Still Not Convinced Your CRM is Secure?

When a new business management solution is developed or for that matter when when a new anything is released it is bound to end up under the microscope. With Web Based CRM Software the area most scrutinized was how secure this web based application could really be. There has been many articles, white papers, webinars and so on discussing the security of online CRM Software and I thought I would add one more blog to this list to add further evidence of the tight security of online CRM.

First a list of 3 areas used to ensure the security of your Web Based CRM:

1) Data is housed in a highly secure Data Center and constantly maintained 2) Data is transferred using highly secure internet connections similar to those trusted by the banking industry 3) Customizable Organization Security Tools

There is no better place to start then the data center where an organizations information is stored. Prior to Web Based CRM it was up to each individual organization to house, maintain and securely network their own data center. This brings on a large cost and takes a lot of resources to properly house a data center. Involved in maintaining a data center is building the correct facility which is ready for all types of natural disaster and is constantly backed up as a fail safe. With this in the hands of an organization who's main role is to provide and protect such a data center combined with their ability to allocate a large amount of resources to this task, organizations can rest assured that their data is safely stored and backed up in a cutting edge data center.

Next we have the transfer of business information over the internet. In a time when I don't remember the last time I actually stepped foot inside of my bank and most people I speak with share the same trait, the internet has reached a point where data can be securely sent and received via the internet and a simple web browser. Using a file encryption like that leveraged by banks, Web Based CRM vendors can safely transfer an organizations data to any computer a user desires as long as they have a secure internet connection. The great upside to this functionality is the freedom it provides businesses and the money saved by no longer needing to have a hardwired office network. This feature allows SMB's to be up and running quickly with a secure CRM solution with little or no head aches, currently I even have an HP wireless printer which now allows me to sit in my kitchen, contact 2000 people simultaneously using Online CRM and print a confirmation of this act without a single wire to trip over.

My third point, is at the organization level. Many CRM vendors like Salesforce or Salesboom.com offer many means of furthering securing your CRM based on user roles and profiles. Using customized user roles and profiles an organization may set exactly who can view, edit or view and edit any given record within their system. Best of all this functionality is easy to use and modify as new hires join the team or staff advance up the ladder. Adding again to security at the organization level is functionality called the audit trail. This feature provides executives, managers or administrators with the ability to see who has been doing what within the CRM. Companies can easily see who has created, modified or deleted any record which also acts as a means of uncovering the most productive employees.

The mentioned above features and functionality of Web Based CRM Software are only some of the ways CRM vendors are protecting your data while at the same time saving you money. For added security you can take it another step and add two-factor authentication which involves a USB token which acts as your key to your CRM platform. Without having your USB Key with matching login information your user name and password are rendered useless thus being of no value to scammers. All in all I believe that organizations can now trust Web Based CRM Software with their important data and still receive a good nights sleep.

Improve Coordination in a Business Organization

Organizations are always looking to increase productivity, smooth processes and cut down on the time it takes to complete tasks. When an organization is well coordinated and has smooth workflow processes they not only improve their output but they also improve their quality of work and accountability within the organization. In order to improve coordination certain tools must be present to allow for interdepartmental coordination and for employees to better collaborate on tasks. These particular tools can be found within business solutions like Web Based CRM Software. Many Online CRM solutions provide organizations with coordination tools like a shared calendar, instant messaging services, web self service portals and document, report and task sharing functionality. These tools allow individual employees as well as team members to function more effectively since all company information, documentation and historic events can be located within a single platform.

With a shared calendar and the ability to share documents, reports and tasks team members will poses all the tools they require to operate smoothly. A shared calendar will allow team members to view when other members are not in or taking vacation which will prevent the assignment of tasks for that particular time period which could delay a project. Also, having the ability to share documents and reports within a secure environment keeps all needed resources at the finger tips of the right people.

Other CRM tools including Instant Messaging and Web Self Service Portals improve coordination both within and outside of your organizations walls. A self service portal can lighten the work load your customer service receives with customer self service forms and allows your business to better collaborate while searching for related cases within a knowledge base. I have seen many different ways organizations attempt to maintain contact including the use of public messaging services, emails, phone calls and so on but none have worked as well as a secure internal messaging system. This will remove all chance of an important file making its way to a public messenger and will also make sure that employees are not spending more time chatting with friends then working with co-workers.

When looking for ways to increase the coordination within your organization there are some providers who can supply your organization with these particular tools and there are also CRM vendors like Salesforce and Salesboom.com who provide these coordination tools as part of a complete CRM solution. To find the best fit for your company I suggest researching all options and even taking some free trials which are often offered to get the best feel for what your organization requires.

Is There Too Much Marketing in CRM?

With the latest news of Salesforce and their 9.6 million profits in their first quarter out of a total of 247.6 million in sales in the quarter goes to show the amount of money the giant of the Online CRM Software industry has to spend on marketing. I will admit I am a fan of underdogs in many situations and the Web Based CRM industry is no exception. I like to see many CRM vendors do well because it will create a more competitive market and keep a single company from obtaining a monopoly. With more competitors battling with roughly the same market share the end user and small businesses are sure to benefit from lower costs and better service.

