Customers nowadays expect much more from organizations. So, every business must provide a world class customer experience that wants to win and keep customers. Hence, more and more contact centers are using analytics to collect both structured and unstructured data – from phone conversations to e-mails to social media to buying habits. This helps companies are to customize the experience for each customer. Analytics, can help organizations to go far beyond offering personalized support to each customer and also help you to understand what your customers want from you at the product and service level. Read more at: http://www.tmcnet.com/channels/call-center-management/articles/416191-benefits-customer-analytics-go-beyond-customer-relationship.htm

The cloud technology is evolving and is also benefiting enterprise computing. The key is to improve the cloud-based enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution and ensure that you allow solution to grow with the cloud. Maintenance & service costs for cloud-based solutions have fallen in recent years, so, more businesses are being drawn to the many benefits the cloud offers. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/inside-erp/3-business-benefits-of-cloud-erps-predictive-analytics-71009

IoT is the new green. One of the biggest problems facing the IoT, is scalability. According to a research, it was found that there will be something like 50 billion devices connected to the IoT by 2020. It was also found that each device will usually generate data, and all this data has to go somewhere. Nowadays, networks are connected to several thousands of devices for example, ATM networks and to several million devices i.e. point of sale terminals. Read more about IoT at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/datasecurity/iot-scalability-71022

Most organizations and teams struggle to quantify the business benefits of a potential ERP implementation. Organizations must understand the vision of your organization, and to foresee the ways that technology can help drive higher revenues and lower costs. This article link explores some tips to quantify the potential benefits of your ERP project. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/erp-roi/by-the-numbers-quantifying-the-potential-benefits-of-your-erp-project-70983

Companies rely on a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system to communicate, but, a power failure or Internet outage can result in lost revenue and productivity. The causes of a VoIP outage can range from a loss of power in a data center to glitches in Internet connectivity. It’s impossible to avoid outages, but there are steps enterprises can take to ensure business continuity. Read more about how companies protect business continuity for VoIP at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/voip-news/protecting-business-continuity-for-voip-70989

There are many CRM software and this actually increase project risks. The CRM solution you pick must align with your business goals and it is true for any industry. According to a research, it was found that the most important criteria for a successful implementation include: Creating measurable goals, Aligning business and IT, Letting business goals drive features, and Maximizing out-of-the-box functionality. This article link describes some risks of "too much" software and other common CRM implementation mistakes. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/when-more-spells-doom-the-risks-of-too-much-crm-software-70962

Business must coordinate according to the target audience and must be aware of what the customers’ needs. Communication with your potential customers will enable you to create loyal fans, who will then become your most valuable brand ambassadors. Every business should put effort into exploring your CRM options. They are- Operational CRM, Sales Force Automation, Marketing Automation, Service Automation, Analytical CRM, and Collaborative CRM. In short, the idea to implement CRM is to automatize the overall communication with each customer. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/marketing-strategies/how-to-approach-crm-use-the-basics-70973

The internet has changed all aspects of our lives, including planning a vacation. Online research gives us ideas while planning a vacation and helps us with the logistics too. It is found that on an average, a normal person searches 5 to 6 websites on either a laptop or mobile device when planning their travel and if you are a frequent traveler, then that number increases based on the amount that you travel. All of this online research leaves hundreds of data points for marketers and marketing organizations. Analysts are now using this data to market to potential travelers at each step of your trip, from planning to inception. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/accessible-bi/how-the-tourism-industry-is-using-big-data-to-its-advantage-70977

Nowadays, marketers are giving importance to customer journey mapping. They also talk about customer journey and how they can reach decision makers at the right point of the customer journey. Customer Journey Maps are useful as they describe an ideal customer engagement model from the customer’s perspective and can also help us to understand the customer story of various specific customers. Many marketers are putting emphasis on enterprise customer architecture and its ability to successfully support customer experience regardless of the particular journey that the customer is on. Read more at:  http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/integrate-my-jde/customer-experience-initiatives-customer-journey-vs-customer-architecture-70937

