CRM

Author: editor
October 16, 2009

Rapid development of a robust CRM strategy for Investment Managers and Financial Services firms

 

During the past five years, we have seen Client Relationship Management  become a key enabler for Investment Management and Financial Services firms.  Contrasting with the previous under-delivery and failure, the new generation of CRM technology and business processes support significantly more efficient and effective Distribution and Communication strategies for Investment Management firms.  Companies now recognise the need to develop these capabilities and take advantage to move their business forward.

Download the 'Current state of CRM in Investment Management' contents page

Download the contents page
for our "Current state of
CRM in Investment
Management"
report

Contact us to find out more

 

In order to assist firms that are looking for a fast and effective approach to accessing our expertise, we have devised a series of packages that are designed to build towards a successful business transformation and adoption of a CRM-enabled strategy.  Each of our CRM Accelerator stages develops the business and technology understanding of CRM capabilities to ensure a fully-tailored and focused strategy is defined.  One that meets the individual needs of your firm as the basis for business and technology change that fully embraces CRM as the new "business as usual".

 

Click on a link below to find out more about our packages:

 

 

Our experience in defining, enabling and delivering CRM business and technology strategy over this period has developed unparalleled expertise in meeting sales, marketing and client servicing challenges.  Based upon an in-depth understanding of the Investment Management industry standards combined with comprehensive knowledge of CRM processes, data and reporting, we help firms take advantage of the technology solutions to develop new markets, increase profitability and maximise client retention.

 

We have devised an approach that is designed to allow firms to pick and choose depending on their stage of CRM development, but work towards our strategic vision of an Investment Management Distribution Platform.  A platform that integrates organisational, operational and technology capabilities to meet the strategic needs of Investment Management firms globally.

 

Our Current state of CRM in Investment Management report provides unparalleled insight into the drivers, requirements and usage of CRM across the Investment Management industry.  At fifteen pages long, it provides business and technology leaders an immediate step up to developing and managing a shared strategic platform.  Based upon research from the past 18 months, this report provides expert analysis on:

 

  • what challenges and opportunities are firms meeting with a CRM-based strategy, and what does the business look like when it embraces the information, tools and processes
  • how are firms developing their CRM capabilities beyond contact management to support sales, marketing and client servicing in new and existing markets
  • who are the major CRM vendors in the UK and European marketplace, and where will the technology sit in the Investment Management and Financial Services operating model

 

The CRM Accelerator package is designed to quickly identify strategic business drivers and deliver a basis for developing the required CRM capabilities.  Over a few weeks, workshops and interviews form the basis of analysis for a fully-tailored Business Strategy and Potential Solutions package.  Our unique and specialised approach is based upon a number of value adding components:

 

  • collected best practices from leading investment management firms covering business development, marketing and client management business disciplines
  • template and proforma workshop materials and documentation that quickly capture and reflect business drivers, requirements and solution features to allow a fully-tailored service and outcomes
  • industry-leading and independent analysis of the features and capabilities of the leading CRM solutions, resulting in a detailed evaluation of alignment with business drivers and requirements - a firm basis for further decision making

 

The emergence of CRM, Client Communications, Digital Marketing and other solutions has presented a new set of challenges to Investment Management and Financial Services firms.  These tools are able to dramatically improve the effectiveness of Distribution for these companies while introducing greater efficiencies.  However, while these technologies have developed businesses have yet to fully comprehend how orwhy they should be used.

 

The Investment Relationship Management Suite is the first platform to be developed solely with the needs of the Investment Management and Financial Services industry in mind.  Rather than a single software product, the platform integrates a series of leading tools to create a set of best-practice processes that quickly take firms to the next level of using web 2.0 technology to signficantly improve their Distribuion functions.