Unfortunately it is sometimes the case that when a company grows into a position where they control the market they can neglect their current clients and provide less then optimal customer support since there is not much fear of a client going elsewhere. The same scenario plays into the pricing of software and services or software as a service, prices can be raised because it is almost certain that businesses will pay the higher price if the marketing of a company controls the means people use to research other possibilities. There are many Web Based CRM Software vendors out there who offer small, medium and large businesses a great solution for their CRM needs. These vendors are companies like Netsuite, Salesboom.com or Oncontact; there are many more out there you just need to dig through the marketing of the large firms to find the other great CRM solutions.

A Salesforce.com Offer like No Other

Yesterday in the CRM Software industry there was an offer put on the table for exsisting Salesforce.com customers. This offer did not come from the CRM giant, rather from one of their competitors, Salesboom.com. The offer is comprised of an enticement program for those who migrate from Salesforce.com CRM Software to Salesboom.com and have a minimum of 20 user licenses. The details include a $5000 check and free data migration with the Migration Magic Button if an agreement is made by a certain date.

The Migration Magic Button is stated to quickly migrate all data along with business processes from Salesforce.com to Salesboom, kind of a way to rest aside the moving pains and ensure the integrady of a companies information remains intact.

So I wonder if this move by Salesboom to target the customers of the largest CRM player in the market will pay off or piss off, either way it will let those who are unhappy with Salesforce.com know there is an alternative out there, they're no long stuck.

Benioff's loss of interest is hurting SMB's

The latest Salesforce.com news is all about the speculated proposal of their shares to Oracle, this combined with the fact that Marc Benioff is selling his Salesforce.com shares daily makes one wonder, how interested is he? Apparently Oracle was approached and offered Salesforce at a price of $75 per share, this was roughly 50% higher then the closing $50.87 of that day. Whether this move makes sense or not for either of the companies involved is not what I am concerned about. If this transaction were to take place all the small to medium sized businesses currently with Salesforce are going to suffer.

Right now Salesforce.com is the largest Web Based CRM Software vendor on the market, their prices are already the highest and their focus has been moving away from SMB's in attempts to attract large corporation's. If Salesforce was under the direction of Oracle, SMB's would only suffer more since their focus also overlooks SMB's.

What this means for the other Web Based CRM Software vendors like Salesboom.com or Entellium for example, is that there could be a lot more of what is already happening to come in the future. Salesboom has noted that a large number of their clients were former Salesforce.com customers who were fed up with high prices and lack of support for smaller companies. The possibility of Salesforce changing hands could mean a lot more SMB's will be looking else where for their CRM solutions.

In Search of CRM?

Everyone is always searching for the best CRM Software, as they should, but when they search the internet they often don't find the best solutions for their business, often times they find the companies who pay the most money to be palced at the top of the search results. I would suggest to anyone looking for the Best CRM Software solutions to do their research, or look for vendors like ACT, Salesboom or Netsuite that offer product comparison's, if you do this you should have a much easier time finding the perfect solution for your company.

Church Management Software

With all the buzz around CRM Software for SMB's or companies of any size, we tend to forget about the management needs of groups and organizations. These groups need similar software to manage members, financial transactions and any other daily tasks. For example, Church Management Software can assist and ease the work involved in managing church members and all other administrative aspects, these organizations look to grow the same as any other business.

A True Outlook Integration Solution

Most CRM vendors have some sort of Microsoft Outlook integration built into their platform. This being true not many integrate in a way that you don't loose Outlook functionality, companies like Salesforce.com and Salesboom.com both have a solid Outlook integration system, but even from a company like Salesforce.com some functionality is lost. When integrating Microsoft Outlook with Salesforce, notes attached to contacts are lost in translation, this doesn't happen when using Salesboom. So even though many CRM vendors claim to have Outlook integration, beware of their fine print.

Salesboom release states they'll end phishing scams on CRM

Salesboom.com has just put out a press release saying they will end phishing attacks on CRM. They are using a two factor authentication security approach which means an employee must insert a USB key into their computer before login, if the username and password entered match the "digital ID" then access is granted. This would have been helpful to salesforce.com when one of it's employee's was "tricked" into disclosing their password, with Salesboom's security you could give your password away and it's still no good to any scammer out there, Salesboom says that the USB keys can not be duplicated and are encrypted. This news is good to hear, something needed to be done to help protect companies databases., by the looks of things, 2008 should be a safe CRM year.

Is your data safe?

Salesforce.com is in the news again, this time for a breach in their security, an employee was tricked into giving out a password, providing hackers with access to a portion of Salesforce.com's clients data. With the size of Salesforce.com occurances like thisthreaten to give the entire CRM industry a bad name, customers may fear that data is not safe while using a hosted CRM solution, this however is not true, other companies like Salesboom.com have constantly provided it's clients with safe and secure hosted CRM Software solutions. So if you're wondering if your data is safe, maybe you should wonder which CRM provider you should trust.