webCRM can help the growth of franchise businesses
The UK’s £12.4 billion turnover franchise industry could create further growth by making greater use of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems.
With more than half a million people employed in franchise businesses in the UK and the sector seeing its turnover and number of franchise businesses growing by 15 per cent in 2010, the industry is ripe for further growth with the right tools, according to Stephen Todd of webCRM, a web-based CRM provider.
A survey published by the British Franchise Association and NatWest states that franchise systems grew by 897 to 36,900 last year. Mr Todd said these businesses could develop even more growth by using CRM systems that help them track leads and retain existing clients.
“Franchise licence owners and franchises are often working together but can also be fragmented in their approach,” said Mr Todd.
“A good CRM system can bring the businesses closer together while maintaining the franchises individual business requirements. Tracking leads within each franchise, tapping into customer enquiries and enabling co-ordinated marketing communications can provide greater efficiencies and improved sales opportunities as a result. It’s a win for all involved.”
webCRM gets 9/10 in CRM review
webCRM has been awarded 9/10 in a GetApp.com Customer Relationship Management product review.
GetApp.com provides insight and opinion on web apps, cloud computing, SaaS and business software.
Reviewer Michelle Nachum was impressed with the ability of webCRM to empower businesses to manage contacts and track sales leads, as well as its integration with Microsoft Outlook.
“Like many CRM programs, webCRM allows small businesses to streamline and organize their customers and clients. But the solution is not just a fancy database for customer contact information – the product will allow a team to forecast and predict successful sales orders; create budgets; collaborate on documents; maintain a group calendar; conduct marketing campaigns and create lead generation opportunities,” she states in her review of the product which can be found here. Read more
More businesses turn to cloud services like webCRM
More businesses are turning to cloud computing services to host their business systems, backing the surge in users for webCRM’s web-based Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.
According to research published this week, around 45 per cent of large businesses are using cloud services for their IT services which is up 24 per cent compared to the same period in 2010. The research was carried out by Ovum who questioned 110 multinationals.
The trend follows research published earlier this year that found more small and medium-sized businesses are turning to web-based services for many of their IT and business services, including Customer Relationship Management systems like webCRM.
“There’s a clear shift in business confidence when it comes to hosted services,” said James Bogue of webCRM.
“Companies are realising it’s more cost effective to have their system hosted off site on secure servers than having to procure and run their own costly IT-based systems.”
He added: “webCRM is a good example of this. Companies can be safe in the knowledge that their CRM system is secure and backed-up. More importantly, webCRM ensures customers have access to a fast and reliable system that is securely accessible anywhere via a PC, MAC, iPad, mobile phone or other portable device. Read more
