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CRM Software – Its Many Benefits for Businesses of any Size

Emily — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:16:50 +0000

What is CRM?

Customer relationship management (CRM) is described as a software technology and in general a business strategy that enables business companies, whether big or small, to easily and effectively manage their sales leads, orders, accounts and case management. The benefits of using CRM software include increased revenue from managing orders and accounts in an efficient manner, more satisfied customers and decreased costs due to less administrative tracking time as well as even better turnaround time.

For business companies to achieve the best results, they would have to proficiently train their staff and should they have their own IT departments, they must integrate CRM onto their current hardware and software technologies.

CRM software can either be licensed or hosted. This means that a business company can either opt to buy the license for a CRM software and run it themselves, or they can lease a CRM software, and have that company be accountable for monthly maintenance and training for staff.

What benefits do I get from using CRM software if I have a large, medium, or small enterprise business?

Small Small Businesses (SSB) and Small Office, Home Office (SOHO) – Before, the smallest businesses utilized Microsoft Outlook for basic customer contact information and users shared a centralized contact list. Now, thanks to web-based CRM software, the productivity of a small company’s sales team can still increase. This means that more revenue can still be earned even if there are fewer salespeople present. Due to the fact that SSBs and SOHOs have small staff sizes and service-based businesses, they have to maximize their time with a CRM software that aims to target customers to buy their products and services. CRM software helps growing businesses by means of organizing customer data by their initial lead, to the sale and also on any ongoing follow-up service or support. The software can also access activity reports, generate labels for mailings and even let the user to easily update customer information.
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Small Business Enterprises (SBE) and Small/Medium Enterprises (SME) – Due to the fact that serving and taking good care of already existing customers is always more profitable rather than spending resources for new ones, CRM software aids small and medium-sized businesses to locate and manage potential opportunities such as phone calls, sales leads, and report generation. CRM helps small businesses to be updated on customer needs and trends, while portraying itself like a large business that can operate 24/7. There are CRM packages that can provide an automated, self-help program that answers customers’ questions even outside of normal business operating hours.
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Large business enterprises – Rather large companies truly need CRM software that integrate sales force management, customer service management and IT management into their CRM package. For example, customer service CRM aids large companies to keep track of extensive customer databases so that the customer service support staff can easily and quickly find accounts, track and analyze orders as well as track helpdesk tickets so customers’ questions get answered. Generally, large companies opt to purchase a license so that they can customize their CRM software into their IT systems.

Where can I find web-based CRM software?

Web-Based-Software.com is a directory of web-based CRM software, which has been around since 2001. Customer service tools such as CRMs, help desks and call centers are used to improve services provided directly to customers. Furthermore, information gathered by those systems can be utilized for targeted marketing and sales purposes.

What examples of web-based CRM software do they offer?

There are many web-based CRM software you can find there. Some examples are:

Freshdesk – an online help desk software as well as customer support software that allows you to support customers over e-mail, phone, the web or through social networking sites such as Twitter and even your company’s Facebook page.

LiveChat Chat Server – lets you provide Internet chat on your website. Create Internet communities, gain another communication channel and arrange specialists/celebrities events.

MyB2B – Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the process of sending and receiving electronic business documents between companies. MyB2B is a web-based software for easy EDI compliance with your customers. It improves customer service by means of making electronic purchase orders, invoices and advance ship notices.

innkeyCRS – an integrated property management system that provides a complete solution to the hotel operations of any level. It is a great CRM tool and customer service software.

Conclusion

CRM software is basically used as a smart move for any sized business in order for them to stay competitive. Keep in mind that CRM software is mainly employed as a clever business strategy that must support, improve and develop the customer relationship by means of giving your sales team and others in your business access to essential information so that they can perform with purpose and in the easiest and quickest approach possible.

CRM software must be used as a part of your business goal to continuously improve the relationships with your sales team and everyone else involved in your business, especially your valued customers.
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Google Zeitgeist 2011: Year In Review

Klaus — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:25:47 +0000

See how people searched Google in 2011…

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Steve Jobs tried to buy Dropbox in 2009

Klaus — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 11:17:18 +0000

According to Forbes, Steve Jobs invited Dropbox founders Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowski on a visit back in 2009, where Steve surprised them with a very generous offer to purchase Dropbox. It is rumored that Steve Jobs was willing to pay a nine digit-digit price.

At that time, Dropbox had only existed for two years and wasn’t as well-known around the world, as it is today. Steve recommended Drew and Arash to sell Dropbox to them, as Apple would soon be launching a competing service.

Drew and Arash turned down the offer and today Dropbox has almost 50 million users worldwide, who saves a billion files every 3 days.

