For businesses that once could not afford implementation of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform, many are now turning to cloud CRM solutions, which are able to produce the same, if not better results, for a more affordable price tag (News - Alert).

Keeping customers happy is what keeps the wheels of any organization turning. That’s why it’s critical for organizations to integrate customer service and defect tracking. While solving some customer problems can be achieved through research or known solutions, many cannot be resolved in this way.

“These problems involve the design of your product or software. Many companies today use defect track applications to help them track and manage these issues. These same systems can also help them manage feature and enhancement requests, and help plan and document product releases,” according to a recent Soffront blog post, which looks at seven reasons to integrate customer service and defect tracking:

1. Customer defects are identified and resolved faster.
2. The cost of collecting defect data is greatly reduced.
3. Development and QA engineers spend more time working on issues and less time collecting information about bugs and defects.
4. When the defect is resolved, customers are notified more rapidly.
5. Customer support agents’ time is better used leading to better productivity.
6. Customer support and development use a common language and terminology, which makes their communication more effective.
7. Comprehensive reporting and analysis of customer-related defects is now possible.

Defect tracking can be accomplished via several methods, whether it’s pen and paper, a spreadsheet or a more sophisticated system. With proper processes, checks and testing, a project can be rolled out and completed with fewer unforeseen complications, according to a recent whitepaper.

To implement a user-friendly defect tracking system, it needs to keep input screens clean and easy to understand. Often simplicity is overlooked when implementing a defect tracking platform.

Soffront’s cloud CRM product allows businesses to manage customer support cases from submission to resolution. The support rep sees all related information to the ticket at one place and he or she has access to all related information to the ticket at one place. The details about the account, the support plan the customer is on and the contacts are presented along with the complete history of all activities performed on the ticket.