Trends in CRM #1: Everything is cloud
People often ask me what trends I see today in the CRM and digital transformation fields. It is a kind of legitimate to try to understand what is happening today and foresee how the future will be.
In this series of articles, I am sharing some of my views on the trends that are causing this digital transformation and shaping the future organization.
I have been working many of these issues with my clients since years, and I am sure many of you as well. So many of us have historically been dealing with many of the issues of technology and how it can enable high performance.
The first and foremost important trend I have been seeing in CRM in the last decade is the move towards Cloud and SaaS solutions. It is in every conversation today. Many of us look at what is happening in the business world today, how we can implement strategies to increase our revenues and profitability, while reducing our costs, and here come cloud and SaaS.
I remember way back in early 2000 when Salesforce was still a small SaaS company offering Sales Force Automation functionalities. At that time, it was pretty harsh to convince organisations, especially the large ones, to move towards SaaS solutions.
More CRM trends
#1 – Everything is cloud
#2 – Voice Interfaces are on the rise!
#3 – CRM systems are increasingly powered with Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Regulatory compliance has been a significant obstacle, but we observe that this topic is clearly on the agenda of the major vendors today in order to foster trust. At the same time, vendors are increasingly moving towards offering “industry clouds”. This is the case for manufacturing, telco, insurance, education and many other industries.
Today, we see, more and more, firms shifting to the cloud following vendors like Salesforce as mentioned, but also Microsoft, Pegasystems, or SAP. I have witnessed how cloud maturity and adoption has been growing over time, driven by traditional IT costs saving factors, the increasing pressure of consumers on IT functions, and the willingness to become agile and innovative.
A final comment is that every organization is doing “something” around cloud. In my view, it is critical that we address the cloud topic, not as a technology as it is often the case, but rather as a way of working. This requires integrating cloud into our operating models, identifying where it could bring innovation opportunities as well as significant IT infrastructure savings, then, adjust them accordingly.
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About the Author
Didier Dessens
CRM and Digital Experience Advisory
