IRIS is an accomplished practice management system which until recently lacked an effective CRM solution.  Accountants had to manage out of date spreadsheets and ineffective information for their marketing and growth strategies.   Some client communications can also be embarrassing.  For example, if they do not appear to know what client communication has gone on previously, or worse if they send a Christmas card to a client who has died.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software is key to avoiding these situations and offers new ways of selling more services to existing clients, drives the marketing activity which produces new clients, creates growth for the firm and ultimately leadership in its sector.

The difficulty for IRIS is that it is not focussed on CRM.  What it does well in practice management, it does not do (or claim to do) in CRM.

Many practices will implement a CRM system or run a mix of technologies that aim to capture information on clients, prospective clients and markets.  The marketing department will use this information to identify what messages might suit a client or market and engage in proactive client-focussed marketing campaigns.  For example, to send a new service offering to existing clients of service A in the hope that the client takes new service B.

Then the challenge begins.  When someone in the practice updates information on a client in IRIS, this update needs to be reflected in the firms CRM.  Or Vise Versa.  Maybe the address has changed or the status of the client has changed from Client to Premier Client.  Or the client just died....  Does all marketing of service A need to change?

Fortunately, there is light at the end of the tunnel for existing IRIS users as SouthwestCRM has completed a development that seamlessly links IRIS to SugarCRM the world's largest and most successful Open Source based CRM solution.

The software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering means that your existing IRIS system and the hardware that it runs upon carry on as normal completely unaffected.  SouthwestCRM connects to it to synchronise Business, Person and Trust data.  Client attributes are passed to SugarCRM so that the practice can easily target clients in new marketing initiatives.  When contact details change in IRIS these changes are updated in SugarCRM.

The investment cost is tiny when compared to the increase in client win rates and additional revenue achieved per client.  For a small annual fee the two systems are kept in sync using SouthwestCRM's custom built integration service and secure dedicated 128bit encrypted server.

For further information please contact the marketing department on 0845 686 2468 or email crm4iris@southwestict.com

With over 30 years’ experience, IRIS Accountancy Solutions is the UK’s leading provider of fully integrated accountancy software and services so it made sense for SouthwestCRM to link SugarCRM, a globally supported CRM solution to IRIS.

Businesses and people stored within IRIS are seamlessly transferred to SugarCRM when new or updated information is added to IRIS.  Once in SugarCRM staff members are able to use the information to build closer client relationships, upsell new services and use social networks to gain more insight into buying habits and new markets.

Some of the main advantages of using SugarCRM are:

• Newsletter management
• Email marketing
• LinkedIn customer profiling
• Communication tracking
• Capture and track new business opportunities

The key to integration is to streamline the day to day management of information.  Without the link, entering data would need to be carried out twice.  For busy staff and partners, SugarCRM offers a straightforward and easy to use system for storing, retrieving and categorising  clients, prospects and networking activities.