Customer relationship management

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a model for managing a companys interactions with current and future customers. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and [1] synchronize sales, marketing, customer service, and technical support.

Types/variations
[edit]Sales

force automation

Sales force automation (SFA) uses software to streamline the sales process. The core of SFA is a contact management system for tracking and recording every stage in the sales process for each prospective client, from initial contact to final disposition. Many SFA applications also include insights into opportunities, territories, sales forecasts and workflow automation.[citation needed] [edit]Marketing CRM systems for marketing track and measure campaigns over multiple channels, such as email, search, social media, telephone and direct mail. These systems track clicks, responses, leads and deals. [edit]Customer

service and support

CRMs can be used to create, assign and manage requests made by customers, such as call center software which help direct customers to agents.[2] CRM software can also be used to identify and reward loyal customers. [edit]Appointments Appointment CRMs automatically provide suitable appointment times to customers via e-mail or the web, which are then synchronized with the representative or agent's calendar.[citation needed] [edit]Small

business

For small businesses a CRM may simply consist of a contact manager system which integrates emails, documents, jobs, faxes, and scheduling for individual accounts.[citation needed] CRMs available for specific markets for professional markets (legal, finance) are frequently touted for their event management and relationship tracking opposed to financial return on investment (ROI). [edit]Social

media

Some CRMs coordinate with social media sites like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Google Plus to track and communicate with

customers who share opinions and experiences about their company, products and services.[3] [edit]Non-profit

and membership-based

Systems for non-profit and membership-based organizations help track constituents, fund-raising, demographics, membership levels, membership directories, volunteering and communications with individuals.[citation needed] [edit]Adoption

Issues

In 2003, a Gartner report estimated that more than $1 billion had been spent on software that was not being used. According to CSO Insights, less than 40 percent of 1,275 participating companies had end-user adoption rates above 90 percent.[4] Many corporations only use CRM systems on a partial or fragmented basis.[5][citation needed] In a 2007 survey from the UK, four-fifths of senior executives reported that their biggest challenge is getting their staff to use the systems they had installed. 43 percent of respondents said they use less than half the functionality of their existing system.[6][citation needed] [edit]Market

Leaders

The CRM market grew by 12.5 percent in 2008, from revenue of $8.13 billion in 2007 to $9.15 billion in 2008.[7] The following table lists the top vendors in 2006 2008 (figures in millions of US dollars) published in Gartner studies.[8][9] 2008 Revenue 2008 Share (%) 22.5 (2.8) 16.1 10.6 2007 Revenue 2007 Share (%) 2006 Revenue 2006 Share (%)

Vendor

SAP AG

2,055

2,050.8

25.3

1,681.7

25.6

Oracle

1,475

1,319.8 676.5

16.3 8.3

1,016.8 451.7

15.5 6.9

Salesforce.com 965

Vendor

2008 Revenue

2008 Share (%)

2007 Revenue

2007 Share (%)

2006 Revenue

2006 Share (%)

Microsoft CRM Amdocs Others Total [edit]Trends

581

6.4

332.1

4.1

176.1

2.7

451 3,620 9,147

4.9 39.6 100

421.0 3,289.1 8,089.3

5.2 40.6 100

365.9 2,881.6 6,573.8

5.6 43.8 100

Many CRM vendors offer subscription-based web tools (cloud computing) and software as a service (SaaS)). Some CRM systems are equipped with mobile capabilities, making information accessible to remote sales staff.[citation needed] Salesforce.com was the first company to provide enterprise applications through a web browser, and has maintained its leadership position.[10][11] Traditional providers have recently moved into the cloud-based market via acquisitions of smaller providers: Oracle purchased RightNow in October 2011[12] and SAP acquired SuccessFactors in December 2011.[13] The era of the "social customer"[14] refers to the use of social media (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Yelp, customer reviews in Amazon, etc.) by customers. CRM philosophy and strategy has shifted to encompass social networks and user communities. Another related development is vendor relationship management, or VRM which provide tools and services for customers to independently manage their relationship with vendors. VRM development has grown out of efforts by ProjectVRM at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society and Identity Commons' Internet Identity Workshops, as well as by a growing number of startups and established companies. VRM was the subject of a cover story in the May 2010 issue of CRM Magazine.[15]

