What is CRM Cloud? Definition, operation and benefits
Not satisfied with your CRM? Are you wasting time because your processes are complex, your data is scattered, and you’re losing sight of essential tasks? It’s time to change!
Customer relations are at the heart of sales, and the buying experience along with the follow-up throughout the product lifecycle, are today’s differentiating factors for companies. Taking on a tool that’s ill-suited to your needs will penalize your growth and productivity, and create frustration for your staff.
A Cloud CRM is a customer relationship management solution. The term CRM comes from the English “customer relationship management” and is attributed to tools for managing prospecting, sales and marketing.
Cloud, on the other hand, refers to a method of storing software or services on online servers. Cloud CRM is therefore a customer relationship management system hosted online, in the Cloud, on remote servers. This is known as SaaS (“Software as a Service”), since the software is available directly online, as a service.
This type of CRM offers great flexibility. Your sales team can access the platform at any time, directly on the web from any device (computer, tablet, smartphone).
What is CRM?
CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is the acquisition and retention of a company’s customers. It puts people at the heart of corporate strategy, and is a real collaborative workspace. This software brings together all functionalities and creates relationships between these modules in order to manage prospecting, contacts, sales, marketing and customer service.
Using an open source CRM solution will enable you to manage contacts by centralizing all your customer data in one place: customers, prospects, contact details, exchange history, documents, etc. You’ll then have immediate access to all the information you need to develop your business.
Secondly, a CRM solution enables you to manage your leads. You’ll be able to prospect effectively by tracking leads from first contact through to sale, and effectively manage your marketing campaigns.
Customer data being a priority: with Axelor’s integrated CRM you can easily centralize it, secure it, share it, exploit it within a single platform that complies with the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), notably thanks to rights management and data encryption.
What are the advantages of Cloud CRM?
The choice of Cloud software is becoming increasingly important for companies equipped for simplicity and flexibility. Choosing SaaS CRM is therefore an increasingly popular choice, offering numerous benefits. There are a number of advantages to using Cloud CRM.
• Speed
Setting up a Cloud CRM couldn't be quicker. No installation is required, the SaaS CRM is ready to use as soon as it is chosen. All you have to do is create logins and share profiles with employees, so that everyone can access the Cloud platform.
• Peace of mind
Free yourself from as many constraints as possible. With a Cloud CRM, the software publisher takes care of updates and maintenance, so everything is automatic and you don't have to do a thing. With a SaaS CRM, your only constraint is to open the software.
• Freedom
Accessible 24/7, anywhere, from any device (computer, tablet, smartphone), give your sales teams easy access to the solution. A Cloud CRM offers professional comfort and freedom.
• Economical
A Cloud CRM is cost-effective thanks to a subscription-based model, often offering a range of cost-saving packages. No major up-front investment for deployment, no additional investment for storage or suitable hardware, and no investment to move a technician to handle updates. CRM in System as a Service mode ensures smooth, predictable costs over the long term, making it a cost-effective alternative to on-premise CRM.
• Security
Data security is probably at the heart of your concerns, and rightly so! Security is currently a major issue for companies. With a cloud CRM, you'll no longer have to worry about this issue, since security is the responsibility of the software publisher. It will implement security at every level to ensure that your data is always backed up, and kept in a safe place
• Control
Adopting an Open Source CRM means owning your data. You're not tied to a vendor, and you control how your data is used. Connecting sales and marketing is essential for boosting your sales performance. Axelor benefits from a Brevo connector that enables bidirectional data exchange, particularly concerning the results of your emailing campaigns (click, open rates, etc.). "This tool enables us to communicate simply and effectively with our contacts, thanks to an accomplished and intuitive marketing module." An essential tool for communications agencies.
What’s the difference between CRM Cloud and CRM On premise?
CRM Cloud and on-premise are two very distinct forms of software. Although they are equipped with the same functionalities, it’s necessary to know how to differentiate between the two to ensure you make the right choice.
The difference between the two lies in installation and access. Whereas on-premise CRM needs to be installed on the company’s IT infrastructure and workstations, cloud CRM will be available directly online, reducing costs by eliminating the need for installation, with instances connected immediately. This SaaS CRM will be directly accessible, as it will be hosted on remote servers by the software publisher.
Cloud CRM is therefore accessible online, from any web browser (and therefore from any pc, tablet, or smartphone), whereas on-premise software will be accessible from the IT infrastructures on which it is installed, or will require installation on a specific server.
Why use Cloud CRM for your business?
Get to know your customers
Analyze your sales: thanks to detailed dashboards and relevant reporting, you’ll have a clearer picture of your results, which you can use to your advantage. Thanks to our CRM functionalities, you can identify areas for improvement, eliminate lost sales and improve your sales relationship management.
