Over at Leopard CRM, CRM software for small business, we’ve made some important changes:

• A new About Us page has been added to the site.
• A new release is about to appear featuring the new sales analysis system.

So, if you haven’t already seen what Leopard CRM can do, I encourage you to go over and check it out.

I’ve been thinking lately about searching for a simple CRM solution. I’ve recently started up my own company, Kingdom Solutions, and I’ve been wondering how I’m going to keep track of customers (once I start getting some). To be frank, most of the CRM solutions are just overcomplicated. Most of the solutions that are available are focused on sales and conversion tracking. As I don’t have a sales team yet, I don’t need that kind of functionality.

I thought that I’d do a search for “simple CRM” and came across this post: CRM Solutions: Backpack as a Simple CRM Tool. With a nice screenshot, it demonstrates the ability to use Backpack as a simple CRM system.

It looks like it could be a simple solution to simple CRM. I’ll have to try it out for myself. If anyone knows of any other similar solutions, please post a comment.

There looks to be a lot of news buzzing around within the last 24 hours in regards to Microsoft’s new CRM 3.0. Microsoft is an interesting company to watch, especially in the way that it markets its products and itself. Interestingly, most of the news is generated from third parties that cooperate with Microsoft in distributing, supporting and installing their software.

My advice would be to be cautious. I’ve noticed that Microsoft is very agressive in marketing. I can’t remember a product that they have put their name to that they have let speak for itself. I would say that this is the case because a lot of the software they generate cannot speak for itself. It requires plenty of marketing dollars to be spent telling us all how useful and popular it is.

In regards to Microsoft CRM 3.0, look closely, does it stack up to everything the marketing says it is? Assess the software for the REAL benefits, not just because it’s a Microsoft product, not because the nice consulting company recommended it, and not because it has its claws in a bunch of other Microsoft products. Will the software be easy to use for my staff who are not so crash hot on the computers? Would I be able to use the software? Do I need this consulting company to babysit my installation, and how much is that going to cost me? How long will my company be tied to this and am I willing to commit that much to it?

Don’t just look at it as a money decision, there could be other packages available which are a better fit for your business. They may cost more upfront, but they may be more beneficial and reap better returns in the long run.

Ricoh, an office equipment supplier, has implemented a new Crossware CRM solution in their New Zealand office. They’ve outgrown their previous CRM solution, which was web based, since expanding to 45 sales representatives and additional support staff. (There’s no mention of what they used to use, but I couldn’t imagine that a system would struggle with 45 users. Maybe it was based on Microsoft Access!)

Some interesting points from this case study is the mention of mobile users on laptops. Since they used to have a web based CRM solution, this would make on the road use of the system fairly difficult if not designed properly. The new CRM solution gives them the ability to use a fully featured system off-line as well as “invisible” replication and syncronisation features.

Security measures are also a concern with this type of implementation as their entire set of customer data is fully mobile. If this data should fall into the wrong hands, it would have serious repercussions to the company. There is not much of a mention of exactly what steps were taken to prevent this data being viewed by unauthorised persons, but they’ve covered some of the holes. Unfortunately, the data is not necessarily safe because the application prevents access. Anyone with a small amount of technical knowledge can just access the database directly. Let’s hope that this issue was considered in the solution.

Read more at iStart.co.nz

Visit Crossware’s website | Visit Ricoh.co.nz

A very well written article over at ZDNet titled NAB pins turnaround on improved CRM gives great insight into the value of CRM to a business. What is especially interesting is the strategy of the National Australia Bank in light of it’s recent problems.

I really like the way that the article points out that focusing on cost cutting can really hurt your business in the long term. Whereas, focusing on customers and what you’re offering them is the best focus for your business. This focus not only improves customer satisfaction, but this in turn will always improve your bottom line in the long term. Note, “long term”, it can take a while for this direction to pay off, but eventually, it does.

Shenkel believes the changes will enable the bank’s customer relationship managers to more accurately predict when and how to offer new loans or investment packages to its existing customer base. More importantly perhaps, the CRM package is also designed to indicate when such an offer should be avoided.

This is a great example of the power of CRM and the advantages it can give your business. Information like this can mean improved efficiency for your sales and marketing teams. They would spend less time targeting customers who are unlikely to buy, which improves your conversion rate, which in turn, improves the bottom line!

Beautiful, isn’t it?