Forrester Vice President and Principal Analyst Kate Leggett writes that CRM now offers enterprises and smaller companies the opportunity to pursue a deep “customer-first” perspective alongside operational efficiency. And as the enterprise wants to provide more personalized, differentiated experiences to customers, the CRM industry is responding with “componentized” and vertical offerings.

CRM vendors have added artificial intelligence (AI) components, says Leggett, including virtual assistants, robotic process automation (RPA) and other sophisticated automation capabilities to benefit sales teams and customer support staff.

With that in mind, we have compiled a list of the leading customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, with additional guidance for key verticals like government and small businesses.

Unlike other forms of business software, CRM represents a new way of working — one that should result in higher performance with less overhead. But this change will be managed gradually, requiring organizations to commit to a platform over a substantial period of time.

What Are the Benefits of a CRM System?

• Better customer relationships: Everything the CRM solution does leads to improved customer relationships. Each contact and communication with a customer or potential customer that demonstrates knowledge of and care for that customer’s needs and desires cements a stronger, more beneficial relationship for both parties.
• Better communications with customers and coworkers: Highly organized and informed communications with customers and coworkers through a CRM solution create excellent customer satisfaction levels and smoother, more productive interactions within the marketing, sales and service team members.
• Improved customer service: A CRM solution can create one of the most highly prized goals for your company and for the customers: Great customer service. The more that every interaction is based on accurate, up-to-date information about the customer’s history with the company, the more satisfactory the service level and the higher the trust among the customer base.
• Increased automation of tasks: Automation of tasks in a CRM solution for managers and operational staff is beneficial in more than one way. Time savings and reduction in repetitive, frustrating tasks frees staff up for more productive activities. Efficient execution of a myriad of tasks in marketing, sales and service scales, which leads to growth in sales and revenue.
• Increased customer retention, upselling and engagement: Knowing as much as possible about your customers’ interests, requirements and history with your company and products, with the use of the CRM, is the basis for understanding them and giving them what they want, when they want it. Coordinated marketing efforts, informed service levels and timely offers are direct results of the CRM’s tools, with results that can be quantified.
• Higher sales results: A CRM solution’s features allowing for more accurate customer data, real-time tracking of all communications, personalization, lead management, cross- and up-selling and other efficiencies are designed for one of CRM’s most important benefits: improved results for the sales team.
• Higher employee satisfaction: Having access to accurate, actionable data for team members increases empowerment, autonomy, productivity, collaboration and efficiency. Being able to provide great service and achieve career goals with fewer obstructions or frustrations leads to an engaged, satisfied staff.

Also read: Advantages & Benefits of CRM

What are Features to Consider when Choosing CRM Software?

• Lead management: The lead management feature in a CRM solution spans marketing and sales, identifying potential customers who may show interest or interact with your company. These leads will be captured, tracked, organized, scored, nurtured and delivered to sales for engagement.
• Contact management: The contact management feature in a CRM solution tracks and organizes all information about customers, partners and other entities for an organization, and adds sales and marketing capabilities, such as personalized communication tools and relationship mapping.
• Reporting and analytics: Reporting and analytics in a CRM solution are at the heart of improving results. Access to real-time data by managers and operational staff leads to better business decisions on a daily basis and better strategic planning.
• Team management for sales, service, marketing: Team management tools in a CRM solution increase timely communication, access to fuller data and productivity. They can also reduce the need for excessive meetings and other time-consuming communications.
• Sales force automation: CRM solutions can automate sales force tasks, including data entry, contact management, appointment setting, inventory monitoring and some customer contacts.
• Sales forecasting: CRM solution sales forecasting tools use historical and real-time data to assist in forecasting short-term and longer-term sales results. AI-assisted forecasting is becoming more common in CRM.
• Mobile CRM: Mobile versions of CRM solutions can vary from basic functionality to fully featured versions, for use both outside and inside the office.
• AI: CRM solutions are quickly adopting AI for everything from faster and more accurate customer service to advanced analytics insights for internal use.

Top CRM Software

 HubSpot CRM

Best CRM for Small Business and Best CRM for Startups

HubSpot CRM stands out as a free solution, “100 percent, forever,” so it’s a great place for small businesses to start when looking to streamline their email marketing capabilities. Using the product alongside the company’s sales, marketing and customer service platforms can increase efficiency in generating leads and revenue and providing seamless, customized customer service.

Key Features: 

• Lead Management: Custom filters.
• Contact Management: Log every customer interaction automatically, sync with Gmail and Outlook.
• Reporting and Analytics: Essential sales reports are free. Advanced and custom reports available as add-ons. Add-ons available in the Starter level, which is $45 per month for 2 users, with additional users  priced at $23 each. 
• Team management for sales, service and marketing: Communication through live chat, team email, bots, centralized collection of all conversations.
• Sales force automation: Task automation is very easy to learn. Clean interfaces, plus free training documents and videos. HubSpot Academy, also free, offers a long list of courses that go from beginner to more strategic content.
• Sales forecasting: Sales Pipeline Tracker shows monthly forecasts, annual goals
• Mobile CRM: Fully featured HubSpot Mobile app
• AI: Artificial intelligence bots for customer service.
• Cost: HubSpot’s free version is truly free.  The company’s CRM Suite bundle starts at $45/month, Professional at $1,600/month, and Enterprise at $5,000/month.
• Integration: HubSpot Connect tool discovers and integrates over 200 software packages, including MailChimp, WordPress, Slack, Salesforce, ZenDesk.

Salesforce CRM

Best CRM for Government and Best CRM Cloud Solution

Salesforce has been the leader in CRM in the cloud for decades, with a highly integrated sales support platform. The company offers a large number of vertical solutions, for banking, government, health care, retail, consumer goods and more. 

Salesforce CRM consists of a number of cloud modules that users can mix-and-match for specific use cases. The portfolio consists of a sales cloud that handles leads and scoring, while the service cloud provides call-center and self-service support. There is also a commerce cloud that unifies mobile, social, web and stored data under a predictive intelligence analytics engine.

Key Features: 

• Lead management: Lead management enhanced with predictive scoring, intelligent automation and accurate forecasting.
• Contact management: Marketing Cloud focuses on creating “customer journeys” with intelligence marketing in email, mobile, social, digital advertising.
• Reporting and analytics: Industry leader with Einstein AI-augmented analytics, giving insights from Salesforce and non-Salesforce data.
• Team management for sales, service and marketing: Quip system centralizes actions and projects, cutting down on email and meetings.
• Sales force automation: cloud modules for Sales, Service, Marketing, targeting each user group’s needs and fully integrating all data.
• Sales forecasting: AI-augmented forecasting with Einstein provides insights, predictions inside enterprise apps.
• Mobile CRM: The Salesforce AppExchange app store has a portfolio of role-specific apps for its CRM product and partner apps to take every task mobile, going far beyond a mobile version of a CRM product.
• AI: Sales Cloud Einstein AI advanced analytics adds predictive analysis and explains intuitive factors behind the scores for the sales team.
• Cost: Integrations and pricing are provided on request. 
• Integration: Leading app integration through AppExchange store. Developers and users can create apps with Lightning App Building and Heroku Enterprise, or integrate third-party apps. Salesforce’s MuleSoft AnyPoint Platform lets developers design and use APIs and software integrations across the enterprise.

Insightly

Insightly’s CRM system features a connections discovery tool that tracks organizational hierarchies, partnerships and contacts of key customers, as well as sales pipeline management and workflow automation capabilities to help close deals quicker. It also employs open APIs to connect to legacy apps and mobile services. The platform also features enterprise-grade data visualization, including territory visualization.

Key Features: 

• Lead management: Automatic lead routing keeps sales up-to-date so opportunities are not missed. 
• Contact management: Relationship linking and mapping shows who has the strongest relationship to a customer, uncovers hidden connections.
• Reporting and analytics: Data visualization displays clearly present opportunities as well as team successes in reports, dashboards and Insight Cards.
• Team management for sales, service and marketing: Projects feature set lets won opportunities be converted to projects seamlessly.
• Sales force automation: Advanced lead distribution and workflow automation let sales managers streamline and monitor processes in-depth.
• Sales forecasting: Focus is more on tracking and visualizations than forecasting.
• Mobile CRM: Mobile app for Android and iOS provides basic tasks, including project updating and calendar management.
• AI: AI bots for meeting scheduling.
• Cost: Insightly Plus is $29/user/month (billed annually), Professional is $49/user/month, and Enterprise $99/user/month.
• Integration: Application integration with Microsoft Outlook and Office365, Gmail, Google Apps, Xero, Quickbooks, Mailchimp and Slack.

Dynamics 365

Dynamics 365 from Microsoft bundles a number of stand-alone applications into a cohesive platform overseeing sales, service, financing, operations and other processes, in a business applications suite encompassing CRM and ERP. It features an AI engine that supports predictive analytics and mixed reality applications, as well as a development workshop for customizable apps that support personalized customer experiences.

Key Features: 

• Lead management: Shows next best step to take, based on embedded insights. Also embeds custom insights from the organization in “action cards.”
• Contact management: Highly integrated enterprise-level tools create deep contact information, personalized communications, and identification of the most valuable connections.
• Reporting and analytics: Enterprise-level reporting and analytics lets sales managers design and direct processes and engagements at a very granular level.
• Team management for sales, service and marketing: Talent management gives HR and managers tools to hire, onboard and develop talent.
• Sales force automation: Sales force automation tailored to meet the needs of sales leader and sales operations roles
• Sales forecasting: Project service automation optimizes resources, forecasts project profitability and increases productivity
• Mobile CRM: Admin-managed Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement for phones and tablets, specialized mobile apps for Field Service and Operations.
• AI: Dynamics 365 AI for Sales, Customer Service, Market Insights and Customer Insights gives immediate insights out of the box, and can be customized via Microsoft Azure.
• Cost: Dynamic 365 Sales Professional is $65 per user/per month; Dynamic 365 Sales Enterprise is $95 per user/per month; and Dynamics 365 Sales Premium is $135 per user / per month. 
• Integration: Key integration opportunities include the Microsoft Relationship Sales solution, which combines Dynamics 365 for Sales Enterprise with LinkedIn Sales Navigator, at $162 per user/month, with a 10 user minimum.

