Download Free Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Vendor Selection Checklist

Download Free Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Vendor Selection Checklist. This checklist covers:
Remote users have multiple ways to access the application (e.g., Web, VPN, dial-up)
There is an off-line client that can synchronize with centralized data
There is security in place to ensure privacy of accounts, contacts, and sales data
Sales managers have a variety of ways to view staff accounts and activities
The application integrates or synchronizes with e-mail applications (e.g., Outlook)
The sales staff can create and link service requests with accounts
The sales staff views call center service requests by their accounts
The application tracks customer organization chart in contact data
The application automates the sales process
The application can associate a sales task with a marketing campaign
The application integrates with PDAs
The application can be integrated with CTI and VRU technologies
The application can perform automated dialing
The application can tie marketing campaigns to inbound or outbound calls
There is a Web option for customer self-service
The application manages e-mail service requests
The application integrates with the National Do Not Call Registry
The application provides real-time "dashboard" views of business activities
The application generates alerts if internal service metrics are missed
The application integrates with supply chain management tools
The application integrates with middleware products
The application integrates with product catalogs and supply levels
The vendor has its own consulting arm or partnership
The vendor provides service level agreements for support

Customer relationship management (CRM) consists of the processes a company uses to track and organize its contacts with its current and prospective customers. CRM software is used to support these processes; information about customers and customer interactions can be entered, stored and accessed by employees in different company departments. Typical CRM goals are to improve services provided to customers, and to use customer contact information for targeted marketing.

While the term CRM generally refers to a software-based approach to handling customer relationships, most CRM software vendors stress that a successful CRM effort requires a holistic approach. CRM initiatives often fail because implementation was limited to software installation, without providing the context, support and understanding for employees to learn, and take full advantage of the information systems. CRM can be implemented without major investments in software, but software is often necessary to explore the full benefits of a CRM strategy.