Moving to the Cloud: Which Apps Should Move, Too?

So, you’ve decided to move your company to the Cloud, but aren’t sure which apps to move as well. It’s easy to see why companies are confused about which applications they should move– on one hand, you have traditional vendors condemning any shift to the Cloud; and on the other Cloud Computing vendors suggest that companies should move all of their applications to the Cloud. So, what should you do? While we believe that Cloud Computing will become the primary delivery instrument for computing in the future, we also think that companies should have a well thought out approach towards moving their apps to the Cloud and should rank them based on the following traits. Most importantly be looking for apps that:

• Are substantially interactive with external applications or services. Salesforce.com Apps like Cloudingo are great because they talk to your Salesforce org as often as you’d like, keeping your data clean while you perform other tasks.

•  Are compliant with your businesses regulations. You should fully appraise your compliance requirements, and to what degree the Cloud Computing vendor meets these requirements. • Are secure. Be aware that security is a partnership between the vendor and the user. Read your agreements closely.

• Are reliable. Accurately assess the performance requirements of your company and make sure the apps you’re moving can handle your needs. The best course of action is to speak with vendors about guaranteed performance in their Cloud to ensure the needs of your application are meet.

Once you have assessed all the applications you are currently using or considering using once your company moves to the cloud, you can begin transferring! As a good rule of thumb, anytime you have the opportunity to back up your files and sensitive information before transferring to a new service (like the cloud) you should do so. Should anything go wrong during the move, your companies valuable information will be insured and nothing will be lost.

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Regular Data Cleansing Means Good News For Your Business

While, it’s not uncommon for a business – even larger companies – to have no CRM system of any kind, they are missing out on the huge benefits of data analytics, segmentation and accurate targeting that a managed CRM system provides. Spreadsheets just don’t cut it in today’s fast-moving, data-centric economy.

We strongly advise any serious company to use a CRM system, particularly Salesforce.com. CRM systems can help your company stay on top of its customers and prospects, but you’re only as good as your data and because CRM systems are living entities, it’s imperative to make sure you stay on top of your records or else end up with flawed customer and prospect data. This is likely to include duplicate accounts, dead companies, incorrect addresses, incomplete contact details, unauthorized contact permissions and inaccurate transaction information. This is particularly so when customer accounts have moved departments.

The good news is that the data in your CRM system can be improved, regardless of its source. Having access to clean, up to date and accurate data is essential if you want to benefit from the insights your customer data can provide. Salesforce data cleansing apps like Cloudingo will help ensure your data is marketable. Cloudingo’s robust filters and fuzzy matching capabilities will organize and cleanse your information without much hassle or hair pulling. And because you have the option of automating your unique cleansing process, you can control how data is cleansed, updated and managed with Cloudingo. This process will maintain the quality of your data going forward.

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What is Social CRM?

So, we all have heard the words social CRM, but what does that mean, really? At its core, social CRM is using social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, ect. to start or join conversations with your prospects and customers. Social CRM is also occasionally called CRM 2.0., but considering that most CRM today relies heavily on social interaction, most people just assume when you talk CRM you’re also talking in part about social media efforts.

Wikipedia uses some key phrases such as collaborative conversation, mutually beneficial value and in a trusted & transparent business environment. So social CRM is not a replacement of customary CRM, but, as we said earlier, is a more advanced way of communicating with customers through new media, and allows companies to join in conversations that customers have started about your company or your products / services. It’s a great opportunity for you to show your customers that you are invested in their satisfaction and want the absolute best for them. By responding to social media inquires and interactions in a timely manner also shows that you’re on the ball, and ready to handle anything that’s thrown at you.

So, if you’re one of those people who think social CRM is just a fad, you might want to reconsider. Truth be told, this is the way the marketing world is moving, and if you’re not ready to jump on board, you and your company will likely be left in the dust.

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Mobile Employee Population Expected To Grow to 1.3 Billion by 2015

Analysts at the International Data Corporation (IDC), have predicted that the world's mobile employee population will reach a whopping 1.3 billion by 2015. If this is true, employees that operate remotely will inhabit 37% of the entire global workforce. We know this is obtainable as 1 billion people already work from home, as reported in 2010. This remote workforce combined with the advent of cloud technology truly opens up the marketplace and allows networking and sales to happen whenever and wherever.

Now, more than ever, the cleanliness of your data will be paramount as people throughout your company, on premises or otherwise, will be relying on the accuracy of your records to maintain good customer relationships. Using data cleansing products like Cloudingo and Dupecatcher can certainly help you clean up the records already in your database, and keep them clean as you look to the future of your CRM. 

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5 Rules For Better Customer Retention and Growth

We all know that our customers are the meat and potatoes of our company's success, but how do you keep those customers from spoiling? Here's 5 rules to both keep your customers and grow the garden, too.

Rule #1: Trade Information For Value
All CRM solutions begin with collecting data, but how do you get your customers engaged?

Trade info for rewards.

The most underestimated benefit to trading information for value is that, given a compelling, relevant offer, the customers will do the work. A good loyalty program with tangible rewards will have your customers clamoring for more opportunities to identify themselves.

Rule #2: Use Membership as an Identifier

Use a loyalty program membership as an identifier, building a detailed profile of your customer becomes easier. Then brand your program across all media channels. This allows you to funnel valuable customer information throughout the enterprise for more personal interaction. Every transaction becomes more fuel to help warm the customer relationship. If you’re concerned about the legitimacy of the information on file, it’s always a good idea to run a data cleansing app like Cloudingo to make sure your records are squeaky clean and misinformation isn’t getting recorded.

Rule #3: Rally Around your Most Valuable Customers

All customers are not created equal. Don’t fall for the whole every customer gets the same treatment. You need to organize around your most profitable customers and create a tiered loyalty system.

Understanding that a small percentage of your customers are responsible for the bulk of your profits will help streamline your plan. By focusing your CRM deployment on high-value customers, it's easier to justify the cost, and easier to predict the ROI when you roll out other CRM initiatives.

Rule #4: Use Analytics to Increase the Yield

The goal of your CRM strategy must be to create and sustain incremental, profitable customer behavior, so be smart and focus on the science of analytics to help you reach your goals.

Your loyalty program can provide both the engine and the fuel to drive these efforts. Experimenting with your rewards rules engine by testing offers, tweaking them, and analyzing responses can teach you how to motivate customers with promotions. You can use this data to increase the yield from your best customers with product volume increases, up-sales ordering, version reordering, cross-selling, new product sales, and referrals. Increases in incremental revenue--revenue you wouldn't have without the help of your loyalty program--will tell you that you're on the right track.

Rule #5: Keep it Simple

Design clear, easy to understand rules that can be practiced by even the least-trained customer service rep in the company. To make this a reality, you will need top-down management support and  an IT team to help put the rules in place. If the hard and soft benefits in your loyalty program are relevant and tiered to customer value, you’ve got it!

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