Year after year it’s amazing to see how the world of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has evolved. In the beginning it was all about bringing small groups of sales teams together and then marketing was evolved to help fuel the sales force automation engines. Finally, the customer service components of CRM bolstered the goal of having a 360° view of an organization’s customers. Now the first wave of CRM is behind many organizations and the next evolution has begun.

In the world we live in today everything seems to pass at “Internet” speed. The flow of information and the sheer amount of data in most organizations is mind boggling. Even the smallest organizations have realized that technology is not an option and the more advanced company environments have realized that the need to be more efficient and proactive is a differentiator in the marketplace. Now the question is not "if" but "how?".

Sage Software has stayed has kept a strong pulse on their CRM customers and involved their channel of dealers in understanding the value of CRM in the market place and they continue to develop new capabilities that add value to a company of any size. As we get ready to head into 2009 it is important to look forward to how the most recent CRM releases can help companies be more efficient or competitive in what many are anticipating a challenging year.

The name of the game in this second generation of CRM capabilities is enhanced workflow and automation. Gone are the days of simply logging phone calls or managing pipeline. The newest releases of Sage CRM (Version 6.2) and SalesLogix (Version 7.5) have many tools and capabilities that enhance operations and make your employees more productive.

First we take a look at SalesLogix. The marquee product in the Sage Software CRM suite is used by thousands of companies to manage sales and service operations. The 7.5 release features a new Process Orchestration engine that enables companies to apply business rules to an already robust technology stack. With process orchestration marketing teams are able to enable people activities into marketing campaigns for more strategic interactions between sales and marketing. The process orchestration environment also handles better automation of lead distribution to put new prospects in the hands of sales teams faster. Finally, customer service is also much improved after Sage enhanced the newer web technologies in SalesLogix to feature all components of their prior network client foundation.

The younger brother of SalesLogix is Sage CRM. This web deployed solution has long been thought of as easy to deploy and features integration to most of the Sage ERP solutions. With the 6.2 release there is an enhanced Relationship Management engine that is powerful and first of its kind in the CRM marketplace. The other major change in Sage CRM 6.2 is the development of the AR Collections module and Productivity module that enables sales managers to facilitate activity planning for their sales teams. Since workflow has long been a staple of the Sage CRM product these new modules help companies sell more efficiently, shorten collection cycles, and speed up cash flow cycles for any size firm.

The other solution starting to gain steam in the Sage family is the newly released Sage Extended Enterprise Suite (EES) for MAS 90/200. The integrated capabilities of MAS and Sage CRM help to provide seamless end to end capabilities which enable teams to more effectively work together in either the front or back office. Whether accounting members need to handle the dunning process or sales people need to enter orders the EES capabilities do a great job of providing a consolidated system for managing all aspects of any mid-market company. With management teams starting to plan and strategize for the New Year our teams at Net@Work are excited about the possibilities for helping customers succeed. We gauge our success by the success of our customers and look forward to hearing from those of you that are looking to optimize your operating environments or want to meet with us and understand how we can assist you with reaching your competitive advantages through the use of technology and business process management.

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