Customer Relationship Management software, almost always referred to as CRM, has probably been seen by many small- and medium-sized accounting firms as something for large corporations. But increasingly, CRM is a function that is finding its way into almost every application that tracks people and companies, whether they are client or prospects.CRM, as the technologists would say, is a platform, not a specific product. That means it is broad enough that more specialized applications can be built on top of it. This all came to mind when Steve Templeton, managing partner of Templeton & Co. exhibited this year at the New York Accounting Show for the first time. For several years, his West Palm Beach, Fla.-based firm has marketed CRM for Professional Services, built on Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Templeton took the next step when it launched TC Practice Management, an Internet-based application, in August. That package is also built on the Microsoft product.
And we might consider that all social media platforms rely on a database of contacts that can be utilized in the office. And certainly these applications are also being integrated into contact management applications.
The difference in many customized CRM packages is that they are designed for different markets and industries and need to handle the language and measurements of those targets. After all, law and accounting have a lot of similarities, but they have a lot of differences, something that has tripped up a steady stream of companies that have tried to utilize legal practice management systems to reach accountants.
As applications converge, we are likely to stop thinking of CRM as a separate product. It will simply be a function that tracks contacts and is inherently a part of business software just as spellchecking is for many packages. Remember, that was once a separate application. CRM will simply be the ability to bring all possible information about a contact together in a database that is utilized for a variety of functions.
