(This article originally appeared in the October 2006 issue of Customer Inter@ction Solutions Magazine)


If you have ever moved in with someone — whether out of undying love or a more practical need to pay the rent — you know how hard it can be to merge two sets of belongings. Suddenly, you find yourselves with two sets of furniture, two sets of silverware and two sets of TVs and remotes. How will they fit into one abode?

Most companies have felt the same way about upgrading their legacy CRM systems. What is the best way to merge your old data with any new data? And how do you collect data and report on the old and the new?

In the past, only large companies could afford to purchase an expensive new proprietary database that would convert their old data to fit new technologies. But now, smaller companies can take advantage of new streamlined systems that provide data collection and reporting capabilities and enable organizations to easily tap into their legacy customer data. Small businesses also gain the ability to anticipate customer trends and make strategic decisions. In short, what was once a luxury item for a few is now mainstream for the masses.

A Mountain Of Data

Most companies have no problem collecting data. IT systems that gather an impressive amount of customer data, call data and even advanced metrics have been around for years. What many smaller companies lack is the ability to put those data into readable and practical formats for better business decision-making.

Many legacy systems also fail to collect the right kind of data. For example, if a small company wants to discover where its customer calls are abandoned, an older CRM system may not be sophisticated enough to decipher whether a call was abandoned at the private branch exchange ( PBX (News - Alert) ), in the customer queue or during mid-conversation.

Why does this matter? If calls are being lost in the queue, for example, the company may want to hire more CRM staff. It may also want to change its sales or support approach, since it appears to be turning off some customers.

Beyond the mass of simple statistics, the real value in gathering data is anticipating customer trends. Many smaller companies or departments don’t know which metrics to study. They simply don’t know where to begin climbing the mountain of data to reach some sort of business enlightenment. They are not alone.

New Insights From Old Data

After spending a great deal of time and money installing expensive, older CRM systems, many veteran CRM managers remain extremely frustrated. Most feel they need a Ph.D. just to run a report. Even when they can run a report, it often doesn’t give them the information they need.
Many older CRM solutions also ignore the wealth of customer data sitting in a company’s legacy systems. Most solutions that have bridged the gap between legacy systems and new data are also cost-prohibitive for a small or medium-sized company.

Fortunately, new solutions build a better bridge between legacy data and new, real-time data. What sets them apart from old solutions is their primary goal — to help companies get to know their customers better by easily tying old data to new information. This new, merged information is also readily available in easy-to-navigate, customizable reports.

Marrying these two data streams instantly creates new efficiencies. The new technology solutions allow CRM managers to see events and transactions across the organization for every customer. The “marriage” ties each customer’s current interactions to previous transactions. Reporting on this conjoined data allows anyone to immediately understand what’s going on.

These data need not sit in a report on a manager’s desk. The real-time capabilities allow a CRM manager to create business rules that change the customer service or sales script based upon a customer’s previous transactions. A CRM agent can instantly view previous transactions and preferences for that customer.

Each transaction can be individualized and specialized. The customers feel their unique issues are being understood, and they don’t feel as if they are wasting time repeating information. Agents spend less time gathering and securing redundant data. In addition, the company’s image as a responsive organization is immediately boosted.

The Cost Of Understanding

The technology that makes these solutions possible is now affordable for small and medium-sized companies. Many vendors offer hosted solutions, which means small companies no longer have to invest heavily in a massive IT infrastructure to compete with larger companies.
By using a hosted solution, companies use their existing IT infrastructure while leveraging the technology and experience of a vendor. The vendor houses much of the necessary processing power and data storage at a central location. Companies can access and report on their data from any PC using an easy-to-navigate, Web-based interface. Customer data remain secure, protected by the vendor’s enhanced knowledge of the latest security and identity-theft-prevention measures.

Moving to a hosted solution also means that companies can open their data to access across their enterprise. Sales, marketing, customer support and purchasing can all gain new access to existing and newly generated data. Companies can establish administrative rules for which areas (or even which users) have access to certain types of data. By expanding and customizing data access, companies allow every employee to respond much more quickly to customer requests, as they can now instantly know the history and customer preferences behind each one.

A hosted solution dramatically reduces the necessary business cost of knowing your customer. More important, a good vendor provides tools to thoroughly and efficiently mine your new and legacy customer data so you can make better decisions about every aspect of your business. Even in the best marriage of data, the ability to hone knowledge about those data to make strategic choices provides the true return on investment.

Eliminating Barriers To Customer Retention And Growth

When you share a dwelling with someone, you may learn something shocking about that person. You may discover he or she still loves Duran Duran or is fond of teeth flossing at the table. In today’s highly competitive global marketplace, those revelations — good and bad — make a company much more responsive to its customers’ changing needs.

Small companies need to think and act like the big guys. A hosted CRM solution allows them to do just that. They can marry new data with legacy customer information to gain new insights into their customers. They can report more effectively on customer trends. They have resources to better understand their customer data and make strategic decisions. Putting serious analytics and reporting into the hands of any company makes bold decision-making for growth possible. CIS


Steve Sanden has worked for seven years in software development utilizing technologies ranging from PHP/Perl to Java/JavaEE. He is currently a software engineer at Cincom Systems (www.cincom.com), working as part of the Synchrony Development Team.