Insight One: CRM software no longer fights alone
In the past, CRM software and ERP management software were like parallel lines, with no intersection between them. For example, last year, apart from a few software companies such as Oracle and Digital China that integrated CRM functions into ERP software, most software enterprises sold CRM and ERP software separately. Even within the same software company's products, they could not achieve good integration. In other words, CRM software was fighting alone.
However, this situation has improved this year. Many companies have integrated their software, selling CRM functionality as a module within ERP software rather than as two separate software solutions. This transformation aligns with the trend of software development.
On one hand, companies using both CRM and ERP software are very dissatisfied with the current situation because there is significant overlap between these two systems. For instance, in customer management and order management, there are many similar operations. If a company uses two separate systems simultaneously, it will inevitably increase repetitive work. Some companies even spend extra money to integrate these two pieces of software themselves, hoping to merge them. Unfortunately, since they come from different origins, integrating them is more difficult than implementing the project itself. Based on my understanding, even if companies integrate these two pieces of software, the results are not very good.
On the other hand, it is difficult for companies to sell CRM software independently. Nowadays, most companies, especially manufacturing companies, have a greater demand for ERP software. After implementing an ERP project, if a company tries to promote CRM software again, it is hard to be accepted. Therefore, some software companies have changed their strategies, selling CRM as a module within ERP software. This not only enhances the integration of the two software solutions but also expands the market share of CRM software. This is a win-win result for both companies and software providers.
Therefore, under various factors, it is difficult to see CRM software fighting alone in the 2008 market. Most of the time, CRM software is promoted as a part of ERP software. Of course, "there is no free lunch," if a company wants to use CRM functionality, it still needs to purchase the CRM module. However, after the integration by software companies, the integration effect between the two is indeed better. Especially now, with many companies launching middleware and SOA platforms, the integration effect has been further enhanced.
Therefore, when choosing ERP software in the future, companies can consider whether they need customer relationship management functionality. If needed, there is no need to worry about the compatibility issues between ERP and CRM software. ERP software with a CRM module can eliminate the concerns of enterprise users and also serve as a growth point for corporate profits. I believe that selling CRM as a module within ERP software, and no longer letting CRM fight alone, is the biggest highlight in the development of CRM software this year.
Insight Two: Analytical CRM software begins to dominate the market
CRM software can be divided into two types: record-based and analytical. Record-based CRM software merely records relevant situations, such as recording salespeople visiting customers or how the company handles customer complaints. Analytical CRM software not only records daily work but also has some analysis and control functions. For example, analytical CRM software can implement customer lifecycle management and customer value analysis. Or we can say, analytical CRM has a certain level of business intelligence.
Unfortunately, in the past, when companies chose CRM software, they generally adopted record-based CRM software. Even if some companies selected analytical CRM systems, due to various reasons, they did not activate the analysis models. This is partly due to the company's own reasons and partly due to software defects.
Before implementing CRM software, companies rarely used analysis models such as customer lifecycle management, and companies themselves rarely dealt with such topics. In this context, implementation consultants would also take shortcuts. Since companies do not require it, they wouldn't go out of their way to implement any analysis models. On the other hand, the analysis functions involved in CRM systems are often purely theoretical models lacking practical application experience. This mainly manifests in the lack of parameter control. For example, for lifecycle management, companies must provide all parameters for the system to function. This is quite demanding for companies.
In response to this situation, companies aim to capture market share and enhance market competitiveness by upgrading their software. They provide simplified models for some analysis models. Simplified models do not have the high requirements of the original ones and can adjust related parameter configurations according to different needs of enterprises. Such design increases the flexibility of analysis models, making them widely applicable to enterprises.
One of the major surprises from this year's CRM projects is the improvement of analysis models. This is inseparable from the self-upgrade of the software itself and closely related to the client's demand for analysis models. I believe that next year, CRM software will definitely introduce more analysis modules that fit the actual conditions of enterprises. In the future, whether the analysis module is practical and adaptable to different business needs of the enterprise will be an essential criterion for evaluating CRM software. Because if a company wants to genuinely improve its customer relationship management level, it will certainly not be satisfied with merely recording customer relationships.
One Shortcoming: CRM software has not achieved modular sales
Although CRM software has made extraordinary progress this year, we can also see that some problems with CRM software have not yet been eliminated. For example, up to now, no CRM software can be sold in modules like ERP systems.
When companies use CRM systems, they often only use about 20% of the software's built-in functions. The majority of the functions remain unused. I think this is a waste for both implementation consultants and companies.
For implementation consultants, since the client has purchased our software, we need to explain all the functions during training, regardless of whether the client will use them. At most, we can focus more on what the client will use and briefly mention what they won't use much. This makes it difficult for us to grasp the key points during training. Because even if the client does not need a particular function, some may ask out of curiosity. Can we, as implementation consultants, say things like "you won't need this function later, so you don't have to care"? Definitely not. So, this leads to implementation consultants being unable to focus on key points during training. At the same time, each project implementation consultant must prepare thoroughly to prevent difficulties from clients. This invisibly increases the training cost for implementation consultants. Therefore, I believe this is actually disadvantageous for implementation consultants; although they might earn more project bonuses because of this.
For companies, it is even more harmful without any benefits. On one hand, companies have to make larger financial expenditures. There are many software functions that companies do not need but have to buy anyway, increasing the cost of purchasing software. On the other hand, some leaders may think that since they bought it, they should use it. Therefore, regardless of the usage value of the functions, they will try all the features of the CRM software one by one. To be honest, without the help of implementation consultants, it is difficult for companies to confirm whether a particular feature fits their needs. This will lead companies down unnecessary paths.