What is CRM and Where to Find Web-Based CRM Software?

Web-based CRM software (the abbreviation for Customer Relationship Management software) is a corporate informational system, designed for the automatization of company's CRM strategy, particularly, for the increase of sales amounts, marketing optimization and the improvement of clients servicing by a preservation of information about their clients, the history of their interrelations, by the establishment ant improvement of business-procedures and further analysis of the results.

The basic principles of web-based CRM software include:

1. The availability of single information storage; the stored information about the last and the future cooperation with clients should be accessible at any moment.
2. The use of all channels of cooperation. Earlier by the channels they meant telephone calls, e-mails, meetings\events. With the active development of web technologies there appeared other communications channels - register forms on web-sites, advertising references, the systems of corporative web-chat, etc.
3. Constant analysis of collected information about clients and the preparation of data for the approval of appropriate organizing decisions - for example, segmentation of clients, based on their importance for the company.

This approach implies, that in any cooperation with the client on any channel a company's worker has an access to the full information about all the interrelations with this client and the decisions are made on the basis of this information (information about the decisions is also preserved).

Web-based CRM software - is a model of cooperation, believed that the core of all the business philosophy is a client, and the main activities are the measures that are directed to provide the support of effective marketing, selling and clients servicing.

The support of these business aims include collection, keeping and analysis of information about consumers, suppliers, partners and also about inner processes in the company. Functions for the support of these business aims include selling, marketing, clients support, quality management, education and upgrading of company's stuff, recruitment and personnel development, the control of personnel motivation. The technologies for the support of CRM model should be a part of common clients-orientated strategy of the company.

Often companies install only CRM systems, not changing business-processes and principles of operation. It should be pointed out that any CRM-system is only an instrument and doesn't allow implementing CRM model without building common clients-orientated strategy of the company.

In recent years a wide-spread CRM systems, based on SaaS principles, became popular all over the world. They remove the restrictions for the geographically-distributed companies.

Software as a service (SaaS) is a business model of software selling in which the supplier designs web-based application and manages it independently, providing his customers with the access to this application via the Internet. The main advantage of SaaS model for the customer consists in the absence of expenses, connected with the installment, updating and support of equipment's and software functionality.

The means of CRM-strategy automatization (software applications) allow increasing the effectiveness of interrelations management and represent all infrastructures necessary for this.

The access to the Web-based CRM software is carried out with the help of a browser. This variant has both advantages and disadvantages:

+ The access can be carried out from any computer; the installment of the additional applications is not required
+ An easy control of the access
+ The ability to be used by multiple users
- Only one program can be set on the central server
- The speed of work is lower than in ordinary applications
- The problems with the access to the server or its getting out of order will result in the full inaccessibility of information

There are several types of CRM-systems classifications:

Functional abilities - Sales Force Automation, Marketing management, Service management and Call-centers (systems of handling users' complaints, fixation and the further management of clients' calls).

The level of information processing:

- Operational - registration and the efficient access to the primary information about events, companies, projects, contacts, documents and so on.
- Analytical - the reports on primary data and more thorough analysis of information in different sections (the analysis of the results of marketing activities, the analysis of the effectiveness of sales in the sections of products, clients, regions, etc)
- Collaboration - the organization of close cooperation with final customers, clients, up to the client's influence on inner processes in the company (polls for the quality change of products or the change of servicing organization, web-pages for the clients to check the status of order, SMS delivery about implemented transactions on bank accounts, the ability for the client to independently order the product on-line)

There are several kinds of Web-based CRM software, for example:

1) MES (Manufacturing Execution System) This system solves synchronization tasks, coordinates, analyses, optimizes output within some manufacture.
2) WMS (Warehouse Management System) - a managing system that provides automatization and optimization of all processes of warehouse work of the main enterprise.
3) ECM (Enterprise content management) - the managing of informational resources of the enterprise or corporative information management.
4) ERP system (Enterprise Resource Planning System) - the integrated system based on the Internet Technologies for managing inner and outer resources of the enterprise (financial, material and technical, human resources).

So if you decided to start your own business you should get a CRM Software because it will save your money and time.