4 Key CRM Trends That Will Define 2020 and Beyond

Businesses are changing how they manage their customer relationships and experiences. CRMs, too, are evolving daily to equip businesses with more capabilities to advance their operational efficiencies. Today, we take a look at what CRM trends will dominate 2020 and beyond. With the wave of digital transformation gaining tremendous momentum in 2020, CRM vendors like Salesforce, SAP, and Oracle have invested millions of dollars in improving their CRM functionalities to benefit from AI and more. Their aim is to facilitate CRM customers to, among other items, improve their customer satisfaction levels, gather pertinent data, and better their conversion rates. 2020 is likely to witness a series of transformational CRM trends propelling further the complexity of CRMs.

4 CRM Trends That You’ll See In 2020 And Beyond

1. IoT embedded in CRMs for more predictive, proactive and prescriptive customer service

If you thought IoT wouldn’t match this feat in CRMs, then you are in for a rude awakening. Integrating IoT in CRMs is undeniably the future of customer service. With IoT in CRMs, organizations using such CRMs are likely to improve their operational efficiency, boost sales, and enhance their customer service and satisfaction. With IoT in CRMs, companies can analyze information collected from connected devices for issues, and, possibly fix them remotely. With almost every tool becoming connected to the network, industries are empowered to transform. This transformation can only be handled with the help of IoT in CRMs.  Automation of customer service that makes it possible to solve problems faster, more efficiently, and sometimes before they occur, is an exploit that’s only possible with IoT in CRMs. 2020 will witness more impact of IoT in CRMs as it empowers CRMs to accommodate vast amounts of data from both current and potential customers. In fact, Statista.com reports that customer segments will witness up to 12.86 billion installed IoT bases by 2021.

2. Conversational AI-Powered CRMs

2020 will witness more conversational CRM systems thanks to the inclusion of artificial intelligence in the CRMs. Already, text and face recognition have been integrated into most CRMs. For 2020 and beyond, voice functionalities will lead the way. Salesforce’s Einstein is an example of an AI-powered CRM which enables organizations to extract information ranging from simple to complex data by the simple use of voice commands. Just like voice assistants in smartphones, integrating voice into CRMs will for sure make tasks much simpler. Dictation is already giving manual typing real competition. Voice commands make accessing information much easier and quicker. AI takes all the credit for voice command in CRMs. In fact:

• com estimates that adoption of the AI in CRM activities could generate an additional $396 billion in the United States by 2021
• An IDC whitepaper also reports that global business revenue could be up by $1.1 trillion if AI is adopted in CRM activities by 2021.

3. Increase of Mobile CRM usage

Mobile CRM has the capacity to deliver the full CRM capabilities with almost no limitation on the type of device used to connect to the network. And because it enables real-time access with time and place being of no consequence, 2020 and beyond is poised to experience quite a surge in mobile CRM usage. This is even more interesting because the number of mobile device users is on the rise globally. Going forward, it won’t be a surprise to learn of the number of CRM users accessing their systems on tablets and smartphones. Mobile CRM usage means improved customer experience, increased efficiency, reduced need to learn new software and better access to more accurate information. Already, it’s reported that 91% of companies having 10 or more employees have already signed up for CRM software. This surge in numbers creates even a bigger need for mobile CRM accessibility, which 2020 promises to faithfully deliver. SuperOffice.com reports that employee productivity increases by at least 15% when mobile CRM is considered.  Capterra, also reports that 65% of sales representatives who have embraced the use of Mobile CRM achieved their targets as opposed to the 22% who still use traditional desktop CRMs.

4. Hyper- individualization for unbeatable Customer Experience (CX)

It’s a known fact that many companies have stocked years of data in their CRMs that they haven’t utilized productively. In 2020 and beyond, they will utilize this data to provide their customers with hyper-individualized customer experience (personalization). Hyper-individualized customer experience is a scenario where services offered leaves the customer feeling valued and appreciated. This will be possible because of the data relating to the customers that organizations have gathered before and not understood how to effectively utilize. AI, machine learning and more other technology drivers will facilitate better use of this rich data to personalize experiences for customers thus increasing overall satisfaction and brand loyalty. This data allows the service providers to understand what type of services/products do customers want and when to offer the same to them.

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Hyper- individualization or deep personalization will be an extreme game-changer in 2020 for organizations looking to gain some competitive edge based on customer engagement and experience. In addition to the already stored data, organizations will be strategic in their data gathering, knowing exactly what data matters most and what doesn’t add value. They’ll understand why data is important and be able to derive useful insights necessary for more accurate and valuable recommendations.

• In fact, a 2013 survey by Walker revealed that by 2020 and beyond, customer experience will be the sole differentiator of brands, moving away from price and products which has been the deciding factor for ages. This was also confirmed by PWC in a 2018 survey which revealed that customers are ready to pay up to 16% more for brands with better customer experience.
• Accenture also notes that up to 75% of customers will prefer retailers where they feel recognized, understood and offered recommendations relevant to their habits and where even their shopping habits are remembered.

What else?

More CRM trends are still going to surface in 2020 and beyond. More social CRMs are going to be witnessed and the cloud will gain more popularity. Other experts are also foreseeing companies going beyond expectations in delivering good customer experience.

Wrap up

Unless you are forward-thinking in your business, you may not realize how much is happening in the CRM industry. CRM trends will keep on changing for the better, to improve organizational effectiveness, yield more revenues, and build better and lasting customer experiences.