We are working with a number of companies in the midst of digital transformation, helping them to use CRM to build better and more consistent relationships with their customers.
Digital transformation is the ‘application of digital technology into all areas of an organisation’. It’s about transforming how your organisation operates in order to deliver increasing value to customers. Digital transformation should also drive efficiency, enabling greater collaboration and productivity among your teams.
The challenge for management teams is not around the need for digital transformation – most are now well aware of the benefits. Rather, it’s about how to tackle addressing the issue, how to make it a reality.
This is where your CRM solution comes to the fore. CRM solutions, like Microsoft Dynamics 365, should play a key role in enabling digital transformation. For us, CRM sits at the heart of any digital transformation initiative, because it’s the home of all your customer data and interaction records.
The rise of the tech-savvy customer
Whether you’re B2B or B2C, your customers are now highly skilled when it comes to technology. They expect a fast and consistent experience wherever they are, whether that’s in your store, on your website, contacting you by phone or engaging via social media. They want and, indeed, expect, your organisation to understand them, to have records of previous purchases to hand, and to help them quickly and easily to access the products, services and information they are seeking.
In this demanding environment, CRM technology like Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement should come to the fore.
How does Microsoft Dynamics CE support digital transformation?
There are endless possibilities. Let’s look at marketing, sales and customer service, in particular.
- Digital transformation and marketing
The marketing app within Microsoft Dynamics 365 enables you to reach customers in a more sophisticated way.
By using Dynamics to gather information about your customers, their interests and their problems, you can create tailored marketing programmes which target their most pressing questions. You can also manage and monitor social channels more effectively and make better use of email marketing because of the ability to understand and predict requirements. This can dramatically improve the ROI on your marketing spend. You can see what resonates most with your audience, and reduce the amount you spend on traditional marketing which is hard to quantify, like print advertising and direct mail.
- Digital transformation and customer service
The customer service app within Microsoft Dynamics 365 will also support digital transformation. By collecting the right customer information, service teams have a rounded view of an individual’s interaction with your business and can use these insights to serve customers better.
When managed properly, it’s possible for the service teams to be more proactive, providing information to customers when they need it most, rather than waiting for a query to be raised. This reduces the amount of time your teams spend on the phone dealing with the same issues, and has a knock-on effect on customer satisfaction.
- Digital transformation and sales
Your sales team can use Microsoft Dynamics 365 to improve prospecting and business development by making it quicker and easier to assess where a prospect is in their buying journey, and to tailor communication and resource accordingly. It’s also easier for you to track and manage your sales pipeline, with information recorded systematically and all in one place.
The importance of CRM in your digital transformation journey
Consumers expect a consistent experience, whether they browse in store, shop online, engage in online chat or call your service teams. They expect immediacy, responsiveness and personalisation.
The data housed within your CRM should enable all this to happen. CRM helps you tie all these interactions together so that any team that engages with a customer does so with the information and knowledge they need to create an outstanding experience.
Talk to us about CRM and your digital transformation journey. Please get in touch.
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