Is Your CRM Smarter Than You?

How soon will artificial intelligence combine with cloud computing to make your CRM smarter than you?

Artificial intelligence covers a lot of subjects, such as machine-learning and processing power. Business software providers put more stock every year into making their technology smarter. They develop automation and analytic tools that allow users to make sense of tons of data, to automate tasks, and to spot patterns the human brain might otherwise miss.

But CRM smarter than you? Well, your shoe will be smarter than you before long.

“One of the chips in our shoes in the next 30 years will be smarter than our brain,” Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son said during the recent Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Son predicted that a single computer chip will have an IQ equivalent to 10,000 by the year 2047. A genius of the flesh-and-blood variety may clock in at 200.

All hail the machines.

Making CRM Smarter By Degrees

Media have called 2016 the “year of the smart cloud.” Microsoft Azure Cortana Intelligence Suite, Salesforce Einstein and IBM Watson provide cloud analytics for cloud-based business processes.

This year, Salesforce and Zoho launched or expanded AI-driven tools in their cloud-based CRM.

Zoho introduced its Zia for CRM. Zia ia an online sales assistant that helps streamline frequent procedures. It can give advice, such as the best time to contact a prospect, according to eWeek.

Zia can alert users if revenue falls behind a historic numbers. It tracks how leads fare against targets while taking into account seasonal variables. It provides other performance alerts and suggestions, as well.

Salesforce, meanwhile, announced a collaboration with IBM that will add to the cloud-CRM provider’s AI-driven Einstein feature rolled out in 2016. Einstein can anticipate sales opportunities and analyze data to create other predictive alerts.

The IBM collaboration will incorporate data from IBM Watson and other sources to provide real-time insights.

For example, by combining local shopping patterns, weather, and retail industry data from Watson with customer-specific shopping data and preferences from Einstein, a retailer will be able to automatically send highly personalized and localized email campaigns to shoppers.

Your CRM undoubtedly provides smarter tools for gathering data, cultivating leads, and closing sales. Take heart that you’re still smarter than your shoe.