 

Utilising the integration power of cloud computing and based upon several years development, the Investment Relationship Management Suite enables firms to quickly ramp up capabilities in key areas, including the following:

 

  • Salesforce Automation
  • Client Relationship Management
  • Strategic Account Management
  • Account Management
  • Industry Segmentation
  • Campaign Management
  • Email Communications
  • Reporting & Dashboards
  • Compliance and Regulatory Standards
  • Proposal and Pitch Management
  • Presentations Libraries
  • Client Reporting
  • Fund Reporting
  • News feeds and industry alerts
  • Industry directories of Institutional, Wealth Management and Retail companies and clients across the globe

 

Salesforce.com have provided a release preview and full notes for the Summer 09 release.  Some interesting points to note. Our views below, please feel free to comment and discuss if we’ve missed anything:

 

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It’s that time again.  saleforce.com have added the ‘Coming in Summer 09′ tag and we’re looking through for the features we want and wondering where the ones we really need have gone to - multiple contacts on a single event, need we say more.

 

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Updated 07/04/09: Looks like there is a UK alternative.  Ribbit provided by BT.  Interesting to see how BT push it, and great to see the capability make it to Europe.


We were just alerted to Jott based on its recent release of Jott for Salesforce service, www.jott.com.  However, the following seems relevant to any CRM implementation.  It could be the solution to the most common issue stopping 100% adoption of CRM solutions.  Put simply it allows users to dictate notes to a telephone answering service, which then converts the message to text and adds the record to salesforce.com.

 

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salesforce.com made a free version of their Mobile application available this week to Professional and Enterprise license users that haven’t got full Mobile licenses.  It’s simple to configure on the salesforce.com side but may need the usual Blackberry device installation hoops to be jumped through.  It’s also available on iPhone and Windows Mobile.  Find out more at http://www.salesforce.com/mobile/lite/

 

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LinkedIn

Author: ncurham
December 5, 2008

 

Providing a networking group for Investment Management CRM professionals

 

The growing popularity of LinkedIn, the Business Networking site, has prompted us to create a group focused on connecting Investment Management CRM professionals.

 

There are few forums for CRM professionals in the Investment Management industry to discuss their common challenges and share insights into best practices.  This group is intended for business and technology-focused discussions that cover the broad spectrum of CRM-related functions and processes.  These include but are not limited to:

 

•    Salesforce Automation
•    Account Management
•    Opportunity Management
•    Prospecting and New Business Management
•    Digital and Traditional Marketing
•    Market Research and Product Development
•    Industry Segmentation
•    Regulatory and Legislative trends

 

Click on the links to the right to either register with LinkedIn or to join the group.

LinkedIn logo

 

 

November 14, 2008

Matt Asay recently posted some commentary on the benefits of Software-as-a-Service and Open Source technology in a business downturn.  As usual Matt draws useful conclusions on how IT groups might react over the coming months (and years!).

 

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September 8, 2008

salesforce.com is about to undergo the third release of the year (or the first release of next year if you go by the branding) - Winter ‘09.  One of the key points of difference for salesforce.com in our experience is the value it adds "for free" with it’s regular release schedule.  This is a much easier upgrade process than your traditional software where business users have to fight for, queue and pay for the IT department to apply upgrades.

 

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August 19, 2008

The business challenge

We’re undertaking a vendor selection for a client seeking a Marketing Automation and Email Marketing solution.  They want to introduce efficiencies into an already very busy Marketing department while improving the service that they provide to the wider Sales and Servicing communities.

 

Potential vendors

Based upon an initial criteria of integration with salesforce.com CRM, the shortlist comprises the following:

All of these vendors have some integration with salesforce.com and Investment Management experience.  However, this is a very immature software category in the Investment Management industry.  The salesforce.com integration is a key factor so there are no other vendors in play at present.  However as the industry and software matures, maybe there are some emerging solutions that need to be considered in future.

 

A wider net

So has anyone experience with other Marketing Automation vendors?  Are there some that don’t currently integrate with salesforce.com but are a strong enough proposition to be considered in isolation? We welcome all suggestions and comments.  In return, we’ll happily share our experience of Marketing Automation within the Investment Management industry with you.

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Contact Us

Author: editor
July 29, 2008

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