In today’s competitive business landscape, it is imperative that you handle your customers properly. Customer engagement is everything. If you don’t take care of your clients and potential customers, there will always be a competitor waiting to snatch them up. That’s why a CRM (customer relationship management) tool is so valuable to your business. You can improve business prospecting, increase and organize marketing, and track and manage existing customer relationships with CRM software.
This is particularly important because customers are incredibly well informed about your business – and your competitors – before you typically ever get a chance to walk in the door. The Internet has spawned well-educated (and sometimes cynical) consumers, which has lengthened the sales cycle across all industries. These factors make the job of your sales and marketing teams even harder.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM online can benefit your business in many ways, including:
- Helping organize your business to stay in front of potential customers through sharing white papers, brochures, and other educational and sales collateral.
- Providing the customer with information so that they think of you first when they need the product or service you’re offering.
- Supporting your sales team with marketing materials that will help them close the deal.
- Helping to retain existing customers; it can even track and help organize the resolution of customer care issues or assist with upselling an existing customer.
CRMs provide a way for you to organize client and potential customer contact all in one database. It can allow sales executives to take notes on a call, and help them stay organized by automating their follow up. It can segment customers or prospects into specific categories based on demographics, interests, or where they are in the sales continuum, and then tie those categories to key relationship-building marketing and sales activities. It can also automate many of the processes that used to take twice the amount of time.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online can help your business do all this – and more. There are many reasons to select this software platform over some of the other options in the market. We’ve assembled our top 21 reasons you should switch to Microsoft Dynamics CRM online:
- Best in class performance
Gartner consistently has ranked Microsoft Dynamics CRM online as a leader across Saas, IaaS, and PaaS categories.
- Superior customer support
With Microsoft’s unparalleled vendor partnerships, you’ll have plenty of choices when seeking guidance from a vast network of consultants, advisors, reseller partners, and plug-in service providers.
- Giant tech portfolio means many software options for your business
Once you select Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, you’ve scratched the surface of the many other business applications they offer, including ERP. The vast Microsoft tech footprint includes software like Xbox Kinect, Yammer, Power BI, SharePoint, and Windows Mobile applications. The Microsoft suite of products will always offer your business more options than any other solo-service CRM provider.
- Cloud agility
The nimble nature of the cloud ensures faster deployments and greater business flexibility across the IoT (Internet of Things). You can select full cloud or a hybrid model (on-site/cloud) to power and improve your business. No matter what you choose, you will have Internet-powered flexibility with Microsoft reliability and security across all your digital devices.
- Winner, 2016 CUSTOMER Magazine CRM Excellence Award
This year’s winners were selected based on their verifiable ability to improve a client’s business, extend and expand the customer relationship, and on their expertise in spanning the various touch points of the entire lifecycle of a customer. Microsoft Dynamics CRM online was honored in 2016 as the best across all of these important categories.
- Data integration
Consolidating data in one place will streamline your efficiency across multiple departments. You’ll experience robust, quick data integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM online. Some of the more intriguing and unusual features include the ability to export CRM data to real-time Excel views, or update CRM data while still in Excel.
- Task-based user interface (UI)
We all know that the UX (user experience) on the Microsoft suite of office products functions via task driven object oriented programming (OOP). Microsoft Dynamics CRM online incorporates that same easy and intuitive navigation and user-friendly functionality.
- Automation
If you’re like most of us, you struggle to accomplish all of the tasks necessary in any given day. Now imagine this struggle multiplied by several (or a hundred) sales and marketing executives. Then factor in your volume of potential and current customers and you’ve got a lot of task-oriented flailing around. One of the benefits of Microsoft Dynamics CRM online is that you can automate many of these manual tasks, including customer service oriented surveys and other client-facing activities. In fact, Microsoft Dynamics CRM online made Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Sales Force Automation.
- Reporting features
Creating custom reports is easy. While there are an extensive number of canned reporting options, the ability to collate and view exactly what you want, and then automate it, makes this CRM outstanding for use across any industry. Multiple users with department-specific KPIs can generate reports and then send them automatically wherever they need to.
- Integrates with existing technologies
Businesses are very familiar with the Microsoft suite of products, and there is easy integration for programmers across legacy platforms such as SQL, .NET, and Office.
- Easy coordination between departments
You’ll lessen the chasm between marketing and sales by eliminating data silos. Everyone will have access to all the data they need when they need it the most.
- Winner, 2015 CRM Magazine Market Leader Awards
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online clinched this award across not one, but four categories including: Enterprise CRM Suite, Midmarket CRM Suite, Small Business CRM Suite and Sales For Automation.
- Scalability
One of the key benefits of cloud-based software is that it can grow or shrink with your business. From a start-up company to a large enterprise, Microsoft Dynamics CRM online can flex when you need it.
- Interoperability between Microsoft products
Syncing email and calendars, along with contacts lists is not a problem. The beauty of this CRM is that it will significantly improve communication with your customers and increase the efficiency of your software functions.
- Out-of-the-box functionality
This is plug-and-play software, which allows for immediate tracking and lead management. Because Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online utilizes the same recognizable platform across all software, you’ll find your use of Dynamics will be almost instinctual.
- Seamless updates
Remember the days when updates required onsite visits and downtime? Not anymore.
- Fully customizable
Design your own sales or marketing campaign dashboards. Track sales prospects and where they are in the buying cycle, or report on individual sales executive activity. Run reports on volume of emails sent and who’s opened them. Integrate the platform across all digital devices, putting a great tool in the hands of your mobile sales team.
- Sales forecasting
Sales forecasting will get a lot easier with Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. Not only will sales pipeline management improve, but the positive impact this will have on scheduling and purchasing will also be a welcome surprise.
- Greater transparency
With a more realistic sales funnel comes greater transparency for the entire marketing and sales team. One of the surprising benefits of this platform is that it helps businesses create a culture based on accountability and performance.
- Case management
The platform allows for customer case management, so when a complaint occurs, it is immediately flagged and routed to the appropriate person. Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online will improve your customer experience, leading to better problem solving and longer retention after the sale is made.
- Trusted vendor
Microsoft has been a trusted vendor since the advent of the motherboard.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online to Grow Your Business
According to Gartner, the CRM market is continually expanding, as businesses recognize the imperative nature of tracking pre-sale and post-sale customer contacts. There are a lot of competitors out there, but none have received the awards and recognition of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM online product. Microsoft has heavily invested in their CRM platform – and it shows. Increasingly, large multi-national enterprises are utilizing the application because the software helps large, disparate organizations reach clients in an organized fashion across multiple touch points. The CRM’s integration with Microsoft’s ERP software has enabled these large companies to improve business analytics. CRM data is then utilized to help enterprise companies make strategic decisions that have tremendous impact in the marketplace.
Your business needs a CRM. If you’re using legacy software or hardware to track important business functions like HR and payroll, but then have a separate CRM to manage customers, you are likely duplicating effort and missing out on the streamlined functionality of Microsoft Dynamics. IESGP is a full-service Microsoft provider, offering end-to-end support across the entire suite of Microsoft Dynamics Solutions. Contact us today to find out how you can leverage the Microsoft Dynamics suite of products to accelerate your business.
