The access that modern technologies are offering today is something out of a 1990s executive’s wet-dream. Whether we are talking social networks, AI, big data or CRM, everyone will agree that connecting has never been easier than today. Let us look at some ways that B2B benefits from the technological landscape of today.
CRM is king
Customer Relationship Management (CRM for short) platforms have seen a significant uptick in the recent years. We can see it accepted in many more companies, practically 90% of business with 10+ employees. We are talking of a market that is expected to be worth $80 billion by 2025.
CRM software on mobile device is also making waves, where the cloud-based nature of CRM is providing an additional advantage. This is especially true when we are talking about the achieved vs non-achieved sales quotas, where the differences reach 30+ percent. With the ability to access software from various devices, SaaS adoption and GDPR compliance, CRM is in its heyday.
How big is your data
With the rise of always online and IoT, companies are enjoying an unprecedented rise in the amount of data available for analysis. Yet, the research shows that the business are analyzing only 12% of their data. The amount of data may seem overwhelming, but with the right tools any business should be able to analyze and utilize the data they are already collecting.
Working with the data allows for uncovering new prospects much more easily. Data-driven tools will do the work for you. Once you have the data, keeping your database clean and fresh may seem overwhelming, but remember that the choice of software is growing by the year. And last, but not the least, predictive analysis will allow your forecasting to be much more precise, making it less guesswork and more data-based.
Social is here to stay
E-commerce has made everything at your fingertips at all times. However, the always-online nature of today’s world means the ubiquity of social networks as well. And when you’re already in the game, make sure your reach is at its peak.
Salespeople need to be present on social networks, as this is where the prospects are. No wonder, when 78% of social-media-using salespersons perform better than their non-socially-savvy counterparts. The wonderful new world of interconnectedness allows for much easier contacts, lead generation, vastly improved lead-to-close rates and, generally, greater success on a majority of levels.
Everything’s coming up E-commerce
Another thing worth mentioning is that the traditional industries are pushing for technological advances in B2B e-commerce as well. The oil industry is one of the largest ones in the world, and yet they have begun to embrace new platforms and modes of operation as well. There is very little that cannot be purchased online today, even if it as little as a spiral or slick drill collar.
The boom of online marketplaces is not an accident. Ease of access and the necessity of implementation is pushing even the “old” industries to keeping abreast of all the technologies in the game. Figuring out which one is the key for an individual company is a product of analyzing and assessing where you want to go and what you want to achieve – but it cannot be ignored.
Augment your virtual reality
Marketing has taken to augmented reality recently, because it is increasingly more present in everyone’s lives. We are not quite up to cyberpunk levels of acceptance, but things are definitely shaping up to something similar. Not to sound negative, the approach is still not overbearing, as the integration is still modest, and it is a nice wave to ride at the moment. It is creative and adds a literal fresh view on things.
Virtual reality, on the other hand, is not as present as its augmented counterpart, however, this is mostly due to the cumbersome nature of the necessary equipment. Some strides have been made in making these products more available, but it is still far from the future someone from the 1980s might have envisioned for us today. However, it offers a variety of options to business to present their offers to anyone anywhere, with all the parties not having to move from wherever in the world they are.
Intelligence is Artificial
The robots are still not helping us around the house, but that does not mean that there are great things happening behind the curtains when talking about AI. Automation, yes, there are many simpler kinds of robots working in some of the industries. Real intelligence and self-learning is still some ways off, although some of the largest companies in the world are making steps in that direction.
What this means for the business world is that the developing ability of AI’s to learn and improve will usher a revolution in the analysis of data. Less time by humans spent of data bifurcation, means more time spend on acting upon all these connections and information.