BOSTON, MA - (January 27, 2016) - Bpm'online, whose process-driven CRM software for marketing, sales and service automation helps over 6,000 organizations win more customers, presented an outline of CRM trends and market predictions for the year ahead. As market trends evolve, the demand for genuinely intuitive solutions that enable users to rapidly gather necessary customer information and incorporate it into customer-focused decisions will accelerate dramatically in 2016. At the same time, bpm'online predicts that in the upcoming year the above mentioned processes will be driven by business intelligence, the tightened connection between Internet of Things (IoT) and CRM providing a new level of customer service and a deeper personalization reinforced with big data analytics.

Intelligent business processes

To help people focus on creative, non-standard decisions, CRM systems need to be truly intelligent, ‘digesting’ a big volume of data from various sources and channels. Intelligent business processes within a CRM automatically define the next best action or the next best offer to make.

“In 2016, we’ll see companies investing more in a CRM system that is powered by the intelligent business process. Such technologies will considerably simplify the day-to-day operations of modern companies by automatically determining the best communication channel for case resolution or the best time to approach the customer, to name a few," said Katherine Kostereva, CEO and Managing Partner at bpm’online. "We strongly believe that intelligent business processes can unlock the potential of today’s businesses while enabling them to be more focused on creative, transformational activities.”

Moreover, through intelligent business processes enterprise software will continue evolving into the driverless mode growing the value of produced insight while generating a bigger competitive advantage for those companies utilizing them.

IoT and CRM

Providers of IoT technologies are fragmented today, so the need of cobbling a better ecosystem for data management and sharing will continue to boil up in 2016. In fact, the complete mingling of CRM solutions and Internet of Things are more of a growing necessity than an innovation to look for with technologies like the walk-in sensors and NFC modules becoming an essential part of customers’ lives with every new day we are facing. That’s why we will see more and more congruency in the development of these technologies. 

For example, IoT sensors connected with a CRM system can help service agents track the updates related to the product, and easily send out offers or notifications when changes are identified. What’s more, IoT can be used to offer customers a service they might be interested in most at a certain moment. For instance, using data from a fitness band, a healthcare company can analyze it and automatically send the client a more personalized special offer. This can help organizations significantly reduce the support and pipeline management hassle and increase the number of repeated sales in addition to building brand loyalty with customers.

“Customer-centric companies need to stay a step ahead of their customers so they can provide information before the customers even know they need it. Smart devices can offer new ways to deliver on that promise. The potential of harnessing the data from the magnitude of connected devices and integrating that data within the CRM system to create extraordinary customer experiences is absolutely thrilling,” added Kostereva. “The year of 2016 will show CRM solutions evolving to process the data in the most intelligent way while conveying the message to the people who can benefit from the analysis the most so they can act quickly and efficiently to service the customer.”

Deep personalization reinforced with big data analytics

Big data is having a big impact on the modern business environment and the influence will continue to enlarge.  It definitely helps businesses of all sizes offer personalized customer experiences. With big data in-hand, companies can make customers feel special as well as extend better servicing. Big Data also provides the kind of business intelligence that ensures omnichannel success.

“Big data has the potential to really change the way that businesses and customers interact. On one hand, it lets customers easily express what they want and take the driver’s seat in the overall experience. On the other, it allows businesses to keep track of their customer’s preferences to consistently deliver exactly what they want,” – stated Kostereva.

In 2016, brands will respond to clients’ high expectations by accurately analyzing the big volumes of data and converting them into actionable intelligence for redefining the way customer data is used. And CRM solutions with capabilities of big data analytics, which is obviously a must for growing organizations, will shape this data in a way to help them deliver uniquely personalized business paths for each process instance instead of trying to find the single process being regarded as the heal-all for any situation.

In conclusion, it would be beneficial to point out that in 2016 companies will have to emphasize offering personalized experiences driven by the intelligent business processes based on the advanced analysis of big data, which will enable a competitive edge and build fruitful relationships with customers.