The internet of things (IoT) is coming in a big way. This means that in a few years’ time, almost everything you own or do will be connected to or available on the internet in some way. The security of information must be built into the IoT, otherwise it will be chaos. This article covers three things that we need to consider with regard to security of information. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/datasecurity/security-in-the-internet-of-things-70940

Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) programs are often used in coordination with Just-In-Time Delivery initiatives and Direct Store Delivery. A vendor managed inventory program can reduce inventory costs and risks. So, not all enterprise software systems set-up to deal with VMI. A VMI program involves a supplier, a customer, consigned goods and non-consigned goods and both customer-side and supplier-side ERP, logistics, WMS and supply chain systems often need integration in order to function properly. For VMI being effective, information needs to be as fresh. Information based on bar-code scanning and mobile devices is therefore important for any businesses that rely on VMI. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/integrate-my-jde/integrating-systems-to-support-vendor-managed-inventory-70946

Customer database stores information about your clients which helps to retrieve the information easily. When you convert to Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, it will take the database to a new level. CRM software offers a range of capabilities designed to manage customer data and interaction, and to automate sales, marketing, and customer support. This article explains some of the things CRM systems can do for you. Read more at:  http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/teach-your-client-database-to-think-with-crm-70912

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a useful software tool that helps business processes to share data, which in turn helps in streamlining and automating essential business activities. ERP systems can also be used for a variety of activities ranging from human resources to supply chain management and even IT. Small businesses can also benefit from having an ERP system which will help in expanding the business. There are many ERP software solutions available on the market, but it is important to choose the right one for your business. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/inside-erp/choosing-the-right-erp-system-for-your-business-70883

CRM is successful when it is implemented properly. But, sometimes it is not implemented properly. So, some companies fail in utilizing CRM properly. The main cause of failure is the misconception about CRM and how it works. Rick Cook (author of articles on computer & related technology), writes in his article about some common misconceptions that lead to failure. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/why-some-companies-fail-at-crm-and-how-not-to-be-one-of-them-70886

The business environment is highly competitive and one needs to excel in every sphere of business. Excellence is not just a goal, but, it is a process or a series of process which aims to produce specific outcomes and is achieved by consistently applying these processes on one customer at a time. Read more about some of the components that allow you to achieve excellence at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/excellence-in-crm-70887

Leads are important for any business and not all leads have equal importance. A good lead scoring system lets you rank your prospects by readiness to take action. This will help in deciding to prioritize leads. Lead scoring is a method and the important thing is to have the right information and applying the right method to that information. CRM helps to identify and score potential customers by organizing the information about each of them so that you can successfully apply your chosen methodology. Read more about developing a successful lead scoring process at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/lead-scoring-with-crm-70888

CRM must be well planned according to your business needs. Organizations must define your needs, what you need to do and how CRM can help you. After you decided what is good for your organization, you can pick and choose among the features of your chosen CRM system to decide which ones can help you the most. Process planning is important for the success of CRM implementation and business. Read more about CRM planning at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/crm-planning-70889

A CRM to be successful must be built on four pillars. They are - People, strategy, processes and technology. CRM program to be successful must consider each of these elements with equal weighting and this in turn will help in increasing business. Read more at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/insidecrm/the-four-pillars-of-crm-70890

Millennial B2B buyers are becoming the target market. These new B2B buyers know exactly what they want from vendors. Wendy Marx (President of Marx Communications), writes in her article about how to get more B2B leads in 2016. Her suggestions are - More Storytelling and Less Selling, Authenticity in Social Media, Quicker Response Times. Read more at: http://www.business2community.com/b2b-marketing/4-ways-generate-b2b-leads-2016-01413701#RwIt6BQB75HxdP5T.97

Security breaches happen due to misbehavior. This human behavior, not only affect IT and security, but also every aspect of life. It’s the reason why advertising and related marketing schemes work and the root-cause that affect society. Kevin Beaver (an information security consultant, expert witness, writer, and professional speaker with Atlanta-based Principle Logic, LLC), writes in his article about why people violate specific information security policies at: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/itmanagement/people-are-violating-your-security-policies-and-heres-why-70833