Pipedrive

Best Overall CRM Software

Pipedrive is visually intuitive and action-driven. The software uses a visually oriented display to highlight the actions that reps need to complete while analyzing performance to see what needs to be improved. Activity reminders, notifications and alerts are heavily used to keep activity moving forward. Users can try Pipedrive free to see if it is a good fit.

Key Features: 

• Lead management: The lead management pipeline is the heart of the Pipeline product, keeping the focus on action items for both sales managers and sales operations.
• Contact management: Smart contact data: Instantly retrieve web data about contacts, such as from LinkedInReporting and analytics: Drag-and-drop to create customized reporting, analytics, statistics views, in a clean presentation.
• Team management for sales, service and marketing: Managers can customize as deeply as desired, but the focus in Pipeline is on the next actions to be taken, putting self-direction more center stage than in other packages.
• Sales force automation: Activity reminders and prompts throughout the entire sales process keep users focused on what step comes next.Sales forecasting: Forecasting tool shines in comparing progress and previous results in a quickly digested visual presentation.
• Mobile CRM: Mobile CRM app, synced with Outlook, Gmail, WhatsApp and more, is key to acting on Pipedrive’s reminders and alerts.
• AI: Pipedrive uses AI in its Smart Contact Data feature to retrieve contact info.
• Cost: Pipedrive Essential is $12.50 per user/per month; Advanced is $24.90 per user/per month; Professional is $49.90 per user/per month; Enterprise is $99 per user/per month. 
• Integration: Email integration in two forms: Sales Inbox syncs with any major email provider. Smart Email BCC is for organizations where email is not as large a presence in the sales pipeline. Developer APIs for software integration, custom features.

Oracle NetSuite CRM

Oracle NetSuite CRM claims it is the only cloud solution in market that offers a true, real-time, 360-degree customer view. Underlying the claim is a deep feature set and offerings tailored for 20 separate industry categories and eight business types, from startups and small businesses to midsized businesses and the enterprise. Global sales and services organizations will be particularly interested in this CRM solution. One stand-out feature is website search engine optimization, which creates more search-engine-friendly pages and higher rankings, to connect with customers and prospects more quickly.

Key Features: 

• Lead management: Sophisticated marketing automation solution aligns marketing and sales goals, guides multi-channel campaigns.
• Contact management: Customer service management portal gives sales, support, service and fulfillment access to all customer data.Reporting and analytics: Deep reporting capabilities integrating marketing, sales, service, finance, back-office, all in real-time, role-based dashboards.
• Reporting and analytics: Enterprises familiar with Oracle business solutions will quickly become comfortable with its CRM real-time business intelligence insights, dashboards, custom reports and historical trending information.Team management for sales, service and marketing: The Sales performance management feature offers sales directors tools for guided sales coaching and incentive programs, and gives sales staff mobile access to compensation tracking.
• Sales force automation: Sales force automation tools include CX Mobile, with voice-activated insights, and lead management with marketing and CPQ integration.Sales forecasting: Sales forecasting tools fully integrated with sales performance management tool for managers, 13-month trend information available.
• Mobile CRM: Oracle CRM On-Demand Mobile, Oracle Sales Cloud Mobile available for use with license.
• AI: NetSuite leads in AI, with embedded AI across all its enterprise software, including CRM, providing intelligent insights throughout business workflows.
• Cost: Users subscribe to NetSuite for an annual license fee, which is made up of three components: core platform, optional modules, and the number of users. There is also a one-time implementation fee for initial setup. Contact NetSuite for more pricing details. 
• Integration: Pre-built or web services integration to Oracle solutions, single-sign-on, support for JDeveloper, IBM WebSphere, Microsoft .NET, BEA WebLogic and XML/SOAP APIs for data integration projects.

SAP CRM

SAP CRM is a cloud-based solution of particular interest to enterprises that want to build and maintain a trust relationship with customers. Without sacrificing personalization or integrated data behind the customer experience, SAP CRM gives customers the data privacy that they require. Transparency and compliance are priorities.

Key Features: 

• Lead management: Highly structured lead and sales management system will be of interest to large organizations with large sales groups that need fast configuring of complex product configurations, offers and contracts.
• Contact management: The SAP Customer Data Cloud feature gives customers a single-sign on, user-friendly environment where their privacy is prioritized and fraud protections are in place. The SAP Marketing cloud feature is another component of building a trust relationship, gaining consent for marketing engagements and demonstrating good data stewardship while optimizing revenue-building marketing actions.
• Reporting and analytics: Reporting and analytics capabilities that combine CRM with ERP and extended business processes.Team management for sales, service and marketing: The SAP Sales Cloud feature lets sales reps manage their sales with real-time analytics, and lets sales managers guide reps from quote to contract, if desired. Managers have access to gamification and incentives in the Service Cloud.
• Sales force automation: The SAP Service Cloud bridges the CRM and ERP worlds to give all service teams unified data for a unified service experience.
• Sales forecasting: System prioritizes accurate quarterly forecasting of sales and revenues, with granular sales performance management tools, including commission management and sales territory management.
• Mobile CRM: SAP CRM mobile app available with license.
• AI: Dynamic customer profiling uses machine learning and AI to create insights on customer behaviors and desires.
• Cost: SAP CRM pricing available upon request from the firm.
• Integration: SAPCRM  is comprised of five cloud solution portfolios—eCommerce, Customer Data, Sales, Service, and Marketing—which can be integrated as desired. SAP’s developer tools provide APIs and other tools for integration of third-party systems.

Zendesk Sell

Zendesk’s Sell features an automated lead scoring system that pushes the most likely prospects to the forefront, while at the same time encouraging customer satisfaction and word-of-mouth marketing. It also includes features to help turn customers into advocates. Sell has a series of packages appropriate for small businesses through enterprise. 

Key Features: 

• Lead management: Lead prioritization with automated scoring puts the highest value leads front and center for the team.
• Contact management: Customer management starts with a 360-degree view of data, automated actions and territory smart lists, with a goal of not only closing a sale and satisfying the customer, but creating high customer satisfaction and advocacy.
• Reporting and analytics: Clean interface for reports and analytics, based on half a million data points for each customer. Team management for sales, service and marketing: Intuitive user interface makes the pipeline visibility frictionless, enhances collaboration between reps and managers.
• Sales force automation: Zendesk’s Sell emphasizes alleviation of administrative burdens with productivity features and a “consumer-grade user interface” that speeds users through tasks.
• Sales forecasting: Sell CRM caters to small businesses starting out in forecasting, and experienced enterprises. A Sales Forecast Template gets the former started, and forecasting model improvement guidance addresses the latter.
• Mobile CRM: Sell’s mobile CRM gives users all the functionality of the desktop solution, plus extra mobile features like geolocation and offline access.
• AI: Sell’s machine learning for sales forecasting focuses on close rate prediction and conversion estimation.
• Cost: A free trial is available, at any desired level. The Team level is $19 per user / per month for up to three users; the Professional level is $49 per user month; the Enterprise level is $99 per user / per month; the Elite level is $199 per user / per month and appropriate for the enterprise organization.
• Integration: Pre-built integrations with apps like DropBox, Google Drive, Hubspot, Kustomer and MailChimp are in the Sell Marketplace. Developers can use the Sell AP to meet integration needs.

SugarCRM

SugarCRM offers multichannel, end-to-end process automation, personalized dashboards and productivity tools, and deep-dive customer insight. The system can be deployed as a fully managed service or as a cloud or on-premises solution. SugarCRM for Enterprise focuses on organizations that want to create individualized experiences for customers. SugarCRM for Small Businesses focuses on flexibility with affordable, predictable pricing.

Key Features: 

• Lead management: Lead management gives better routing processes between marketing and sales, and bases designation of hot leads on behavior scores for customers.
• Contact management: The Hint relationship intelligence service cuts down call preparation time, giving all needed contact and social information immediately. SugarCRM focuses on maximizing Net Promoter Scores (NPR) and customer satisfaction by creating customer loyalty and advocacy programs.
• Reporting and analytics: SugarCRM always focuses on a simple interface for data, keeping in mind that CRM easily becomes too complicated in presentation. Customize reports into Dashlets and customize user homepage to maintain focus on most relevant data.
• Team management for sales, service and marketing: SugarCRM is highly focused on solving the challenges facing management, particularly helping organizations with a history of poor adoption of CRM technology, with simplified tools and interfaces.
• Sales force automation: Automation is centered in the Sugar Productivity Suite, a visual step-by-step that keeps actions organized and on track.
• Sales forecasting: Small businesses can start with SugarCRM’s forecasting software modeling; with Enterprise, organizations can also drill down to line items in revenue data. Sugar Forecasts can be customized for enterprise-level complex sales processes.
• Mobile CRM: Small businesses can use the SugarCRM mobile app out of the box, or with a few user-selected customizations. Enterprises can distribute configured and role-personalized apps through app stores.
• AI: SugarCRM uses its Hint AI to eliminate data entry and a large amount of manual research, pulling the customer data that the team needs into the CRM instantly.
• Cost: SugarCRM offers five pricing tiers: Sugar Market starts at $1,000 per month for 10K contacts; Sugar Sell starts at $80 per user / per month for a minimum of of three users; Sugar Serve starts at $80 per user / per month for a minimum of of three users; Sugar Enterprise starts at $85 per user / per month for a minimum of of three users; Sugar Professional starts at $82 per user / per month for a minimum of of three users. 
• Integration: The vertical-specific solutions for manufacturing, business services, financial services, commercial banking, capital markets, wealth management, credit unions and insurance are built to integrate with legacy systems and support specialized user groups.