Meanwhile, Apple has introduced their Dropbox competitor – iCloud, which has some advantages and disadvantages compared to Dropbox. But iCloud is not Dropbox’s only competitor these days, there are plenty of other similar services, for example box.net. However, Dropbox doesn’t just sit back and wait. Dropbox recently raised a whopping $250 million from investors and their company is now valued at $4 billion. They are also planning on moving to bigger offices where they will have room for 200 employees, compared to the just 70 employees they have now, in their San Francisco based office.

It is estimated that 96% of Dropbox users are Free users who signs up for the free 2GB plan, and the last 4% of their users are paying $10-$20 a month for extra storage space. Apparently that’s enough to make Dropbox a good business, especially because thousands of those 96% free subscribers throw in so much data each day, that they upgrade to a paid plan. Even if Dropbox doesn’t sign up a single customer in 2012, their sales will still double.

Dropbox may very well be a feature, not a product, as Steve Jobs said to the Dropbox founders, and as Forbes wrote in another recent article on how Dropbox will die – and if so, I can only say that it’s a very good feature, and free

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Apple Ahead in US Patent Case

Guest Author — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 15:42:18 +0000

A US judge has made an initial ruling in favour of Apple in their attempt to take legal action against HTC for patent infringement. The verdict, which came from ITC administrative law judge Carl Charneski, is not final but is a good sign for Apple and their lawsuit that has been pending since mid-2010. If it holds, the ruling will mean that HTC will no longer be able to sell their handsets in the lucrative US market, a huge blow for Android.

The lawsuit between the makers of the most advanced smartphones on the market is over technology that is almost twenty years old. In 1994 Apple filed a patent for a “real-time signal processing system”, which is debated to be fundamental technology used across a wide range of smartphones. If HTC had to alter how their phones use this technology, they would have to rebuild a sizable piece of the mobile phone from the ground up in ways that hitherto have yet to enter human imagination.

The other patent that is causing trouble was also from over a decade ago. Filed in 1996, Apple owns the rights to the Linkify function, which scans emails, text messages and other written communication for addresses, phone numbers, internet links, etc., and turns them into clickable actions allowing users to map directions, make phone calls, or visit a website straight from the message without having to write anything down. This is a big functionality piece for both Apple and HTC and the loss of the function would be a big hit to the Taiwanese mobile phone maker.

Of course, HTC will be appealing the decision. “We are highly confident we have a strong case for the ITC appeals process and are fully prepared to defend ourselves using all means possible,” stated Grace Lei, the general legal counsel for HTC.

What’s more, fellow Android makers are coming alongside HTC to challenge the legitimacy of some of the Apple patents. Motorola, another of the world’s biggest Android makers, has approached the ITC about disbanding a dozen of Apple’s technology patents on the grounds of prior art. HTC has also filed a countersuit stating that Apple has violated five patents that HTC own; they have asked that the ITC halt the importation and sale of the iPhone 4 and iPad within the US borders. An initial ruling is yet to be made on these claims.

Guest article written by: Leanne Miller, www.playittoday.org.

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Forget the Five?

Guest Author — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 16:43:41 +0000

Our hopes were high. Everyone was ready to bust down the doors of Apple and purchase a shiny new iPhone 5. We were chomping at the bit for information from the exclusive “Let’s Talk iPhone” event.

We settled for reading about what was happening at the event instead of watching it. Then, after talking about everything Apple but the iPhone, Phil Schiller announces, “I’m really pleased to tell you today about the brand new iPhone 4S.”

And everybody goes, “WHAT? 4S? Where’s our iPhone 5?”

There wasn’t one.

What Can the 4S Do?

The truth is the 4S can do everything we thought we were going to get with the iPhone 5, plus some.

The 4S comes with the new operating system, the iOS5, equipped with Apple’s iCloud, a service built off of the cloud computing principle. With iCloud, users no long have to worry about syncing all their Apple products with their latest finds in music or movies or worry about transferring information and documents between five different gadgets.

The 4S also features the A5 processing chip, which is twice as fast as the iPhone 4′s chip and has a dual-core graphics card that works seven times faster. The battery life of the 4S can sustain amazing feats of endurance, by running eight hours of talking on 3G coverage, 14 hours on 2G, six hours of web browsing with a 3G connection and nine on a WiFi connection, 10 hours of video and 40 hours of music. Will the next iPhone even need to be charged?

The new wireless system features better call quality, an upgrade that has been surprisingly a long time in the works for a phone — a gadget that’s supposed to make calls before anything else.

Apple also chose to ramp up the phone with the 4S, making it high enough quality to compete with some point-and-shoot cameras. The 8-megapixel camera can take pictures at a speedy rate of 1.1 seconds for one picture and a half-second for the second. Other phones can take almost six seconds to take two pictures by which point, the moment is probably gone.

