Companies using CRM and MA systems to engage in ecosystem collaboration have not been able to achieve the desired target as these are customer-centric sales and marketing tools. Deploying a PRM system, though a good compromise, has not produced the desired results since the technology is outdated.

An ecosystem collaboration solution effectively replaces PRM systems as they match all the facilities offered by the PRM in addition to meeting   numerous other contemporary requirements for peer-to-peer and community collaboration and multi-channel communication, using social media, messaging, and mobile communication channels.

PRM is far behind technologically to meet these modern requirements of an organization and has limited communication capabilities in the modern sense, which are evolving by the day.

A CRM system is an expensive investment. Add to it the additional expense of training and deployment of the system through the organization. Most companies would look for a middle way, which is an external collaboration system that will function in tandem with the CRM and will both complement it as well as reap better benefits.

This is a great option as the organization can utilize CRM and the external collaboration system capabilities in order to bring together all the parties in the ecosystem, including the employees and the customers on one virtual database, while preserving the uniqueness of customers and non-customer systems and tools.

Many organizations have started to adopt this system and now use the CRM system as a sales automation system for the direct sales teams and an MA tool for business environment analysis and a separate execution tool for campaign and lead management.

PRM has become obsolete and CRM lacks the capability to facilitate collaboration. An integrated CRM and the ecosystem or external collaboration model is all set to be the new regime with social communication solutions becoming the commonplace social communication solution, which, in turn, will be the optimal solution to significant business challenges.

About The Guest Author: Walt Robertson regularly writes about B2B channel collaboration and how modern day companies can leverage technology to create high performance sales channels. To learn more, please download our eBook “A Definitive Guide to External Social Collaboration and Indirect Channel Marketing” completely free from Relayware.

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