Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software

CRM systems can be viewed as information systems aimed at enabling organisations to realise a customer focus. One view of CRM is the utilisation of customer related information or knowledge to deliver relevant products or services to customers. While such definitions are widespread, they tend to offer a narrow insight into the goals or basic characteristics of CRM. As CRM evolves, richer definitions are emerging, with an emphasis on the goals, logistics and complex character of CRM. CRM evolved from business processes such as relationship marketing and the increased emphasis on improved customer retention through the effective management of customer relationships. Relationship marketing emphasises that customer retention affects company profitability in that it is more efficient to maintain an existing relationship with a customer than create a new one. The idea of relationship marketing within CRM is fairly strong and has led others to explore strategic methods for maintaining or improving customer retention. Another view of CRM is that it is technologically orientated. Advances in database technologies such as data warehousing and data mining, are crucial to the functionality and effectiveness of CRM systems.

CRM software can be broadly divided into two categories. The first category manages customer interaction and contains applications for customer service and support, sales force and marketing automation. These applications allow the company to establish a personalized relationship with the customer. The second software category analyzes the behavior of the customer and contains reporting and data-mining tools. This allows to measure customer satisfaction and retention and enhances the understanding of the customer’s problems and preferences. This, in turn, allows a more targeted marketing and sales strategy.

CRM is a business approach that emphasizes optimizing revenue, profitability and customer satisfaction through the efficient and effective management of business to customer interactions. CRM also refers to the set of software products designed to aid firms in improving their customer relationship operations. CRM products can be grouped into 5 general categories:

Customer/Partner Self-Service Systems: enable your customers, suppliers, and/or partners to use the internet to gain information that is directly relevant to them. This may include customized product selections, order status update, on-line order entry, or self-guided query and response. Examples of these systems include email response management systems, web personalization systems, web-based order-entry, and web self-help.
Sales Force Automation Systems: provide tools for your sales people to maintain their contacts, track sales prospects, provide sales forecasts, enter and track orders, and provide customized quotes for clients. Examples of these systems include, and on-line sales forecasting and order-tracking.
Call Center Customer Service Systems: provide support for staff that answer client questions or respond to requests for dispatch services. Examples of these systems include web-based customer service, customer service call tracking, improved customer service representative (CSR) access to client information, and automated dispatch and tracking.
Operational Billing/Order System Integration Systems: provide integration (as well as migration) between customer-facing (front-end) applications and the production (back-end) order-status and financial systems that contain the data that clients and partners may seek. These systems are not only CRM systems, but rather the components of larger software suites that may include CRM. Examples of these systems are packaged accounting and manufacturing systems that have CRM front-ends.
Technology-Enabled Lead Generation Systems: enable targeted marketing based on client needs and/or past business trends. This lead generation could be dynamic (emailing offers or customizing web content) or static (providing targeted databases of clients by type). These systems include customer data mining, automated marketing campaigns, and customer personalization tools.