1. The company's needs and goals must be the basis
Energy companies have different needs for different customer segments. The most important thing to decide before choosing a CRM system is to uncover the needs and objectives of the marketing and sales team. This lays the foundation for which functions and solutions are important to emphasize:
- Lead management
- Marketing automation
- Sales pipeline
- Customer data
- Customer experience
- Email tracking
- Social media management
- Contact management
2. Integrations are essential
A CRM system that is not integrated with the core systems of an energy company provides little to no value. Market automation and good sales processes are completely dependent on communication with the core systems in real time to be effective. It requires a good API set, flexibility in configuration and sufficient performance.
3. Consider all the costs
The investment and operating costs of a CRM system must be commensurate with the benefits it provides. The implementation costs and risks can be very high if all the integrations are to be developed from scratch. Tailoring can also be expensive to operate and further develop, so standardization is important to ensure a cost-effective solution over time. The balance between costs and gains must be assessed in order to extract value from the investment.
4. Marketing automation brings big gains
Power companies often have a large customer volume and a high need for communication. The companies that establish and manage good digital customer journeys will have a major competitive advantage. Market automation then becomes a particularly important factor. Marketing automation offers great opportunities to communicate effectively with different customer segments throughout the entire customer journey.
5. Security and GDPR must always be considered
Energy companies process sensitive customer information, which places high demands on security and GDPR compliance. Where the data is stored, deletion routines, encryption and other aspects are important to set requirements for when choosing a system. Security standards at the supplier must also be established and documented.
6. How easy is it to learn?
It can be time-consuming and expensive for an organization to learn new systems. How long does it take to learn the system, and how well are we able to utilize it? Many functions will never be used if they are perceived as complex and difficult to use. Ease of use is therefore important to consider in order to reap the benefits of all the functions the system offers.
7. Supplier who understands the energy industry
The energy industry has many complex industry-specific customer processes and requirements for customer communication. It is important that the supplier of the CRM system has expertise in these processes in order to adapt the processes so that the business can extract profits.
UtilityCloud currently has standard integration with Salesforce and Freshworks. We continuously evaluate new systems to cover more customer needs and wishes.