The ready availability of Domino expertise is equally important. Domino developers are available with a wide range of expertise and command salaries commensurate with experience. Conversely, programmers who specialize in niche technology languages may be relatively inexperienced and still command higher salaries purely due to the economic rules of supply and demand.

Increased productivity for faster return on investment
One of the ways that Domino truly excels is in its ability to be the sole point of entry and collection for all customer communications. Fewer steps for your employees mean improved productivity and faster ROI (Return On Investment) for the company. Take, for example, email communications. Using Lotus Notes, employees can easily send and receive email in the system that they're already accustomed to using. That message, in turn, becomes part of the CRM platform without any additional steps required by the employee.

The benefits of having a single platform, integrated CRM, messaging and collaboration system also extend to calendar functions--a key component of most CRM solutions. An integrated corporate calendar that, again, requires only a single entry to be recorded by employees, simplifies the process of capturing data in the CRM system. Domino is the only platform that can offer this level of integration.

Generally, employees will resist complex solutions that require them to use multiple systems to perform the same job tasks that they previously completed in a single system. Complex solutions that require considerably more training and substantially more time to integrate in normal business processes can permanently impair productivity rates regardless of the amount of training received.

On the other hand, employees will usually respond very positively to solutions that require limited intervention to record activities to the CRM application. Domino-based solutions can be implemented in such a way that communications, calendar, and to-do entries can be collected passively, saving time and building a more reliable and comprehensive data source.

Available everywhere
Domino also provides outstanding versatility. There is, perhaps, no other platform that performs equally well in both the browser and client software. Lotus applications can be seamlessly and cost effectively deployed in both. Although the manner of delivery may differ, the functionality, and more importantly, the look and feel of the application does not have to vary at all.

Lotus has also made it easy to enable Domino applications for wireless appliances. With Domino Everyplace server, access to client data is never out of reach. Also, with its commitment to open standards, it ensures that there are a wide variety of synchronization tools available--products that make it easy to synchronize your PIM (Personal Information Manager) address book and company contacts resident in your CRM application.

Leverage existing infrastructure to lower costs
Of course, organizations that already have a Domino infrastructure in place are well on their way to achieving their CRM objectives. Those that already use Domino for messaging and collaboration can leverage their existing hardware and software investments to dramatically reduce the cost of deploying an enterprise-wide CRM system. Moreover, savings will also be realized in terms of reduced training costs, for systems administrators and end-users alike, as well as from the benefit of having experienced in-house Domino administrators and developers throughout the evaluation and installation phase which can lower the overall consulting costs associated with these activities.