It’s 2019 and customer relationship management (CRM) tools are a must-have for all businesses that put their customers first. CRM software solutions are no longer for just large enterprises. The rapid growth and fierce competition has made it impossible for companies to not leverage a CRM solution.
CRM tools can help automate your business processes, align teams, streamline data storage and improve customer relationships. That’s why CRM software industry is growing at an incredible rate.
Implementing CRM is unquestionably one of the best business practices today because customer satisfaction forms the backbone of business success. All companies are engaged in a fight to gain and retain more customers.
CRM tools promise organizations to help them know more about their customers and ultimately, to serve them better.
However, there’s a catch. Only implementing a CRM solution is not enough. Companies also have to find ways to maximize the effectiveness of these systems and to fully utilize its power. In this regard, companies often neglect a key issue – the management and organization of the actual customer documents that have to flow through a CRM system.
After all, it’s the raw material that determines the quality of the final product!
The Need for Integrated Document Management in CRM
Effective customer relationship management begins with sound document practices. When a document management strategy is in place, you will be able to effectively manage customer documents, ultimately improving customer satisfaction and delivering more value to your customers. That’s why a document management system is crucial for CRM.
The creation of an electronic document repository in CRM will help companies easily retrieve data about customers and leads, reducing the processing time and increasing the quality of work.
Let’s look at some of the main reasons why integrated document management is key to a robust CRM solution.
- It is widely observed that majority of the most powerful customer information is stored in unmanaged documents that are scattered throughout the organization. These documents are the source of real and more valuable customer insights that can help you serve them better. From application files and images to PDFs and emails, everything can be more effectively managed through a document management system.
- Customers now have a plethora of access points into the organization be it emails, phone, web, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. This, in turn, means that the sheer volume and variety of information about customers is only increasing with each passing day. In fact every two years, information grows by 10 times. If you don’t have a strong document management system to handle this growth, you’re going to lose customers.
- Multiple channels of customer information also means more scattered and disconnected systems No customer or client wants to be asked for the same information over and over again. You should have a document management system that can gather all data into one centralized location.
- The costs of privacy or security breach as far as customer information is concerned are only going higher. Unmanaged and disorganized documents create loopholes in the system and can be a potential source of embarrassment for companies. Moreover with stricter government regulations surrounding customer information, the stakes of mismanaged information are at an all time high.
- Poor document management will lead to dissatisfied and frustrated customers that are more empowered than ever before. One viral Facebook post or Tweet, and there goes the company’s reputation along with its bottom line!
Top Benefits of an Integrated Solution
Here are some concrete benefits that the integration of document management and CRM will bring to your business.
1. Complete Document Management within CRM
With a document automation platform integrated within your CRM solution, you can easily handle all communication activities and document processing in a single window. This means no more tossing between multiple tabs.
You can create, edit and access all of you files from the CRM system and immediately share produced documents with different departments, co-workers and clients.
2. Document Creation is Less Time Consuming
An integrated solution eliminates the need to manually insert case to case information into a predefined template. This means you’re going to spend less time in producing documents. This time can thus be better utilized in facilitating other high value business processes.
Relevant data gathered with the CRM system such as contact information, business details, products and pricing will be automatically fed into designated fields on your documents. Some document management systems even provide several professional templates by default. In addition, you can create customized templates for your contracts proposals or any other documents, in just a few clicks.
3. Automation of Workflows
You would no longer feel the need for scanning documents and then transferring them to colleagues or other clients for their review and approval. The integrated system will let you share all documents directly from the CRM system whether you require an approval or anything else. Therefore document sharing can be done in a snap.
Moreover, other inbuilt functionalities like e-signing will make business processes much smoother, traceable and less time consuming. You can also monitor the status of a document once it is sent – whether it has been opened, approved or corrected. There is never any risk of documents going missing no matter how high the traffic is.
4. Document Search Becomes Hassle Free
A document management system will rid you of the hassle of documents getting lost and you would no longer be hunting for files locked in computer folders. With required document at hand all the time, customer representative will be more confident in providing excellent customer experience ultimately leading to more closed deals.
If you wish for an ever-growing customer base, you should be capable of delivering high quality service. A CRM solution integrated with document management system can make this possible for you. Implement it today to reap all the business benefits it has to offer!