One of our customers told us that the solutions on the market didn’t meet his needs.
“We manage a lot of projects. It’s fundamental for us to be able to centralize customer information in a single tool for more accurate sales tracking.”
The strengths of our CRM solution: ease of use, real-time notifications, high level of customization, automation of sales processes, analysis and reporting functions, easy integration with third-party sales applications.
Digitalize your business
Online tools have become part of everyone’s daily life. We’re all used to using mobile applications or software directly from a browser. Software as a Service (SaaS) has become increasingly popular in recent years, both for private and professional use.
A Cloud platform is therefore a logical choice to keep up with current trends. This CRM format has also developed to meet a range of issues that companies have encountered in recent years. It responds to the challenges of digitalization, and in particular provides a system for telecommuting.
How to choose your Cloud CRM?
There are a number of factors to consider when choosing a SaaS CRM. These criteria, defined at the outset, will enable you to make the right choice and ensure optimal management of your customer relationships.
Cloud CRM can only be effective if it meets your specifications. The solution must be relevant to your specific needs. But the solution must also be scalable to ensure a long-term vision. Advanced functionalities on a complete, open-source software package will ensure your company’s long-term viability, by meeting its challenges in the long term.
In the past, you’ve probably already seen how laborious it can be to install a new solution in a company. While some users are quite willing to discover new software, others will find it more difficult to get to grips with it, or even be reluctant to change their habits. It’s therefore essential to choose a Cloud CRM that’s easy to learn, complete and intuitivet o ensure its longevity, and above all, its use by your employees.
Finally, to ensure you choose the best System as a Service software, it’s imperative to monitor the Cloud system’s reputation and hosting provider. A vendor with a long-standing presence in the market, with major contracts already in place, can be a reassuring factor when choosing your Cloud CRM. This will ensure that the implementation is already effective, since it will have been tested and fine-tuned beforehand, and will also provide reassurance in terms of security. Choosing a credible Cloud tool vendor not only ensures that your data is placed on secure servers, but also that you can rest assured that the system will be reliably hosted, so that you can use it without fear of bugs or even spontaneous closure of the solution.
Should you migrate your CRM to the Cloud?
Moving to a cloud CRM is an obvious choice, and one that most companies have already made. Today, around 90% of companies using a CRM have a solution in SaaS mode.
Sharing data is now a necessity for business productivity. Increasingly, company employees need to work together to improve efficiency. Having a digital place where users can easily collect data, distribute it to the right people, and track their leads, is a sure-fire time-saver. Offering your sales reps the possibility of accessing the data and reports wherever they are, whenever they want, on the medium of their choice, is therefore a no-brainer.
Switching to a SaaS CRM won’t take long, but it will save you precious time in the future.
What benefits can you expect from a successful CRM integration?
You know your customers better
Your leads are qualified
You segment your prospects more effectively
You know which prospects to prioritize
Save time with simplified processes
Why choose Axelor CRM Cloud for your business?
Axelor offers you a complete package to manage your sales process. In our ERP Cloud, this includes a number of services such as prospecting, marketing, but also sales; it will therefore enable you to attract new customers, but also take care of the relationship with your current contacts. It has been designed to simplify the work of your sales force, but also to enable you to establish a privileged relationship with your customers.
The open-source platform adapts to your needs, providing you with a personalized space in which to achieve your objectives effectively.
This new approach to customer relations offers you advanced functionalities with a system that’s both free and comprehensive.
Axelor is based on a powerful, flexible, and ergonomic Low Code platform. More than just a CRM, Axelor gives you a taste of freedom with the most advanced open-source solution of its generation.
Fully customizable, you can create any field on the application’s views thanks to the directly integrated studio application.
The platform is also mobile-ready, thanks to its responsive management, so it can be accessed from any device. This major advantage will also enable your sales force to access Axelor whenever they want, as it is also available at any time thanks to its offline mode management.
The Axelor platform enables you to quickly and easily connect to other solutions on the market, allowing you to integrate advanced functionalities into your processes. For example, you can connect Gmail or Outlook to Axelor to record your data directly in the CRM. You can also connect applications such as Mailchimp or Brevo to send and track your campaigns directly from the CRM and optimize your processes.
Finally, Axelor offers you the services of a BPM directly included in the CRM. Intuitive and powerful, it will enable you to gain flexibility and standardize your sales processes, limiting errors.
“Our sales staff now have access to an ergonomic, collaborative tool, and can provide tailor-made answers to customers and support them as best they can throughout their purchasing journey.”
Discover how our ERP can help you improve your company’s performance
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