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BizCloud Offers Tips to Reduce CRM Costs

By Nathesh
TMCnet Contributor

Bizcloud Network, a technology media company has charted new ways that can help companies bring down their Customer relationship management (CRM) costs. The company offers valuable advice on how not to pay too much for on-demand, cloud-based CRM solutions.

Recent studies have indicated that while more companies prefer to deploy SaaS (News - Alert) products, there are still some that install on-premises CRM solutions. Though most SaaS CRM software basic version sare inexpensive, the add-on features, deployment, training, and support costs can quietly increase the total cost of a CRM solution.

Companies that are looking to deploy CRM solutions should consider factors like: the need to employ on-premises solutions; expense of said products in the short, intermediate and long run; the necessity for add-on features; the cost of creating custom solutions; employing a CRM solution that is compatible with the available ecosystem; differences with other CRM solutions available from other vendors; and more.

When a company decides to employ the CRM solution that fits its criteria and budget, it should then take a number of steps to reduce its long-term CRM-related costs.  According to a press release, they include:

-          Never compromising on the quality of training it confers to its IT staff. Though training is time consuming and expensive it almost always pays for itself again and again. The company should never get itself in a situation where unfamiliar staff is not using some of the features of the CRM system that could have cost thousands of dollars.

-          CRM solutions should integrate with back office systems. Many CRM products offer little in the way of functionality once a sale is made. But CRM can be much more than this, especially with the advent of social CRM features that assist with continued contact and social networking between businesses and customers.

-          Though having a SaaS version is much more cost-effective than employing an on-premises solution, a company should still assign an administrator for managing the CRM system. This may not be a full-time job, but it’s still an important one, and will result in overall cost savings in the long run.