Listen to this articleReally Simple Systems‘s philosophy is based upon taking complex applications then making them easy and affordable. Really Simple Systems is based in the UK so they are regulated by the exacting European Union (EU) data protection laws. The company is compliant with the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to be introduced in May 2018. Below is our interview with Helen Armour, Marketing Manager at Really Simple Systems:
Q: Could you provide our readers with a brief introduction to Really Simple Systems?
A: Our experience tells us that the majority of small businesses don’t need half of the functionality available in most CRMs and will never use it. Our CRM has been designed specifically for small and mid-sized businesses as an affordable alternative to the likes of Salesforce. Understanding that few small businesses have the technical resources to take on complicated implementations, we have made our CRM easy to set up and simple to use.
Although SMBs are our target audience, our customer list also includes many large organizations worldwide, such as IBM and the Red Cross.
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Q: Can you give us insights into your features?
A: With the new version of our CRM, launched earlier this year, we spent time analysing how our customers interact with the CRM and how we can make it even easier to use. It’s designed to be intuitive to anyone, regardless of their technical knowledge, so you can get set up quickly and train your team to use it in minutes.
Should anyone need help, we provide free support to all customers along with a wealth of self-service resources. Each CRM page includes a pull-out help drawer with relevant tips and videos, that links through to our in-depth customer support hub. We provide lots of short tutorial videos and we run regular live webinars.
Our features list reads similarly to most CRM systems, providing everything needed to run your sales and marketing. But what we believe is that the key to successful CRM adoption is all about getting people to use the system properly. Providing easy access support and insight on best practice helps our customers achieve this.
Q: What marketing functionality do you provide and how does GDPR impact on this?
A: Our CRM has an integrated marketing module so there’s no need for third party systems, and customers have all their data in one place. When you send an email campaign you don’t need to prepare and import lists, instead you just pull the contact data directly from the CRM, creating detailed customer segmentations.
The customers’ engagement is captured directly back to their CRM account record so your sales staff will also be able to see their interest level in real-time.
The new GDPR legislation will turn email marketing as we know it on its head. From May 25th 2018 businesses will need explicit consent from their customers to be able to send them marketing materials. This means no more pre-ticked acceptance boxes; it has to be an unticked checkbox that describes what will happen if you do tick.
We will be launching a development to our marketing module shortly which will enable our customers to be compliant and record when and how customer consent was given.
Q: What makes your CRM the best choice?
A: There’s a vast array of CRM systems on the market, making choosing the right one very difficult. To help we have written a guide to buying a CRM, explaining the 10 most common pitfalls to avoid. If you are looking for an affordable, easy to use system that’s compliant with the most stringent data protection legislation, ours might be the best choice. We’d always recommend customers first take a trial to see for themselves.
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Q: Who are the primary clients of Really Simple Systems?
A: Although we do have numerous B2C customers working well with our CRM, Really Simple Systems CRM is designed for SMBs operating business to business (B2B). The data is held at company account level making it easy to manage and view the relevant information.
Our client base is worldwide with key markets in the US, UK and Australia.
Unlike some CRM vendors, we do not look to vertically align with any particular industry sectors. The CRM is very flexible and can be customized to fit a wide variety of business models.
Q: What are your plans for the future?
A: Our CRM system is constantly evolving and, whilst 2017 has been a year of huge change for us with the launch of our new CRM Version 5, the coming months and next year are looking very exciting.
We have an ambitious development plan where we are looking to introduce new features and further improve some current functionality. We will be totally re-writing our marketing module, introducing new features for reporting and task management, and launching an integration with Zapier.
Targeting the SMB sector is not about cutting-edge technology but taking complex applications, re-designing them making them simple to use and affordable.