 Zoho CRM

Best CRM for Real Estate

Zoho CRM provides real-time customer connectivity across multiple channels, as well as sales pipeline blueprints to automate repetitive processes. It also offers a wealth of collaborative tools including an interactive calendar, a document library, and a centralized discussion portal. It features integration with third-party platforms like Google, DocuSign, and LinkedIn. With a free version, a free trial and attractive pricing, this is a good choice for smaller businesses and organizations new to CRM, as well as for larger businesses and enterprises.

Key Features: 

• Lead management: Web-based companies benefit from Zoho’s clean capture forms; pre-built lead distribution tools and engagement scoring make getting up to speed easier.
• Contact management: SalesSignals is Zoho’s alerting feature, giving real-time notifications when a customer interacts in any way with your company, so the response will be immediate. SalesSignals are customizable to desired channels.Reporting and analytics: 40 standard, pre-built reports get users started. Customize reports, create visuals and add to dashboard or view as pop-out windows as you work in the CRM tool.
• Team management for sales, service and marketing: Team collaboration in Zoho CRM can be prioritized with basic features like document libraries and synced calendars, and with additional tools including Gamescope for healthy competition, a Feed for all ongoing CRM discussions, and a chat feature.
• Sales force automation: Blueprint is Zoho’s action guide, prompting users to take actions and provide information at the correct time. Especially useful for new hires.Sales forecasting: Within sales management, the AI-powered anomaly detector compares sales performance with predicted trends, shows deviations from sales patterns.Mobile CRM: Take Zoho mobile with the app, and use geolocation to find nearby prospects.
• AI: Zia is Zoho’s AI assistant feature, offering everything from simple answers to conversational questions, to sales assistance for mobile reps, to complex calculations and analytics.
• Cost: In addition to a free trials at every price point, Zoho CRM is offered in four pricing tiers: Standard starts at $14 per user / per month; Professional is $23 per user / per month; Enterprise is 40 per user/ per month; Ultimate is $52 per user / per month. 
• Integration: Zoho CRM Marketplace integrates curated apps including PieSync, Edison, Spotfone, PandaDoc, Aircall and hundreds more.

Read TechnologyAdvice’s: The Best Real Estate CRM Software

Creatio CRM

Creatio CRM offers a low-code, single platform to manage sales, marketing, and service with the goals of boosting lead generation, improving customer retention, managing complete sales cycles, automating sales processes, streamlining customer engagements, and accelerating service delivery.  

Key Features 

• Lead management: Utilizes customer data to develop a 360-customer view to build more targeted communications. 
• Contact management: Creatio CRM feature is available in two versions: Customer Center is best for companies that want to manage omnichannel communications. 
• Service Enterprise is best for medium-sized to large companies that want to deliver service across multiple communications channels and include some BPM features.
• Reporting and analytics: The platform takes a business process-oriented view of reporting, offering very detailed field force management, contract management, and product management reports.
• Team management for sales, service and marketing: The user interface mimics that of a familiar social network, making it intuitive and boosting adoption. The Communication Panel feature holds all notifications and communications, and allows collaboration in the Enterprise Social Network, which resembles well-known mainstream social network platforms
• Sales force automation: Best practices can automate any process, whether unstructured or structured.
• Sales forecasting: Forecasting tool applies probability of closing to opportunities in pipeline, helping managers more accurately predict plan vs. actual results.
• Mobile CRM: Mobile app offers basic features and access to streamlined data and features. For Android and iOS.
• AI: Intelligent data enrichment tool compiles customer data from open sources automatically, organizes it and presents it, saving valuable research time.
• Cost: Creatio CRM offers a free trial, but pricing varies by bundle. Contact their sales team for best pricing information.  
• Integration: The platform connects curated applications, templates, and services for users, including GoToWebinar, Smooch, MailChimp, Dotmailer and hundreds more.

This article was updated by IT Business Edge’s Editor Llanor Alleyne in January 2022.  

Read next: Top 6 Trends Shaping Digital Transformation in 2022

The post Best CRM Software & Systems 2022 appeared first on IT Business Edge.

Here are our picks for top CRM software solutions:

• Top CRM Software Comparison Chart
• Best CRM for Government
• Best Cloud CRM Solution
• Best CRM for Small Business
• Best CRM for Startups
• Best CRM for Real Estate 
• Best CRM for Mac
• Best Google CRM 
• Hubspot CRM
• Salesforce CRM
• Insightly
• Dynamics 365
• Pipedrive
• Netsuite CRM 
• Oracle CRM
• SAP CRM 
• Zendesk Sell
• SugarCRM 
• Zoho CRM
• Bpm’online

Forrester Vice President and Principal Analyst Kate Leggett writes that CRM now offers enterprises and smaller companies the opportunity to pursue a deep “customer-first” perspective alongside operational efficiency. And as the enterprise wants to provide more personalized, differentiated experiences to customers, the CRM industry is responding with “componentized” and vertical offerings.

CRM vendors are also quickly adding artificial intelligence (AI) components, says Leggett, including virtual assistants, robotic process automation (RPA) and other sophisticated automation capabilities to benefit sales teams and customer support staff.

With that in mind, we have compiled a list of the leading customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, with additional guidance for key verticals like government and small businesses.

Unlike other forms of business software, CRM represents a new way of working – one that should result in higher performance with less overhead. But this change will be managed gradually, requiring organizations to commit to a platform over a substantial period of time.

Benefits of CRM

• Better customer relationships: Everything the CRM solution does leads to improved customer relationships. Each contact and communication with a customer or potential customer that demonstrates knowledge of and care for that customer’s needs and desires cements a stronger, more beneficial relationship for both parties.
• Better communications with customers and coworkers: Highly organized and informed communications with customers and coworkers through a CRM solution create excellent customer satisfaction levels and smoother, more productive interactions within the marketing, sales and service team members.
• Improved customer service: A CRM solution can create one of the most highly prized goals for your company and for the customers: Great customer service. The more that every interaction is based on accurate, up-to-date information about the customer’s history with the company, the more satisfactory the service level and the higher the trust among the customer base.
• Increased automation of tasks: Automation of tasks in a CRM solution for managers and operational staff is beneficial in more than one way. Time savings and reduction in repetitive, frustrating tasks frees staff up for more productive activities. Efficient execution of a myriad of tasks in marketing, sales and service scales, which leads to growth in sales and revenue.
• Increased customer retention, upselling and engagement: Knowing as much as possible about your customers’ interests, requirements and history with your company and products, with the use of the CRM, is the basis for understanding them and giving them what they want, when they want it. Coordinated marketing efforts, informed service levels and timely offers are direct results of the CRM’s tools, with results that can be quantified.
• Higher sales results: A CRM solution’s features allowing for more accurate customer data, real-time tracking of all communications, personalization, lead management, cross- and up-selling and other efficiencies are designed for one of CRM’s most important benefits: improved results for the sales team.
• Higher employee satisfaction: Having access to accurate, actionable data for team members increases empowerment, autonomy, productivity, collaboration and efficiency. Being able to provide great service and achieve career goals with fewer obstructions or frustrations leads to an engaged, satisfied staff.

Key Features to Consider in CRM Software

• Lead management: The lead management feature in a CRM solution spans marketing and sales, identifying potential customers who may show interest or interact with your company. These leads will be captured, tracked, organized, scored, nurtured and delivered to sales for engagement.
• Contact management: The contact management feature in a CRM solution tracks and organizes all information about customers, partners and other entities for an organization, and adds sales and marketing capabilities, such as personalized communication tools and relationship mapping.
• Reporting and analytics: Reporting and analytics in a CRM solution are at the heart of improving results. Access to real-time data by managers and operational staff leads to better business decisions on a daily basis and better strategic planning.
• Team management for sales, service, marketing: Team management tools in a CRM solution increase timely communication, access to fuller data and productivity. They can also reduce the need for excessive meetings and other time-consuming communications.
• Sales force automation: CRM solutions can automate sales force tasks, including data entry, contact management, appointment setting, inventory monitoring and some customer contacts.
• Sales forecasting: CRM solution sales forecasting tools use historical and real-time data to assist in forecasting short-term and longer-term sales results. AI-assisted forecasting is becoming more common in CRM.
• Mobile CRM: Mobile versions of CRM solutions can vary from basic functionality to fully featured versions, for use both outside and inside the office.
• AI: CRM solutions are quickly adopting AI for everything from faster and more accurate customer service to advanced analytics insights for internal use.

Top CRM Vendors & Solutions Reviewed

HubSpot CRM

(Best CRM for Small Business and Best CRM for Startups)

HubSpotCRM stands out as a free solution, “100 percent, forever,” so it’s a great place for small businesses to start when looking to streamline their email marketing capabilities. Using the product alongside the company’s sales, marketing and customer service platforms can increase efficiency in generating leads and revenue and providing seamless, customized customer service. HubSpot CRM was named by Gartner as a Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice for CRM Lead Management in May 2018 and December 2018.

Lead Management: Custom filters.

Contact Management: Log every customer interaction automatically, sync with Gmail and Outlook.

Reporting and Analytics: Essential sales reports are free. Advanced and custom reports available as add-ons. Add-ons available in the Starter level, which is $50 per month, plus $200 per month for the customized reports add-on.

