CRM Blog

In the first installment of this series about small business CRM I described a CRM system as being nothing more than a database.  No matter what all the software companies say and no matter how many features or bells and whistles they include, the fact is still the same: you’re putting data into a shared database that can be used to better service your customers, manage your prospects and, in turn, grow your company. Read More

My company has been implementing CRM systems for more than two decades.  Sometimes people ask me what’s changed the most over that period of time. For me, the answer is easy: it’s the cloud. Back in the day most software could only be accessed locally or from an internal server. Now, the data is hosted in the cloud. There are lots of benefits to this, not least the ease of use, availability, support and security.  But there’s one other enormous benefit of this shift to the cloud that most overlook: access to data. Read More

I write and speak a lot about the economy and although there have been plenty of economic challenges facing small businesses over the past few years the largest – and longest lasting – has been our dire need for people. As I write this there is an unprecedented 11 million open jobs, mostly from smaller companies. Everyone is looking for good talent but, for many reasons, that talent is hard (and sometimes expensive to come by).

So if you’re a small business what do you do when you can’t find enough people? You automate. And if you have a good CRM application like Bigin, you can leverage its automation tools to do the things that people aren’t around to do so you can get more done with your existing workforce. Read More