In the third and final installment of TMC’s (News - Alert) informative session with Manu Das, Soffront’s president and CEO, he discusses the trends of the hosted CRM industry, and what Soffront has done to stay ahead of the game.

Das lists some important movements that give insight into the increasingly competitive CRM software industry. Check out his expert observations:

TMC: What are the major trends you’ve noticed as Soffront’s President and CEO? Where is the industry pointing these days?

MD: Demand for flexibility in the application has grown higher than ever; since users and administrators are now looking for the ability to customize the solution easily as per their own preferences.

-Value proposition: Current trends point towards more a cautious and informed buying decision process. Prospects want to ensure that they are getting the best value for their money.

-Cloud and SaaS (News - Alert): Budget cuts and other economic constraints continue to drive the strong demand for solutions that are cloud based.

-Social CRM: Leverage upon the social media channels to understand customer behavior, extract ideas and also get a feel for the pulse of what customers are saying about you.

-Customer Expectations: With so many players in what is essentially now a buyer’s market, expectation levels are higher and so it is becoming increasingly critical to identify and capitalize on unmet expectations.

-Mobile CRM: Rich and functional mobile access extends the reach of CRM making it more effective and all embracing.

TMC: How does Soffront stay competitive and address the trends you just listed?

MD: A number of ways beginning with Value Proposition Solution: Soffront CRM offers Enterprise class CRM at prices comparable to lesser trims from the other major players in the CRM space. Advanced yet simple customization blurs any boundaries that previously existed with CRM software.

-Cloud and SaaS solution: Soffront CRM has invested in the future by committing to a professionally managed and SAS70 Type 2 compliant Cloud computing platform.

-Social CRM solution: The next version of Soffront CRM (to be released within weeks) will seamlessly bring in intelligence from social networks like Linked-In, Twitter and others to expand the horizons of the system.

-Customer expectation: Solid, no-nonsense and consultative approach to selling with unique concepts of personalized pre-sales and implementation processes ensure that all customer expectations are not only met but exceeded.

-Mobile CRM solutions: Soffront Mobile CRM offers a best of breed extension to the CRM and runs on all the popular smart phones available today.

Juliana Kenny graduated from the University of Connecticut with a double degree in English and French. After managing a small company for two years, she joined TMC as a Web Editor for TMCnet. Juliana currently focuses on the call center and CRM industries, but she also writes about cloud telephony and network gear including softswitches.

Edited by Juliana Kenny