Team management for sales, service and marketing: Communication through live chat, team email, bots, centralized collection of all conversations.

Sales force automation: Task automation very easy to learn. Clean interfaces, plus free training documents and videos. HubSpot Academy, also free, offers a long list of courses that go from beginner to more strategic content.

Sales forecasting: Sales Pipeline Tracker shows monthly forecasts, annual goals

Mobile CRM: Fully featured HubSpot Mobile app

AI: Artificial intelligence bots for customer service.

Cost: HubSpot’s free version is truly free. Starter level starts at $50/month, Professional at $400/month, and Enterprise at $1200/month.

Integration: HubSpot Connect tool discovers and integrates over 200 software packages, including MailChimp, WordPress, Slack, Salesforce, ZenDesk.

Salesforce CRM

(Best CRM for Government and Best CRM Cloud Solution)

Salesforce has been the leader in CRM in the cloud for decades, with a highly integrated sales support platform. The company offers a large number of vertical solutions, for banking, government, health care, retail, consumer goods and more. Salesforce was named a Leader in in Gartner’s 2018 CRM Lead Management Magic Quadrant.

Lead Management: Lead management enhanced with predictive scoring, intelligent automation and accurate forecasting.

Contact Management: Marketing Cloud focuses on creating “customer journeys” with intelligence marketing in email, mobile, social, digital advertising.

Reporting and Analytics: Industry leader with Einstein AI-augmented analytics, giving insights from Salesforce and non-Salesforce data.

Team management for sales, service and marketing: Quip system centralizes actions and projects, cutting down on email and meetings.

Sales force automation: cloud modules for Sales, Service, Marketing, targeting each user group’s needs and fully integrating all data.

Sales forecasting: AI-augmented forecasting with Einstein provides insights, predictions inside enterprise apps.

Mobile CRM: The Salesforce AppExchange app store has a portfolio of role-specific apps for its CRM product and partner apps to take every task mobile, going far beyond a mobile version of a CRM product.

AI: Sales Cloud Einstein AI advanced analytics adds predictive analysis and explains intuitive factors behind the scores for the sales team.

Cost: Small Business Essentials is $25/user/month (billed annually), Lightning Professional $75/user/month, and Lightning Enterprise $150/user/month.

Salesforce CRM consists of a number of cloud modules that users can mix-and-match for specific use cases. The portfolio consists of a sales cloud that handles leads and scoring, while the service cloud provides call-center and self-service support. There is also a commerce cloud that unifies mobile, social, web and stored data under a predictive intelligence analytics engine.

Insightly

(Best CRM for Mac)

Insightly’s CRM system features a connections discovery tool that tracks organizational hierarchies, partnerships and contacts of key customers, as well as sales pipeline management and workflow automation capabilities to help close deals quicker. It also employs open APIs to connect to legacy apps and mobile services. Its most recent feature additions are in enterprise-grade data visualization, including territory visualization.

Lead management: Automatic lead routing keeps sales up-to-date so opportunities are not missed.Contact management: Relationship linking and mapping shows who has the strongest relationship to a customer, uncovers hidden connections.

Reporting and analytics: Data visualization displays clearly present opportunities as well as team successes in reports, dashboards and Insight Cards.

Team management for sales, service and marketing: Projects feature set lets won opportunities be converted to projects seamlessly.

Sales force automation: Advanced lead distribution and workflow automation let sales managers streamline and monitor processes in-depth.

Sales forecasting: Focus is more on tracking and visualizations than forecasting.

Mobile CRM: Mobile app for Android and iOS provides basic tasks, including project updating and calendar management.

AI: AI bots for meeting scheduling.

Cost: Insightly Plus is $29/user/month (billed annually), Professional is $49/user/month, and Enterprise $99/user/month.

Integration: Application integration with Microsoft Outlook and Office365, Gmail, Google Apps, Xero, Quickbooks, Mailchimp and Slack.

Dynamics 365

Dynamics 365 from Microsoft bundles a number of stand-alone applications into a cohesive platform overseeing sales, service, financing, operations and other processes, in a business applications suite encompassing CRM and ERP. It features an AI engine that supports predictive analytics and mixed reality applications, as well as a development workshop for customizable apps that support personalized customer experiences. Dynamics 365 has been placed in the Leaders quadrant by Gartner in the Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Engagement Center, most recently in 2017, and for Sales Force Automation, in 2018.

Lead management: Shows next best step to take, based on embedded insights. Also embeds custom insights from the organization in “action cards.”

Contact management: Highly integrated enterprise-level tools create deep contact information, personalized communications, and identification of the most valuable connections.

Reporting and analytics: Enterprise-level reporting and analytics lets sales managers design and direct processes and engagements at a very granular level.

Team management for sales, service and marketing: Talent management gives HR and managers tools to hire, onboard and develop talent.

Sales force automation: Sales force automation tailored to meet the needs of sales leader and sales operations roles

Sales forecasting: Project service automation optimizes resources, forecasts project profitability and increases productivity

Mobile CRM: Admin-managed Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement for phones and tablets, specialized mobile apps for Field Service and Operations.

AI: Dynamics 365 AI for Sales, Customer Service, Market Insights and Customer Insights gives immediate insights out of the box, and can be customized via Microsoft Azure.

Cost: The Customer Engagement Plan, a full CRM suite, is $115/user/month; the Unified Options Plan is $190/user/month; the Dynamics 365 Plan is $210/user/month.

Integration: Key integration opportunities include the Microsoft Relationship Sales solution, which combines Dynamics 365 for Sales Enterprise with LinkedIn Sales Navigator, at $130/user/month, with a 10 user minimum.

Pipedrive

(Best Overall CRM Software)

Pipedrive is visually intuitive and action-driven. The software uses a visually oriented display to highlight the actions that reps need to complete while analyzing performance to see what needs to be improved. Activity reminders, notifications and alerts are heavily used to keep activity moving forward. Users can try Pipedrive free to see if it is a good fit.

Lead management: The lead management pipeline is the heart of the Pipeline product, keeping the focus on action items for both sales managers and sales operations.

Contact management: Smart contact data: Instantly retrieve web data about contacts, such as from LinkedInReporting and analytics: Drag-and-drop to create customized reporting, analytics, statistics views, in a clean presentation.

Team management for sales, service and marketing: Managers can customize as deeply as desired, but the focus in Pipeline is on the next actions to be taken, putting self-direction more center stage than in other packages.

Sales force automation: Activity reminders and prompts throughout the entire sales process keep users focused on what step comes next.Sales forecasting: Forecasting tool shines in comparing progress and previous results in a quickly digested visual presentation.

Mobile CRM: Mobile CRM app, synced with Outlook, Gmail, WhatsApp and more, is key to acting on Pipedrive’s reminders and alerts.

AI: Pipedrive uses AI in its Smart Contact Data feature to retrieve contact info

Cost: A free trial with no obligation is available. The Silver plan is $12.50/user/month (billed annually); the Gold plan is $24.50/user/month; the Platinum plan is $49.17/user/month.

Integration: Email integration in two forms: Sales Inbox syncs with any major email provider. Smart Email BCC is for organizations where email is not as large a presence in the sales pipeline. Developer APIs for software integration, custom features.

NetSuite CRM

NetSuite CRM claims it is the only cloud solution in market that offers a true, real-time, 360-degree customer view. Underlying the claim is a deep feature set and offerings tailored for 20 separate industry categories and eight business types, from startups and small businesses to midsized businesses and the enterprise. Global sales and services organizations will be particularly interested in this CRM solution. One stand-out feature is website search engine optimization, which creates more search-engine-friendly pages and higher rankings, to connect with customers and prospects more quickly.

Lead management: Sophisticated marketing automation solution aligns marketing and sales goals, guides multi-channel campaigns.

Contact management: Customer service management portal gives sales, support, service and fulfillment access to all customer data.Reporting and analytics: Deep reporting capabilities integrating marketing, sales, service, finance, back-office, all in real-time, role-based dashboards.

Team management for sales, service and marketing: Incentive compensation management feature gives accurate visibility into compensation calculation.

Sales force automation: NetSuite CRM’s sales force automation interface goes deep into back-office data, with details available to sales staff on contracts, inventory and more.

Sales forecasting: Partner relationship management moves information in real time to boost collaboration on sales and marketing with partner organizations.

Mobile CRM: Fully functioned mobile app, including creating customizing reports on the road.

AI: NetSuite leads in AI, with embedded AI across all its enterprise software, including CRM, providing intelligent insights throughout business workflows.

Cost: NetSuite CRM pricing is extremely variable, because of the extensive enterprise solutions available across the platform; a license starts at $999/month.

Integration: SuiteTalk SOAP-based web services integrates with all NetSuite products, as well as just about any third-party solution.

Oracle CRM

Oracle CRM wants to break down the silos that have been created by CRM cloud solutions serving sales, or service, or marketing, or any other department with a stake in the sales and service processes. Oracle CRM calls its integration of these silos, along with all of the varied communication channels and data sources in the enterprise, its CX technology. On-Demand and Cloud versions available. The solution offers stand-out enterprise-level features, such as the Engagement Cloud, which includes service issue management and service analysis, as well as multi-business unit support, to give cross-service visibility and allow each service organization to define its own service process. Also, partner relationship management includes both a brand-ready partner portal and channel program management, in which partners can join the Oracle Social Network. Oracle was named a Leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for CRM Lead Management in 2018.

Lead management: Oracle’s lead management is recognized as an industry leader in lead management by Gartner, which praises its integration of marketing and sales processes and goals.

