6 CRM Trends to Watch
The future of customer relationship management (CRM) seems to be left in the helms of another technology of today: Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI has been talked about for a very long time and today it’s proved to be the game changer it truly is. Peter Kowalke at IT.ToolBox notes that the inclusion of AI in CRM systems is projected to deliver businesses roughly $394 billion in additional revenue in the United States by 2021, according to Statistica research. Not every CRM currently flows through AI, and while most do, it’s very likely they all eventually will. Below are 6 CRM trends to watch in the near future, with excerpts directly from Kowalke’s article on IT.Toolbox.com:
- Automatic Automation – “AI and Machine learning capabilities have significantly evolved during the past few years, and AI can enhance CRM utilization thanks to automating mundane tasks that employees would otherwise waste time on,” says Katherine Kostereva, CEO and founder of CRM maker, bpm’online.
- Voice-Based Access – “The integration of voice assistants into CRM systems will allow for dictation and fast access to data with the help of voice commands,” notes Illia Pinchuk, CEO of software development firm, Diceus.
- Advanced Data Mining – “Today, with AI-based technology, big data can bring customer relations to a new level using different electronic devices, gadgets, wearables, social networks, etc.,” says Pinchuk.
- Tighter Integration with Other Systems – “CRM has forgotten the ‘relationship’ part of its acronym, and has failed to adapt to businesses’ evolving needs and the modern workplace,” says Morgan Norman, chief marketing officer for Google-based CRM, Copper. “A major weakness of traditional CRM systems is that they aren’t integrated with digital workplace tools users prefer, like Slack and G Suite.” This is changing, however, as CRM makers such as Salesforce and others break CRM out of its silo and build around the cloud model where everything easily connects with everything else.
- Social Media-Inspired User Interfaces – “Based on user experience preferences and design, the next evolution of CRM may resemble a social network or consumer-facing application so that users feel comfortable with its functionalities,” suggests Norman.
- IoT Data – “IoT will connect with CRM significantly in the near future, particularly in service organizations,” says Robin Grochol, vice president of product management for the Salesforce Sales Cloud. “With IoT and CRM data integrated, customer service agents can provide better support to customers and provide a consistent and personalized experience.”
