Big & Expensive.

Customer Relationship Management or CRM as it is commonly referred to was till a few years back considered to be very impractical for small businesses and remained a sales and or marketing tool that was used mainly by large companies who needed to manage a very large number of customer accounts run by an army of sales reps.

Small businesses, while recognizing the benefits of CRM programs found it difficult  to deploy customer relationship management services for themselves simply because it was just too expensive, too hard and took too long to implement. If, as a small business owner, you didn't have previous knowledge of managing large scale IT Implementation projects, getting a CRM system to bed in was like rebuilding the Great Wall of China.

Besides that, implementation was tedious and painful since it required the buy-in from users across multiple departments within the company, each with their own bias for optimum processes and technology. Getting everyone to speak the same language was and even today is an arduous task in the instances of installing a CRM software.

Simply put, CRM software used to be big, expensive, too technical, hated by the users and ultimately useless for the small business owner.

Mobility & Connectivity.

The CRM space has changed dramatically in recent years, making it not only affordable but also very simple to use. With computing become cheaper by the day and connectivity available through devices of all shapes, sizes and utilities, the internet has brought the complexities of business software straight inside the browser.

A basic change that has happened as a result of this new dynamic is in now CRM software does not need to be installed into the organizations IT grid. It is now available online. Without any upfront investment required for setting up the infrastructure that was once needed to support an in-house CRM, feature rich customer management tools are now available online under a pay-as-you-go or subscription model.

For the first time, software applications that were only available to the large corporate giants, has become available for the small business owner.

All of this has become possible due to the revolution that is Cloud Computing.  Cloud computing, in simple terms, is software that is hosted and available to you on and via the web. A very simple example will put this in context.

POP mail versus IMAP based mail. POP mail sits on your computer's hard drive after it has been downloaded from the web and (unless you have left a copy on your server) can only been viewed on your computer. IMAP mail on the other hand lets you access and use your email from any computer / device or location.

It's a concept that we got introduced to when 'Hotmail' happened and we take for granted.

More recently, this was taken a step further by Google in the form of Gmail and Google Apps. Online software (irrespective of what software you use) that stores all your information in terms of data, documents, contacts and communication history on the web and that you can access from anytime, anywhere, is often referred to as Software as a Service Or on demand software.

Apart from being affordable, cloud based technologies don't come with the excess baggage of IT support needed. For one, all the infrastructure, maintenance, security and upgrades related expenses are absorbed by the software vendor. All you have to do is pay a small subscription fee to access the software. The data you enter into the software always belongs to you and the vendor makes sure the software is kept up to date with the latest hardware and software technologies needed to continue providing you with a competitive advantage.

As a small business or start-up company, you need to keep your business expenses to as low as possible. Here are some valuable business tools you can use to make sure your business has access to cutting edge technology without the need for any expensive IT infrastructure.

Google Apps

• Email Hosting
• Documents
• Spreadsheets
• PowerPoint type presentations

Dimension CRM

• Customer Database Management
• Contact Notes
• Email Archiving
• Sales Pipeline Management
• Knowledgebase Management
• Customer Service Management

Filo HQ

• Online File Sharing
• Backup File Server

Maxmail HQ

• Email Marketing
• Customer Satisfaction Surveys
• SMS Marketing

Formshuttle

• Forms for your Website

WordPress

• Website Content Management Software

Comet SEO

• Search Engine Optimization
• Keyword Research Tool
• XML Sitemaps for your website
• Article Submission
• Social Media App