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The Best CRMs that Will Succeed in 2021 – ReadWrite

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This 2021 is a challenge for SMEs and large companies that aim to implement the best CRM in the market. The task is not easy. A total of 450 customer management tools and a key question that CEOs, CIOs, or sales managers repeat: What is the best CRM for my company? The alternatives? The definitive answer will set the course for the corporation and will be the starting point of an exciting journey of digital transformation.

For this reason, we want to transmit all the necessary knowledge so that you choose the best CRM software for your company. Don’t worry; to be sure, it is not strictly necessary to try the 450 solutions currently around the world. Keep reading, with a little help you will make the best decision!

You already know what a CRM is, what its advantages are and the basic benefits. However, you have been looking for the best solution for a long time, that software truly unites the team for a common goal, to sell more and better. But not by magic, but because you have made the right decision taking into account the following characteristics of the best CRMs:

The best CRMs of 2021: functionalities and features

Adapt to different teams and company profiles

First and foremost: the tool must be adapted to different teams and company profiles. Although it may seem basic, we can find CRMs in the market that are perfectly adapted to sales teams and processes. Still, nevertheless, they are not prepared to provide the necessary information to technical teams in charge of installing, for example, a service.

Why is this functionality so important? That the system allows creating different types of users with access to specific functionalities and ways of interacting with different information allows giving a correct response to the customer throughout the customer journey. And not only is it the basic pillar of the customer experience, but it is also the basic pillar of productivity and time management. It is not about looking for data but about processing it correctly to receive the exact information at the right time.

Process automation

The priority for CEOs and CMOs: the automation of sales, customer service, or loyalty processes, from prospecting to closing sales. Geolocation, activity reporting by voice or notification of the next task are basic functionalities for day-to-day business. The tool must become the impetus to get to the next phase of the sale.

Here simplicity is the winner. Anyone who starts using the mobile application or the web platform has, in a short time, to work perfectly with the tool. If your team spends more time reporting calls, visits, or tasks, the software puts more impediments than facilities. Do not delay in looking for a solution!

Real-time analysis

The real-time. This buzzword is true in CRM? Just as the activity report and communication with the client must flow, the analysis obtained must be in real-time. It is useless to see how the sales of a product have fallen three months after that fall occurred. That is why it is so important that the reports provide real-time data, are immediately accessible from any device, and adapt to different profiles.

A CRM linked to an ERP

Can a CRM, in turn, be ERP? Payments and collections. If you work with a CRM, on the one hand, and an ERP, on the other, you are paying for two tools when there are systems on the market that combine the best of a CRM with the functionalities of an ERP. Here also comes the automation of processes. Seeks that the system sends invoices to the client at the correct time and makes the necessary payments.

The best ally of marketing

A tool to empower marketing? The CRM systems that exist in the market are usually the best commercial tool, and the marketing departments have to support them in their sales process. But this department is no longer what it was. Digital strategies prevail, and to streamline the management of leads that arrive from websites, online stores, or different campaigns, those leads or contacts must be automatically registered in the tool and reach the consultant who will accompany the client in the purchase process.

Artificial intelligence to predict all events

Artificial intelligence, is it reality or a thing of the future? Predicting events such as the impacts necessary to close a sale, customer preferences, or the sales of a certain product are functionalities of CRMs that begin to incorporate AI into their system. The best CRMs only incorporate this functionality on the market.

Adapt to any company

Be scalable. If your business is not static, why should the central tool be? It must be designed to adapt to the processes of any company and sector. From a multinational to an SME. And you must do it without great effort, in a way as quickly and easily as possible. The company should never be the one that adapts to some processes previously set in the tool.

The best of the best CRMs: the winner for years

Analysts at G2 Crowd, a software comparator based on the independent opinions of various users, have concluded for another year that Microsoft Dynamics 365 is the best CRM.

Dynamics Square

What are the best CRMs for my company? The final decision.

  • An easy-to-use, intuitive CRM program in Spanish. For traditional teams that use this system for the first time, it is of utmost importance that they start working with it without great effort.
    Leaving the spreadsheets aside is not an easy task, but if you love the tool, you will forget that excel existed before.
  • Opt for the company in which the tool is not only marketed but also develops. In this way, the consultants will adapt the tool to the business processes correctly. In addition, the support team will know all its functionalities perfectly to help you, not only in the implementation process but also during necessary future developments.
  • Companies need a platform that transforms with the business without having to rethink the entire system. That adapts without great effort to a specific sector that is evolving. In addition, that it does so together with the needs of the different departments and profiles involved in the entire customer journey.

