InformationWeek: The Business Value of Technology

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April 17, 2000

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What To Look For When Shopping For A CRM Suite

By Saroja Girishankar

Illustration by John Dykes T he ability to automate and seamlessly tie core business applications with customer service over voice, E-mail, the Web, and wireless devices is key to customer-relationship management. So are pricing, standards-based solutions, and software that application service providers can easily deploy to provide services.

The following checklist can help businesses considering CRM products:

  • Does the CRM product offer a comprehensive solution for Internet commerce?

  • Do the products address customers, partners, and resellers?

  • Does the software consolidate customer information from multiple communications channels, including E-mail, call centers, wireless devices, and the Internet?

  • Can the CRM software interoperate with E-commerce and transactional software t
  • provide end-to-end order and customer tracking?

  • Does the vendor have a full software suite that offers seamless functionality using the Extensible Markup Language and other standards-based object models?

  • Does the vendor have the resources and staffing skills to integrate acquired software quickly with its own offerings?

  • Can your company get a hosted version of the CRM suite from your vendor, or does the vendor have partnerships with ASPs for subscription-based service?

Return to main story, "Customer Service For Business Partners."

Illustration by John Dykes

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