Of the many advantages that modern business information technology offers, the most valuable is interconnectivity. The rise of the office suite, such as Microsoft Office or Google Docs, is a quantum leap for businesses of any size and allows the seamless integration of information on any customer account or file, potentially from any computer in the office or remotely.
Having the correct customer database software is the cornerstone underpinning all other customer file management operations – without the right customer database software, all the best efforts are scattershot, and cost the company time, money, lost productivity and possibly even lost business.
Choosing the right customer database software to match your unique business requirements is a fundamental decision that will have an immediate impact on your business on a personal level, and on how much time and effort staff spend building and maintaining a database versus converting an existing one and maintaining it accurately once created. Not to mention the cost of the system, future licensing and how it integrates not only with your existing databases and office software but how compatible it will be in the future. Don’t forget training staff to use the customer database software correctly and to its full potential. Even today, some customer database software packages are the equivalent of a VHS, just as the rest of the world is switching to Blu-Ray.
Customer database software is now so sophisticated and the results and integration you can achieve with the right package are so simple and instantaneous, you will wonder why you didn’t upgrade months ago. Databases can be built with other software packages but to truly get the best out of the medium, a specific database program should be used.
Just like the difference between VHS and Blu-Ray, there are massive technological advances in other areas as well, including databases. Now, instead of going and buying a boxed database solution, businesses can look online for their needs – software deployment over the internet. This is known as software as a service, or SaaS.
The key benefits of a customer database software suite, offline or on, are:
• Tracking Customer Data – this is not limited to contact details anymore, although everything can be noted now from addresses through to children’s names and birthdays. This will also include buying habits, past purchases, discounts applicable, additional areas and products interested in or anything else you feel will be applicable and useful to your business to know.
• Integrated Marketing Campaigns – As well as letting you see at a glance which material is going to go to which customer and how, you can see which information they have received in the past, how they have responded to it – eventually you will be able to build up and track an accurate picture of which approaches work best with which customers – invaluable business information.
• Reporting – simple, old-fashioned progress reports can be generated and manipulated at the touch of a button depending on the information required and displayed – whatever you want to find out, the customer database software will find it, display it and analyze it to your specific tastes.
A flexible, customizable web-based database is the key building block for any business moving forward into the rest of the 21st Century. In fact, databases are so successful and integral that most businesses don’t give them a second thought. Your key advantage over your competitors will be to successfully identify and implement the best customer database software better than they do – and with our help, you will. Our online SaaS system not only offers the critical advantages above, but in addition:
• Allows you to create your database online in minutes as opposed to weeks. Simply import your existing data, and then use our WYSIWYG tools to build your forms and reports.
• It is completely browser based – you can securely share your forms and reports with even the most remote users instantly; even add those forms and reports to your website with a couple of clicks!
• You enjoy total control, even with no programming knowledge.
• You focus on your business again – instead of your database!
The world is moving forward at a rapid pace, and businesses in the know are as well. Will you be in the forefront – or will your competition?