Contact management: Oracle’s data marketing platform, Eloqua, received the highest score possible in the data management and lead nurturing criteria in the Q42018 Forrester Wave B2B Marketing Automation Platform category. Multi-channel, integrated data management and marketing focuses on personalized experiences.

Reporting and analytics: Enterprises familiar with Oracle business solutions will quickly become comfortable with its CRM real-time business intelligence insights, dashboards, custom reports and historical trending information.Team management for sales, service and marketing: The Sales performance management feature offers sales directors tools for guided sales coaching and incentive programs, and gives sales staff mobile access to compensation tracking.

Sales force automation: Sales force automation tools include CX Mobile, with voice-activated insights, and lead management with marketing and CPQ integration.Sales forecasting: Sales forecasting tools fully integrated with sales performance management tool for managers, 13-month trend information available.

Mobile CRM: Oracle CRM On-Demand Mobile, Oracle Sales Cloud Mobile available for use with license.

AI: Artificial intelligence focuses on two areas: win probability scores to prioritize opportunities, and next-best sales actions.

Cost: Oracle CRM pricing is extremely variable, because of the extensive enterprise solutions available across the platform; an Engagement Cloud Professional Edition is $65/user/month; Standard Edition is $100/user/month; Enterprise Edition is $200/user/month; Industry Edition is $300/user/month. The Industry Edition includes prebuilt industry-specific tools; details available by contacting the firm. Additional feature sets available for purchase; details available by contacting the firm.

Integration: Pre-built or web services integration to Oracle solutions, single-sign-on, support for JDeveloper, IBM WebSphere, Microsoft .NET, BEA WebLogic and XML/SOAP APIs for data integration projects.

SAP CRM

SAP CRM, or SAP C/4HANA, is a cloud-based solution of particular interest to enterprises that want to build and maintain a trust relationship with customers. Without sacrificing personalization or integrated data behind the customer experience, SAP CRM gives customers the data privacy that they require. Transparency and compliance are priorities.

Lead management: Highly structured lead and sales management system will be of interest to large organizations with large sales groups that need fast configuring of complex product configurations, offers and contracts.

Contact management: The SAP Customer Data Cloud feature gives customers a single-sign on, user-friendly environment where their privacy is prioritized and fraud protections are in place. The SAP Marketing cloud feature is another component of building a trust relationship, gaining consent for marketing engagements and demonstrating good data stewardship while optimizing revenue-building marketing actions.

Reporting and analytics: Reporting and analytics capabilities that combine CRM with ERP and extended business processes.Team management for sales, service and marketing: The SAP Sales Cloud feature lets sales reps manage their sales with real-time analytics, and lets sales managers guide reps from quote to contract, if desired. Managers have access to gamification and incentives in the Service Cloud.

Sales force automation: The SAP Service Cloud bridges the CRM and ERP worlds to give all service teams unified data for a unified service experience.

Sales forecasting: System prioritizes accurate quarterly forecasting of sales and revenues, with granular sales performance management tools, including commission management and sales territory management.

Mobile CRM: SAP CRM mobile app available with license.

AI: Dynamic customer profiling uses machine learning and AI to create insights on customer behaviors and desires.

Cost: SAP CRM pricing available upon request from the firm.Integration: The SAP C/4HANA solution is comprised of five cloud solution portfolions, which can be integrated as desired. SAP’s developer tools provide APIs and other tools for integration of third-party systems.See user reviews of SAP CRM

Sell

Zendesk’s Sell, the former Base CRM, features an automated lead scoring system that pushes the most likely prospects to the forefront, while at the same time encouraging customer satisfaction and word-of-mouth marketing. It also includes features to help turn customers into advocates. Sell has a series of packages appropriate for small businesses through enterprise. Zendesk’s Sell was named a Leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for the CRM Customer Engagement Center in 2018.

Lead management: Lead prioritization with automated scoring puts the highest value leads front and center for the team.

Contact management: Customer management starts with a 360-degree view of data, automated actions and territory smart lists, with a goal of not only closing a sale and satisfying the customer, but creating high customer satisfaction and advocacy.

Reporting and analytics: Clean interface for reports and analytics, based on half a million data points for each customer.Team management for sales, service and marketing: Intuitive user interface makes the pipeline visibility frictionless, enhances collaboration between reps and managers.

Sales force automation: Zendesk’s Sell emphasizes alleviation of administrative burdens with productivity features and a “consumer-grade user interface” that speeds users through tasks.

Sales forecasting: Sell CRM caters to small businesses starting out in forecasting, and experienced enterprises. A Sales Forecast Template gets the former started, and forecasting model improvement guidance addresses the latter.

Mobile CRM: Sell’s mobile CRM gives users all the functionality of the desktop solution, plus extra mobile features like geolocation and offline access.

AI: Sell’s machine learning for sales forecasting focuses on close rate prediction and conversion estimation.

Cost: A free trial is available, at any desired level. The Team level is $19/seat/month for up to three users; the Professional level is $49/seat/month; the Enterprise level is $99/seat/month; the Elite level is $199/seat/month and appropriate for the enterprise organization.

Integration: Pre-built integrations with apps like DropBox, Google Drive, Hubspot, Kustomer and MailChimp are in the Sell Marketplace. Developers can use the Sell AP to meet integration needs.

SugarCRM

SugarCRM offers multichannel, end-to-end process automation, personalized dashboards and productivity tools, and deep-dive customer insight. The system can be deployed as a fully managed service or as a cloud or on-premises solution. SugarCRM for Enterprise focuses on organizations that want to create individualized experiences for customers. SugarCRM for Small Businesses focuses on flexibility with affordable, predictable pricing.

Lead management: Lead management gives better routing processes between marketing and sales, and bases designation of hot leads on behavior scores for customers.

Contact management: The Hint relationship intelligence service cuts down call preparation time, giving all needed contact and social information immediately. SugarCRM focuses on maximizing Net Promoter Scores (NPR) and customer satisfaction by creating customer loyalty and advocacy programs.

Reporting and analytics: SugarCRM always focuses on a simple interface for data, keeping in mind that CRM easily becomes too complicated in presentation. Customize reports into Dashlets and customize user homepage to maintain focus on most relevant data.

Team management for sales, service and marketing: SugarCRM is highly focused on solving the challenges facing management, particularly helping organizations with a history of poor adoption of CRM technology, with simplified tools and interfaces.

Sales force automation: Automation is centered in the Sugar Productivity Suite, a visual step-by-step that keeps actions organized and on track.

Sales forecasting: Small businesses can start with SugarCRM’s forecasting software modeling; with Enterprise, organizations can also drill down to line items in revenue data. Sugar Forecasts can be customized for enterprise-level complex sales processes.

Mobile CRM: Small businesses can use the SugarCRM mobile app out of the box, or with a few user-selected customizations. Enterprises can distribute configured and role-personalized apps through app stores.

AI: SugarCRM uses its Hint AI to eliminate data entry and a large amount of manual research, pulling the customer data that the team needs into the CRM instantly.

Cost: For the small business, the Sugar Professional package is $40/user/month. Larger businesses will need Sugar Enterprise at $65/user/month or Sugar Ultimate at $150/user/month. The Hint AI feature is $15/user/month as an add-on.

Integration: The vertical-specific solutions for manufacturing, business services, financial services, commercial banking, capital markets, wealth management, credit unions and insurance are built to integrate with legacy systems and support specialized user groups.

Zoho CRM

(Best CRM for Real Estate)

Zoho provides real-time customer connectivity across multiple channels, as well as sales pipeline blueprints to automate repetitive processes. It also offers a wealth of collaborative tools including an interactive calendar, a document library and a centralized discussion portal. It features integration with third-party platforms like Google, DocuSign and LinkedIn. With a free version, a free trial and attractive pricing, this is a good choice for smaller businesses and organizations new to CRM, as well as for larger businesses and enterprises.

Lead management: Web-based companies benefit from Zoho’s clean capture forms; pre-built lead distribution tools and engagement scoring make getting up to speed easier.

Contact management: SalesSignals is Zoho’s alerting feature, giving real-time notifications when a customer interacts in any way with your company, so the response will be immediate. SalesSignals are customizable to desired channels.Reporting and analytics: 40 standard, pre-built reports get users started. Customize reports, create visuals and add to dashboard or view as pop-out windows as you work in the CRM tool.

Team management for sales, service and marketing: Team collaboration in Zoho CRM can be prioritized with basic features like document libraries and synced calendars, and with additional tools including Gamescope for healthy competition, a Feed for all ongoing CRM discussions, and a chat feature.

Sales force automation: Blueprint is Zoho’s action guide, prompting users to take actions and provide information at the correct time. Especially useful for new hires.Sales forecasting: Within sales management, the AI-powered anomaly detector compares sales performance with predicted trends, shows deviations from sales patterns.Mobile CRM: Take Zoho mobile with the app, and use geolocation to find nearby prospects.

AI: Zia is Zoho’s AI assistant feature, offering everything from simple answers to conversational questions, to sales assistance for mobile reps, to complex calculations and analytics.

Cost: A free 15-day trial is available. A free edition for up to three users is available, also. A Standard level is $12/user/month; Professional level is $20/user/month; Enterprise level is $35/user/month; an Ultimate Edition (only available as a yearly subscription) is $100/user/month.

Integration: Zoho CRM Marketplace integrates curated apps including PieSync, Edison, Spotfone, PandaDoc, Aircall and hundreds more.

Bpm’online CRM

As the name suggests, Bpm’online CRM is offered on a platform that also presents an integratable BPM solution, which may be of particular interest to some IT departments. Bpm’online offers vertical solutions for financial services, public sector, telecom, professional services, media, retail, manufacturing, pharma, transportation and logistics, real estate and more. Bpm’online was recognized in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Engagement Center in 2018, and as a Challenger in the Magic Quadrant for Sales Force Automation in 2018.

