The benefits of CRM software are being utilised by businesses across South Africa. This revolution is being driven by the growing trend towards customer-centric business models.
CRM allows employees within a business to access historical data on all customer-business interactions. This information is used to create a bespoke customer experience for any prospect.
To make things better, CRM systems are no longer clunky and complex technological platforms. Customer information is accessible by everyone from sales to marketing to customer service. All in a customisable user interface. The benefits of CRM are there to be enjoyed throughout your organisation.
A new Forrester report, The State of CRM, has illustrated the true extent of CRM adoption in South Africa. According to the report, 4% of respondents said their customer service department does not use CRM. The outlook for sales and marketing departments is the same: 6% for sales and 9% for marketing.
A South African business that benefited from CRM
A study conducted in South Africa highlighted the stunning importance of CRM to modern enterprises. The case study into long-term insurance providers showed that the companies that used a CRM system exhibited:
trustworthy behaviour
genuine commitment to service
efficient and accurate communication with customers
the ability to handle potential conflicts skilfully
The benefits of a CRM system for African businesses
Despite the evidence in favour of CRM adoption, many businesses on the continent are not taking full advantage of the software. In fact, 27% of businesses said they had one unified CRM system for the entire organisation. The remaining respondents admitted to having no CRM, or many different CRMs.
To maximise the benefits of CRM, South African businesses should consider having a unified system. By streamlining the platforms available, businesses encourage greater collaboration between different departments and have the added benefit of more successful automation.
The existence of internal data silos is one of the barriers businesses face in their attempts at digital transformation. A data silo is a collection of information that is isolated from other parts of the organisation. So a unified CRM system is a great way of overcoming data silos and moving to a more open, collaborative company culture.
How to improve interdepartmental collaboration
It is true to say that the performance of a department can be completely transformed by utilising the benefits of CRM software. It’s essential to have a Single Source of Truth for all customers.
According to the Forrester report, 72% of the respondents said they receive too much prospect information from too many different sources. With the exponential increase in data acquisition, the importance of having a single view of the customer has never been greater.
Achieving a Single View of the Customer: A Case Study
Take Wells Fargo for example, the seventh most profitable company in the United States with $1.9 trillion in assets.
Wells Fargo uses a unified CRM system to connect a variety of different services including banking, mortgages, investments, and credit cards. Wells Fargo benefits because its employees can spend more time on profit-generating tasks rather than fiddling around with multiple systems.
The employee experience has, and always will be, a fundamental building block of the customer experience. CRM systems recognise that.
What is a Single Source of Truth? (SSoT) | Benefits of CRM
It is important to note that a Single Source of Truth is not a business process but is more like a business culture. Businesses can benefit from a unified CRM system by interconnecting:
customer identities
data on interactions
marketing journeys
privacy management
The Forrester report reveals that 70% of the businesses indicated that attaining a Single Source of Truth would provide either ‘significant’ or ‘indispensable’ value to their organisation. Whilst only 27% of respondents believed they have already achieved SSoT.
Clearly, more can be done in South Africa to speed up the shift towards customer-centric business models.
The benefits of CRM that help put the customers first
In today’s climate, businesses that are not switching to the customer-centric business model will find it hard to compete.
Customer-centricity relies on connectivity and the single view of the customer: Customer 360. By adopting a single, interdepartmental CRM businesses take a huge step in the right direction.
To find out how other businesses plan to make the shift towards customer-centricity, download the Forrester report.
