CRM (customer relationship management) has evolved a lot over the years — from a basic contact management tool into sophisticated, data-driven platforms that empower businesses to forge meaningful relationships with their customers.
At every stage, CRM has taken advantage of new technologies, incorporating them into their toolsets and adapting them to facilitate better sales and marketing processes.
First came automation. CRM systems used automation technology to create features that assisted sales and marketing teams in managing leads, opportunities, and pipeline.
Next came the rise of mobility and the cloud. The rapid growth in the popularity of smartphones and mobile devices changed the way people did business, and CRM adapted accordingly.
Using cloud technology and steadily improving mobile functionality, CRM became accessible from anywhere.
Now we sit on the cusp of a new technology that looks to impact business in ways that are as significant and meaningful as all the technologies that have come before it — AI.
What does this powerful new tool mean for the future of CRM?
What can the continued advancements in mobility and cloud functionality bring that we have not yet taken full advantage of?
We will explore these questions and more in this article.
What is CRM?
CRM is a software toolset that assists businesses with the day-to-day management of their people (customers and employees), work processes, products, and projects.
Once thought of primarily as a sales tool, CRM has evolved to address the needs of many different business aspects, including marketing, customer service, and HR.
Through the use of advanced automations tools and data centralization, CRM software can help businesses improve communication (both internal and external), work more efficiently, and track performance.
A CRM system also keeps teams connected in real-time from anywhere, improving collaboration and increasing reach while allowing businesses to take advantage of top talent no matter where they are found.
The Mobile CRM revolution
The past two decades have seen mobility revolutionize CRM technology in a number of ways.
- Data accessibility- The most obvious advantage that mobile CRM provides is data accessibility. Sales reps and marketing professionals can access customer data from anywhere on their smartphones and tablets.
This enables them to provide timely and personalized assistance and ensures that they have the most up-to-date information available when engaging with customers, leading to more informed interactions and higher customer satisfaction.
- Field sales optimization- Sales reps working in the field can generate quotes, process orders, and obtain electronic signatures directly from their mobile devices.
This can help sales reps strike while the iron is hot, leading to more closed deals. This can also lead to shorter sales cycles due to reduced administrative delays.
- Location-based services- Mobile devices can use location-based services to help sales teams identify nearby prospects or clients and plan more efficient routes for visits.
For service teams, GPS functionality can provide up-to-date location data for field agents, helping them coordinate service calls more efficiently.
The future of mobile CRM
For all the amazing ways mobility has revolutionized CRM software (and business as a whole), the best is yet to come.
- Text messaging and SMS- While text and SMS messaging capabilities in CRM are not new, the true potential of these features is only now starting to be unlocked.
These popular communication channels boast higher interaction rates and improved engagement potential when compared to traditional communication channels (email, phone) and can help organizations reach their customers wherever they are instantly.
For more information on the ways a CRM system with text and SMS messaging capabilities can help your business, check out our article, CRM Features Highlight: Text Messaging and SMS.
- Omnichannel engagement- CRM mobile apps enable customer engagement across a variety of communication channels, including social media, email, text, chat, and phone.
Employees can engage with customers from a single platform on any device, ensuring timely and personalized communication.
The rise of cloud CRM
There may be no technology that has impacted CRM capability as significantly as the cloud.
- Remote accessibility- Cloud-based CRMs enable employees to access the CRM platform from anywhere with an internet connection, regardless of physical location.
This makes it easier for remote teams, or teams in different countries or regions, to access customer information and collaborate across different time zones and locations.
This allows companies to access talent wherever they find it and maintain operations all over the world.
- Real-time updates- With a cloud-based CRM, all activities, communications, and data updates are captured in real-time.
This means that sales and marketing teams, customer service agents, and other stakeholders are all working from up-to-date information, creating a consistent customer experience across departments.
- Seamless integration- A cloud CRM tool can integrate with other cloud tools and applications to provide seamless, real-time data sharing.
This facilitates streamlined work processes and optimizes automated workflow potential.
For more on unlocking the power of CRM workflow automation, check out our article, CRM Workflow Management 101: How to Design CRM Workflow Automations for Business Process Optimization.
The future of cloud CRM
As cloud-based technology evolves, so too does its potential to enhance the capability of CRM.
- Remote workspaces- Remote work capability has evolved considerably over the last few years, with advancements in video conferencing tools (Zoom, Google Meet) and chat communication software (Slack) providing collaboration potential far beyond what was possible before.
As virtual workspace technology continues to advance, cloud-based CRM platforms will serve as the central hub that connects all these tools and brings remote teams together.
- Environmental sustainability- As the focus on sustainable and energy-efficient business practices continues to gain priority, cloud-based software tools like CRM that have the potential to greatly reduce the carbon footprint associated with data storage and processing will become even more important.
The advent of AI CRM
When it comes to new business technologies, nothing can match the transformative power of AI (artificial intelligence). In only a few short years AI has infiltrated every facet of the working world with its unparalleled potential.
As AI technology continues to advance, the functionality of AI within CRM is poised to undergo significant enhancements.
- Automated customer interactions- AI-enabled chatbots and virtual assistants can integrate with CRM systems, lightening the load for sales and support teams.
This allows employees to focus on addressing more complex customer needs and gives them more time to perform activities that have the biggest impact on business success.
- AI-assisted messaging- AI-assisted writing tools can improve the speed, consistency, and quality of your customer-facing messaging through:
- Data-driven personalization suggestions
- Automated grammar corrections
- Brand voice customization
These tools not only improve your messaging efforts, but they can also help new employees get up and running faster and learn your brand’s tone through AI-generated recommendations and enhancements.
- Automated workflow and task management- AI can automate many routine tasks and workflows within a CRM platform. Some examples include:
- Data entry
- Lead scoring
- Task assignments
- Follow-up reminders
This frees up human resources to focus on more strategic and value-added activities.
The future of AI CRM
While AI is still the new kid on the block, the road ahead for AI-assisted CRM is already taking shape.
- Hyper-personalization- AI-assisted CRM platforms will analyze vast amounts of customer data to create hyper-personalized messages and interactions.
These tools will be able to:
- Recommend tailored products or services
- Identify customer preferences (engagement channels, contact times)
- Gage customer emotion and sentiment and adjust responses accordingly
- Predictive analytics- AI CRM will provide more accurate predictive insights about customer behavior and market trends.
AI-enhanced algorithms will identify buying patterns and correlations in customer data, allowing businesses to make informed decisions about sales, marketing, and customer support strategies.
FreeAgent is the future of CRM
FreeAgent CRM is designed for today’s world of work and our robust toolset is ideally suited to supporting the varied work processes of modern businesses. FreeAgent is:
- Easy to use: FreeAgent works like you expect modern apps to work, providing a user experience that feels fresh and familiar. Teams love working in FreeAgent, leading to high adoption and greater ROI.
- User-configurable: FreeAgent can be configured by you to work the way you do. This means you don’t need outside support to add a form field, adjust a CRM automated workflow, or try out a new process.
- Customizable: With FreeAgent, apps, forms, and configurations are all completely customizable, allowing you to capture and connect your data in any way you like.
To see FreeAgent in action, get a demo, and discover for yourself how FreeAgent can help you have workdays full of impact.
