Why Should You Switch to CRM from Excel

Taking the first step in moving from spreadsheets CRM can seem quite daunting, but it really isn’t.  

Excel spreadsheets sure are good enough for some tasks, but when it comes to customer relationship management, they surely lag behind a lot when compared to dedicated CRM Software such as Act!

While Excel can certainly be useful for simple data organisation, a CRM system provides businesses with the tools they need to take customer relationships to the next level. 

The Excel to CRM transformation has proved to be a great advantage for companies who have faced time delays and data management problems due to the integration of spreadsheets. The CRM migration process is completely hassle-free when you sign up for Act! CRM

Simply put, CRM is an online application that allows multiple users access, share, update, and process the data that is somehow related to handling customers and clients. Many CRMs do much more than this by providing communication and automatic workflows defined and fine-tuned for each specific business.

6 Reasons for Replacing your Excel Files with CRM

 1- Sharing a single source of updated information

Although you can also share an Excel file with a team, there are obvious challenges in maintaining the updated file – there is always challenges such as “who has the latest updated version of the file” and “how to merge the info when two team members make changes on their own copies”! Using a CRM will put an end to these and many other issues by providing a single source of information which is always up-to-date.

 2- Keeping track of all customer interactions:

It would be extremely complicated and inconvenient to have the track history of all interactions with every single customer kept in an Excel file: you would either need to create a sheet per client or to simply add details in a comment cell in front of each client. CRM however allows you to keep complete track record of all customer interactions such as meetings, emails, quotes, phone calls, and easily access these track records

.3- Integration with Email

One of the main methods of communicating with the clients is through emails. In non-CRM solutions, most of most critical information would be not in the Excel files but in emails of individuals interacting with each customer. Other team members usually have no insight on these very valuable, historic information and even worse, when an employee leaves this valuable information is also usually lost or would be very hard to retrieve. In a properly setup CRM, email communication with each client is done through the CRM and kept as part of the tracking of that customer. Hence it would be very easy for anyone else within the company to have access to all these very valuable information.

 4- Reporting features

Although Microsoft Excel also has many powerful reporting and data summarising features, CRM is extremely powerful in this regard. Multiple tabular, summarised, or chart reports can be automatically created and even shared with company management through automatic emails. Many CRMs also provide data analysis reports which would provide incredibly useful tool for company’s success.

 5- Multiple levels of accessing the data

It is very common that you would want to provide different levels of information about each client for each level in your organisation. In non-CRM solutions, that would mean creating multiple copies of the same info in different Excel files which would be extremely inefficient and time consuming. Such configuration can be easily done in a CRM.

 6- Automation

By automating workflows and most common tasks in a CRM, you can save immense time and money – this is probably the most important benefit of starting using a CRM solution which you would better realise when you start using it.

If you’re still hanging on to Excel spreadsheets, it’s time to consider the ways a CRM system could revolutionise your business. From automating tasks to providing real-time information, CRM systems can have a huge impact on your business performance.  

So, make the switch from Excel to CRM and start boosting your customer relationships today with us!