Lead management: With its BPM expertise, Bpm’online lead management is more highly automated than other products in this list, leading to more thorough qualifications and more complete records, faster.

Contact management: Bpm’online’s service feature is available in two versions: Customer Center is best for companies that want to manage omnichannel communications. Service Enterprise is best for medium-sized to large companies that want to deliver service across multiple communications channels and include some BPM features.Reporting and analytics: Bpm’online takes a business process-oriented view of reporting, offering very detailed field force management, contract management and product management reports.

Team management for sales, service and marketing: The Bpm’online user interface mimics that of a familiar social network, making it intuitive and boosting adoption. The Communication Panel feature holds all notifications and communications, and allows collaboration in the Enterprise Social Network, which resembles well-known mainstream social network platforms

Sales force automation: Bpm’online’s BPM best practices can automate any process, whether unstructured or structured.Sales forecasting: Forecasting tool applies probability of closing to opportunities in pipeline, helping managers more accurately predict plan vs. actual results.

Mobile CRM: Bpm’online’s mobile app offers basic features and access to streamlined data and features. For Android, iOS and Windows Phone.

AI: Bpm’online’s “smart data enrichment” tool compiles customer data from open sources automatically, organizes it and presents it, saving valuable research time.

Cost: A free trial is available. Pricing is highly variable. For a Bpm’online sales edition, a Team level is $25/user/month; a Commerce level is $30/user/month; an Enterprise level is $50/user/month. A bundle of products for sales, service and marketing can be priced by the firm for your organization’s requirements and size.

Integration: The Bpm’online Marketplace connects curated applications, templates and services for users, including GoToWebinar, Smooch, MailChimp, Dotmailer and hundreds more.

Top CRM Solutions Comparison Chart

CRM Product Comparisons

• Zoho vs Salesforce
• Hubspot vs Salesforce
• Salesforce vs Oracle
• Microsoft Dynamics vs Salesforce

Deciding Which CRM Tool is Right for You

Best CRM for Government

Salesforce CRM is recommended for Government because it is designed for large organizations and is highly customizable to support regulatory and other requirements.

Best Cloud CRM Solution

Salesforce CRM is recommended as the best cloud solution, as it is an originator of the category, and its mature solution is consistently recognized as a leader by analyst firm Gartner.

Best CRM for Small Businesses

HubSpot is recommended for small businesses because it is free and has a fast ramp-up time.

Best CRM for Startups

HubSpot is recommended for startups because it is free and has a fast remp-up time.

Best CRM for Real Estate

Zoho CRM is recommended for Real Estate because its flexible app for the industry ramps up quickly and is easily customizable with just drag and drop.

Best CRM for Mac

Insightly CRM is recommended for Mac because it is a mid-priced solution, robust solution appropriate for smaller or large businesses, compatible with Safari, and with apps for iPhone and iPad.

Best Google CRM

Salesforce CRM is our recommended application for Google applications.  It’s provides for plug and play integrations with Gmail, Google Analytics, and other Google products.

The post Best CRM Software & Solutions for 2021 appeared first on IT Business Edge.

As customer relationship management (CRM) platforms have become increasingly common in the enterprise, so have the number of integrations and functionality of the software. Naturally, integration of CRM functions into legacy data environments has become a top challenge.

What Are CRM Integrations?

It is the rare piece of software that works in a vacuum, of course, but because CRM requires a full view of virtually all enterprise data, linking it seamlessly to traditional software is not only desirable but crucial in the effort to maintain high levels of customer satisfaction and business productivity.

But exactly how should CRM integration be architected, and exactly where should the touchpoints be? And most importantly, how can this be done without affecting existing workflows?

Types of CRM Integrations

The first step in implementing a successful CRM integration is figuring out what systems need to be integrated. Every data environment is unique, of course, but the most common tie-ins consist of the following.

Most Popular CRM Integrations

Email Integration

Besides being a treasure trove of customer-related data, email is also a highly effective marketing tool. As Zoho points out, a CRM-backed email marketing campaign can be more personalized, friendly and highly targeted to the most prospective leads. At the same time, feedback data can be automatically analyzed to continually refine the overall marketing strategy, both to improve ROI and to warn against tactics that are tarnishing the brand.

Calendar Integration

Today’s digital calendars are more like digital scheduling tools, and they have become critical assets to modern sales teams. Consider integrating internal CRM calendars, if they exist, with third-party tools like Google Calendars or online appointment scheduling services. In this way, sales teams can align their sales-related and non-sales-related activities to avoid conflicts, as well as set up alerts so they never miss a meeting.

Social Media Integration

Facebook membership now tops 1 billion users, with tools like Twitter and LinkedIn measuring in the hundreds of millions. Social media is now a constant hub of interaction between consumers and providers, which means failure to integrate these platforms into CRM represents a huge lost opportunity to connect and engage in the manner preferred by customers. For small businesses in particular, this is the primary means of tapping into a global marketplace.

Call Center/Customer Support Integration

CRM provides customer profiles, while call centers route interactions to the appropriate knowledge source. Get them working together, and you have the power to streamline the resolution process and generate goodwill among customers. Key opportunities include improved self-service capabilities, personalized experiences, the ability to turn service calls into sales and improved agent productivity.

Marketing Automation Integration

Sales and marketing work hand in hand, so why not do the same for their software platforms? Integrating the two means that both teams have access to the same information, cutting precious time off of lead generation, customer feedback, and a host of other processes. Most lost opportunities result from failure to connect the dots, and this is particularly true in high-speed digital environments.

Potential Challenges with CRM Integrations

Integrating software from scratch is never an easy task. Fortunately, most CRM platforms provide either pre-integrated solutions or streamlined processes to help you get started quickly. After all, CRM vendors have their own sales and reputations to think about.

Still, some challenges do arise. Home-grown software, for one, may not integrate as smoothly as a leading business solution, particularly if it does not support a popular API. Integration will also require a common database, which means all legacy data on current platform silos will have to be migrated into a new universal domain. This can be a tricky endeavor, considering that most business units have grown accustomed to working with their data just as it is.

In this way, CRM integration becomes as much a cultural change in the enterprise as a technological one. When changes to an individual’s work processes are involved, the faster and less disruptive the transition, the better.

The post CRM Integrations & Capabilities appeared first on IT Business Edge.

It’s fair to say that most CRM platforms these days do not consist of a single operational construct but are in fact collections of integrated modules that utilize data and influence workflows in their own unique ways.

Overall, of course, these platforms strive to bring cohesion and simplicity to what are usually very complex processes, primarily by tying each module to a single database. Individually, however, each module has its own objectives and internal functionality coupled with the ability to hand off projects to the next module in a usable form.

But what are the key modules for an effective CRM solution? In a broad sense, the right answer is as varied as the enterprise industry itself, which is a good thing considering most modern platforms allow you to mix and match various modules to create highly customized solutions. As well, different configurations will appeal to some industry verticals more than others. A transportation company might lean more heavily toward logistics and GPS, while a retailer might place more emphasis on inventory and customer feedback.

In general, however, five core modules should reside in all CRM solutions.

Contact Management

Effective contact management is the key to a successful CRM strategy. Not only does it allow you to maintain better, longer lasting relationships, but it enables deep-dive analysis into what customers want and how to streamline the process of getting it to them. This results in a higher level of personalization in customer interactions, producing greater satisfaction while reducing overhead and improving the decision-making process with more accurate data.

Lead Management

No matter what business you are in, the ability to forward leads to key salespeople in a timely manner is often the difference between success and failure. Of course, this becomes more difficult to do as the number of leads increases, which is why today’s CRM solutions bring a wide range of intelligent and automated capabilities to creation, scoring, communication, development and other processes. High-quality leads delivered in a timely manner are a necessity.

Analytics

Each module will likely contain its own analytics tools, but a centralized analytics engine is considered a priority by many organizations. This level of functionality provides the smooth flow of data between processes and individuals, which otherwise would produce friction that leads to wasted time, duplication of effort, and results based on inaccurate or incomplete understanding of the data.

Performance Management

In the old days, sales teams were often rated using incomplete or incompatible records that were compiled and evaluated under painstaking manual processes. Better now to utilize a fully functional performance management solution with a wide variety of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), as well as the ability to focus on individuals, teams, products, territories and other targets. Powerful filtering tools can view results at any time according to multiple variables, such as the number of deals closed, revenue generated or lead opportunities provided.

Social Media Management

Whether it’s Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or any of the dozens of other platforms, social media is becoming the primary means of communication and collaboration for businesses and consumers alike. Much of this activity centers on the exchange of information regarding products, services, brand identity and key news events. Neglect to integrate social media into your CRM strategy at this point, and you could very well create a large number of missed opportunities, if not complete failure to spot negative trend lines until they start to affect the bottom line.

It goes without saying that the more modules you integrate into your CRM platform, the more complex the environment becomes. As long as the system is properly architected, however, much of this complexity should be masked under layers of automation and artificial intelligence so that knowledge workers can focus on the strategic objectives of CRM rather than the operational tedium.

And ideally, with the proper configuration of tools and technology, your CRM platform will begin identifying leads and other opportunities that would have otherwise gone unnoticed – making the switch from simple business platform to a valued member of the team.

The post Five Key Modules in CRM Platforms appeared first on IT Business Edge.

Many enterprises these days employ both customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) in the drive to keep pace with the modern digital economy.

Looking for a Product Guide? See our Top Picks for Best CRM Software or Top ERP Systems Articles. 

