Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software for the technology industry will help manage vendors, suppliers and customers. Providers of technology CRM software offer applications with many sub-functions, broken up into modules for the more elaborate versions. The goal of the application or suite of applications is to create a seamless environment to control how you present your organization to your clients. Your customers will appreciate an organization that makes their experience with you easy, quick and effective.

When you find technology CRM software, consider the following aspects of your organization's customer interactions, which have a direct or indirect impact on your customer relationship and sales.

1. Customer advocates and experience designers work with technology CRM solutions to make your customers’ experience as positive as possible.

2. External collaboration functions interact with your company's vendors and distributors. Smooth relationships here translate directly into a better customer experience.

3. Customer facing operations (CFO) directly interface with customers through various forms, such as email, telephone and face-to-face.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Support your front office with operational technology CRM solutions

Operational information technology CRM software manages your direct customer activity. Such business processes include marketing, sales and service. Beyond merely recording customer contact information, operational manufacturing customer relationship management software can track call histories, make automated phone calls and provide a comprehensive view of how each customer has interacted with your company, whether via phone or email.

I recommend: ACT! provided by Sage Software Inc. claims to be the top-selling contact and customer manager. The application integrates its data with Microsoft's Word, Outlook and Excel. Amdocs, another popular option, connects support and service personnel with a unified contact center.

Coordinate customer information with geographic CRM software for the technology industry

A geographic technology CRM application helps your business track the geographic diversity of your client base. You can integrate this with marketing campaigns to create messages that appeal to clients' regional needs and sensitivities. This is particularly important if your customers are global.

I recommend: Transcom Worldwide is a global provider of geographic CRM services. Oracle, the second largest software company in the world, provides Siebel Customer Relationship Management.

Integrate multi-channel customer support with collaborative technology CRM applications

The best organizations provide multi-channel support options to their clients. Such options often include live online chat, email, form-based requests and phone calls. With technology CRM software, online customer support integrates with other modes of customer interaction. Frequently, an issue may begin with a phone call, move to chat and culminate in an email exchange. Information gathered through any channel should be available through all others. For managing public sector customers, CRM collaborative software is crucial.

I recommend: RIGHTNOW TECHNOLOGIES, INC. sells RightNow Service, providing your customers and agents with the required information regardless of the channel through which your organization acquired the data. Customer Tracker from Automation Centre works well if your organization uses Lotus Notes and Domino applications.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Ideally, you want to buy technology CRM solutions as a package to ensure they work together smoothly. If your budget doesn't allow this, talk with a CRM software salesperson to discuss scalability?the ability of their software to grow with your business.