Regardless of the size and profile of your company or the services and products you offer, the success of your business depends on the relationships you develop with your clients. A cloud-based CRM application helps you effectively manage your sales activity and take advantage of any business opportunity. Due to their high cost, CRM solutions were mainly used by large companies, but with the development of cloud applications, they have become accessible to small and medium-sized companies. In this article, we will discuss the key advantages of cloud CRM for SMEs.
Top Benefits of Cloud-based CRM for Small and Medium-sized Businesses
Streamline Client Interactions
Most small businesses that have not adopted a cloud CRM business application are compelled to centralize their customer information in other software, such as Excel or even email. This makes it more difficult to manage and increases the risk of data loss. The key benefit of a CRM application is that it enables you to manage all your data in one application. Whether it’s interaction history, customer preferences, or customer profiles, a cloud-based CRM helps the sales department streamline customer interaction. They can access the information they require at the touch of a button.
Facilitate Collaboration Across Sales Team Members
A cloud-based CRM helps your sales department run its entire operations in a single application that is accessible by all team members at any time. This will facilitate department-wide collaboration and boost productivity. By using a cloud CRM, small and medium-sized businesses can ensure that no customer is neglected. Whether it’s sending timely follow-up emails, providing relevant information to each customer, or accessing data, salespeople can collaborate more easily than ever, no matter where they are.
Automate Repetitive and Time-consuming Tasks
Regardless of the size of your company, there’s always room for improvement in your sales and marketing processes. For a small company that needs to focus on business development, any automated action is a win. A CRM application gives you the advantage of automating time-consuming tasks, such as sending emails or messages to customers, so you can focus more on your business strategy without neglecting your customers. Moreover, such an application is easy to set up and requires little-to-no servicing.
Implement Targeted and Effective Marketing Actions
Implementing effective marketing campaigns is one of the key benefits of cloud-based CRM solutions. By using the application, you will be able to segment your customers much more effectively based on their preferences and needs, allowing you to design the right promotions and offer the best discounts. CRM also offers marketing automation features to send newsletters and emails directly from the app and turn as many leads as possible into opportunities.
Offer Better Customer Service
Customer relations play an important role in the long-term success of your business, so you should make every effort to exceed their expectations. With a CRM app, you can access any customer’s history with your company at any time, allowing you to help and proactively and effectively respond to queries. A top-notch cloud-based CRM solution allows customer interaction monitoring and provides quick access to the data the sales department needs to meet customer needs.
Cost-effective and Scalable
With cloud CRM, you don’t need to install and run any software on expensive on-premise servers. This also means you don’t have to employ full-time IT specialists or pay extra just to keep the system updated. All those costs are built into the cloud subscription fees. Moreover, cloud-based CRMs are light and scalable with little time or effort. If you’re on a tight budget, you can start with a small package and gradually add features, users, or data capacity as your business expands.
Top 10 Cloud CRM Software Vendors
According to a report by Apps Run The World, in 2020, the top 10 Cloud CRM software vendors accounted for nearly 83% of the global Cloud CRM applications market, which grew 14.5% to approach nearly $29.2 billion in subscription revenues.
In 2020, Salesforce led the pack with a 48.4% market share, riding the wave of a 19.3% surge in Cloud CRM revenues. Microsoft was in second place, followed by SAP, Adobe, Oracle, Zendesk, HubSpot, Veeva, Nice Ltd., and Zoho.
According to the same report, “The Cloud CRM applications market size is expected to reach $34.5 billion by 2025, compared with $29.2 billion in 2020 at a compound annual growth rate of 3.4%.”
Conclusion
With the evolution of cloud-based technologies, CRM applications have now become affordable and essential for the growth of small and medium-sized companies. For a start-up company, growing the customer base is extremely important, and a CRM solution can help by streamlining sales and marketing operations.
