NAME – RUTIK GAVAND

CLASS – TYBMS
DIVISION – B [MARKETING]
ROLL NO. – 7581
SUBJECT – CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT [CRM]
 1. CRM TRENDS

1. Voice and Conversational UI

Customer service expert and speaker Shep Hyken said, “The future is now!” According to
Hyken, we’re starting to see IVA (intelligent virtual agents) that are almost indistinguishable
from live agents We’ll see chatbots moving from text to voice. They will look at the customer’s
CRM record and communicate relevant information.

So, what can we expect?

• Future CRM strategies will include tracking comments, likes and shares in a central
place, offering insights into long-term social media trends and behavioural patterns of
customers for future marketing campaigns.
• Machines will recognize when customers don’t get the answers they’re looking for and
move them seamlessly to a live agent or salesperson.
• CRM platforms must also offer voice technology with AI and machine learning to
provide both data and insights.
• Thanks to products like Alexa, voice assistants aren’t really new, and none can deny
their popularity. Forecasts suggest that by 2024, the number of digital voice assistants
will reach 8.4 billion units, a number higher than the world’s population. Moreover, the
industry leaders are optimistic about voice AI evolving as a key trend.

• What we’re seeing is that trend overlapping into the CRM world. A number of products,
such as Zoho CRM, already have voice assistant functionality in place, and according
to Chan, advanced tools coming in the future will allow “CRM users to dictate their
commands rather than manually typing in the requested information.” AI will also
enable actions like recording voice meetings, creating transcripts and identifying topics
or words that have a specific meaning, Chan said.

2. Artificial Intelligence
The possibilities are nearly endless when it comes to applying AI in CRM, and the market is
huge. A study mentioned by Statista shows the global explainable artificial intelligence (XAI)
market was valued at $3.5 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach $21 billion by 2030.

AI integration with CRM is the most prominent advancement poised to influence the industry,
according to Hyken. “AI will be able to summarize the most important attributes to a
customer’s relationship with the company. A salesperson or customer support agent will be
able to see a summary of the customer’s buying patterns, interactions, and more.” AI should
make suggestions on how to improve the customer service as well as cross-sell or upsell
products and services that the customer actually needs, he added. The AI Reality

Like any trend, AI has shortcomings. Hyken points out one of the potential downfalls: AI can
negatively impact customer experience. “Companies are becoming enamoured with
technology, and as a result, they get excited about it and think it’s the answer,” he said. “What
actually ends up happening is technology puts distance between the customer and the company
as far as the connection that would cause a customer to want to come back again.”

However, if used properly, Hyken said that AI has a lot to offer:

AI will help make our employees smarter. Integration with our CRM solution will help us
answer our customers’ questions better, make better recommendations, proactively answer
questions they haven’t yet thought of and more. The ability to support our customers and
personalize their experience will be better and more powerful than ever.”

Business consultant and IT specialist David Dozer said AI and RPA are becoming a major
focus of software developers and poised to be the dominant trend in the industry over the next
few years. However, widespread use is still on the horizon.

A lot of vendors have started to talk about them and use the acronyms as buzzwords in
marketing materials. Right now, there aren’t very many solutions that are using either to their
full potential, but that will absolutely change in the near future. In the coming years, we should
start to really see these concepts utilized.”

While a lot of hype surrounds AI, companies need to temper their enthusiasm over new
technology with an understanding of its impact internally and externally, as well as realistic
expectations of what software is capable of today. This will allow technology to become the
catalyst for achieving the ultimate goal: serving the customer.

3. Internet of Things
There were 8.74 billion connected IoT devices in 2020, and the number is expected to reach
more than 25.4 billion in 2030. According to experts, IoT will continue to make significant
improvements in customer relationship management. There’s no doubt that advanced CRM
systems will take advantage of this trend by connecting to IoT feeds — right from smart home
devices to wearable health monitors and cybersecurity scanners. IoT integrated CRMs can
provide insights on customer behaviour that you can leverage to improve customer service and

create more personalized marketing campaigns. Companies can also proactively detect product
performance issues and identify potential problems with customer satisfaction. CRM systems
are beginning to incorporate connections to IoT feeds, Chan said. IoT will be a significant
advancement in the CRM market, as it will improve system performance and increase sales.
He predicted, “IoT devices can send data about product issues, maintenance needs and
improper usage to an organization’s CRM platform.”

