CRM in 2017: Integration Is The Key

CRM in 2017: Integration Is The Key

Georgii KapanadzeGeneral Leave a Comment

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has become more and more complex over the years. There is now a very thin line between CRM, which manages relationships with clients, Business Process Management (BPM), which optimizes workflows and business processes or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), which traditionally serves financial, manufacturing, and supply chain management departments. The proof of this thin line is Microsoft Dynamics 365, a CRM that uses artificial intelligence, has an incorporated ERP software and can also be used as BPM.

This year, the growth of CRM will be dramatic. 2017 will be a game changer, blending the digital and physical worlds, according to Gartner Inc.

Here are a couple of expectations for this year:

#1 Synchronizing your CRM with IoT becomes not only affordable, but also essential

Internet of Things (IoT) is no longer a gimmick or novelty. It is not just about connecting your fridge to the internet, to show off in front of your guests.

The IoT has become mainstream. It is now a must-have in every industry. It connects companies to data that improves cost efficiency, system reliability, product and service quality. No matter what industry you operate in, from agriculture, manufacturing, to health, HR or finance services, IoT has already become a common factor. The coffee machine, which now distinguishes your gender and predicts what you want, might tell your HR when you are too tired to perform.

As sensors get affordable, data collection could reach unprecedented levels. The data can be connected from all types of sensors attached to any type of work environments or equipment.

With the right CRM and the right connectors, companies can become more agile, manage information, and react faster and more precisely that ever before.

#2 AI is the new “smart” when it comes to CRM

#3 Get ready to integrate AR and VR with your CRM

More and more industries are now experimenting with the integration of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR). Pioneering steps are done to include VR and AR in Social Media. Facebook showed at the end of 2016, how to post a selfie from VR to your Facebook feed.

2017 might be the year to see in detail, how AR and VR will be included with CRM. CRM already has a strong relationship with Social Media – all the big players in the industry such as Microsoft Dynamics 365, Salesforce, and SugarCRM included Social Media, to shift the focus from hard selling to engagement as a relationship management strategy. If VR becomes the next big social platform, as Mark Zuckerberg predicted in 2014, CRM will need to include it fast.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now an established practice, too. It is now affordable and easy to adopt, to provide predictions for all of your company’s departments.

Behind AI stays a humongous amount of information that is stored from everything and everywhere – cars, computers, TVs, fridges, home heating, etc. Each move and decision, however small, is recorded and used to establish accurate behavior patterns and make predictions. The pin-point accuracy is given by the gigantic quantity of information gathered from all interconnected devices out there.

Are you afraid you are vulnerable to fraud alerts? Now you can know for sure – AI can scan billions of transactions and spot any suspicious shift that your money might take.

Do you want to cross-sell more to your customers? Only AI can remember all the tracks left by your customers and recommend things your clients are yet to realize they really need.

Chances are, your company has already adopted AI in its business – if, for example, it is using Google products or Amazon. AI is usually represented by terms such as machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, predictive analytics, etc.

Connecting your AI to your CRM is a must. Customers can be unforgiving with companies that sell too aggressively, on the wrong channel, at the wrong time. And CRMs that already have AI incorporated can tell you how to market the right product to the right customer at the right time.

This is why the most important players in the CRM industry have already started at the end of 2016 to offer AI benefits in their services – Microsoft offers Dynamics 365, Salesforce offers Salesforce Einstein, and SugarCRM will offer soon Sugar Intelligence Service.

Integration problems?

Our platform, Connect Bridge (CB) enables connectivity from any back-end data, such as SAP, DMS (document management system), ECM (Enterprise Content Management), ERP (Enterprise resource planning), IoT, portals and many more.

Take a look at this video to see how integrating different platforms and software can make a breakthrough in the health industry.

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