Six Advantages of Cloud-Based Customer Relationship Management Systems
Benefits of Cloud-based Customer Relationship Management Systems
In recent years, customer relationship management has become an important part of a company's marketing strategy. CRM sometimes referred to as customer relationship management, is a system for building and managing relationships with customers.
By implementing a customer relationship management system, you can improve the loyalty and customer satisfaction of your existing customers, which in turn can help you increase sales and gain brand power.
In addition to the on-premise type, there are also cloud-based customer relationship management systems that use the Internet. In this article, let's discuss the advantages of implementing a cloud-based customer relationship management system.
1. Cloud-based customer relationship management systems are safe
The first advantage of a cloud-based customer relationship management system is that it is highly secure. Customer management systems store a huge amount of customer information, and the utmost care must be taken against risks such as leaks.
In the case of an on-premise system, the company is responsible for its security and must provide the necessary safety measures on its own. If a company has enough money, it can spend a lot of money to implement security measures, but such companies are limited. On the other hand, in the case of a cloud-based customer management system, the vendor takes care of the security for you.
Cloud service providers usually spend a lot of money on security. This makes it easier for you to protect your customers' information, as you can expect a much higher level of security service than if you were to provide it yourself.
2. Cloud computing is easier
Another advantage of a cloud-based customer relationship management system is that it requires less effort to manage. In the case of on-premise systems, you have to provide all the management and maintenance as well as security on your own.
In the case of on-premise systems, the management and maintenance, as well as the security, must be handled by the company itself, and a dedicated staff member must be assigned to manage the system, or if this is not possible, the system must be managed in conjunction with other business operations.
These tasks are complicated and may reduce the efficiency of the business. On the other hand, a cloud-based customer management system eliminates the need for such hassle.
The maintenance and inspection of equipment, hardware replacement, software upgrades, etc., are all taken care of by the vendor, allowing the company to focus on other tasks.
From a cost standpoint, there are also significant advantages in terms of labor costs, etc.
3. Cloud-based customer management systems are easy to quit
One more convenient point is that cloud-based customer relationship management systems can be implemented on an experimental basis. On-premise customer relationship management systems have the disadvantage of high installation and running costs. As mentioned above, various management costs such as version upgrades are required, and labor costs are not cheap. Because of these characteristics, on-premise systems are not easy to stop using once they are installed. It is impossible to try it out for a short time and see how it works. On the other hand, cloud-based systems are relatively quick to start and easy to quit.
In addition to the low installation cost, the running cost can be reduced to a few thousand dollars per month, which makes it easy to stop the operation immediately if it is not effective.
For companies that want to try out the system first, it is easy to test the effectiveness of the system with just a few users.
4. Cloud-based customer management systems have low initial costs
Although it overlaps with the above benefits, the low initial cost of cloud-based customer relationship management systems cannot be overlooked.
In the case of on-premise systems, the initial cost of installation, such as purchasing a server and installing software, is not cheap.
Depending on the case, the installation cost can run into ten thousand dollars. It is not easy for a small or medium-sized company to take the plunge, let alone a relatively large one. On the other hand, it is not uncommon for cloud-based systems to have an initial cost of zero dollars.
You only need to pay a monthly fee to use the customer management system, so the hurdle to implementation is very low. As mentioned above, it is easy to start small, so it is easy for even small companies to get started.
5. Accessible from anywhere
Cloud-based customer management systems are designed to be accessed via the Internet. This means that you can access the information on any device (some services may support only a limited number of devices). For example, if you are out of the office and want to access your CRM, you can use your smartphone or tablet PC to view the information via the Internet.
On-premise systems do not offer this convenience because access is limited within the company. Even if the person in charge is out of the office, a cloud-based system can be accessed at any time and place, which has the advantage of minimizing the risk of stagnation.
6. Strong in case of trouble
In the case of on-premise customer management systems, system trouble is a concern. If the company's server goes down, in the worst-case scenario, all customer information may be lost.
Maintenance and backups are required accordingly, but this has the disadvantage of being time-consuming and costly. On the other hand, in the case of cloud-based customer management systems, data is saved and stored in the cloud, so there is no need to perform backups, maintenance, and servicing in-house.
As mentioned above, the maintenance of the server and software updates are handled by the vendor, so you can leave it to them with relative peace of mind. Even if there is a problem with your computer, the data is kept safe, and it is easy to respond smoothly.