Vision - March 2009 - (Page 30) $ $ eye on business Motivational ideas for the Ce industry ] • [ by Chris aMos utilized, they can serve as overall customer databases that can track leads, manage invoicing and payments, coordinate customer and lead outreach and completely automate your sales processes. Like most enterprise software products, pricing is based on the number of licenses your organization requires and can add up quickly. But the efficiencies reached by using an advanced contact management system can result in increased sales, more effective time and resource management, and ultimately improved productivity. For CRM software, we use Salesforce.com which is becoming the standard of choice for sales and biz dev professionals. It is web-based, customizable and has capabilities that go far beyond just contact management. take their capabilities for granted or do not fully utilize them. A smart phone is a mobile phone offering advanced capabilities beyond a typical mobile phone, often with PC-like functionality. Unfortunately, many business people own advanced smart phones and do little more than make and receive phone calls on them. But with features like full-Internet capability, calendar functions, Wi-Fi and direct email, modern smart phones are like computers on the go. They also have software applications that mimic similar desktop software you might also use. In short, these technologies will help road-warriors be as productive away from the office as they are within it. For smart phones, nothing beats the BlackBerry for email and business use. Some folks still use the Treo which works well if you need Windows-based apps on your phones. The iPhone has similar capabilities as well, but is more of a multimedia tool than an enterprise one. Invest in Technology to Boost Your Business s the business environment rapidly changes, technology is changing even faster. When your organization or department is scrutinizing every penny, it is easy to choose yesterday’s technology to reduce costs, especially in sales-driven organizations where attitude, aptitude and sheer manpower have traditionally driven your success. In the modern business environment, not utilizing the latest technology Chris Amos is like sending an army into battle with slingshots when your competition has shoulder-launched missiles. Here are a few technologies to consider that can have a tremendous impact on your business. VoIP Phone Systems VoIP, which stands for Voice over Internet Protocol, facilitates the transmission of voice communications over an Internet connection, as opposed to a traditional phone line. The technology allows for voice transmission worldwide and is known to offer significant savings over traditional landlines, especially internationally. Several personal software packages are available for individual users and major carriers have their own software and phone hardware systems as well. VoIP’s key advantage lies in its capabilities as a productivity tool. Since a VoIP phone set-up transmits phone calls over the Internet, the system can be routed through your computer and email system as well. Consequently, voice messages can appear as emails in your inbox which can be accessed via your desktop, laptop and even Internetenabled mobile phone. That message can be forwarded as an attachment, enhanced or responded to via phone or email directly over the Internet. The result is a faster response time to your customers, enhanced information sharing, especially on the road, and improved management of customer correspondence. For Web-presentations, we use GoToMeeting or Webex for more sophisticated, group-type situations. GoToMeeting is an offshoot of GoToMyPC. A Web Conferencing /Desktop Sharing Software Business travel has long been the standard for conducting important, highlevel collaboration between colleagues, customers and prospects. Telecommuting has become an integral part of the modern workplace. But conducting important meetings away from the office can be fraught with difficulty. Trying to follow a detailed presentation replete with PowerPoint charts and graphs and interactive components can be very challenging. New desktop-sharing software allows you to conduct a presentation directly from your PC while the participants view the same presentation directly on their PC. This technology allows you to conduct detailed PowerPoint presentations remotely while participants follow along. Many systems also allow participants to submit questions and comments directly over the Internet which in turn appear as part of the presentation itself. The result is increased flexibility and capability away from the office, as well as significant costs savings on travel budgets. Investment in technology is well worth the money and can offer incalculable dividends in both the short and long term, so consider updating your technology today. • www.ce.org Contact Management Software They were certainly effective tools in their day, and no savvy businessperson would have been caught dead without them, but the old days of day-timers and rolodexes are over. Today’s sophisticated contact management software systems do more than just aggregate leads and customers and set appointment reminders. When properly Smart Phones Most of us in the business world are familiar with smart phones but many either 30 March/April 2009 http://www.Salesforce.com http://www.ce.org
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