Choosing a CRM Software – Customer Support

Although this article will discuss the selection of a CRM system focused on customer support, a few things must be said about CRM systems in general.

CRM systems are the backbone of every company and remember that the system you choose will probably serve you for at least a decade so there are a few things you should understand right at the beginning.

CRM Systems deal with three major domains:

1. Marketing Automation – Campaign management, responses, and results, Marketing budgets
2. Sales Force Automation – deals analysis, leads management and tracking, quoting, and orders
3. Customer service and support – tracking customer issues and resolution, case history, and escalation

If you already have a system in your organization that manages one of these critical areas then the first thing I would recommend is the check whether you can expand this system to support the other domains as well. The immediate benefits of such a move will be:

1. Faster implementation
2. One knowledge base on all customers in one place and better reporting and decision making
3. No need to develop technical interfaces between systems

In addition, before starting the evaluation systems you must have a basic understanding of the main customer-facing processes you want to automate. Based on their complexity and together with the size of your company’s customer base, you might decide to find a CRM expert to help you with the selection and implementation process.

Now let’s get to business and find Customer Support and Service software (look for additional articles on CRM for Marketing and Sales on this website). You need software that will automate the entire service and support lifecycle:

• Call center for smart and centralized management of calls and traffic
• Capture customer issues, problems, and complaints (both product and service-wise)
• Track issues to closure including skill-based resource assignment and escalation
• Live Chat where online support is required
• Reporting and dashboard for management

Another key element you might want to consider, that will improve the service to your customers and the efficiency of your support teams is knowledge management. This feature gives you additional capabilities like capturing and reusing problem resolutions, better documentation, full analysis, and customer history and preventive actions.

And as always – think about Web systems (SaaS), especially if your support organization has multiple locations or field services that require remote access (assuming that there are no regulations or information security risks that might prohibit that)

The following table can help you in narrowing the dozens of options for CRM software systems:

If you’re looking for CRM software that is focused on customer support, worry no more. Learn more from our experts in selecting the correct CRM solution for your growing business and avoid costly mistakes!