Put aside the prevailing multi-channel approach today, towards an omnichannel approach in which it is straightforward to give the correct and fast response to the customer. In this sense, integration with the tools involved in the process must be simple, without great effort.

All this information would be if it didn’t help to increase your sales — because the objective should always be to sell more. Of course, you want to sell better than your competition.  Are you ready to choose the best CRM system for 2021?

Center Image Credit: from author; thank you!

Top Image Credit: anna shvets; pexels; thank you!

Adam Denly

Adam Denly

Adam Denly is a business consultant, blogger, social media enthusiast, online market analyst at eBetterBooks. He has written on several topics including accounting, bookkeeping, social media marketing, SEO, content marketing, startup strategies and e-commerce. For a free accounting consultation, you can write to: support@ebetterbooks.com

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PMaps Pre-employment Assessment Tool to the Rescue

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How to Assess Culture-Fit During Recruitment


Did you know? Only 39% of your employee’s time is spent doing the task they were hired for. You might contradict this finding with “It’s not the hours they work but the quality of delivery.” Sure, it is. And that gives you even more reasons to hire mindfully. We know what you are looking for… it’s the ‘BEST’ candidate to fit your company and fill your job roles.

You cannot compromise while choosing employees for your organization, so why take a risk with traditional hiring practices? This time, let’s approach your hiring problem with small but not-so-ordinary steps. Adopt a hiring process that permanently resolves your hiring headache.

Adios to the Hiring Hustle: A Pre-Employment Test at Your Service

HR technologies are undoubtedly the most valuable assets for the human resource department globally. They provide a helping hand to managers amidst their hectic schedules. They also support informed decision-making and enable increased productivity by management.

One such tool is a pre-employment test, which you may have already encountered. The birth of online assessments can be attributed to several factors, such as the need to access remote candidate pools, reducing the cost of the evaluation, and, ultimately, streamlining the process of recruitment. But, why is this your ultimate solution?

Unleashing the True Powers of Pre-employment Tests

The reports computed by these AI-based tests are much more reliable and accurate than any traditional methods of assessing candidates can ever be. The pre-employment assessments are architectured on the foundation of several machine learning techniques. Therefore, they operate faster than human abilities and automate data collection and processing with singular accuracy.

Guess what’s even better?

It also reduces the chances of hiring biases while making the hiring process smooth and highly efficient. Not to mention the conservation of enormous time and cost that might have otherwise been spent for no purpose. Moreover, once you choose the right tools for assessing your talent pool, it’s a ‘game over’ for your competitors!

This is exactly where PMaps enters the picture. We guide global organizations and their leaders to continually find the perfect candidates. With each round of hiring, we ensure you grab the best talent while working in your comfort zone.

Let’s Find Solutions to Your Hiring Problems Together

The demand for exceptional expertise and soft skills is hitting unprecedented heights in the job market. With growing competition for hiring the right talent, many difficult situations arise for several companies. Understand the unique requirements of each client organization and develop assessments that prioritize their specific hiring concerns. But before we find the right tools for your firm, we must look into your recruitment priorities.

Have you sorted out your recruitment priorities yet?

To help you, we have put out a few general priorities of recruiters as per the human resource director in 2020. They are:

  • Improving the quality of hire (52%)
  • Increasing retention rate (24%)
  • Improving time-to-hire (23%)
  • Growing talent pipeline (22%)
  • Increasing Diversity hiring (22%)

We hope you have your priorities sorted by now. Now, let’s start to prioritize filling the gap between your current onboarding methods and the possible hiring trends that you need to adapt to. We understand that many factors could influence your choice of pre-employment assessment tools. It may be the difference in hiring practices and the cultural roots of your organization. Or your target market for candidates.

The one thing we realized after serving 1000+ clients is that customization plays a vital role in building the correct pre-hire assessments. Hence, here at PMaps, we attempt to provide tailored solutions for every hiring concern of our clients. Further in this blog, we will briefly mention a few of our most in-demand pre-employment assessments.

