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The CRM Value of Business Intelligence Technology
The many streams of data that feed the CRM system should be usable and effective, and this is where having a business intelligence application comes in. A small investment in business intelligence technology can yield additional value from the CRM system. It can help etch customer profiles more clearly by providing real-time data, and thereby helps improve business strategy and decision-making.
What is Business Intelligence?
Those methods and technologies used to collect, collate, organize and amalgamate business information to help and augment organizational decision-making are the components of business intelligence. BIS, or business intelligence solutions, do this by providing adequate information to every layer of an organization and thereby enabling the different management groups to be more receptive to market trends and developments.
Automated collection tools have made it easier to collect salient information and also reduce the time and monetary costs of business intelligence software. BIS sets forth all important data that can be evaluated for making more thorough decisions for business growth. With business intelligence support, your CRM system will be further improved with better and more efficient customer-oriented solutions.
Implementation
It is better to use the same vendor for all the different aspects of a business intelligence system as that would make usage easier, besides bringing down the cost of training personnel to understand the new system.
Certain parameters need to be followed once the BIS implementation is decided upon as these would result in the maximum benefit. These include:
- Time Factor: The time needed for data capture, processing and reporting as against user expectations must be considered carefully. All data updates do not have to be in “real time”, as this would cause overload on the server, so only the essential information should fall in this category.
- Dashboards: All essential statistics must be analyzed to understand the present scenario and must be available on an analytical dashboard. A general overview can however be presented on a visual dashboard with any changes being displayed. This can prove particularly useful for senior personnel to evaluate actual performance set against Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s).
- Data Dissemination: All employees at every strata in the organization do not need to view all collected data, but they must be able to access that which is essential to their strategic planning and implementation. The BIS must therefore be designed to have this kind of flexibility.
- Future Requirements: Once present needs are met, the ability to upgrade and modify these for future requirements must be assessed. The implementation of BIS must be such that it can be expanded and altered to suit the changing needs of the organization.
The Future of Business Intelligence
The growth of new technology is making data capture and processing more effective and the traditional method is veering away from a reactive model to a more proactive one. Artificial intelligence can help some set patterns of decision making, giving managers more time to devote to areas like employee training and strategy.
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