But while both of these software suites target different responsibilities in the business model, they are similar enough on an operational level that many organizations are using them in a highly collaborative manner, if not integrating them outright. Exactly how should this be carried out? And how should enterprise executives utilize these tools for the greater good of the business model?

What Is CRM?

CRM focuses primarily on the management and analysis of customer-oriented processes. An enterprise’s successful and fruitful relationships with its customers lie at the heart of furthering many enterprise goals, and rely on organized management of all interactions with customers and prospective customers. CRM software accomplishes these goals through management of customer and other business data, interaction channels and related business processes.

What Is ERP?

At its basic levels for every enterprise, ERP delves into back-office functions like billing and inventory. Strategically and more broadly, ERP gives the enterprise the ability to streamline the business model by coordinating resources and processes in ways that are not possible under previously segregated data ecosystems. ERP is the primary means of eliminating the data silos that hamper productivity and drive up costs in the enterprise.

What Are the Differences Between CRM and ERP?

CRM’s focus on the management and analysis of customer-oriented processes and ERP software’s focus on back-office functions like billing and inventory give rise to their overlapping responsibilities, since proper CRM often requires a smooth-running back-office process while sales and customer fulfillment are core objectives of any IT environment.

CRM can be used to spot new market opportunities and new sales leads, which will then trigger processes on the ERP side to order new or additional products, work out the logistics of getting them to the right location and track the purchase orders and other financial instruments to make it all happen. Naturally, the easier it is to hand one process off to another, the faster, and less costly, the entire project. So together, CRM can be used to maximize profit and ERP to minimize costs.

CRM and ERP System Integration

Not all processes are aimed at customers, however, so there is something to be said for not integrating CRM and ERP too closely. This is often reflected in the types of data that each solution tends to access. CRM incorporates a lot of unstructured data from customer interactions, email and social media, while ERP works with the structured data found in finance, product development and other departments. A key area for integration, then, is the data store containing both structured and unstructured data, as this will make it easier to eliminate duplicate data and conduct more accurate analysis of multiple data sets.

Still, many companies are finding that full integration of ERP and CRM is warranted for their particular business model. Even in these cases, however, the goal is usually not to create a single system that can do everything but to leverage the best tools on both platforms to support efficient and effective processes. Preserving these complementary strengths in CRM and ERP solutions leads to efficiency in both. This can be most pronounced in the time saved by sales and back-office teams that no longer need to be trained on two separate systems, or have to jump back and forth between them in order to implement a multi-faceted project. At the same time, all users now have full access to business tools, both in the office and on the road, which can prove invaluable during sales meetings and other events.

How to Decide Which Is Best for Your Situation

Determining where to apply the organization’s resources is guided by these integration outcomes. Other, less direct outcomes can tip the scale, as well. For some organizations and IT groups, a single platform is easier to maintain and troubleshoot, since it involves a single service contract from a single provider. Multivendor environments, of course, are notorious for their structural incompatibilities, which inevitably lead to multiple rounds of finger-pointing when trying to figure out why things are not working. And many organizations are finding that workflows proceed even more smoothly with a fully integrated platform ­– a function not just of the now-unified structure of the software itself but also the fact that it is working off a single, unified data environment.

The extent to which CRM and ERP should be integrated is a question best left to the enterprise, and top executives would be wise to involve the rank-and-file (aka, the people who actually use the software) to a high degree in the decision-making process. Both platforms are highly complex and require careful coordination among systems, data and people in order to deliver top results.

But the digital economy is evolving quickly, and the only sure way to get left behind is to believe that existing software and processes will continue to deliver into the future.

The post ERP vs CRM Software appeared first on IT Business Edge.

Customer relationship management software (CRM) would not be as popular as it is if it did not provide a valuable service to the enterprise. But since these platforms tend to be very complex, it can be difficult for organizations to leverage them to their fullest extent.

The best way to learn something, however, is by example. So in that vein, we have compiled four intriguing use cases highlighting how CRM, in conjunction with advanced technologies like the cloud and intelligent analytics, can be used to streamline customer relationship processes and, hopefully, result in happier customers and higher revenue streams.

Top CRM Software Examples

Off-the-Shelf CRM Solutions

24 Hour Fitness

The health and wellness industry is highly dependent upon customer satisfaction and strong word-of-mouth. At the same time, however, people want to be treated like, well, people, not numbers, which is a difficult thing to do when the customer base scales into the millions.

24 Hour Fitness recently upgraded its Microsoft Dynamics 356 platform with the Adobe Experience Cloud hosted on Azure as a way to personalize marketing messages to millions of members at more than 400 clubs across the United States. The system allows the company to connect marketing and sales data to increase customer outreach through ever-evolving channel solutions, as well as onboard new members and help them craft personalized health regimens tailored to individual fitness goals.

Contact Center CRM

Weber

Weber is an affiliate of Saint-Gobain Group that specializes in construction materials and related products. The company’s Turkish subsidiary recently integrated its call center software with Salesforce’s Pardot sales automation platform and then ported the whole system to the Salesforce Service Cloud. This gives Weber a vastly expanded set of options for a wide range of functions, including support and complaint remediation, multi-channel request and notification processing and mobile access.

The migration to the Salesforce cloud was quick and problem-free, and the company reports it can now customize call center operations around its business model rather than force-fit processes into a pre-defined software stack.

Outsource CRM Solutions

Amazon

Amazon’s use of CRM is approaching legendary status at this point. The company’s home-grown solution is, in fact, the informal template on which most commercial platforms are based. The system offers a number of tools that have helped Amazon become the premiere worldwide ecommerce site. These include purchase history tracking that allows the company to offer tailored services and promotions, personalized data collection and storage to make it easier for customers to reorder items, advanced analytics for product recommendations, and automated customer support for rapid problem resolution.

Going forward, expect Amazon to leverage the data in its CRM system to develop new products, like it already has with the user-customizable Kindle Marketplace and the equally customizable Prime Video streaming service.

Managed CRM Solutions

Gift Baskets Overseas

You might not think a company that specializes in delivering gifts and flowers would have much need of a B2B solution, but this is exactly what GBO was after when it integrated its HubSpot events and contact information platform with LinkedIn’s audience insights tool and Google Analytics. With this setup, the company is able to run deep-dive analytics on numerous B2B customers to hone in on key metrics like initial touchpoint channels, order submissions and progression from initial client to steady customer. In this way, company executives can make data-driven decisions regarding which strategies produced the best results and how best to foster communications between businesses and potential customers.

With this data in hand, the company was able to launch a B2B marketing campaign on LinkedIn that generated four times more traffic and 30 percent more new leads than traditional programs.

These are only a few of the ways that enterprise CRM can improve enterprise performance, and not just for commercial entities, either. Government agencies, non-profit organizations, universities and a host of other organizations are finding that they can improve a wide range of services while streamlining infrastructure and reducing overall costs.

In a world where data is king, properly leveraging that data can easily spell the difference between positive and negative experiences for millions of users.

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Customer relationship management software (CRM) is usually described in generic terms as a tool overseeing the enterprise’s interactions with customers. While this is basically correct, it fails to reflect the fact that there are different kinds of CRM that each focus on the key functions needed to manage customer relations at scale.

Looking for Product Insights? Check Out Our 2019 Guide to Best CRM Software.

While the lines are not always clear, and many platforms incorporate elements of various types of CRM, current solutions generally consist of three distinct categories.

3 Types of CRM Software

Operational CRM

Focuses mainly on customer-facing activities like sales and support

Of the three types of CRM software, operational CRM is the problem-solver in the enterprise-customer relationship. Companies that experience high customer turnover or high service costs will benefit from CRM solutions that stress the operational side. Companies that are struggling with customer relations, for example, usually experience high call volumes. By implementing an operational fix, organizations have an easier time finding the right information quickly and tracking the progress of interactions to a successful conclusion. As these solutions become increasingly automated and infused with artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies, direct customer engagement becomes less burdensome on the enterprise and more beneficial to customers.

Collaborative CRM

Aimed at streamlining workflows and processes across multi-faceted organizational structures

As the name implies, collaborative CRM strives for better communication among the various entities that support customer relationships. Most business processes produce a fair amount of friction whenever projects are handed off from one group to another. Marketing must funnel leads to sales in a timely manner, sales hands customer reports to support staff, and everybody has to turn expense reports into the budget office. In a collaborative environment, these exchanges are made on a common platform, with many of the routine tasks handled by automation. By streamlining both the back-office processes and customer interaction, organizations will be able to boost productivity and leverage tighter profit margins.

Analytical CRM

Mines data for new sales channels, marketing opportunities and performance calculations

Analytical CRM, meanwhile, remains largely hidden from the customer. Its primary role is to understand customer behavior, providing insight into broad demographics and highly individualized patterns that can then be used to inform key decisions regarding products and services. Any analytics solution, of course, depends wholly on the volume and quality of data it is exposed to, which means the enterprise must develop a broad feedback loop that provides deep granularity to the decision-making process. It is important to note that this data must be sourced from more than just the customer; it must also come from sales, marketing and anything else the customer process touches.

Deciding Which Type of CRM is Best for You

Each of these functions – operations, collaboration, analytics – is vital to a successful enterprise, so why would anyone feel the need to choose between them? Indeed, most leading platforms incorporate all three to produce a well-rounded business environment. Understanding these three types of CRM will lead an organization to then understand what elements of its CRM platform to emphasize and what can be diminished to accomplish organizational goals. They can start by asking the basic question: What problem are you trying to solve? If your sales, marketing and other teams are already tightly integrated, then a solution that is heavy on collaboration might not your best fit. Alternately, if you often miss new market opportunities, then you might need a shot of analytics.

