Will ecommerce and CRM platforms converge?

It’s an all too common scenario when technology develops. A business embraces one system to manage a part of its business and then another platform becomes a tool for some other part. Before you know it, the business is operating with a jigsaw of software platforms that don’t always talk nicely to each other. This is of course where systems integration comes into play and we can certainly help you with that. Having a disconnected collection of platforms will always become time consuming and restrict the flow of accurate and essential information that is required to develop and grow the business. It’s like trying to drive your car with one arm tied behind your back! But what if CRM and ecommerce platforms were to converge? Many believe that this will indeed be the next evolution and it is widely anticipated that the ecommerce platforms will lead the way. How might my business benefit? Running an ecommerce and CRM system from one platform can offer countless benefits to many types of business:

• A single system to manage across the business
• Enhanced monitoring and measurement – reporting becomes far more useful
• A better level of customer service as transaction history is known at the same time as contact history and customer profile
• Efficient collection of all touch points with a customer
• Better targeting and more personalised offers and incentives

It’s even good news for B2B Whilst B2B companies might have a more traditional sales force mentality, combining ecommerce and CRM platforms would still offer great benefits. Communication could be far more customer focused and sales representatives would enjoy far more insight into the products and services that the customer may be investigating on the website, resulting in a more targeted approach. So what happens next? Integrating ecommerce and CRM together is certainly more beneficial than the sum of the two parts – the result would be powerful. With an ever-growing number of sales channels developing and the increasing complexity of the customer shopping channel, given that they have far more choice into how they purchase, the likelihood is that ecommerce platforms will be most likely and able to take on the challenge. It would be a far bigger mountain to climb for a CRM platform to embrace ecommerce. So, we’ll keep an eye on developments and see just which leading brands take up the baton. It would be a huge competitive advantage for them if they successfully integrate CRM and ecommerce whilst it would equip their customers with the means to take a big leap forward in their own businesses.