Although many in-house deployments have mobile apps as well, the universal access of web-based contact manager deployment creates a seamless mobile operating environment.
As businesses integrate sales management tools with business management, accounting and more, ACT! Contact Management Software is a valuable tool for businesses wanting to integrate their entire business systems or just starting out. Since contacts are made in person, online, and via phone at any time of the day, your contact management system needs to be robust enough to manage the entirety of your business contacts and communication while scalable enough to meet your needs both today and in the future.
Although there are many reasons businesses use both web and in-house based contact managers, here are 5 advantages a web based contact manager may provide to your business.
- Security – Web based software is stored and deployed on servers in datacenters with certain levels of redundancy, security and telecommunication access required for each datacenters. These standards are often higher than those growing businesses can afford on site. With your information securely hosted in your contact manager’s datacenter, your sales team does not have to carry a database on their phones, laptops and other hardware accessible to anyone who uses them. This prevents a major data breach caused by one of your employees losing a laptop or mobile phone.
- Access – Whether it is via a browser based interface or delivery to an app from your cloud based deployment of your contact manager, web based access gives users access no matter their location. As long as employees and management can access an internet connection they can access their needed information and communication management tools. A web based contact manager is accessible wherever you have web access. This is essential to growing your business because employees do not have to wait until getting home to enter contact information into your contact managment system after meeting a new prospect.
- Mobile Access – From entering a prospects contact information into your web based contact manager via mobile access the moment they meet them to making calls directly from your contact management system, mobile access empowers employees to create the best sales system possible. Although many in-house deployments have mobile apps as well, the universal access of web-based contact manager deployment creates a seamless mobile operating environment.
- Streamline Social Media Management – With a web-based contact manager, your social media monitoring and presence is integrated in your contact management system all the time. Find prospects social media profiles and enter relevant information into the system.
- Synchronize with Other Web-Based Software – Google Apps, Microsoft Outlook and other business management systems are all available via cloud deployments. These will be easily integrated into your web based contact manager to create a seamless customer service and business management tool kit.
A web based contact management system still has all the tools that have made traditional CRM a valuable software industry and incorporated contact management tools into many other software systems. These include automation, work planning and scheduling and integration with other systems.
Use your web based contact management system to integrate the same automation procedures used in traditional software systems. This includes sending automatic emails out to customers upon an action or event happening. For example, if a customer opens an email, clicks a link to a product landing page on your site and they receive an email automatically thanking them for visiting and offering them addition discounts as an incentive to keep coming back to your website and using your business.
Since so much of sales and customer service is dependent upon proper planning and scheduling, any proper contact management system will enable scheduling and planning. Whether web based or traditional, look for integration with your current planning software like Google Calendar.
With so many ways to use web based contact management, and a low entry price point to using the software, web based contact management systems just make sense. For more information about contact management systems or to start your free trial, please contact us today.