CRM Software Resource Guide

An Introduction of CRM
What is CRM?
The Benefits of CRM
Vendor Listings

CRM: What is it?

Technology is now at the point where it is possible to incorporate all of your databases into one unified system, unlike the not-too-distant past when your information was stored in 20 different systems. Customer Relationship Management, or CRM, is IT terminology for methodologies, strategies, software, and other web-based capabilities that help you organize and manage customer relationships. The idea is to have the same information available to everyone and that every need of the customer be satisfied.

CRM is an application and an attitude. It is a way of doing business that focuses on customer retainment, which means that you must shift your focus from products and services.

Today's organizations must manage customer interactions across multiple communications channels -- the Web, call centers, field sales, dealers or partner networks. Many large corporations also have multiple businesses with overlapping customers. The goal is to make it easier for the customer to do business with the organization any way they want -- at any time, through any channel, in any language or currency. Customers must feel that they are dealing with a responsive, competent organization.

Employ CRM strategy

It is not enough to install CRM software. You must also have a strategy.

For example, a Customer Segmentation strategy enables organizations to serve customers more effectively by targeting each one's unique needs and preferences, and by understanding their value. CRM strategies are designed to identify unique customer segments and then capitalize on them. Consequently, unique customer relationship strategies are required for each segment ID'd. This, in turn, reveals if the organization ¾ its people, processes, and technology ¾ can serve those segments competently.

CRM helps organizations maximize the value of every customer interaction and drive superior corporate performance.

Change Management

Change management is particularly important for CRM deployments, considering the scope of business processes and number of employees affecting each customer. Change management is the process of influencing people's feelings, attitudes, mindsets, and behaviors to achieve widespread organizational support for a change. It is fundamentally about understanding how change affects organizational behavior.

Internally, CRM success depends on the effectiveness of change management. One source (Gartner) says that most CRM projects fail when change management fails, not when applications are defective.

Change management is also important because CRM affects every single customer. Gartner again estimates that 75 % of the challenge of building better relationships with customers depends on change management rather than the technology.

Change management is a key factor to achieving CRM success. It is a pragmatic application of proven managerial processes and best practices that incorporate all of the changes needed for today's organizations to not just function but survive.

Technical functionality

A CRM solution is characterized by

Scalability: The ability to be used on a large scale and to be reliably expanded to whatever scale is necessary.
Multiple communication channels : The ability to interface with users via many different devices (phone, WAP, internet, etc.).
Workflow : The ability to automatically route work through the system to different people based on a set of rules.
Database : The centralized storage (in a data warehouse) of all information relevant to customer interaction.

Customer privacy considerations, e.g. data encryption and the destruction of records to ensure that they are not stolen or abused.

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