# You don’t need magic to anticipate your customers’ needs, just the right tech Author: Pal Sinha, Barnali Author URL: https://financedigest.com/author/pal-sinha-barnali Published: 2021-08-02 Category: TECHNOLOGY Category URL: https://financedigest.com/category/technology Meta Title: Anticipating and Fulfilling Customer Needs in Real-Time Meta Description: Discover how businesses can use advanced CRM technology to anticipate customer needs and prevent churn, ultimately improving retention and increasing revenue. URL: https://financedigest.com/you-dont-need-magic-to-anticipate-your-customers-needs-just-the-right-techhtml ![undefined](https://prod.superblogcdn.com/site_cuid_cm5qst7v3003gwirgwqtxn8i8/images/graphicstock-marketing-data-in-digital-tablet-and-female-hand-over-its8ovj55c7z-sbi-305401259-1736838091786-compressed.jpg) _By_ **_James Frampton,_** _Senior Vice President and General Manager EMEA, SugarCRM_ Knowing what your customers need before they do. Isn’t that the holy grail for almost, if not every, business leader? Arthur C. Clarke famously said that “magic’s just science that we don’t understand yet.” but when it comes to anticipating and fulfilling [customer needs](https://www.financedigest.com/knowing-your-customers-needs-is-essential-for-banking-innovation.html "KNOWING YOUR CUSTOMERS’ NEEDS IS ESSENTIAL FOR BANKING INNOVATION") before they even realise they have them, we don’t need magic, or even science, we just need the right technology. The ultimate goal is to create a world where companies cultivate customers for life by anticipating and fulfilling [needs](https://www.financedigest.com/the-bank-of-me-why-banks-need-to-be-totally-customer-centric.html "The bank of me – why banks need to be totally customer centric") before these customers realise they have them. In the end, we want more preventative action and less corrective action. But how can [businesses predict the future when the majority of their CRM systems don’t](https://www.financedigest.com/pitiless-machines-will-kill-your-business-if-you-dont-respond-now-warns-servion.html "‘Pitiless machines’ will kill your business if you don’t respond now, warns Servion") even know what their customer did last year? For many people, the boundary between [customer experience](https://www.financedigest.com/curating-a-fully-contactless-customer-experience-for-payments.html "Curating A Fully Contactless Customer Experience for Payments ") (CX) and CRM is blurry. It’s understandable, since both deal with how [customers interact](https://www.financedigest.com/ai-will-power-95-of-customer-interactions-by-2025.html "AI will power 95% of customer interactions by 2025") with a business and make sure they are satisfied. However, there are some important differences between the two. CRM is the set of marketing, sales, and customer service processes and [technologies](https://www.financedigest.com/manchester-arts-centre-the-lowry-selects-logpoints-siem-technology-to-safeguard-customer-data.html "Manchester arts centre The Lowry selects LogPoint’s SIEM technology to safeguard customer data") used to understand your customers. CRM systems help automate customer-facing processes, track customer interactions, and [provide a comprehensive record of customer](https://www.financedigest.com/banks-can-provide-a-protective-shield-to-defend-customers-from-cyber-attack.html "Banks can provide a protective shield to defend customers from cyber attack") information and status. CX is an outcome and the result of a company’s efforts to [engage with its customers](https://www.financedigest.com/chatbots-the-secret-weapon-to-customer-engagement.html "Chatbots: The secret weapon to customer engagement?"). Customer [experience](https://www.financedigest.com/the-new-client-adviser-experience-in-the-age-of-the-customer.html "The New Client-Adviser Experience in the Age of the Customer") is the sum total of all interactions a customer has with a company and its services. CX can be good or bad. CRM has a profound effect on [customers’ perceptions of their experiences](https://www.financedigest.com/video-collaboration-is-pushing-the-boundaries-of-the-customer-experience-in-financial-services.html "Video Collaboration is pushing the boundaries of the customer experience in Financial Services") with a company. **Poor CRM’s damage to the** [customer experience](https://www.financedigest.com/psd2-and-personalising-customer-experience.html "PSD2 and Personalising Customer Experience") Unfortunately, 48% of sales professionals believe that their CRM systems are unfit for purpose, while customer churn is costing mid-market companies an average of £3.9M per year each, [SugarCRM’s recent CRM and Sales Impact Report found](https://74n5c4m7.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F%2Fwww.sugarcrm.com%2Fuk%2Fhd-cx%2Fcontent%2Fcrm-sales-impact%2F/2/0102017af654f84c-fd6e22ae-54f4-4113-98a4-6d25f4286c1d-000000/dP2DdlAhxGhFj6ly5TOoTSX761s=229). One of the fundamental [reasons for this is an admin burden placed](https://www.financedigest.com/fintech-needs-women-5-reasons-why-this-is-the-place-to-be.html "Fintech needs women – 5 reasons why this is the place to be") on sales teams, which is taking them away from customer-facing activities. Sugar’s [research found that 50% of sales leaders admit that they cannot access customer](https://www.financedigest.com/lumen-research-expand-us-operations-with-key-sales-and-customer-success-hires.html "Lumen Research expand US operations with key sales and customer success hires") data across marketing, sales, and service systems, leaving customer-facing team members without a clear picture of their customers. In fact, sales reps are only spending 54% of their [time selling](https://www.financedigest.com/best-selling-books-of-all-time.html "Best selling books of all time"), which has led to over half (56%) reported their customer churn increased in the last 12 months, with 