In 2001 Doug Laney developed the concept and coined the term 'Extended Relationship Management' (XRM).[16] Laney defines XRM as extending CRM disciplines to secondary allies such as government, press, and industry consortia. CRM futurist Dennison DeGregor describes a shift from 'push CRM' toward a 'customer transparency' (CT) model, due to the increased proliferation of channels, devices, and social media.[17]

Definition
CRM is the abbreviation for customer relationship management. CRM entails all aspects of interaction that a company has with its customer, whether it is sales or service-related. CRM is often thought of as a business strategy that enables businesses to: Understand the customer Retain customers through better customer experience Attract new customer Win new clients and contracts Increase profitably Decrease customer management costs

How CRM is Used Today

While the phrase customer relationship management is most commonly used to describe a business-customer relationship, however CRM systems are used in the same way to manage business contacts, clients, contract wins and sales leads. CRM solutions provide you with the customer business data to help you provide services or products that your customers want, provide better customer service, cross-sell and up sell more effectively, close deals, retain current customers and understand who the customer is. Recommended Reading: Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Reports Explained. Technology and the Web has changed the way companies approach CRM strategies because advances in technology have also changed consumer buying behavior and offers new ways for companies to communicate with customers and collect data about them. With each new advance in technology -- especially the proliferation of self-service channels like the Web and smart phones -- customer relationships is being managed electronically. Many aspects of CRM relies heavily on technology; however the strategies and processes of a good CRM system will collect, manage and link information about the customer with the goal of letting you market and sell services effectively. Organizations frequently looking for ways to personalize online experiences (a process also referred to as mass customization) through tools such as help-desk software, e-mail organizers and different types of enterprise applications.

Social CRM
Social customer relationship management (CRM) is a phrase used to describe the addition of a social element in traditional CRM processes. Social CRM builds upon CRM by leveraging a social element that enables a business to connect customer conversations and relationships from social

networking sites in to the CRM process. Social CRM may also be called CRM 2.0 or abbreviated as SCRM (social customer relationship management).

small business CRM

In CRM (customer relationship management) terminology, the phrase small business CRM is used to describe a lightweight CRM application that is designed to meet the needs of a small business. Typically, CRM applications and software are considered enterprise applications -- that is an application designed for larger enterprises that would require a dedicated team to develop custom CRM modules, another team to analyze the resulting data and reports, plus an IT staff to handle costly upgrades and deployment. Small business CRM applications differ from enterprise CRM in a numbe

CRM dashboard
Dashboard is a term that is widely used to describe an application interface that provides users with quick access to information or common tasks. InCRM (customer relationship management) the dashboard is used to monitor business performance and CRM data and reports are often shown in the dashboard to provide a quick and easy overview of current business performance using charts, graphs, and maps. A CRM dashboard is designed to let users perform some specific actions and tasks with a single mouseclick from this interface. For example, a click from the CRM dashboard could provide you with a detailed report on any lead follow-ups that are scheduled for today.

CRM software - customer relationship management software

In CRM (customer relationship management), CRM software is a broad term used to describe a category of enterprise software that covers a broad set of applications and software to help businesses manage customer data and customer interaction, access business information, automate sales, marketing and customer support and also manage employee, vendor and partner relationships. CRM software is designed to help businesses meet the overall goals of customer relationship management (See CRM definition). Today's CRM software is highly scalable and customizable, allowing businesses to gain actionable customer insights with a back-end analytical engine, view business opportunities with predictive analytics, streamline operations and personalize customer service based on the customer's known history and prior interactions with your business. CRM software is commonly used to manage a business-customer relationship, however CRM software systems are also used in the same way to manage business contacts, clients, contract wins and sales leads. Customer relationship management software is offered in a number of installations including on-premises (where the software resides inside the corporate firewall and is managed by IT operations), or as webbased ( "cloud" applications) where the software is hosted by a CRM provider and accessed by the client business online via the provider's secure services.