What this boils down to is the use of intelligent software to take the place of the manual steps which, haphazard in their nature, are almost always to blame for customer dissatisfaction.

One simple example of CRM at work is the automatic booking of follow-up calls both to prospects and to existing customers.

With its impressive umbrella capacity, CRM takes care of an organisation’s handling of potential as well as signed-up customers. This capability extends to management of the sales team, of the firm’s call centre and marketing, as well as virtually every aspect of technical support. Obtaining a strong handle on customer behaviour, as all organisations know, is the key to profitability.

A good quality CRM is used as a means of enhancing business profitability and long-term growth.

From its tentative beginnings in the late 1980’s, CRM has become increasingly intuitive and capable of being tailored to an individual business’ needs. But there are plenty of CRM solutions to choose from and finding an appropriate software package is the challenge every business owner faces.

The advice available points to the crucial need to bring on board those members of the workforce whose daily work practices will be most affected by the an innovative CRM solution. To this end, it is advisable to include representatives from finance/management, sales, marketing, customer services and IT in any CRM team.

What then needs to be instilled among the personnel throughout all levels of the organisation is a commitment to gauging, monitoring and marketing to customers unflaggingly.

Once the understanding and willingness to embrace CRM has been cultivated, it is time to implement Customer Relationship Management software.

By loading account details into the software, with the press of a button, Kashflow can pay staff whilst producing accounts which are HMRC recognised.

The fully integrated option on Kashflow is called PayEscape, whereby you simply enter into the website the number of hours your staff have worked and they take care of the rest from producing payslips to sending the accounting data to KashFlow.

Another key benefit is that it automates the accounting of all sales and purchases that a small business makes via Paypal. Totally eliminating hours of data entry. The Kashflow / Paypal package is the first of its kind and means small business owners who run online retail sites or eBay shops will now have an automated and seamless online process for logging sales on their accounting software.

Chairman of KashFlow and former Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Lord Young of Graffham said,

“This is an exciting announcement and there is a great deal of synergy between the two brands, the demonstrated ability to be able to predict and be prepared for future market trends along with the fact that we have both won awards that have been chosen by our users rather than a judging panel. To get the chance to partner with such a globally renowned brand such as PayPal not only demonstrates how far KashFlow has come as a business, but also speaks volumes about the team behind the company and of whom I am immensely proud”.
Cameron McLean, General Manager of Merchant Services, at Paypal comments,

“We are delighted to have partnered with KashFlow who like PayPal, have a strong foothold in the SME market and offer PayPal a great way to reach a significant audience. Enabling small businesses to link directly to PayPal accounts at the click of a button not only offers convenience but helps safeguard against sales data being lost or entered incorrectly due to human error. In addition a number of SMEs that use KashFlow are also PayPal customers saving business a huge amount of time.”

The long-running spat between Kashflow and Sage has subsided, with an agreement by the SaaS vendor to remove pricing comparisons with Sage from its website. The resolution followed the intervention of Newcastle Trading Standards, which was contacted by Sage at the end of 2008.

In a blog post entitled ‘Sage Multiple Anticlimax’, Kashflow founder Duane Jackson revealed details on the agreement:

“I’ve agreed a resolution with Newcastle Trading Standards. We agreed that it’d take considerable time and resources on my part to prove my case…the easiest thing is for us just to remove the comparison that they objected to so we can focus on growing the business.”

Tensions between the two companies came to a head when SageLive, the company’s SaaS solution, was unveiled last year. In a Kashflow blog post on 21 January, Jackson criticised the security within the beta version of Sage’s prospective product. The response from Sage was dramatic: just days after Jackson’s post appeared, SageLive’s beta was taken offline, and is yet to make a re-appearance.

SageLive’s current status was mentioned in Jackson’s ’Sage Multiple Anticlimax’ post, where he commented: “I’ve been hearing on the grapevine that the problems are so fundamental that [Sage Live will] never be back – not in anything like it’s former guise anyway.” Sage has refused to comment on the outcome with Trading Standards, and isn’t expected to provide an update to SageLive’s future until the publication of its interim financial results, due on 6 May.

skype

Internet calling company Skype increased their growth during last year with a 41% increase in International calls via the web using the Skype software, accounting for 8% of the all international call traffic in 2008.

Since it’s launch five years ago Skype has become a staple software product for internet users, the latest figures issued by TeleGeography show the ‘cheap and free call’ business as the “largest provider of  cross border voice communications in the world.”

Skype has recently been forging links in the UK with Hutchison Whampoas 3, who say that they have seen an increase in traffic since the launch of their ‘Skype’ phone.

Skype, which is owned by eBay, have up until now concentrated on internet users using their service for personal use, but they have this week announced a beta version aimed squarely at business users.

Adra Match specializes in software for the correlation of data for the reconciliation of accounts within an organisation.

Account match can work independently while working with data from different sources and programs, without interfering with any process or without any extra configuration from existing accounting packages which means that you are able to have a system working to your needs within your timeframe.

Accounting departments are experiencing deadlines that are becoming shorter, while the demands of fast and accurate reporting are increasing.

Reconciliation of the accounts is an important factor in ensuring that the delivered reports are correct. Manual processes also depend on the person performing them.

With electronic reconciliation you can now introduce a standard routine for all reconciliations throughout your organisation.

The Account match solution takes advantage of the newest technology to meet the challenges rising in reconciliation. The tool can be used in many different areas such as:

• Bank Reconciliation
• Reconciliation of different settlements such a credit cards etc
• Reconciliation of transactions between customers and suppliers
• Internal accounts
• Suspense accounts
The solution is delivered as a package consisting of the software, consulting, support and continual development of the solution to match your needs for years to come.

The architecture of the software is designed to support your organisation with flexible solutions in setting up account structure, clients and other departments.

The range of customer types and reconciliation needs differs from company to company and even within departments in the same organisation.

Adra Match is designed by accountants for accountants