CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management and exactly as it sounds it contains details of all your customers or potential customers.

At its heart, it is a database and SuiteCRM (originally known as SugarCRM in an earlier open-source incarnation) is a prime example of a robust and feature-packed CRM system. SuiteCRM can be customised with ease and as it is a modular platform it can be installed on your servers.

Why do I need CRM?

Spreadsheets, accounts packages, email software or standard databases where customer leads, contact information and billing details are stored are all very good for basic reporting, invoicing, etc, but when tracking projects, leads or opportunities or even keeping an eye on how you or your staff are supporting existing customers, you may very well need a system that does a lot more. There is a wide variety of CRM platforms available but in our experience, SuiteCRM is one of the best available, we have extensive hands-on expertise in customising it for our clients from very diverse industries and what makes it even better is that it is an open-source platform which means no upfront and ongoing hefty software licence fees and it can be configured to any business type and their KPI’s, individual reporting style and data management needs.

The key benefits of SuiteCRM are that it can integrate with your email system and save emails from/to customers against their records in the system. Additionally, by configuring a few modules you can also store social media interactions and integrate your VOIP system so calls can be logged automatically which is a powerful tool when communicating with customers as when you answer the phone the CRM will immediately pull up their details and display previous conversations and interactions you have had with them.

You can use your CRM to email or send SMS push marketing messages to both existing and new customers all from one place. You can run advanced sales reports and create personalised campaigns where the system can build a list of contacts based on similar purchase criteria to “People who bought or liked this service/product so you may like it too.” As suggestions. Linking the CRM to your eCommerce system can track a lot of this information automatically, you can even link to accounts systems and see which customers are the high spenders, and if you are using it for support, see which ones are costing you more as well.

When it comes to customer service and retention regular reports can easily be compiled to check exactly when you last contacted a client. A “task” can also be auto-scheduled for account managers to be alerted to make contact every (for example) 4/6/8 weeks.

Could it benefit your business? Let’s find out. Give us a call.

Many businesses and organisations can make use of a CRM like SuiteCRM, and equally many will not need it, however, if you are not sure either way, give us a call and we can help you analyse your requirements and see if it is a feasible and cost-effective solution for you.