Steve Leavitt

If we’ve learned anything the past few years, it’s this: sales and marketing no longer exist in silos; they can’t afford to. According to Forbes, businesses who fully utilize their CRM systems increase sales by 29 percent. In a rough economy, it’s those little touches that a CRM system can bring to the table that allows companies to better serve their customers, but if CRM isn’t integrated with the back end financial data, companies aren’t getting a full view of their customers.

Last week I had a great opportunity to participate in a video interview with Manufacturing Business Technology. The publication asked me to answer a question that’s on a lot of small manufacturers’ minds: “How can I better embrace technology to make my life easier?” The reality is technology is playing an increasingly important role in manufacturing success because it leads to one thing that is more crucial than anything else: information.