Which CRM topics have kept and will keep companies on tenterhooks in 2018? CRM-Tech.World spoke with SugarCRM.
The DSGVO was and is also clearly noticeable for SugarCRM. The most serious aftermath is that the address lists of many companies have shrunk drastically as of 25 May, according to Martina Knappe, Director of Marketing for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (photo). In addition to efforts to comply with the DSGVO, she sees the integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning into CRM as a trend topic in user companies. Managers should be aware that CRM plays a central role in all aspects of customer contact in order to deliver a consistently high customer experience at all touch points. The decisive impulse and the staying power to implement this efficiently must also come from the executive floor.
SugarCRM itself launched Spring ’18 for cloud users and Sugar 8 for on-premise users in the spring. The new version also features a redesigned user experience for the Sugar application, enhanced workflow functionality and a product catalog dashlet that offers new opportunities for quoting.
Learn more about this and Martina Knappe’s personal customer experience, which shows that a company understands CRM, in the interview!
Are you still feeling the aftermath of the EU-DSGVO? Do your customers have open questions?
The most serious aftermath is certainly that the address lists of many companies have shrunk drastically as of May 25. Marketing and sales departments are often still in the process of really understanding how best to deal with existing contacts and generate new ones within the framework of the regulation. Many questions from customers revolve around the concrete implementation of the various requirements – Article 6 of the DSGVO, for example, gives numerous complex conditions for the lawful processing of customer data, all of which should be mapped in CRM. Accordingly, we are still experiencing a high demand for our components in Sugar, which were specially developed to comply with the DSGVO.
In your opinion, what are the major topics that are occupying CRM users this year?
In addition to efforts to comply with the DSGVO, we see the integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning in CRM as a major trend topic this year. These buzzwords have been circulating around the industry for some time now, but the technology behind them has matured to such an extent that it can deliver tangible added value. Coupled with the right CRM, not only can many manual tasks be efficiently automated, but employees can also be provided with real-time information from social networks etc. that they did not have before.
Which topics in particular should the management still devote itself to this year?
The management should deal with the sensible promotion of digitisation. Sounds trite, but it still remains a core topic. However, attention should not only be paid to the technology within the company, but also to developments in the rest of the world. Among other things, the customer journey is becoming more and more central to the digital transformation of society, and the processes in the company must adapt accordingly. Consequently, CRM should play a central role in all aspects of customer contact (marketing, sales, support, accounting, etc.) in order to deliver a consistently high customer experience at all touchpoints. The decisive impulse and the staying power to implement this efficiently must also come from the executive floor.
What product enhancements or innovations are on your agenda? What will go live this year?
In the spring, we launched our data protection module with Spring ’18 for cloud users and Sugar 8 for on-premise users, thus offering our customers a CRM that supports DSGVO compliance. In addition, the new version offers a completely redesigned user experience of the Sugar application, enhanced workflow functionality, and a Product Catalog Dashlet that provides completely new possibilities for Configure Price Quote (CPQ) generation.
What benefits can your customers generate from this? Please provide one or two benefit arguments per extension or renewal!
With the new DSGVO features, Sugar now enables, among other things, the simple administration of consents, requests for correction, restriction and deletion of personal data. All transactions are logged and can be accessed at any time through comprehensive reporting. In addition, a new function of the data protection manager has been integrated directly into the CRM, enabling it to call up and manage all functionalities in a clear and concise manner.
Sugar 8’s interface has a more elegant design that greatly improves readability and usability, and users can now view and interact with Sugar data with a simple click in a graphic segment, which in turn increases their productivity.
What is your personal customer experience that shows that a company/brand has understood CRM?
My car dealership provides me with timely maintenance or inspection announcements, offers various appointments and now provides a video log with recommendations and urgency information directly via SMS for premium customers after maintenance.
Note: This is a machine translation. It is neither 100% complete nor 100% correct. We can therefore not guarantee the result.