57% of respondents having trouble predicting when customers would churn and almost half (48%) not knowing why customers churned. This admin burden, combined with a gap in [customer data and poor technology is costing millions of pounds in churn and is preventing business leaders from acquiring the intelligence they need](https://www.financedigest.com/stay-ahead-of-the-curve-and-meet-your-customers-payments-needs.html "STAY AHEAD OF THE CURVE AND MEET YOUR CUSTOMERS PAYMENTS NEEDS") to make both vital strategic and tactical decisions. Companies [need to close these data](https://www.financedigest.com/leaders-recognise-the-importance-of-green-transport-at-cop27-but-we-need-data.html "Leaders recognise the importance of green transport at COP27, but we need data") gaps to improve retention, increase revenue, and gain more predictable business outcomes. **Finding a better path** CRM systems are often deeply ingrained within a [company’s](https://www.financedigest.com/setsquared-companys-maths-system-adds-up-to-pitch-perfect-palace-success.html "SETsquared company’s maths system adds up to pitch-perfect palace success") wider systems and processes, so knowing where to start can be difficult. After all, if it was such an easy fix, there wouldn’t be 48% of sales professionals out there believing their systems are unfit for purpose. Finding a better path involves building a more rounded view of the customer, reducing manual work and creating a more tailored solution that [works for your individual organisation](https://www.financedigest.com/uk-based-bitfount-raises-5m-seed-to-streamline-collaboration-between-organisations-working-with-sensitive-datasets.html "UK-based Bitfount raises M seed to streamline collaboration between organisations working with sensitive datasets."). With this in mind, here are three key considerations to help you interrogate and [improve your systems and ultimately your customer’s](https://www.financedigest.com/5-ways-a-ccm-platform-can-help-improve-customer-engagement-in-insurance.html "5 Ways a CCM platform can help improve customer engagement in insurance") experience: 1. **No blind spots** [– Instead of being limited to piecemeal views of the customer](https://www.financedigest.com/customer-engagement-whos-leading-the-way.html "Customer engagement – who’s leading the way?"), often siloed across the organisation, you need to be able to instantly see all the relevant information about your customer, including the past, present, and even future (with predictive insights). There’s nothing worse for a customer than having to start over again each time they touch base with your organisation. From a business point of view, you want to see the full picture of that person, to create that long-term relationship. So many CRM systems are unable to look [back on a customer’s](https://www.financedigest.com/canadian-banks-fighting-brokers-back-for-customers.html "Canadian Banks Fighting Brokers Back For Customers") history – it’s crazy. Look at how you can take a sledgehammer to the [walls that divide and hold your data](https://www.financedigest.com/asian-stocks-edge-up-before-u-s-jobs-data-defying-wall-street-selloff.html "Asian stocks edge up before U.S. jobs data, defying Wall Street selloff") back. Remove those blind spots. 2. **No** [busy work –](https://www.financedigest.com/iran-open-for-business-but-caution-remains-the-watchword.html "Iran: ‘open for business’ – but caution remains the watchword") As I’ve previously mentioned, sales, marketing and customer services staff are having to manually enter endless customer details, which is taking them away from doing their jobs. It’s also opening you up to human error. You need to be able to automatically capture [data](https://www.financedigest.com/why-finance-teams-need-to-go-beyond-numbers-to-an-active-relationship-with-data.html "Why finance teams need to go beyond numbers to an active relationship with data ") and present it in context to everyone who needs it. 3. **No roadblocks** [– Instead of settling for a standard ‘out of the box’ solution with all the standard limitations of not knowing how your business or even your industry works](https://www.financedigest.com/working-with-banks-essential-tips-for-fintechstartups.html "Working with banks – essential tips for fintechstartups"), you need to build a solution around your needs and workflows. Once upon a time, this would have been prohibitively costly, but not any more. Your [business is unique and so are your customer needs](https://www.financedigest.com/4-kinds-of-software-your-new-business-needs.html "4 Kinds of Software Your New Business Needs"), so why let a generic solution get between you? Organisations need a clear and unified view of the customer to squash the status quo, make the hard things easier and [deliver a high definition customer experience](https://www.financedigest.com/how-partnerships-fuel-fintech-innovation-and-help-banks-deliver-a-better-customer-experience.html "How Partnerships Fuel Fintech Innovation and Help Banks Deliver a Better Customer Experience") (HD-CX). Advanced technology such as [Artificial Intelligence](https://www.financedigest.com/types-of-artificial-intelligence.html "Types of artificial intelligence") is now making accurate predictions on the future wants, needs and behaviours of customers, but only if the right foundations are there. AI cannot work miracles and feeding it poor, piecemeal or out of date [data will yield](https://www.financedigest.com/stocks-climb-yields-fall-with-dollar-on-inflation-data.html "Stocks climb, yields fall with dollar on inflation data") similarly imprecise results. Only by having the right technology in place, and letting it do the work, can we really understand and deliver what customers want before they do. It’s not magic or science, it’s just common sense. --- This blog is powered by Superblog. Visit https://superblog.ai to know more. ---