Social CRM: Engaging your Customers in Addition to Managing them with Microsoft Dynamics CRM

The traditional view of CRM is a business strategy, supported by a system and a technology, designed to improve human interactions in a business environment. Thus far, CRM has been a huge benefit to businesses trying to streamline the management of their customers. But have you heard of the relatively “new” CRM…the one that brings in the social aspect of customer service? It is becoming more and more true that your customers crave engagement with you as experts and need documentation, referrals, and valuable conversations in order to trust you as a provider. This new take on CRM is called “Social CRM” and is a strategy for customer engagement rather than management of your customers.

Let’s take a closer look at the difference between traditional CRM and social CRM:

1. Social CRM is an extension of CRM, not a replacement so some of the tenets of traditional CRM remain as important as ever.
2. The traditional model associated with CRM was based around providing better products and services to the customer - and also good customer service. It was a sales driven model to some degree. Social CRM is interaction-driven.
3. Social CRM is no longer based on just the constant improvement of products and services. At this stage, businesses need to be aggregators of products, services, tools and consumable experiences - so that the customer has what they need to sculpt their own involvement with the company that they've chosen to be involved with.

In order to help you implement “Social CRM”, Microsoft offers the Social Networking Accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics® CRM. Accelerators for Microsoft Dynamics CRM are add-on modules developed to address specific business needs. The Social Networking Accelerator allows Microsoft Dynamics CRM users to discover online conversations, identify influential people, and engage with them on social networking sites using their customer system of record—Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Contact us to learn more about the Social Networking Accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Specializing in the implementation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Sikich is a Chicago-based Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. We work with over 4000 customers in 4 states: Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Kansas, in a variety of industries with a focus on manufacturing and distribution, professional services, education and not-for-profit.

By Jim Drumm with Sikich, Chicago IL Microsoft Dynamics CRM partner serving IL and MO