CRM search»Customer Relationship Management Software

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software Solutions

Successful CRM is far more than just a one time project activity; it is a change in company culture and a continuous journey that matures over time as customer needs evolve, organizational capabilities change and the customer relationship grows. CRM is a business strategy first and foremost. CRM software provides the framework, management and automation to empower CRM strategies. CRM community members have discovered successful methods, effective business processes, lessons learned and best practices which collectively reduce risk and increase CRM payback. In this CRM channel we share and advance those ideas.

Top CRM Software Reviews

	Salesforce.com CRM Review
	Salesforce.com is the cloud CRM movement pioneer. With its substantial size, it no longer leads the industry in terms of revenue growth, however, in absolute terms of SaaS CRM revenues, customer acquisitions and user subscriptions the company is the clear market share leader. In this Salesforce.com CRM review we examine strengths and weaknesses of an industry leader.

	Microsoft Dynamics CRM Review
	Despite being a late entrant to the SaaS CRM software market, Microsoft has acquired more CRM customers than any other vendor in its limited period and is using its momentum to alter the market in terms of platform capabilities, ubiquitous deployment and subscription pricing. In this Microsoft Dynamics CRM review we examine how Microsoft intends to achieve a leadership position.

	Oracle CRM On Demand Review
	When it comes to CRM in the cloud, the market has watched Oracle's near schizophrenic position regarding the validity of SaaS in the business software marketplace. But despite some initial reservations, Oracle has made up lost time, secured market share and advanced their Oracle CRM on Demand solution to earn a competitive leadership position in the cloud marketplace.

	SAP Business ByDesign CRM Review
	With its on-premise SAP CRM product, SAP is arguably the CRM software industry leader. Now SAP looks to expand CRM market share in the cloud with its on-demand solution, Business ByDesign. This independent SAP Business ByDesign review goes in depth to assess competitive strengths, weaknesses and costs of the SAP CRM cloud solution.

CRM Software Thought Leaders In Their Own Words

	Oracle CRM—CRM on Demand, Fusion CRM & What's Next From Oracle
	Anthony Lye is responsible for Oracle CRM On Premise and Oracle CRM On Demand, CRM on Demand operations and Oracle's own deployment of CRM. He's a veteran of the CRM software industry and is equal parts strategist and spokesman. Here he explains Oracle's new strategies—including the Oracle Public Cloud, Oracle Social Network and relationship of CRM on Demand and Fusion CRM.

	SAP Customer Line of Business Solutions—Don't Call Them CRM
	SAP Senior VP and General Manager of Customer Line of Business solutions Anthony Leaper discusses the target market, design approach, go to market execution, frequent iterations and evolvement, and key benefits—which include rapid time to value, a social user experience and most importantly, a design orientation which addresses the specific challenges incurred by the targeted user.

	Microsoft Dynamics CRM—Fit, Differentiation, Strengths and Evolution
	As the General Manager of global product management and marketing for Microsoft CRM, Brad Wilson is responsible for driving awareness, demand and revenue on a worldwide basis. In this conversation, we discuss new releases—including new social CRM—and flush out Microsoft's CRM positioning and several of Dynamics CRM and CRM online competitive advantages.

Featured CRM Software Articles

	Dealing with the Change Prevention Committee
	They're called the 'Change Prevention Committee' — the unorganized or semi-organized forces of resistance that form spontaneously to thwart implementing CRM systems. CRM deployments may run into an informal, but very real, resistance based on the simple fact that it changes the way people do things. This has to be planned for, recognized and dealt with as part of the implementation.

	Sage CRM Deep Dive Review
	Sage Group delivers three CRM software solutions to a global market. Sage CRM, also called SageCRM.com, and SalesLogix both serve the global small and midsize business market. In this Sage CRM review, we examine the more focused cloud CRM solution, while at the same time pointing out strengths, weaknesses and differences among Sage CRM and SalesLogix.

	Step Up Your CRM KPI's for Big Performance Gains
	Managers spend an inordinate amount of time reviewing the wrong data; or at least not the most valuable data that can lead to the most strategic progress. The challenge is to discover which data sets deliver the biggest impact, identify the most telling metrics and display them in a way that makes the information immediately actionable.

	Beating The CRM Data Entry Blues
	When the difficulty or burden of data entry exceeds perceived benefits, user adoption becomes quickly challenged and the CRM deployment becomes at risk. Here we look at the cause of a classic CRM software failure, and identify concrete steps to ease data entry with simpler, more intuitive and streamlined CRM software forms and transactions.

	Five Ways to Increase ROI from CRM
	For too many companies, their CRM system has become a necessary evil—a little-understood, complicated business system that delivers on its promise to share data and improve customer service, but not much more. However, pursuing a few well chosen recommendations can dramatically increase ROI from your CRM software investment.

	3 Reasons CRM Fails to Deliver
	The CRM software implementation success record is pretty depressing. Studies have shown than anywhere from 20 percent to two-thirds of all CRM software efforts have either failed to meet expectations or failed outright. In this article, Rick identifies three top causes and mitigating measures to keep your CRM software implementation project on track.

	The Facts, Figures and Forecasts for the Enterprise Software Market
	Before diving into a series of articles covering enterprise software, CRM software and software as a service (SaaS) in each of the major global regions we thought we'd set the stage by starting with the big picture — and understanding the market sizes for each region in both absolute and relative terms - and try to also tap into the analyst projections for trends and forecasts.

	Sizing Up The CRM Software Market
	CRM software spending will reach $12 billion in 2012, of which social CRM will consist of $1 billion. "Over the next three years, social CRM (SCRM) will continue its exponential rise, Software-as-a- Service will become routine, Salesforce.com will reshuffle the market order, and consultants and system integrators will sell their own CRM software," advised Gartner's Ed Thompson.

More References

Paul Greenberg's blog, Social CRM: The Conversation, sets the pace for innovative thinking, writing with clear understanding and fairly extolling the virtues and vices of many leading CRM and Social CRM platforms and products. If you're new to the CRM industry, and want to accelerate your journey, this blog is your starting point.
Beagle Research Consulting blogger Denis Pombriant is a recognized industry visionary who delivers practical forecasts and applies particularly interesting insight to the CRM industry's news and events.
Brent's Social CRM blog is THE information source for small businesses seeking practical advice and information on CRM and social CRM. Brent is a no-nonsense technology leader who explains the promise of technology in simple and realistic terms.
CRM Intelligence and Strategy by Esteban Kolsky is a CRM blog that delivers thoughtful analysis, practical insight and actionable advice.
Some other helpful CRM software resources sites include CRMlandmark.com, CRMforecast.com and CRMsoftware360.com.


	Customer Relationship Management CRM systems include sales force automation (SFA), marketing automation and customer support functions—and deliver benefits such as increased sales win rates, improved marketing campaigns and increased customer share. Additional capabilities such as Partner Relationship Management (PRM), sales order processing and CRM analytics often compliment core CRM business systems. New advents such as open source CRM software as well as new delivery methods such as software as a service (SaaS), sometimes called on-demand CRM or hosted CRM software, also introduce new opportunities for CRM acquisition, implementation and utilization.