Oates and Company Blog


Why It's Time to Abandon Your Legacy System

Posted by John Shepperson | Oct 30, 2013 7:40:00 AM

A legacy, in the computing/business world, refers to something old – an old method, old technology, an old computer system, and/or old application programs. When these types of legacies are being used in the business world, the term “outdated” also typically applies.

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Topics: ERP, oates and co, software, cloud services, software upgrade, crm, legacy systems, upgrade, upgrading, consultation



Congratulations to Sage CRM!

Posted by John Shepperson | Oct 21, 2013 12:00:00 PM

Sage CRM, which is a customer relationship management (CRM) tool sold by The Sage Group, is often sold in conjunction with Sage ERP products. We have discussed Sage ERP products on this blog before and endorse them; today we are pleased to announce that Sage CRM was awarded the rating of “Challenger” on the Ovum Decision Matrix for CRM.

bulls eyeOvum Ltd specializes in the global coverage of information technology and telecommunications. They analyze current software and trends and strive to keep companies “in the know” about the latest developments in the world of technology. Their goal is to give companies objective facts about technology so that the companies are able to make better, more informed business decisions.

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Topics: oates and co, Sage, Sage Software, customer relationship management, ovum, challenger, sage crm, crm



Customer Relationship Management

Posted by John Shepperson | Aug 30, 2013 7:40:00 AM

Customer relationship management (CRM) is the ability of an organization to identify their desired customer base, successfully acquire those customers, and then use marketing skills and high quality products to retain those customers and foster their loyalty.

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Topics: 100 ERP, business, customer relationship management, customers, customer, crm, john shepperson



Why ALL companies should use CRM Software (Customer Relationship Management)

Posted by Randy Aimone | Feb 12, 2013 12:39:00 AM

What is CRM and why should a company implement it? CRM, or Customer Relationship Management, focuses on improving customer retention, increasing revenues and profitability, and ensuring continuity for the customer through any staff changes.  At its best, it becomes a key part of corporate strategy that everyone is involved in, not just salespeople. The idea behind it is to provide a tool where every stakeholder in the company records interactions with customers so that everyone is on the same page. How many times have you experienced a salesperson making a sales call to a customer and the salesperson did not know that there was a major customer service issue the week before?  It makes the salesperson, and the company, look bad that this information is not shared.

One of the major advantages of utilizing CRM software is to eliminate the silos of information.  In most organizations that have not adopted CRM, the customer experience looks something like this:
    • The salespeople manage their calendars in either Outlook, or even worse in a day planner. 
    • Management and customer service has no visibility into any of this information. 
    • All of the emails that the salespeople or customer service has with a customer is in a silo of that individual’s email or in their head. 
    • If any interaction does need to occur between sales and customer service, it is usually done by phone or by email again. 
This creates a lot of inefficient time for everyone and does nothing to improve the customer’s experience.  If CRM software is utilized, company-wide, then the salespeople can log on before they go on a sale call and see all of the activity that has occurred since the last visit and be better prepared to deal with the customer.  Likewise, the customer service representatives can see what the salespeople have done and be better prepared when the customer calls in with an issue.

The second advantage of utilizing CRM software is protection of your customers.  Let’s say you have a star salesperson that becomes disgruntled.  If they manage their relationships in Excel, Outlook, or by day planner, then if they leave you lose all those interactions and very possibly the client too.  By having all interactions recorded in the CRM software, management or the next salesperson can quickly get up to speed of what the salesperson has done and proactively communicate with the customer to retain them.

If you would like to reduce the silos of information in your organization and protect your customers, please visit us at john@oatesco.com or visit us at www.oatesco.com.

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Topics: Blog Posting, crm



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