The 3 Best CRM Cloud Solutions for Your Business

Have you ever heard of CRM cloud software? Well, we know that customer is King. That phrase has been repeated a million times over the last few years, especially with the advent of internet marketing. With so much competition, it’s so easy to lose a customer if you so much as become late in responding to a query or request. For businesses where customer service is crucial, as well as those who are expanding their coverage, it has become necessary to make use of a customer relationship management or CRM software.

This software offers different kinds of business solutions and a different approach on how to handle customers effectively. There are CRM cloud software that allows managers to assign and handle requests made by customers in the quickest possible way. This kind of customer management allows employees to pull up your file when you leave a online message, send them an email or call their customer service hotline. Anyone on board will be able to check on your records, your purchases, deliveries and so on.

Understanding CRM Cloud

Effective Marketing Tool

More than just allowing employees to gain access to your files and records, CRM cloud software are also able to create, track and monitor campaigns from the initial contact until the sale is closed. It can also keep track of the medium where the customers responded to the most: email, phone call, social media, search or text message. Through these efforts, companies will be able to plan their campaigns and marketing strategies better. This alone effectively lowers the cost of advertising and marketing since you only spend money once – when you buy the software. Unlike traditional methods of advertising where you pay for every instance your ad is aired or printed.

Since the CRM cloud can run on your smartphone or tablet, it is convenient to use and readily accessible. You can be on vacation and still be able to read all the files of an important client who sent you a request. This makes this kind of CRM software extremely valuable and useful. Industry experts say that the CRM software industry will grow to a net worth of about $36.5 billion by the year 2017 and that it will be used and appreciated worldwide. It’s future is without a doubt mostly growth as our society switches towards mobility.

Question now is with the host of CRM cloud software that is available, how do you know which one is good for your company? We’ll try to help you narrow down your choices to three. We’ve used as our criteria: accessibility, innovativeness and how it was received or validated by the market.

Don’t get us wrong, we don’t necessarily favor any particular company or software. What we want to present are the top players with the most efficient and comprehensive package when it comes to CRM technology.

Here are my top 3 crm cloud software choices, in no particular order:

1. Salesforce

This company practically invented CRM cloud technology and remains as the industry benchmark when it comes to advancements and developments. Theirs is a USD37-billion company with a hefty 14 percent market share. According to date, Salesforce has sold over $2.5 billion in the year 2012. The good thing about them is that although they are a large company, they still create CRM cloud technology that can be used by small businesses, young entrepreneurs, marketing people, sales reps and so on.

Besides being available on smartphones and tablets, it also has “chatter”, which is a social network enterprise. One advantage it has over the rest is that it runs on both iOS and Android.

When it comes to pricing, Salesforce’s price range starts at a very affordable $5 and can go up to $300 per month per user. The most popular Enterprise Edition is at mid range; costing $125 per month for each user. This is ideal for a small business that’s looking to automate several processes. All in all, Salesforce’s CRM cloud offerings are powerful and can still be optimized to add a few more power-packed features.

2. Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Of course, who can ever look past Microsoft? While they may be lagging behind Salesforce in terms of market share and sales, they are still a respectable performer in the industry. This company has a 6.3 percent market share and made over $1.1 billion in sales in the year 2012 alone.

This company is from Redmond and is dead serious about improving their CRM cloud platform. In fact the company has been putting serious effort on expanding their technology in the past couple of years. Their Dynamics CRM platform is available in several platforms. It can be bought on-premise for roughly $5,000 just for the server software. You can also get it for $1,100 for a single name user. The CRM cloud of course, is the most affordable one at a cost of just $65 per month for each registered user.

The main advantage of Dynamics CRM is that it is integrated with the rest of Microsoft’s systems, and this means that you can easily use it with excel, word and many more. The CRM was also integrated with Android and iOS to make their reach wider and more diverse.

3. Oracle Sales Cloud

Oracles has always been a force to be reckoned with in the software industry and their presence in the CRM cloud niche is also something to take notice of. In 2012, the company made over $2 billion in sales with a very respectable 11.1 percent share of the market. Their service supports both iOS and Android as well as social networks. However, the biggest drawback about Oracle’s Sales Cloud is that it is quite expensive. It sells between $100 and $200 for a single user. The company has marked this year for expansion though and has exerted much effort in developing newer and more advanced versions.

Which One to Choose?

When it comes to CRM Cloud technology, know what you need and exactly what you will be using it for. You don’t need to spend $500 if you only need $50 worth of services and features. Test the waters with a free trial of these CRM Cloud solutions and see what’s a good fit for you.