Top CRM trends in 2021

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Top CRM trends in 2021 Title ImageThis time last year I penned a blog looking at how CRM changed over the preceding decade. A whimsical look at the music, movies and CRM product trends that brought us to the dawn of a new decade in CRM. I predicted the top trend for 2020 as “Low-Code / No-Code – Everyone a developer.” So did anything happen in 2020? Anything that might change that prediction?

CRM consolidation.

There were a number of deals announced in 2020 that brought together complimentary technologies to further improve the reach of some CRM platforms. In this blog I put 3 of the biggest in context and explained how they aligned with our views on Post-Covid Selling. Oh, because one thing that happened in 2020 was Covid.

It wasn’t just CRM vendors and furloughed staff who expanded in 2020. Many CRM platforms broadened their application footprint. Within our own product portfolio Maximizer incorporated a modern Business Intelligence (BI) tool into their award-winning CRM platform. Now Maximizer users can call on a raft of high-end data analysis tools to convert their data into actionable insight. If you haven’t seen it yet, then I strongly recommend that you speak to us and arrange a demonstration or trial.

CRM as a “system of record.”

Even as CRM platforms were expanding their capabilities, there was a significant leakage of data across many organisations. These leaks were not the result of an IT failure or a security breach. They were the result of 3rd party applications being used tactically to meet business needs. Often driven by the need to respond to challenges thrown up by the pandemic, businesses adopted new tools to meet specific challenges.

Early in the pandemic, everyone saw the explosion of Zoom and Microsoft Teams used to support “screen to screen” selling. We found smaller businesses, struggling to communicate with their clients and prospects turning to MailChimp and other email marketing tools. We heard of those needing online stores investing in tools like Shopify and Squarespace.

The common thread is that each of these tools built their own database of customers and prospects. With so much data outside of the CRM system, accuracy and consistency is reduced. No longer can your marketing message be targeted based on a single version of the truth. The effect is a reduction in your ability to upsell and cross-sell, and an increased risk of failing to treat the customer correctly. GDPR compliance failures should be a further concern.

Our view is that 2021 will see organisations recognise these threats, and initiate projects to ensure that once again CRM becomes the system of record. The one system that contains the single version of the truth needed to acquire, retain and develop profitable customer relationships.

Low-Code application platforms

Returning CRM to its rightful role as the system of record will challenge IT teams with a flood of requests to align data from multiple sources. We predict this will lead to pent up user demand and a significant development backlog. The challenge for many organisations will be a lack of suitable IT developers.

Back in 2019, we saw the need for businesses to develop and deploy business processes and data integration at speed, without recourse to IT developers. We identified the trend towards “Citizen Developers”, and sought out tools to support them. Our partnership with Creatio delivers tools that “non-techies” can use to design, build and deploy applications that exactly meet their needs. All without a single line of code!

It’s not just our growing base of Creatio users who are looking for tools to speed up the development of their CRM platform. Recently we have delivered projects for Maximizer clients using Zapier to integrate 3rd party applications into their system. This has reduced the time and cost of the project while adding significant extra functionality.

CRM as a “differentiation engine”

Bringing these threads together is a belief that the costs associated with configuring your CRM to differentiate your business from the competition, is money well spent. The corollary to that is a strong recommendation to adopt and adapt tools for anything that does not differentiate you.

If what you are trying to do is what your market expects, then buy “off the shelf” and integrate. If what you are trying to do will set you apart from the competition, then provide your smartest people with tools that allow them to innovate.

2020 was a year like no other. It hurled challenges at all of us, both professional and personal. Looking back, it will surely go down as a year that accelerated the rate of change businesses have to deliver in order to remain relevant. It forced many to reconsider things that had been held as sacred for years. In that context – I am happy to stand by last year’s blog.

All things considered, it survived 2020 pretty well!

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