And now for the “plus more”: Siri. Apple’s new feature, Siri, is basically a way for your iPhone to be even more convenient. Siri responds to your voice commands or questions and is able to tell you the weather, set alarms, tell you the time in Singapore, schedule appointments, check stock prices and tell you where to eat dinner. With technology like that, who even needs to think?

Cost? Release Date?

The 4S is available in black and white for preorder on October 7th, with a release date of October 14th. You can expect to pay $199 for the 16GB, $299 for the 32GB and $399 for the 64GB. That is, if you’re able to get over the disappointment of not having the iPhone 5.

The question is, will people be able to get over the disappointment? Can we overlook the fact that we didn’t get what we were expecting and accept that the 4S does everything we were expecting without that pesky little number five at the end?

Thanks to Will for submitting this guest article, one of our many external authors here on TechPatio.com.

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BlackBerry Curve 9360 – Popular with the Young

Klaus — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 09:32:44 +0000

The BlackBerry Curve 9360 will be a winner with those in the youth market for a number of reasons. BlackBerry is set to release the phone come the end of September and is orientating the device to be used with the youth market. The phone comes in at a mid range price and is substantially cheaper than the likes of the Torch 9810 and the Bold 9900, though offers many of the same features.

The phone is very attractive, dare we say more attractive than the other devices in the BlackBerry group. These attractive looks mean the phone is definitely set up for the narcissistic youth market. The phone comes in at a quite slim 11mm thick which is very slim for a BlackBerry. It also has curved edges which make it seem smaller than it actually is, and metallic edges which ensure the device looks good. The phone comes with a 2.44 inch screen which is not touch capacitive. However it does have the usual BlackBerry track pad.

The Curve 9360 has BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) which means that people can send messages to another BlackBerry phone for free. The Curve 9360 is a definite winner for those who don’t have credit or money to send a message. This is also great for staying touch.

The keyboard of the BlackBerry is ideal for this and feels as though it is made from quality components. The phone really comes together for sending messages because of this. The BlackBerry OS7 is the latest BlackBerry operating system and is a huge improvement on the previous BlackBerry OS6 – it is also the operating system used in the higher end Torch and Bold models which will give it some sway with the mid range phone market.

The device comes with a 5mp camera that is capable of 720p recording and is the same as the one in the Bold and the Torch phones. This camera is great for sharing on social networks and the 800MHz processor is fast enough to deal with shutter speeds and to ensure the phone is an adequate phone for using apps on and multitasking with.

The lack of apps on the BlackBerry app store however may be a put off for people who enjoy downloading the latest applications for their phone. However, the Curve 9360 offers the best BlackBerry features including the new OS in a much more affordable phone contract package than the higher end Torch and Bold devices, and may prove to be very popular with younger BlackBerry lovers.

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World of Tab meets photographer Fatsarazzi – Samsung Galaxy Tab

Klaus — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 08:10:52 +0000

The Samsung Galaxy Tab has arrived and will be launched in stores all across the UK this month. With this, Samsung has launched the “World of Tab” at www.youtube.com/samsunguk where you can find videos on unboxing, reviews, and personal stories. You can also view their Facebook account at www.facebook.com/samsunguk

In one of the videos (view it at the end of this article), you will find the famous online personality, photographer and blogger Fatsarazzi who talks about the Samsung Galaxy Tab. In his video, he talks about how he loves taking pictures of subcultures wherein he emphasizes how his pictures can make you feel as if you were there with his subjects. He also talks about the different types of cameras he uses for photography based on mood, and how he enjoys blending analog methods with digital.

In the middle of the video, Fatsarazzi talks about the Galaxy Tab. He mentions how much he is amazed with the quality of the camera as well as the entire tablet itself. He says he likes the large screen of the unit and how you can use it to interact with the people you know and pass it along as if you were showing them an 8 x 10 picture. He said it is a technology which you could take with you and show people where you have been. The best part about the Galaxy Tab, he mentions, is that you can download different programs which you could use to edit pictures and add different effects all at the touch of a button. He even boldly says that the Samsung Galaxy Tab is good enough that he could actually do a whole show just using the unit.

Upon watching the video, you’ll have an idea how amazing the Samsung Galaxy Tab is just by the reaction of Fatsarazzi on his experience with the unit. The truth is, the Galaxy Tab is really amazing as it uses Android Honeycomb powered by an Intel XMM6260 with 1GB of memory and 16/32/64GB ROM. Samsung has even equipped their tablet with a 3-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 2-megapixel camera up front that allows you to shoot crisp and quality images. It also features “Touchwiz 4.0” that ensures fingertip multitasking is both fast and easy, and the “Samsung Hub” which will immerse you with endless entertainment. In other words, the Samsung Galaxy Tab is fully equipped to revolutionize your world of entertainment and communication.