In this way, CRM is following the same trajectory of most other business tools: Technology deployments are being driven by the use case, not the other way around. As the digital economy evolves, this will prove invaluable to the enterprise in that it enables a highly flexible, highly adaptable business model that can capitalize on rapidly changing market conditions and foster a highly personalized relationship with customers.

With the right tools to understand customers and then quickly fulfill their desires, the enterprise should have little trouble maintaining its existing customer base even as it expands into new markets.

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Let’s face it: Security does not like automation. Putting machines in control of things like provisioning, data access, backup and a host of other functions merely adds more risk to an already risky environment that is now pushing way past the firewall to the cloud and the edge.

Things were simpler, comparatively, back in the days when humans were in charge, everything moved at a nice leisurely pace, and security could track and secure changes as they were made or even get ahead of them to head off any potential problems proactively.

Then along came DevOps and CI/CD and all the other initiatives designed to boost scale and performance without a thought as to how all of this will affect the security posture. And automation is at the heart of the problem.

Or so it would seem. While an automated enterprise does pose new security challenges, the fact is that the same tools being used to augment the development and operations side of the house can also be applied to security. And the results are largely the same: faster, more thorough performance and the ability for security professionals to shed the dull drudgery of their jobs to focus on more important matters.

The first thing security needs to understand, says Matt Harter, VP of product engineering at security management firm FireMon, is that automation does not mean automatic. Nobody, not even developers, and certainly not the front office, wants to expose themselves to data breaches these days, so there are plenty of ways in which security can be incorporated into automated processes. While this may seem scary at first – kind of like taking your hands off the wheel of a self-driving car for the first time – the reality is that many security functions are ripe for automation, including change planning, risk assessment and compliance testing.

Already, says ExtraHop’s Barbara Kay, security teams are falling behind the curve when it comes to protecting critical systems and data. According to a recent report from Enterprise Management Associates, upwards of 64 percent of all alerts are not investigated, and more than three-quarters of security pros say they do not check out all of the critical alerts that come their way. This is where tools like machine learning (ML) can make a substantial difference. By weeding out the true problems from all the false alarms or routine interrupts, ML can take on much of the security burden while providing a more accurate and timely assessment of current conditions.

Building an automated security framework from scratch is no easy task, however. That’s why the National Institute of Standards and Technology has published a guidebook for automated risk assessment and other functions. The document, NISTIR 8011 Vol. 3 Automation Support for Security Control Assessments: Software Asset Management, offers a number assessments regarding the effectiveness of various controls, the quality of risk management processes, and the strengths and weaknesses of multiple information systems functioning in a global environment. A key goal is to foster support for the Software Asset Management (SWAM) approach that seeks to manage the risk of unmanaged or unauthorized software.  Through automation, the system will be better able to identify rogue software on a network or on stored applications that have yet to be installed.

Perhaps the most important reason security needs to jump on the automation bandwagon is because hackers and other wrongdoers are most certainly heading in this direction as well. With intelligent automation platforms and code readily available on the internet, along with the hyperscale cloud resources to use them, the bad guys have all the tools they need to make life miserable for organizations that fail to effectively automate their security postures.

Like all other elements in the IT stack, security has to keep up with the times.

Arthur Cole writes about infrastructure for IT Business Edge. Cole has been covering the high-tech media and computing industries for more than 20 years, having served as editor of TV Technology, Video Technology News, Internet News and Multimedia Weekly. His contributions have appeared in Communications Today and Enterprise Networking Planet and as web content for numerous high-tech clients like TwinStrata and Carpathia. Follow Art on Twitter @acole602.

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Enterprise IT is already highly automated, but just as you can never be too rich or too thin, you can never be too automated, either.

The question, or rather questions, when it comes to automation, however, are where and how to take those first steps to what some are calling the next phase of the digital revolution. Automation invariably requires a certain amount of trust — trust that the automation system will perform as expected and trust that your expectations will actually be to your benefit. The last thing anyone wants is to see services grind to a halt or systems shut down because of conflicts in automated processes.

So before the enterprise embarks on this new round of automation, it might be wise to consider the many ways in which it can be done with minimal risk of disruption.

One way to do that is to reconsider the many ways that current infrastructure management inhibits automated processes, or at least makes them less likely to perform at an optimum level. One such source, says AppViewX’s Mark Vondemkamp, is the complex coding that currently governs tasks like provisioning and management. Networking in particular requires dedicated teams of professionals to navigate the relationships between applications and infrastructure, and while automation can certainly help in this regard, it would be easier for everyone if the enterprise converted to low-code processes for workflows and security. With less code to contend with, automated processes will function at greater speed and at higher scale.

Networking can also be difficult to automate if it is not optimized for extreme scale. According to Researchmoz, many of today’s hyperscale data centers were built from the ground up around non-blocking (CLOS) server architectures, which reduces the number of crosspoints in a given pathway to provide a more efficient and scalable ecosystem. This not only reduces the potential for data interruptions, it also provides a more conducive environment for the automated commissioning and decommissioning of virtual servers and other resources on the application layer.

Even within an existing automated framework, onboarding complex processes can be a challenge. Red Hat discovered this with its Ansible automation framework when customers attempted to apply its playbook style of workflow management to high-scale, multi-faceted functions in hybrid cloud settings. This led the company to devise a scheme for “nesting” playbooks within one another, allowing users to split large jobs into groups of smaller jobs, each of which can then be automated and orchestrated to a high degree. At the same time, it allows for repetitive functions to be modularized for reuse across multiple processes, reducing the overall data footprint and leading to more streamlined operations.

Any way you look at it, automation will be a complex endeavor. Many legacy systems and applications were designed for physical-layer automation, and while much of this infrastructure has been virtualized, it still presents challenges when attempting the kind of automation intended to support the emerging services economy. Many organizations are doing an end-run around these limitations by deploying next-gen apps and services on greenfield infrastructure that is purpose-built for the latest automation stacks.

Ideally, of course, the entire IT environment should be automated, but there is always the danger of trying to do too much too quickly. By identifying what they want to automate first, most enterprises should be able to create an implementation plan that is both effective and non-disruptive – even when infrastructure itself must be reconfigured for the new order.

Arthur Cole writes about infrastructure for IT Business Edge. Cole has been covering the high-tech media and computing industries for more than 20 years, having served as editor of TV Technology, Video Technology News, Internet News and Multimedia Weekly. His contributions have appeared in Communications Today and Enterprise Networking Planet and as web content for numerous high-tech clients like TwinStrata and Carpathia. Follow Art on Twitter @acole602.

The post Laying the Groundwork for Modern IT Automation appeared first on IT Business Edge.

Probably the most interesting aspect of the current drive to automate the enterprise is robotics process automation (RPA). Although the name invokes walking, talking automatons milling about the office, the reality is a bit more nuanced.

In this case, robotics refers to software bots that constitute a “virtual workforce” to take on many of the rote, mundane tasks that highly paid knowledge professionals currently spend the majority of their time doing. With RPA, the idea is not to displace these workers but to free up their time to more productive pursuits, such as tapping new markets and creating new revenue streams.

RPA is expected to reach $8.69 billion in total market value by 2023, according to Research and Markets. Much of this will be in the form of rules-based automation as opposed to the more flexible knowledge-based category. Under a rules-based system, RPA applies decisions according to specific rules laid down by the operator. This gives the enterprise a good deal of assurance that the system will behave as expected – a crucial requirement when it comes to managing IT resources, streamlining supply chains and making payroll. But this doesn’t mean knowledge-based systems have no value. In fact, we can expect to see knowledge automation take the lead in analytics and cognitive processes where the end result is to make recommendations rather than take specific actions.

Both forms of RPA will require a certain level of system intelligence, however, which is part of what distinguishes this form of automation from previous mechanical or even digital versions. Even under a rules-based paradigm, RPA will be required to seek out and gather the appropriate information, determine its validity and context, and then decide on a course of action. Often this will happen at a pace and on a scale that is too great for human operators to handle, which is one of the main reasons why it is not expected to displace IT staff but enhance their existing capabilities.

Still, it stands to reason that at some point the enterprise will need to manage an ever-expanding fleet of RPA bots. Fortunately, there are platforms to do that. A company called Accelirate, in fact, has already deployed just such a system as a set of cloud-based services that allow the enterprise to expand its management capabilities as RPA becomes more commonplace. The offering includes an initial launch and acceleration service that can put up to five RPA automations in service within 90 to 120 days, followed by an operations and governance system and a point-of-delivery system to manage the influx of new RPAs. Ultimately, the company can help set up a full Robotic Operations Center (ROC) to oversee monitoring, maintenance, support and other functions.

One thing that could undermine the whole RPA movement, however, is lack of uniformity. Many of these bots will have to navigate far outside the confines of an individual enterprise’s infrastructure to engage with the Internet of Things, regional networking infrastructure and other enterprises. But as Information Age’s Michael Baxter pointed out recently, there are already more than 45 available RPA products, all using different designs and processes. Unless a universal standard rises soon, enterprises run the risk of investing a lot of money into an RPA platform that fails to meet performance standards as the technology evolves.

Expectations are that RPA will take the enterprise by storm in the next few years, but this will only happen once the executive suite is convinced they will be a help, not a hindrance, to the broader goal of digital transformation. At this point, there is every reason to think their impact will be positive, provided those who are developing this technology place their customers’ interests above their own.

Arthur Cole writes about infrastructure for IT Business Edge. Cole has been covering the high-tech media and computing industries for more than 20 years, having served as editor of TV Technology, Video Technology News, Internet News and Multimedia Weekly. His contributions have appeared in Communications Today and Enterprise Networking Planet and as web content for numerous high-tech clients like TwinStrata and Carpathia. Follow Art on Twitter @acole602.

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