Differences between a traditional CRM and an intelligent CRM

Today we are going to explain the differences between a traditional CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and an intelligent CRM using disruptive technology that automates processes, such as Artificial Intelligence.

Traditional CRM

First of all, a CRM is a customer management system that most companies use to keep track of each contact and improve the relationship with them to know what their interests are and the needs that the business can cover. It collects very relevant data such as name and surname, email, organization to which it belongs, commercial phase in which it is, purchase history, actions that have been taken to capture the customer...

It is a very powerful tool as it allows to centralize the whole process from the moment a potential customer contacts us. lead through the web, going through the different stages of the sales funnel, until finally acquiring a product or service and becoming or not a customer of the company. This allows us not only to know the customer's general data, but thanks to having all the information organized and ordered in this tool, we can know the history of each customer and through which phases he has gone through until becoming our customer.

The objective of a CRM is to maximize the company's profits thanks to the abundant detailed information about each customer, which allows to know which are the most recommended actions to acquire or retain that particular customer. In this way, we must take into account the following benefits provided by this management tool:

• Great knowledge of the client. By having all the information centralized, we can avoid having inconsistencies and outdated data that help the sales team to know how the customer behaves and to customize offers based on the needs of each customer.
• Increased customer loyalty and loyalty. All the information available in the CRM must be used to maintain the level of customer satisfaction. CLV (customer lifetime value) or lifetime value of the customer will be higher and this will lead to a long-term relationship with the customer.
• Increased revenues. Having this greater knowledge of the customer and being able to carry out personalized offers or discounts for each one of them, helps the business to increase its sales and above all to improve customer loyalty, which in itself causes in the medium-long term a greater frequency of purchase by the customer.
• Reduction of service costs. Customers with a high level of customer loyalty have on average fewer problems than customers who are not yet familiar with the company's products or services. In addition, by knowing the customer's behavior better, the company knows how to act in different situations that arise.

So, once we know what a CRM is and what its main functionalities are, let's see how it differs from an intelligent CRM that uses Artificial Intelligence technology.

Intelligent CRM 

An intelligent CRM is a customer relationship management software that is able not only to store all the information and interactions of a particular customer, but also to define and propose the best actions to be carried out to attract, keep or build customer loyalty for each customer profile.

It is a very powerful tool that automates processes and is capable of interpreting any type of incident and reacting on the basis of the experience learned thanks to the contribution of new data and feedback from each customer, which allows the system to be fed back and make it more powerful.

This system is of vital importance nowadays for any company as it allows us to know the customer in depth and direct a series of actions that best suit their needs. This marketing tool allows us to take a leap and get even closer to the customer to know and implement the necessary mechanisms to keep them rooted to the business.

Thanks to intelligent CRM, companies have detailed and specific information about their customers, along with all the historical data, behaviors and incidents that have arisen during the customer acquisition process. In this way, the business is able, through the use of the Artificial Intelligence software-based tool, to suggest the best actions taking into account the experience that has been acquired throughout the process of data dumping and training of predictive models. All this aligned with the company's strategy and taking into account the rules of each particular business.

The main differences between traditional CRM and data-smart CRM

In short, the main difference between a traditional CRM and an intelligent CRM is that the former is based on a more "reactive" process, i.e. it analyzes and stores the information once the lead has taken a certain action, for example, has purchased a product and has become a customer. Whereas intelligent CRM focuses mostly on "proactive" methods, being able to anticipate customer needs and optimizing decision making to know WHAT to offer, TO WHOM and HOW to offer it.

At Gamco, we have developed SAIL (Sales Launch Artificial Intelligence)a solution focused on commercial optimization and the development of new channels based on Artificial Intelligence to increase sales and loyalty of current customers.

This takes into account up-to-date actual data, forecasts, restrictions, promotions, margins and discounts to help the business optimize ROI, ensure maintenance, transparency of data and results, and future growth. 

This solution is based on modules tested in critical applications for large companies and makes use of SaaS (Software as a Service) capabilities for rapid deployment in both large and small and medium-sized companies. In addition, there are three basic pillars that make up the solution:

Identify new business opportunities. Opportunities are product references identified for each customer, in order to expand the customer's current portfolio or develop it. They can be:

a) Range expansion opportunity: Company products that are not currently being purchased by the customer but have the potential and probability of being incorporated into the assortment of products purchased by that customer.

b) Range development opportunity: Product that the customer is currently already buying but that can be further developed and provide an upsell over and above the current one.

2. Optimize commercial levers. Our solution identifies as commercial leverage any variable that can influence the behavior of a customer to help increase the company's sales. Some relevant variables in the FMCG sector may be discount, day of visit, frequency of visit, channel used for communication with the customer or payment terms. It should be noted that each company will have defined specific levers that are related to its business.

3. Optimize promotional activity: The application of discounts and promotions is one of the most frequently used commercial levers to increase the company's sales. However, it is necessary to know how to manage them and when to carry them out, as this is a key factor to reach the sales potential of each customer. SAIL also allows you to estimate the impact and return of possible promotions before carrying them out.