Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software Learning Library
The CRM Guide brings you Customer Relationship Management software
articles, guides and white papers to help you make an informed
choice when choosing the right CRM for your business.
What
Exactly is CRM?
The first thing you find when looking into
the world of Customer Relationship Management is the number of
different definitions in use today. Here is the one I have chosen:
"CRM is the business strategy that aims to understand, anticipate,
manage and personalize the needs of an organization's current and
potential customers" -- PWC Consulting
From this we can learn that CRM is more than just a piece of
software; CRM is a business strategy, one that puts the customer at
the heart of the business.
“That’s nothing new” I hear you say, and you would be right. Good
business people have always understood the relationship between
happy customers that come back again and again and creating long
term, sustainable profitability.
You just have to think of the local shop owner who knew everyone of
his customer’s names, birthdays and particular ailments to prove
that point. What is new is that there now exists the technology to
enable this customer-centricity on a much larger scale.
It is said that a successful CRM implementation will allow your
Customer Service, Sales and Marketing people (and anyone else in
your organization) to have a holistic view of each and everyone of
your customers. In theory this will enable them to make quick,
informed decisions, create cross selling and up selling
opportunities, measure marketing effectiveness and deliver
personalized Customer Care.
The History of CRM
Following on from Enterprise Resource
Planning or ERP (the business strategy that promised to automate the
“back-office”), the term CRM was first coined in the mid-1990s. CRM
in those days referred to the software used to help businesses
manage their customer relationships. From sales force automation
software (SFA) that focused on customer contact management to
integrated knowledge management solutions, these were the early
foundations of CRM.
The last couple of years have seen the term broaden to encompass a
more strategic approach and the investment of billions of dollars
worldwide into CRM solutions and services has followed.
First Things First
Successful CRM always starts with a business
strategy, which drives change in the organization and work
processes, enabled by technology. The reverse rarely works.
The key here is to create a truly Customer-Centric philosophy that
touches every point and more importantly every person in the
company. From CSR to CEO everyone must live and breathe customer
focus for all of this to work.
At the same time you should look at your which processes could be
re-engineered to make them more effective for your customers.
The Right Technology It is estimated that the global market for CRM
services and solutions is currently worth $148 billion. That means a
lot of choice when selecting your technology - from web-based
solutions aimed at small businesses with less than 10 employees to
solutions suitable for multi-national enterprises with millions of
customers.
The Future
CRM has already made a big impact in the
world of Customer Service and will continue to do so. As more and
more companies become customer-centric those that fail to do so will
lose competitive advantage. As technology increases to develop at a
startling rate the key emphasis will be how we can fully utilise it
within our business.
However let's not lose sight of the fact that Customer Relationship
Management is about people first and technology second. That’s where
the real value of CRM lies, harnessing the potential of people to
create a greater customer experience, using the technology of CRM as
the enabler.
CRM may or may not prove to be the answer to providing excellent
customer care, but the philosophy of putting customers at the heart
of our business is certainly a step in the right direction.