Today, Kazakhstan is actively implementing the Digital Kazakhstan program, striving to improve the quality of life and competitiveness through digitalization of all sectors of the economy. More and more companies are realizing the need for CRM systems: if in 2021 23% of companies used them (according to the BRIF Research Group), then by 2024 this figure reached 40% (according to our company).

CRM is becoming an indispensable tool for decision-making in terms of customer interaction, omnichannel promotion, repeat and long-term transactions. Research shows that CRM can increase sales by 29% on average and improve forecast accuracy by 32%. However, no vendor or integrator guarantees the effect of using the system in a particular company. Let's understand what influences this effect.

Companies often consider leading CRM systems (for example, Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle) to be complex, expensive and poorly adapted, preferring cheaper or self-written solutions. Many companies use outdated systems or manual processes, despite the successful CRM examples of large international companies such as Chevron, STADA and Mastercard.

Legislation, for example, the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan No. 94-V "On Personal data and their protection", requires the storage of personal data on the territory of Kazakhstan and restricts their processing in the cloud. This creates restrictions for security services, which often block the choice of cloud solutions. However, solutions are emerging, for example, ours for data localization and encryption.

Digitalization is often postponed until the end of the year, when budgets need to be used, but at this point top management is focused on large-scale strategic tasks. As a result, decision-making about choosing a CRM goes down the hierarchy and is based on personal preferences, feedback or a low price, which leads to ignoring the strategic importance of the chosen decision.

AI technologies, which are key in modern CRM, are still at the stage of awareness. Although startups such as Cerebra demonstrate the potential of AI, large companies act cautiously, fearing the risks and unpredictable consequences of decisions based on it. This slows down the process of adapting AI to CRM, despite its proven benefits.

Nevertheless, many Kazakhstani companies are planning to upgrade their systems in the coming years, consciously striving for digital leadership. This is a transition from following global trends to a more balanced choice of technologies based on an assessment of the real benefits to the business — especially in the field of improving customer interaction and optimizing internal processes.

How can we benefit from this, given the specifics of our business and culture?

CRM is a long—term tool that will reach full capacity only in a few months and will stay with you for years. During this time, the business may change, and the initial configuration of the system will become irrelevant.

It is important not just to solve current problems, but to think about how the system will support business growth, new products and processes. Will CRM be able to support your ambitions and strategic plans, given the possibility of emergency changes? Will the system become an obstacle to the implementation of your ideas in the event of changes in external circumstances?

Make sure that the system supports flexible data management and integrates seamlessly with new solutions. For example, not all CRMs provide a private cloud, which can cause performance problems with growth. Or the app store is limited, which will complicate integration. And CRM without up-to-date data is money thrown away.

A large network has implemented a CRM system without taking into account scaling - the purchase of regional networks and the emergence of a loyalty system. As a result, the solution turned out to be irrelevant, it was not used, and the project was frozen after a year. We started by automating processes in Salesforce and made a step-by-step plan for scaling the new solution. A year later, the company transferred the entire customer lifecycle to a new CRM and has been successfully developing it for more than five years.

CRM should make work easier, not more complicated. It is important to choose a system that adapts to your specifics. If your employees have field activities in the regions, choose a CRM with a full-fledged offline mobile application (although even I in Almaty sometimes find it difficult to complete basic tasks online due to the problems of mobile operators). If you participate in tenders or conduct affiliate sales, make sure that the system is easy to set up to manage these processes.

Remember that every time an employee is unable to enter data due to Internet problems, makes a mistake in the configuration of a complex product, or your system turns out to be unsuitable for a new non-standard process, these are money losses and missed customers.

CRM implementation may require significant costs, which should be recouped through increased efficiency and revenue growth. 

Costs are not only the cost of licenses, implementation and training, but also technical support, development, integration. And revenue is easier to estimate by understanding the growth points of your business. CRM with AI, for example, can help your sellers make fewer calls, but with a better result, thanks to scoring on implicit signs and recommendations for customers. Or the new system will give a significant increase in the accuracy of sales forecasting, which means planning the arrival of money by periods.

Leading CRM platforms offer flexibility and adaptability to changes due to ease of configuration, no-code improvements and wide ecosystems. They include AI and the most user-friendly UX to simplify the work. Smaller solutions such as Bitrix24 or amoCRM are more affordable and good for stable companies, but may require additional costs when expanding functionality and transferring data.

If you sell configurable products, systems without the CPQ module (Configure, Price, Quote) will be little more useful than Excel spreadsheets. But, for example, Oracle or Salesforce can help you create KPIs 80% faster and completely eliminate errors related to the human factor, increasing accuracy to 100%.

A client from FMCG came to us, faced with problems when adding budgeting of promotional activities to CRM - the development was delayed, caused errors and temporarily paralyzed the business. We helped move to a more flexible Salesforce platform, greatly simplifying the implementation of new features and, although data migration caused additional costs, they still turned out to be lower than developing from scratch in the future 2-3 years.

CRM implementation will be successful only if employees perceive it positively. To do this, it is important to take into account cultural characteristics and employees' perception of the system as a tool for control or additional workload. This leads to demotivation, sabotage and a decrease in data quality, and CRM with bad data is the worst thing that can happen to your business, because it is the basis for making key decisions.

Show how CRM improves the daily work of users. Explain that the system saves time, makes customer interaction easier and helps to manage transactions better, which means it affects income and career growth. This removes the fear of changes and shows that CRM is not only a control tool, but also a real assistant in work.

My practice shows that bonuses for active use of CRM work perfectly. Gamification elements make the adaptation process more interesting and competitive, attracting users to work with the system. It is also important to make the interface intuitive — use hints at every stage, automate routine tasks and remove unnecessary elements. AI tools - for example, insights on clients and transactions, scoring, smart search - significantly increase the efficiency of CRM, reducing the number of errors.

In Kazakhstan, top management plays a key role in the successful implementation of CRM. The participation of management at the stage of choosing a system allows you to make a decision that best suits the needs and strategy of the company for years to come. When employees see that management is actively using CRM data to improve management, they begin to trust the system more. 

The support of top managers significantly increases the likelihood of achieving the planned results, and in some cases even exceeding them. Conversely, if the company's leaders do not delve into the work of a solution directly responsible for generating profits, CRM will become just another solution for which the company has spent a lot of money, but has not earned anything.

1. Market research: Carefully evaluate the available CRM systems, choose the one that meets your strategic goals, specifics and easily integrates with existing solutions.
2. Cost Estimation and ROI: Consider CRM costs as an investment in improving efficiency. Consider not only the cost of licenses and implementation, but also the cost of scaling. Evaluate the benefits of increased efficiency and reduced errors.
3. Implementation planning: Start with key tasks, such as sales or customer service, and then expand functionality and the number of users.
4. Employee Training and Motivation: Show how CRM improves the daily work of employees and helps their career goals. This will help minimize drag and make the transition smooth.
5. Involvement of top management: The participation of management at all stages is a key factor in the successful implementation of CRM.
6. Evaluation of results and adjustment: Regularly analyze the effectiveness of CRM and be ready to adapt the system to changing market conditions and company needs.

For companies in Kazakhstan, CRM is not just a trend, but a real tool for improving customer interaction and increasing competitiveness. Successful CRM implementation can optimize business processes and strengthen the company's position in a rapidly changing market. The main thing is to carefully plan the implementation, adapt to the company's strategy and local conditions and involve all employees.

At Customertimes, we are ready to help you at every stage of CRM implementation, providing support and advice to achieve maximum efficiency. Write to me or to saleskz@customertimes.com - we will discuss your tasks and help you choose the optimal set of solutions for you.