PMaps Pre-Employment Assessments

  • Sales Assessments: A data-driven psychometric assessment helps organizations gauge sales candidates based on their relevant skills and abilities. It maps the suitability of the sales representative for the various frontline job roles such as channel sales, inside sales, and direct sales. PMaps Sales Assessments can filter the suitable sales candidates with an accuracy of 85%. Click here to know more.
  • Customer Service Assessment: It is a language-agnostic tool to evaluate the fitment of entry-level, mid-level, and expert customer service agents. It identifies the top talent who are well-versed with the skills required for the job of customer service.
  • Voice and Accent Assessment: It is a comprehensive language test tool that eliminates candidates who are not sufficiently proficient in their English usage. It ensures that the new-gen workforce of the client organization is employees with suitable and exceptional communication skills. Many of our clients who leveraged the PMaps Voice and Accent Assessment claimed a hiring accuracy of 85%. Click here to know more.

Unique Features of PMaps Pre-Hire Test

  • Language-agnostic
  • Versatile Compatibility
  • Visual-Based
  • Global Validation
  • Compact Reports
  • Client-focused Customization

Conclusion

We know that choosing a suitable assessment tool can be troublesome. You can read through the blogs on websites to view the efficiency of the various pre-hire assessments in the realistic limelight. Get your hiring priorities set now and conquer the world of talent acquisition.

Featured Image Credit: Anna Tarazevich; Pexels; Thank you!

Pratisrutee Mishra

Content Writer at PMaps

Beginning at the age of 10 years old, Pratisrutee Mishra has had an immense interest in writing. The young, professional Gen-Z writer now holds an experience of 4+ years in SEO Content Development. Pratisrutee is an equally avid psychology learner and research aspirant at PMaps.

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How to Move from Cybersecurity Silos to Holistic Protection

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How to Move from Cybersecurity Silos to Holistic Protection


Safeguarding sensitive data and systems is paramount, yet conventional approaches often fall short. These methods rely on disparate tools and tactics, creating what we call ‘cybersecurity silos.’ In this guide, we’ll unveil a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy that fortifies your defenses, enabling you to combat various threats.

Even high-ranking professionals like Chief Data Officers grapple with this issue. Recent research reveals that 55% contend with over 1,000 data sources within their organizations. Additionally, by 2023, 50% plan to implement five or more management tools. This underscores the magnitude of the challenge posed by data silos.

Cybersecurity Silos

Picture a fortress with towering walls, yet each wall stands alone, and the guards on each wall can’t talk to those on neighboring ones. In the realm of cybersecurity, this is a common scenario known as “Cybersecurity Silos.”

In simpler terms, Cybersecurity Silos happen when different security teams or departments work separately, not sharing information or coordinating their efforts effectively. These silos often form due to specialization, old systems, or a lack of communication channels.

Understanding cybersecurity silos is vital because they bring various challenges and limitations:

Limited Sight: When security teams operate independently, they see only a small part of the threat landscape. They might miss signs of cyberattacks because they focus narrowly.

Resource Waste: Cybersecurity budgets are usually based on siloed departmental priorities. This can lead to inefficient spending, with some areas getting too much while others get too little.

Slow Response: When a security incident occurs, the lack of coordination among siloed teams can slow down response times, giving attackers more time to cause harm.

Duplication and Confusion: Different teams might invest in similar security tools separately. This not only wastes resources but also creates conflicts and confusion.

Compliance Hurdles: Siloed approaches can make it tough to comply with industry regulations and data protection laws, often requiring a cohesive security strategy and unified incident reporting.

Benefits of Holistic Protection

Holistic protection offers a comprehensive view of your digital environment by incorporating various security tools and processes. This integration boosts threat detection, analyzing data from multiple sources concurrently to identify potential breaches swiftly. Early detection is vital for halting cyberattacks and safeguarding data.

During a cyber incident, holistic protection enables a coordinated response. Seamless collaboration among security elements empowers your response team to isolate affected systems, mitigate threats, and restore operations promptly. This reduces downtime and prevents breaches from escalating.

Contrary to the perception of high costs, holistic protection proves cost-efficient in the long term. It eliminates redundancy in standalone security solutions, reducing licensing, maintenance, and training expenses. Early threat detection and efficient response also avert financial consequences from breaches.

Many industries face stringent data protection regulations. Holistic protection aids in achieving and maintaining regulatory compliance by consolidating security measures and showcasing proactive cybersecurity. This not only avoids fines but also builds trust with data-conscious customers.

Steps to Transition to Holistic Protection

To shatter cybersecurity silos, first, pinpoint them. These silos emerge when different parts of your organization handle security separately. Identify these isolated efforts.

Once you’ve found them, evaluate the effectiveness of their tools. Check if these tools are outdated, repetitive, or inadequate for evolving threats.

