I admit it, I’m not just a mental health or food blogger, I’m also an uber-geek.  In that role I worked as head of customer support for several local ISP’s over the past 18 or so years.  I love tech.  I love people (mostly) and I love helping someone out of a jam, especially when they are deserving of the help. (There are exceptions, but not many.)

When I was doing technical support, crm wasn’t a term that was used much in the internet industry.  Our idea of Customer Relations Management meant keeping a notepad next to the phone and jotting down information as we went along. It was to say the least, a tedious process, and one fraught with errors.  The thought of server software that was dedicated to the task of helping us help our customers never crossed anyone’s mind.

Times have changed.  Today even the big boys have fully dedicated server solutions that do nothing more than help sales staffs and support staffs handle questions, comments and appointments.  That must be nice!

From Microsoft, the largest of the behemoth software companies comes the microsoft crm server.  With this bad boy you can do everything it took me and my staff a hundred notebooks a year, plus several databases to handle.  Management and sales stay in the loop without the need for constant calls, memos or meetings.  This is a monstrous boost in the productivity department for everyone involved, let me assure you.

Another benefit of this system is that companies don’t have to host it themselves.  They can opt for a hosted microsoft dynamics crm if their infrastructure won’t comfortably accommodate a self hosted solution.  This provides all the power of an in house microsoft dynamics crm hosting solution without the headaches for the IT staff, if there is one. (A lot of people outsouce almost everything lately.)

If you’re running business and are getting the feeling that those notepads just aren’t working any more, check out a CRM solution.  It might just be the tool you never knew you were missing!