How CRM systems keep things in order
Jürgen Litz, Managing Director of cobra - computer's brainware GmbH, Constance, as well as cobra computer's brainware AG in Tägerwilen/Switzerland, and an expert in customer/information management, writes here about the importance of a well-ordered digital workplace and how the dream of perfect organization can be achieved. The way leads via CRM systems.
"If a messy desk represents a messy mind, what does an empty desk say about the person using it?" No less an authority than Albert Einstein is responsible for this quote, and it hits the nail on the head. Where people work hard, there is inevitably the greatest potential for clutter - this was as true in the brilliant scientist's time as it is today. However, as the workplace often shifted, so did the chaos from the desk to the digital world. A desktop crammed with icons replaced the classic paper chaos, the sloppily managed address book application replaced the unsorted Rolodex, and the pile of half-opened letters had to give way to an overflowing Outlook mailbox. But if cleaning up the desktop was still a tedious and annoying undertaking, the digital path offers some shortcuts: CRM software helps bring order back to the following three aspects of personal workspace and keep it that way.
1. customers from A to Z
What the name Customer Relationship Management promises is unsurprisingly also contained in it. CRM tools are primarily used to manage customer data and are intended to simplify and ultimately improve customer loyalty. Of course, a large part of this management process consists of the correct filing and sorting of the often countless contacts. Putting an end to tedious search or sorting processes, CRM systems perform these tasks automatically and at the same time make the information easy to retrieve and find. Contact entries can also be used to ensure that colleagues are always aware of the latest status of the relationship with the respective customer. Information as well as correspondence, whether by phone or e-mail, is never lost in this way and can be assigned with just a few clicks."
2. search documents, find documents
In the past times of ring binders, a large part of office work consisted of the correct filing of important documents. The only thing more time-consuming was the search, if the sorting was not done conscientiously enough beforehand. Initially, the same problem shifted to the digital world: countless folders, with vast numbers of files in an often confusing structure. These can often be important documents such as contracts or declarations of consent, which thus get lost in the digitized chaos. In CRM software, documents can be easily assigned to the corresponding customer. This means that users can access both contact data and all relevant information from external files at a glance and save themselves lengthy search processes in the event of queries or ambiguities.
3. CRM systems: Making one out of many
What used to be scissors, scotch tape or a collection of pens on the desk shares a name in English with tools in the digital space: tools make office work immensely easier. But their number, like that of desk utensils, can also get out of control. CRM systems can unite a multitude of these software additions through interfaces and bundle their effectiveness. Access is then provided solely on the CRM interface, but functions and databases of the connected tools can be used to their full extent. In this way, every industry can specifically put together the right customer relationship management for its own needs, while at the same time avoiding a confusing mass of applications and bringing order back into the digital workplace.
Source and further information: www.cobra.de
