How to Choose the Right Case Management System for Your Company
In this article, I will introduce case management and a case management system.
Excel has become synonymous with management tools such as scheduling, customer management, and case management. Excel is unquestionably a versatile and easy-to-use software, but it is essentially software that is most good at calculation and numerical analysis.
Because it is so easy for everyone to use, it is being used for various purposes, and more and more companies are using it not only for sales management but also for case management. While Excel is best for managing sales results, it is not suitable for managing plans and forecasts.
What is a case management system?
What is case management?
First of all, I will talk about what a case is in the first place.
A case refers to various inquiries received from customers and business partners about your products and services.
For example, it refers to the features and characteristics of a product, its price, delivery date, availability of after-sales support, and so on. An inquiry is an indication that the other party is willing to purchase your products or services.
The term "case management" refers to the proper management of case information to convert inquiries into orders.
Inquiry information includes expected sales amounts, opportunity dates, deal progress, and the probability of receiving an order.
The most important thing is the degree of progress of the deal and the probability of receiving an order at that time.
No matter how large the case is, the deal progress is not visible, and the probability of receiving an order is less than 10%. In this situation, you never know when you will make a sale.
So, by utilizing the case management system, you can manage your case information efficiently and effectively.
Types of case management systems
There are two main types of tools that specialize in case management.
One is called a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system. The other is called SFA (Sales Force Automation), which is also called a sales support system or sales support tool.
The purpose of implementing SFA is to manage salespeoples' actions, improve the efficiency of sales activities, and manage and utilize all information related to the case, leading to orders.
Benefits of implementing a case management system
Being able to monitor and share the progress of a case in real-time means that you can check who handled what case, when, and how at any time.
By sharing information with the users of a case management system in real-time, it is easy to grasp the progress and take immediate action when there is an unhandled case.
Another advantage of implementing a case management system is that it facilitates analysis. You can easily and quickly analyze the sales forecast and actual figures and graph them if necessary.
Some systems make it easy to check the salesperson's action flow and make a list of the next actions to be taken. Another advantage of implementing a case management system is that you can grasp the schedules for each case.
By visualizing the current status of a case, a case management system can help you see the process. Doing so clarifies the next action and priority to take so that the parts that were not visible in flat Excel management become clearer.
Comparison points when selecting a case management system
Now that you know that you need a case management system instead of Excel, the most important thing to consider is the initial implementation and operation costs.
In this part, even if the initial cost is low, the monthly operating cost may be high for each company, and on the other hand, even if the operating cost is not so much, it may take time, effort, and cost to educate employees. So it's necessary to compare the benefits and your implementation costs and choose a balanced one.
Especially in terms of operating costs, monthly costs and other costs differ between cloud and on-premises, so sufficient research is required.
Next to cost is functionality. It's a good idea to choose one that has only the features you need. If you implement it anyway, even if there are too many functions, you may not be able to use it properly. It's also important to understand that the number of features and the system evaluation are not the same.
Ease of use is also an important point. To do this, you need to choose one that is as simple to operate as possible.
It is also important to note that most salespeople now carry a smartphone. So, it is necessary to choose a product that is compatible with smartphones as well as PCs. Also, you should select a service that has a better support system.
The first step to increasing sales is to choose the right case management system for your company
Through the previous explanations, I think you can understand the limitations of using Excel for case management. As the saying goes, "a rice cake is a rice cake maker," and it is necessary to choose the system and software that best suits your needs. However, all case management systems are not inexpensive. It is very dangerous to implement a system without considering it carefully.
Many system providers allow you to try out their systems to see which one is right for your company. I recommend that you carefully consider which one is best for your company, such as taking a trial seminar or applying for trial implementation.