Sponsored Post

Viral video by ebuzzing
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Tim Cook – Apple’s CEO replacement for Steve Jobs

Klaus — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 00:02:11 +0000

Tim Cook - new Apple CEO as of August 2011

Yesterday Steve Jobs decided to step down as CEO for Apple, after health issues for quite a while. He does remain a member of the board though, so hopefully his ideas will remain within Apple.

His replacement, Tim Cook, has already been running Apple for the past 6 months or something while Steve Jobs was away on sick leave, and he did it once or twice in the past as well, so he’s not a stranger to how Apple works.

There’s no question that Apple is a very strong brand and Steve Jobs had a huge impact on where Apple is today as a brand and company, but Apple itself as a brand – and not only Steve Jobs, has also grown so big that experts believe Apple’s image will not suffer due to Steve Jobs leaving the CEO position.

And to be honest, not that many of the average Apple users even know who Steve Jobs is, I’ll bet on that. The fact that you’re reading this, probably means that you know who he is – but those who just use an iPod/iPhone or bought a Mac because they like it or had it recommended, I’m sure they haven’t got a clue about who Steve Jobs is – and especially not about Tim Cook either, for that matter.

I honestly have no idea if we’ll see Steve Jobs on the stage when presenting iPhone 5, or Tim Cook, but I somehow doubt it will be Steve Jobs. On one hand, it would be pretty cool as a “final keynote” – if his health is up for it. I don’t know how Tim Cook is on a stage, but he certainly shouldn’t try to be the new Steve Jobs. Nobody can do a better Steve Jobs than Steve himself, so if Tim tries that, he’s in for a wild ride – and not one of the good ones. Tim Cook needs to show his own personality and not take on the one of Steve Jobs.

… and does this mean the end of “one more thing”? I think so, unless Steve Jobs takes the stage one last time.

Speaking of iPhone 5, even though nobody seems to know when it’s out, Vodafone Australia has already started promoting future plans in some channels, click here for iPhone 5 plans if you’re based in Australia, even though their website actually still mentions the current iPhone 4. But it’s just a matter of time now, many people are expecting iPhone 5 to come around within a few months. Let’s hope.

All there’s left to say to Steve Jobs now is “so long and thanks for all the fish” – and we congratulate Tim Cook with officially being announced CEO of Apple. Rock on, Tim!

Steve Jobs - from back when he looked more healthy

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Apple’s new “spaceship” HQ in Cupertino

Klaus — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 15:39:49 +0000

The development proposal for Apple’s new HQ, Apple Campus 2, has now been published on Cupertino’s website.

The project has not yet been approved by the city of Cupertino, but Apple is expecting to create new workspaces with their new Apple Campus 2, so Cupertino will probably not have any problems in approving the plans.

Apple Campus 2 will be built on land that used to belong to HP. It will be a 4 story building with a total of 260,129 square meters.

It will house 13,000 employees and the auditorium will fit 1,000 seats. It also comes with its own fitness gym, parking spaces and some kind of power plant which will be environmental friendly.

Several public roads will have to be changed and 3,400 trees must go – but Apple will plant 6,000 new trees on the area. The inner circle of the spaceship will become a park, though it won’t be public – so Apple employees only!

The “spaceship” was designed by Norman Foster and it is expected to be finished mid-2015.
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Microsoft warns against using Gmail from Google

Klaus — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 09:24:52 +0000

In a weird advertisement from Microsoft (for their new Office 365), they warn users against using Google’s free e-mail solution, Gmail.

Probably all Gmail users have noticed ads when you’re using the free web-based version of Gmail, but not all might know that the ads are actually based on the content of your e-mails. Google is looking for keywords within your e-mails and is displaying relevant ads to you, hoping you would click on them (which makes Google a bit richer each time you do).

On one side, sure, I’d probably prefer to see ads that are relevant to me. I don’t care about cats so I don’t need to see ads for fantastic cat foods, they’ll probably annoy me more than seeing an ad about something I care more about. On the other side, it is kinda creepy that your e-mail is being indexed like that, and used to show you ads.

Below is the Office 365 advertisement from Microsoft, featuring “Gmail-man” who skims through peoples mail.

While “Gmail skimming your e-mail” is not exactly breaking news (or news at all), I still think it’s relevant to make sure people are aware that even if it looks free to use their service(s), you’re paying with your personal information instead. Personally, I don’t care (yet), but maybe eventually it becomes too much and I’d rather start paying for ad-free services elsewhere. What about you? Leave a comment below!

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