Set precise goals for your comprehensive security plan. What’s your aim? Clear objectives are vital to complete threat visibility, better incident response, or regulatory compliance.

Ensure these goals align with your organization’s broader strategy. This alignment secures leadership’s support and resources.

To nurture collaboration, break departmental barriers. Encourage open communication and shared responsibilities.

Foster the exchange of threat intel and security insights. Create regular meetings or channels for sharing emerging threat information.

Consider investing in unified security platforms for a single view of your security. They manage multiple tools and technologies from a single dashboard.

Select vendors open to collaboration and integration with your security stack. Partnerships are key to holistic protection.

Regularly assess your security posture with tests and scans. Identify weaknesses and areas for improvement.

Stay vigilant and adaptable in the ever-evolving field of cybersecurity. Your holistic strategy must evolve with it.

Overcoming Common Challenges

Transitioning to holistic cybersecurity faces resistance from employees accustomed to old practices. Invest in thorough cybersecurity training to show the benefits for both the organization and individual roles, fostering acceptance.

Leadership plays a pivotal role in this shift. Gain their support, let them champion the cause, and communicate its importance company-wide. When leaders lead, others tend to follow.

Budget constraints can be a hurdle, but prioritize critical areas needing immediate attention and allocate resources wisely. Start with cost-effective, high-impact solutions, expanding the budget as the organization grows.

Seek innovative, budget-friendly cybersecurity solutions like open-source tools, community initiatives, or cloud-based security services for maximum coverage without straining finances.

Develop a clear integration strategy to tackle the complexity of integrating security tools and data management. Choose tools designed for seamless compatibility and invest in a robust SIEM system for centralized data control. Adapt your strategy as your cybersecurity landscape evolves.

If integration issues persist, consider consulting cybersecurity experts. They offer tailored insights, best practices, and vendor guidance to optimize your investments.

Conclusion

Transitioning to comprehensive cybersecurity is a vital necessity in today’s digital world. Collaboration, breaking barriers, and embracing integrated solutions enable effective defense against evolving threats. Achieving holistic protection is an ongoing journey demanding constant vigilance and adaptation to outsmart cyber adversaries. Your dedication will define the security and resilience of your digital assets.

Featured Image Credit: Provided by the Author; Growtika; Unsplash; Thank you!

Micheal Chukwube

Experienced PR Strategist, Content Writer, and Tech Enthusiast. Published in Techopedia, Infosecurity magazine, HackerNoon, Dzone and more.

Ready to work with me to grow your brand’s online visibility? Get in touch via: [email protected]

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NSA launches AI security center amid growing cyber threats

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NSA launches AI security center amid growing cyber threats


As artificial intelligence weaves itself deeper into the fabric of national defense, the U.S. National Security Agency has unveiled a dedicated AI security hub. The NSA’s outgoing director, General Paul Nakasone, announced this strategic move on Thursday.

The new AI division will nestle within the broader framework of the Cybersecurity Collaboration Center, a nexus where the NSA collaborates with private entities and global allies. The Associated Press reports that the goal is to bolster the nation’s cyber defenses, especially with looming threats from powerhouses like China and Russia.

At a recent press event, Nakasone voiced concerns over the U.S.’s lead in artificial intelligence, particularly in relation to Beijing’s growing cyber capabilities. “We maintain an advantage in AI in the United States today,” he said. “That AI advantage should not be taken for granted.” 

AI and the global cybersecurity landscape

With the 2024 U.S. presidential elections on the horizon, Nakasone confirmed that there’s no evidence yet of interference attempts by major adversaries like Russia or China. However, he emphasized the U.S.’s commitment to safeguarding global elections in partnership with international allies.

China has had clear cyber ambitions, with recent activities hinting at attempts to compromise U.S. military communications. Both the U.S. and Japan have raised alarms about Chinese cyberattacks on their defense infrastructures.

On the AI front, Nakasone clarified the role of technology in threat analysis.

“AI assists us, but humans make our decisions. This distinction is crucial,” he said. “We do see assistance from artificial intelligence. But at the end of the day, decisions will be made by humans and humans in the loop.”

The new AI hub will collaborate with various U.S. sectors, including academia, research labs, the Defense Department, and global partners.

As the NSA gears up for a leadership transition, Air Force Lt. Gen. Timothy Haugh is poised to take the reins from Nakasone, overseeing both the NSA and the U.S. Cyber Command.


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