Turbulent times require very careful decisions, and to keep your company afloat it's critical to be in control of each lead, opportunity, and interactions with customers, prospects and partners. You need to stay in control without having major up-front investment in expensive software. That's where CRM software as a service fits perfectly.

CRM software as a service from salesforce.com can have you up and running in 30 days, and our pay-as-you-go model lowers the the price of success dramatically when compared to CRM software. Salesforce.com also removes complexity: we do all the heavy lifting of maintenance and application upgrades. It is no surprise that CRM software as a service is fast becoming the software model of choice for so many leading companies around the globe.

CRM Solutions for Better Customer Relationships

CRM solutions help companies to focus on customer relationships, essential if they are to survive and thrive in today's business environment. In fact, business CRM software as a service is especially effective at directing that focus. The most successful businesses continually assess and evolve their CRM solutions. Your CRM processes, and the underlying technologies that make them work, must at least keep pace with�or ideally set� the standard required to support your sector and customer base. Cloud computing CRM platforms, also known as CRM software as a service, by their nature offer inherent flexibility, lower costs, and shorter implementation times, have become the standard bearers for companies of all sizes.

Organisations using Salesforce CRM software as a service enjoy unprecedented productivity levels, revenue spurts, and improved business intelligence:

• Sales. CRM software-as-a-service solutions drive sales productivity, increase visibility, and expand revenue capabilities.
• Customer Service and Support. CRM solutions get companies operational in a matter of weeks with a call centre application that is loved by agents, and a customer self-service application that creates new levels of customer loyalty.
• Partner Relationship Management. CRM software as a service makes it possible for business partners to access leads, collaborate on deals, and to locate all the essential information that will enable success. Companies get one single view into the sales pipeline accessible for both direct and indirect channels.
• Marketing. CRM software as a service enables closed-loop marketing to execute, manage, and analyse the results of multichannel marketing campaigns. Marketing executives can measure the ROI of their budgets, tie revenue to particular marketing programs, and make budget adjustments in real time.
• Content. Enjoy Web 2.0 usability with all your business content. CRM software as a service lets you share more effectively, and enhance collaboration. Your employees can quickly and easily find the exact documents they needdirect from the CRM software as a service application that they daily.
• Ideas. Salesforce.com's CRM solutions unleash the power of community, and give you the power to start dynamic dialogues with your customers, partners, and employees. Members of the online community can interact, discuss issues and vote on new ideas. The best ideas bubble up, letting you decide priorities and manage stakeholder feedback in a highly scalable manner.
• Analytics. CRM software as a service empowers business CRM users to obtain relevant insights and analysis. Analytics incorporate real-time reporting, calculations, and dashboards so businesses can aim for their optimum performance, decision making, and allocation of resources.
• Custom Applications. After the first taste of cloud computing CRM solutions, companies inevitably want to branch out beyond CRM software as a service, and enjoy the benefits of cloud computing in other areas of the business. With the Force.com platform, it's easy to build and deliver CRM software as a service along side all your company's business applications on one single platform- a single data model, one sharing model, and only unified user interface.
• Industry Applications. Meet all the requirements that are specific to your sector with the award-winning salesforce.com CRM software as a service solution, a wide variety of custom apps from the AppExchange, and the Force.com platform. Industry CRM solutions proven by hundreds of successful businesses, and that are fully and easily customisable.

Business CRM

CRM software can make the difference between business success and business failure. That's because the one thing that often makes or breaks a company is the quality of the customer experience they offer. Integrating and managing the complete customer lifecycle (from start to finish) is the single greatest challenge facing companies bidding to win and retain those highly desirable customers. The most successful companies globally are often identified by the integration of CRM software as a service at all critical customer touch points.

Too often, sales, operations, marketing teams, customer service departments, help desk support, professional services, and other customer-facing departments use multiple different and unconnected systems, purely because the company has yet to implement a CRM system across the company. The outcome is a fractured and often out-dated picture of the customer. CRM software as a service, in comparison, unifies all customer data and activities to give each department a 360-degree view in order to deliver quicker, better service:

• Leads are channelled to the correct sales team or individual rep, are correctly qualified, and include all the correct information.
• Marketing gets real-time visibility into the status of each and every sales lead, can see which lead sources drive the most revenue in real-time, and adjusts marketing campaigns for optimal outcomes.
• Service and support organisations have immediate visibility into which products or services employed by the customer,and any potential sales opportunities on the system, and can alert sales teams and reps to any potential cross-sell and up-sell opportunities, all via a single business CRM application.
• Back in sales, a quick check of the CRM software as a service application gives representatives instant insight into any outstanding customer service issues to minimise the potential for unpleasant surprises when sales calls are made.

With a shared CRM software as a service solution, each department can become more effective and productive in all customer interactions, and each employee can provide superior, consistent customer service. That's how the most successful businesses turn customers into evangelists!

In reality businesses are aware they must "mind their metrics" to remain competitive. Using traditional enterprise software, tailored reports require IT involvement and potentially days or even weeks of waiting. With CRM software as a service, democratic business intelligence become s a reality. Executives and managers finally have instant visibility across all aspects of the organisation�everything from a top-down look to the micro-level details. Using CRM software as a service running data reports and setting up real-time dashboards is as simple as just a few clicks. No more gathering information from multiple sources and different spreadsheets, or working with data that is days or even weeks old. Managers in every department can use business CRM solutions to achieve total insight into their customers, and in doing so build a stronger, more profitable business:

• CRM software as a service gives sales managers and executives a better overview of client information and ongoing sales activities. Business CRM systems also provide real-time accurate pipeline information and forecasts.
• Marketing executives can use business CRM to measure the campaign effectiveness and relate revenue back to specific marketing activities. Finally, measuring marketing ROI is now a reality, thanks to business CRM software as a service.
• Customer service executives use CRM software as a service to access up-to-the minute data about global service operations�such as employee performance and overall service quality�so they can mage positive adjustments quickly and effectively.

Even small investments in dashboards and reporting for all the customer-facing employees who use CRM software as a service can have a profound impact your business' bottom line.