From the smallest one-person operation through an international organization, web based CRM software can make any operation run more smoothly. This class of software offers numerous benefits over excel spreadsheets, outlook based contact management, a pen and paper or even local CRM products.
One of the biggest benefits to this type of software is that there is almost infinite scalability. A small company with big aspirations can use the same software when they are a burgeoning office of ten and when they have hit the big time with over one hundred employees. This scalability is often cheaper to implement as well because it is a matter of upgrading a license when a new employee is added. The software is installed on a server and moving from ten people to one hundred is easily accomplished by moving the hosting of the crm software to a dedicated server when the need arises; which varies from office to office depending on how much the web based CRM software is actually used.
Another benefit of this type of software is that it is incredibly user friendly. Most people are comfortable using the web, especially compared to most other computer applications. The computer’s web browser is the single most used piece of software on any personal computer system. By harnessing the browser’s ability to handle complex web pages, these web based contact management products allow even a novice computer user to immediately feel a sense of comfort because the page they are looking at is not a computer program; it is just a page in their web browser.
Another related benefit is how easy it is to access this type of software. Without the web browser based software, the process to securely login to a CRM system is quite a bit more difficult. Some companies would not even allow access from computers that did not belong to the company and one point would only allow access through certain types of internet connections. These safe guards were in place to prevent hacking. With the advent of Contact management systems accessed through the web browser, the encryption is built into the web browser. Some companies still have their employees establish a secure connection via VPN first, prior to using the browser but even without the added layer of VPN, the browser is still quite secure.
CRM software has come a long way. It is much more affordable for the small business now and is easy to use by anyone that can comfortably use a web browser. The future of CRM software will see more robust products at lower price points and more useful features to improve productivity of those using it.