The role of the CRM in digital transformation is not to be understated – its powerful analytics and customer-related features will always be a great addition to a business that is entering a new technological phase. However, from our two decades of experience, we have seen many businesses experience some problems with the CRM integration, be it high costs or bad planning.
That’s why, in this article, we would not only like to break down the key benefits of CRM and digital transformation, but also give actionable advice on the issues that you may encounter when modernizing your business environment.
What Is Digital Transformation?
Digital transformation is a fundamental process of strategically integrating technology into established business practices. The general objective is to restructure imperfect processes, improve customer experience, and enable future innovation.
Digital transformation can take place in a variety of ways with the help of many resources and technologies. There are more “traditional” ones such as cloud solutions, powerful data analytics tools, process automation software, and, of course, CRMs which we’ll talk about in great detail in the following sections. On the more advanced side, we also can’t overlook artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, as they often become the driving force behind trend forecasting, individualized customer service, and informed decision-making.
How A CRM Helps Digital Transformation?
In our experience, CRMs assist the digital transformation in the following areas:
- Data And Analytics
- Customer Interactions
- Tech Stack
- Social Media
Data And Analytics
First and foremost, a CRM has the keys to priceless customer insights, which is crucial for the purposes of data-driven digital transformation. CRMs record more than simply names and numbers; it also keeps track of preferences, past purchases, and interactions across several touchpoints, allowing you to make informed decisions. On top of that, CRM’s analytics features help businesses fine-tune marketing campaigns by highlighting behavioral trends, for instance, such as the times when clients make purchases most often.
Customer Interactions
Improving customer experiences is another crucial goal of digital transformation, and CRMs also emerge here as the definitive tools for individualized interactions. They gather data on various touchpoints, such as website visits and help requests, and provide a thorough customer profile. With that, businesses can customize interactions, for instance, by sending a post-purchase follow-up email with relevant product recommendations.
Tech Stack
Advanced CRMs are also great for improving your company’s overall tech stack – for example, analytics powered by AI can forecast future customer behavior, allowing you to be ahead of the competition. Another great tool is AI-powered chatbots that provide instant smart replies to customer queries – this greatly benefits the aforementioned customer service. Lastly, advanced automation CRM tools can speed up your routine processes like scheduling follow-ups and creating customized offers.
Social Media
Last but not least, you can combine the powerful features of CRM with your social media efforts. You’ll be able to analyze patterns, follow social interactions in real-time, and better understand the feedback that customers leave online. This understanding motivates more focused actions, whether it’s quickly resolving someone’s concern or, on the contrary, giving encouragement and saying thank you.
Key Benefits Of CRM Digital Transformation
As we reported in one of previous articles on the positives of CRM digital transformation, throughout dozens of cases our team has seen our clients benefit from the following:
- Enhanced Team Productivity
- Personalized Marketing
- Better Customer Service
- Improved Team Collaboration
- Data-Driven Decision Making
- Easier Lead Management
- Stronger Reporting And Analytics
Enhanced Team Productivity
You can achieve much higher output by your team with the use of CRMs as it can automate routine and otherwise time-consuming activities. For instance, the software can efficiently send follow-up emails following meetings and calls or automatically allocate leads to the appropriate salesperson. It’s also worth mentioning that this effectiveness increases total production by not just saving time but also eliminating the human error factor and remaining consistent.
Personalized Marketing
CRM-powered digital transformation opens many doors for customized promotions thanks to the huge amounts of rich data the software gathers. It reveals behaviors, purchase histories and preferences, according to which you can easily set up effective ad campaigns. This high degree of personalisation increases engagement, improves customer loyalty, and generates greater returns on marketing expenditures.
Better Customer Service
Another customer-centered perk, you can massively improve your customer service through the use of CRM as well. Agents can offer the most prompt and specialized service with the help of the data around past customer interactions, whilst automated ticketing systems will also facilitate quick responses to questions. Additionally, chatbots powered by AI can respond to common questions around-the-clock, improving your accessibility and customer satisfaction.
Improved Team Collaboration
In your digital transformation process, a CRM can also serve as the focal point for team collaboration. While many businesses struggle to align their sales and marketing department, you will ensure great teamwork with real-time data sharing and shared advanced analytics.
Data-Driven Decision Making
CRMs also facilitate the use of data-driven tactics. You can forecast trends, foresee client demands, and improve your products or services by studying vast amounts of past data – you only need to make sure that your staff is qualified to analyze all of it. For instance, you can examine which goods are returned most frequently or what the most common complaints are amongst customers.
Easier Lead Management
With regards to the purely operational matters, CRM serves as the lead management command center. It collects leads from multiple sources to make sure none go unnoticed and instructs the sales staff to give the most promising prospects priority through automated lead scoring, which gives values based on interaction. This way, sales teams can personalize their messages with a consolidated picture of leads’ interactions, resulting in quicker sales cycles and higher conversion rates.
Stronger Reporting And Analytics
Last, but not least, CRMs provide powerful real-time tracking and reporting of sales, marketing, and service operations. The data generated by the reports is not only insightful for all the departments, but is also presented in a very visual, intuitive way. With those, the team can easily monitor their sales progress and performance, making adjustments to the objectives along the way.
Navigating Challenges In CRM Digital Transformation
CRM digital transformation comes with its fair share of challenges, namely:
- Potentially High Costs
- Lack Of Strategy
- Lack Of Team Cohesion
- User Adoption Resistance
- Bad Data-Related Problems
- Data Security Issues
- Complex Integrations
Potentially High Costs
To handle the potential cost issue, make sure to create a thorough financial plan first. Determine the crucial features needed to satisfy your current company requirements and then decide on a phased implementation strategy, beginning with key elements and progressively extending it. Also pay close attention to ROI indicators, which compare the effects of increased customer engagement and revenue growth to the initial expenditure.