4. Mobile and Social CRM

Mobility has long been a central component of sales activities. An Aberdeen Group study from
back in 2012 was already highlighting the importance of extending CRM systems beyond the
confines of the office. But that doesn’t mean mobility is a bygone trend. Advancements in
mobile technology and customers’ increasing need for constant connectivity show why CRM
platforms must provide more mobile functionalities.

Mobile CRM solutions have a lot to offer:

• Strong security features

• Intuitive interfaces
• Apps that work across platforms
• The transition between online and offline environments with ease
With the prevalence of social media, social CRM, too, has become a necessity. Customers can
share their experience about a particular brand anytime with anybody. Hence, being a big name
in the industry is not enough; it’s important to build a personal and authentic connection with
your customers. And this is exactly why CRM software with behaviour tracking capabilities is
in demand. Incorporating social media channels within platforms allows sales teams to be in
touch with customers and share real-time brand updates. Many CRM systems today integrate
with Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, but future platforms may offer integrations with other
platforms as well. The importance of incorporating social networks into CRM tools and
strategies is indisputable. Right from offering significant insights to performing as listening
mediums, social media has become integral to CRM activities. Taken a step further, social
CRM also facilitates better customer service.

5. Customer Experience
Today, businesses revolve around their customers more than ever, making customer experience
(CX) a vital brand differentiator. In 2021, 44.5% of organizations across the globe revealed
that they perceive CX as a primary competitive factor. People go where the best experience
takes them, even more so in this post-pandemic era. 50% of U.S. consumers say that after
COVID-19, they prioritize customer service more than before when choosing to do business
with a brand, 80% of them feel emotionally connected if service reps can solve their problems,
and 30% are willing to pay more for excellent customer service. Shep Hyken identified two
drivers of an exceptional experience: convenience and competition. Hyken said that when it
comes to CX, convenience is king. “The company that’s easiest to do business with is
ultimately going to win.” Hence, the most successful CRM systems of the future will have an
interface that focuses on ease of use, making data easier to access and analyse. We may also
see the use of CRM features for convenient communication between sales and customer service
agents and customers. These systems will provide content that meets customer needs, ensuring
focused targeting and intelligent segmentation Companies also need to realize their direct
competition isn’t the only competition. In the world of CX, Hyken explained, people don’t
have different buckets for different companies — e.g., their experience with a B2B
manufacturer vs. a luxury retailer.

6. Self-Service CRM
With automation becoming synonymous with CRM, bots are completing more contact
management tasks and saving time for team members. Chatbots available in platforms
like Drift and HubSpot automatically guide prospects through marketing and sales pipelines.
With self-service, customers can set up accounts, pay bills, troubleshoot problems and get
answers to their queries faster without the help of a service rep. Hence, customer self-service
CRM (CSS) is something you should include in your 2022 customer service strategy and even
more so because it’s straightforward to implement.

From a business perspective, CRM is starting to evolve and that means less about just capturing
interactions and customer touches, or logging support calls. More and more customers want to
be able to find the things they need without the assistance of an actual person. This means that
companies are investing more in self-service customer portals and systems that give clients the
tools they need to do things like look up and pay outstanding invoices, find documentation
about products and log support issues. In order to support [self-service], it’s important that the
CRM system be tightly coupled (or a part of) the back-office ERP system. This level of self-
service requires data from multiple functional areas to be available to the CRM.
 2. CRM CHALLENGES

1. Cost

One of the greatest challenges businesses face when implementing a CRM solution is cost.
Yes, it might turn out as a costly affair if done in haste and without a robust planning. Here, it
is advisable to decide as why your business needs a CRM. This should give out a clear picture
about the type of CRM implementation techniques required eventually helping to set a budget
for the same. So simply diving in imitating your competitor’s CRM strategies is a lot like
shooting in the dark that might lead to total disaster. So it is always a sound thing to discuss
the total cost of ownership, IT resources, hardware or software, etc. with all the shortlisted
CRM providers.

