What is CRM

Details

Category: CRM: Information

CRM or Customer Relationship Management is an information industry term for methodologies and software applications that allow a business or an enterprise to manage it's relationships with its customers or potential customers in an organized way.

For example, an enterprise might build a database about its customers that described relationships in sufficient detail so that management, salespeople, people providing service, and perhaps the customer directly could access information, match customer needs with product plans and offerings, remind customers of service requirements, know what other products a customer had purchased, and so forth.

The use of CRM software is not necessarily limited to existing customers, but also assisting in identifying and securing potential leads (perhaps through a marketing campaign), tracking the leads and the sales pitches and then the conversion of leads (together with the various quotations / orders that form part of the sales cycle) into real customers.  Many organizations turn to CRM software to help them manage their customer relationships.  CRM technology is usually offered as an installable application or through a Software as a Service (SaaS) CRM model, depending on the application and of course the vendor.  Recently, mobile CRM and the open source CRM software model have also become more popular.