Online CRM Solutions
7 years ago most CRM programs and systems where not much more than contact management systems that required businesses to purchase expensive software and host them on location. This also meant the need for more expensive computer networks and expensive and often unreliable IT ‘professionals’. While they offered value and much needed organization to companies these CRM systems and software programs where rough and sometimes difficult to implement. However the birth of online CRM solutions has meant a great reduction in direct and associated costs. It has also made transitions for relocating companies much easier than in the past. Today most CRM providers offer both options for their potential clients.

Driving Factors
Today there are many driving factors besides cost and ease of implementation that spur the need for online CRM solutions. Most notably the root factor behind this has been the recent economic crisis and global credit crunch. This has forced businesses to cut costs, relocate and outsource more than ever before. And online CRM programs have enabled companies to do this with increasing ease. Having a good CRM program alone can assist you in streamlining your business processes and reducing both hard costs and labour. Online CRM options have made moving office locations or launching into new markets a breeze. Outsourcing and remote workers have become a necessity for many businesses to survive and this would not be possible in many circumstances without online CRM.

The Online CRM Business
With an estimated $11billion to be spent on CRM this year, clearly a large portion of that will be online based CRM solutions. More and more business are going virtual and will require the use of online CRM to operate. Among these online workers are at least hundreds of thousands of freelancers and outsourced employees spread across the globe. Two of the top freelancing and outsourcing websites are oDesk and Elance. Elance boasts recent provider earnings at over $256million with over 105,000 freelancers. While oDesk is home to over 227,558 remote workers. Another similar site boasts almost 1.5million such workers and over $52million in earnings with numbers growing rapidly on a daily basis. Most of the companies using these services are new start ups that will obviously require expanding.

Clearly it is safe to say that this industry is still in boom and is likely to experience an ever bigger surge over the next couple of years at least. This should mean even lower cost options for businesses needing these services as well as new tools and applications being added to increase value. However the winners from the boom will be those who are able to provide fast service and the easiest to implement systems and tools.

Adeline Grosrenaud
Freelance Blog Writer