2. Set Clear Objectives

Defining clear objectives that a business intends to achieve with the system is one of the secrets
for a smooth and successful CRM implementation. Further, it is advisable to work towards
making these objectives as measurable metrics. Failing to do so might make it difficult to
evaluate the ROI or core benefits of the system. Next, it’s time to reckon on the functionalities
you expect from the system. For this, ask yourself: do you intend to have it for sales, marketing,
customer service or all of them? What problems you aim to address with the system? Having
a clear idea about the objectives and key functionalities required in the system is a crucial step
towards seamless CRM implementation.

3. Deployment Type

This is all about on-premise vs. cloud! A perfect escape plan here is to compare the set budget
vs. the total cost of ownership that should include cost for all the resources required,
maintenance, upgrades, infrastructure, etc. before making up your mind of whether to go for
on-premise or cloud. This further boils down to business preferences, type of industry the
business operates in, etc. Form a dedicated CRM team within the organization including people
from top management, IT department, senior executives, customer support and end-users to
discuss about their daily struggles, reasons leading to inefficiencies in their work, suggestions
to boost productivity, etc. This should give a good picture about the type of deployment type
best suited for your business.
4. Training

Another widely encountered challenge during CRM implementation is the company-wide

training it summons up. This calls for involving all the potential users right from the early
stages itself. In fact, if possible it is good to involve all the would-be users of the system right
from the decision-making process. Pick key personnel from each department, who can be
trained extensively. Eureka is these personnel turning evangelists of the newly rolled-out CRM
system, which helps significantly to educate their fellow team members.

5. Plan out Integration Needs in Advance

Integrating CRM system with other business management solutions such as ERP, payroll, etc.
tops the ‘wish list’ for most of the businesses opting for CRM implementation. Nonetheless, it
is advisable to plan integration needs if any well beforehand to avoid CRM implementation
overkill and information overload to your employees. A smart thing here is to plan a phase 2
for integration needs post company-wide adoption of the CRM system.

6. Hire the Right CRM Solution Provider

Roping in the right CRM solution provider or partner is the crux for successful implementation.
Preferably, go with a partner that helps in both implementation as well as pre-implementation
strategy. Moreover, it is imperative that your partner puts down all the implementation risks
on the table well before you sign on the dotted line.

RM Implementation is an important and a crucial step in the CRM buying process. It is a make
or a break situation where it can totally go kaput or be seamless. It is in this stage too that all
the data is migrated to the new platform and since the data is of a crucial nature, utmost care
needs to be taken during the migration. To have a successful implementation we must plan in
advance as how our implementation can be smooth and successful. For most it may be the first
time that CRM is being implemented in their premise, hence, we have compiled some actions
that can be taken to get rid of any blunder to happen. Let’s see the same one by one.
 3. CRM OPPORTUNITIES

Every business generates leads. However, leads don't bring in revenue, deals do. You generate
leads, nurture them, and convert them when they show an interest in purchasing your products
or service.
The crucial stage between identifying a lead and closing or losing a deal is your "opportunity".
You get to introduce your product and get your prospect to make a purchase. Your sales team
likely puts a substantial amount of effort in interacting with the right people, involving
stakeholders, making presentations, and showcasing demos to help them make that purchasing
decision.
Opportunities are precious to your business, and they can boost your bottom line easily if
handled the right way. You need to ensure you are managing your opportunities effectively,
and that your teams are equipped with the right set of tools to get the most out of every single
one of them.

Prioritize
A good opportunity management tool will help you prioritize your opportunities and focus on
the best ones, using data driven predictions.

Track goals and progress

Understand the history of a specific opportunity, and the next steps you need to take to win it.

Complete picture
Get a 360-degree view of everything related to a particular opportunity. See every interaction,
activity, and stakeholder involved to make informed decisions.

Optimize your process

Standardize your process, and ensure everyone understands what needs to be done to push your
opportunities forward.

Boost productivity
Using collaborative functionalities, help your team operate more efficiently and streamline
their sales process.
A CRM is an indispensable tool for a modern sales team looking to build long-lasting customer
relationships. Most CRMs come with the ability to plan and manage your opportunities,
helping you effectively manage your sales opportunities, and provide your team with the
necessary context and information to convert these opportunities into revenue.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

https://www.selecthub.com/customer-relationship-management/crm-
trends/
https://www.sagesoftware.co.in/blogs/top-challenges-in-crm-
implementation/
https://www.zoho.com/crm/opportunity-management.html