Using specialist customer relationship management software can greatly increase efficiency in businesses, according to Channel Islands’ IT consultancy C5 Alliance.
At a recent seminar in Guernsey, Mark Loane, Aonghus Fraser and Michael Du Bois from C5 Alliance were joined by Sanjay Jethva – Dynamics CRM Specialist from Microsoft – to showcase the value that this technology can have within businesses.
From traditional customer relationship management to the automation of business processes and workflows, Microsoft CRM 2011’s many capabilities were discussed and demonstrated using live examples.
Mr Du Bois provided an introduction to the CRM platform as ‘the art of integrating every aspect of business relating to the customer.’ Explaining the huge scope for extensibility (the ability to modify by changing or adding features), he demonstrated how businesses can customise and import additional ready-to-go solutions for requirements such as sales tracking, reporting and managing customer due diligence.
Mr Fraser then explored the data integration potential, expressing how easily existing line of business ‘master data’ can be introduced and managed. He also demonstrated how CRM can be used in conjunction with Microsoft SharePoint for document management.
C5 island manager Marc Lainé believes these technologies to be more important than ever in the current climate:
‘Businesses locally are really beginning to recognise the benefits of CRM and in particular are using it as a tactical solution for FATCA reporting.
‘For anybody struggling with a strategy for responding to the increasing regulatory requirements, technologies like CRM and indeed SharePoint can address that,’ he said.
The seminar also highlighted the ease in which such technologies can be introduced to businesses.
‘You can store data in the cloud, which eliminates the need for extra servers and infrastructure; particularly useful for smaller businesses. This is a fast and highly secure way of getting up and running,’ said Mr Loane, CEO at C5.
Visiting specialist Mr Jethva provided a wider picture of the success of CRM worldwide.
‘Dynamics CRM is familiar to use and it empowers the end user. We currently have two and a quarter million users and the feedback we are receiving is indicating benefits across all areas of business,’ he said.