and maximum flexibility. Any business that wants to keep a close eye on their customer relationship management application and its associated data should consider an on-premise CRM solution. Additionally, on-premise CRM applications offer more in-depth customization capabilities than Web-based CRM solutions, so they are better suited for companies that require extensive modifications in order to support unique business needs, activities, or process workflows.

Oracle, Microsoft and SAP provide On-Premise CRM Solutions

This is how the first dilemma for the Clients whether to choose On-Demand or On-Premise can get through.

The Top three CRM Vendors can be listed as following:

1. Oracle’s CRM2. Salesforce.com CRM3. Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Oracle is the only company which offers on-demand as well as on-premise CRM software. IT has all the core functionality of Sales Force automation, customer service and marketing management. It also provides customer care solution and web solutions which generally other vendors do not provide. Again its customer support and back-office is strong as it offers many ERP solutions. Moreover it has a huge client-base and satisfied customers all over the globe. Therefore it is clearly the best CRM Solution provider.

Salesforce.com was the first to introduce a new concept on CRM web-based with the concept as Software as a service. Though being a web-based solution it can be customized as per customer needs. Being a Web-based Solution, it is highly affordable and very well accepted across the globe. Its Sales force automation module is very strong but on the other hand its marketing module and customer service module offer a very limited functionality. Nevertheless a very good option for companies wanting instant return on investments and highly affordable.

Microsoft dynamics has recently gained huge popularity in recent years. It has provided a use of web 2.0 in its CRM solution which is very innovative. It is highly compatible with other Microsoft applications. Here also the Sales force automation is strong but not comparatively. Microsoft also lacks in customer service and marketing with its marketing module providing very limited use of marketing campaigns. Still it has a very reputed client base and with its continuous innovation will grow further.