Lack Of Strategy
To avoid directionless efforts, start by aligning the CRM with your company goals and establish a precise implementation schedule that outlines important deadlines and dependencies. Naturally, you should also prepare for risk mitigation by anticipating probable failures. It’s also a good practice to designate a specific project manager to supervise implementation, review objectives’ progress on a regular basis, and adjust as necessary to stay on course.
Lack Of Team Cohesion
It’s not uncommon for departments to feel disjointed at times, which can be very destructive during the CRM digital transformation process. Proactive change management may eliminate that issue – include departmental representatives early in the CRM selection process to gather information and handle conflicts. Transparently explain the CRM’s advantages, emphasizing how it simplifies their work and fosters teamwork. Also try conducting training sessions for particular user roles to ensure that they are comfortable using the new system.
User Adoption Resistance
Developing on the previous point, you may face serious resistance when trying to impose change, even if it’s positive. To combat that, give the CRM interface’s usability and simplicity top priority. Make sure to encourage people to provide feedback so they can discuss problems and ideas for fixing them; and update the CRM depending on that user feedback.
Bad Data-Related Problems
An area of your business that is dependent on data cannot afford bad quality of that data – thorough data audits are an absolute necessity as your first step in CRM in digital transformation. Find any duplicate, out-of-date, or incomplete records and fix them; also implement strict and universal data validation rules and procedures. On top of that, establish a data governance policy and routinely evaluate data quality indicators to guarantee consistent cleanliness.
Data Security Issues
Another data-related challenge, this time dealing with data security – which is crucial for preserving client confidence. Make sure to choose a CRM provider with strong security protocols and compliance accreditations. And to protect sensitive information on your side, use encryption, multi-factor authentication, and access limits. Lastly, don’t forget to conduct routine security audits to spot weaknesses and quickly remedy any issues.
Complex Integrations
Lastly, we should mention integrations that can be especially challenging if they are complex. Remember to begin with only the very essential integrations that you need for smooth operations and prioritize them depending on their financial effect. On the technical side, to make integration efforts simpler, make use of the pre-built connectors and APIs provided by your CRM provider. And don’t miss out on testing to catch problems early and guarantee continuing dependability.
Future Outlook: Trends In CRM And Digital Transformation
As we’re approaching the second half of the decade, we’re seeing more and more advanced tools integrated into CRMs. Some of the most prominents ones to look out for are:
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Internet Of Things (IoT)
- Voice And Conversational UI
- Mobile And Social CRM
- Self-Service CRMs
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
True AI-driven CRMs are getting closer and closer to becoming a reality, which might revolutionize predictive analytics and customer insights. That said, a lot of work around effective data management is needed to fully realize its potential – CRMs must be integrated with data sources from several touchpoints in order to create precise customer profiles. With AI and machine learning algorithms, businesses will find trends in client behavior, which enables accurate suggestions and personalized interactions. AI also supports sentiment analysis, giving teams the tools they need to proactively address unfavorable customer feedback and create positive customer experiences.
Internet Of Things (IoT)
The CRM’s incorporation of IoT can also provide powerful real-time insights into customer behavior. Naturally, it will require a lot of planning – businesses will need to invest in scalable and secure data infrastructure to ensure the smooth transfer of data from IoT devices to the CRM platform. For instance, a retailer can use IoT devices to track consumers’ in-store activities and personalize marketing messaging to appeal to their preferences, but this will only work if the network is set up properly.
Voice And Conversational UI
On the customer side, the way they connect with businesses is also changing as a result of voice technologies and conversational user interfaces. Voice assistants or chatbots can be integrated into CRM systems with great success – as an example, you can create a large database of commonly asked questions and teach chatbots to answer client enquiries. To do that, considerable investments in Natural Language Processing (NLP) capabilities will have to be made.
Mobile And Social CRM
Given the widespread use of mobile devices, mobile and social CRM is also going to become more and more relevant. That’s why creating CRM interfaces that are mobile-responsive and offer consistent user experiences across devices has been a useful strategy for while now and will continue to be that. And with regards to the social aspect, more businesses will be tracking and analyzing customer engagement and feedback by integrating social media interactions into the CRM.
Self-Service CRMs
The rise of technology also encouraged people to solve their problems without external help. That’s why it is and will be important to invest in self-service tools that provide customers the freedom to find answers on their own. Businesses will want to develop an extensive knowledge base that answers typical client issues and incorporate chatbots that can provide precise responses to those issues.
OMI – CRM Digital Transformation Partners
The OMI team has been at the forefront of software implementation and business intelligence for more than two decades now, being founded in 1997. Even before such CRM giants as Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics were introduced, our team had already made our reputation as one of the top IT consulting firms in the US.
And since then, we’ve become one of the best CRM digital transformation teams (you can learn more about our value proposition here). We’re an official Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics partner and our team members are certified, seasoned, well-trained professionals that have made possible many success stories.
And on top of our know-how, we also know how to be your people. We’ve always taken pride in our communication and how efficiently we deal with potential issues and problematic situations together with our clients. Don’t believe us? Get in touch with us and see for yourself!
Conclusion
CRM and digital transformation go hand in hand – the CRM system, if integrated correctly, can raise your business’ analytics, tech stack, customer and social media interactions to the next level. As for specific benefits, some of the most prominent are enhanced team productivity, better customer service as well as more informed decision-making in sales and marketing.
Of course, any new technology that is being introduced into a business will cause some trouble – high costs, discord in the team, data security flaws are all a possibility. At the same time, you can minimize the risks associated with those issues by getting in touch with a team of CRM digital transformation partners like OMI.