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A business will fail to succeed until it has a well-planned customer relationship management (CRM) strategy. It helps with customer retention, brand loyalty, increasing revenues, and building brand awareness.
Since the sales team handles customer relationships, they should have access to the best technology that helps them do so. In a traditional CRM system, the IT managed its installation, configuration, functioning, and maintenance, leaving the sales team entirely dependent on them.
However, the rise of the Developer-Centric CRM changed all that. The salespersons are no longer the first touchpoint for a brand; in other words, they stopped being the first point of contact.
In the new system, the customer engages directly with the brand through an app.
Customer relations in these companies largely depend on automation and self-service workflows, where the customer resolves issues independently without contacting the sales or the IT teams.
What is a CRM developer, its benefits, key metrics, and other essential details related to this topic? Find out.
Evolution of CRM
The beginnings of customer relationship management as you know it today can be traced as far back as the 1990s. Two companies called Siebel and Scopus designed the first system, but their work was primarily restricted to the IT department.
CRM in its early stages: IT and CIO-centric
As seen earlier, the IT department had exclusive access to the first customer relationship management systems. They could install, configure, and execute the software, just like any other software existing back then.
Companies used these systems to gather customer information and generate leads, converting them into sales. However, the primary drawback of the system was its complete control by the CIO (Chief Information Officer) of a company (besides IT).
It frustrated the sales teams because the entire design was CIO-centric, with their requirements as the priority. It allowed them to keep the sales leads even when salespersons changed companies or roles within an organization.
Naturally, these systems failed to fulfill the primary role they were supposed to: fulfilling the needs of the sales teams. They were also costly and beyond the purchasing capacity of small companies or sales groups.
The next-generation CRM for Software-as-a-Service
SaaS revolutionized the way CRM worked, and it was enthusiastically welcomed by salespersons all over the world. They could stop depending on the IT department for purchasing, configuring, and managing a product with limited customization options.
They could manage the software by using a web browser as their client, making it easy to connect with the customer, solve their queries quickly, and improve the relationship management structure.
It also worked at a fast rate, as compared to the earlier systems, with a higher success rate. Companies also had the option to pay for the specific services or features they used rather than buying the entire software.
These products also put customer satisfaction as their top priority since they primarily derived their revenue from usage. For salespersons, it was a welcome change that benefitted them immensely.
The developer-centric approach
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What is a CRM developer?
Companies built and run by developers have their brand’s app as the first point of contact with the customer. Since the customer interacts with the product directly, the developers handle those interactions, ensuring they are smooth and free from obstacles.
They work to improve the existing CRM system by adding custom plug-ins, additional modules, software applications, and other tools, as required. They also collect customer data related to purchases, downloads, activations, store visits, and authorizations.
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Critical metrics for developer-centric CRM
Developer Centric CRMs work on various APIs (application programming interfaces), allowing them to automate different parts of customer engagement. For example, it lets them message the customer directly using communication APIs.
It also makes the onboarding of new users easier with the help of authentication programming interfaces. Using a Privacy API tool, they can safely handle and store customer data, thus winning their trust.
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Benefits of the developer-centric approach
A developer-centric approach has several advantages. One is the opportunity for customers to interact directly with the brand when they need to, rather than wait for salespersons, as was the case with traditional CRM models.
The entire system is geared toward satisfying the customer from the moment when they first try your product. If the customers face difficulty using an application, they can directly register their problems in the app itself.
Rather than a few departments like IT or sales concerned with customer satisfaction, the entire company plays a role in it. For example, developers can customize the online payment experience for the users, making it straightforward.
Companies should shift to a Developer Centric CRM because of the benefits it has. They help you engage with your customers more efficiently while interacting with your company’s app.