INTRODUCTIONA CRM system helps your business grow because it tracks the history of customer interactions. Why is this important? Because tracking is everything. From calls made and emails sent, to meetings held, presentations delivered, and even the next steps needed to close the deal or grow that customer account.To run smoothly, your business needs customer relationship data thats automatically updated, with instant access for employees, and provides a full history of all communications, meetings, and documents shared.With a CRM system, your business has one place to store every customer, every lead, every service request, all of their contact info, preferences,and history so your conversations are always personal, relevant, and up-to-date. All available on mobile, desktop and through powerful reports & dashboards.DEFINITIONCustomer relationship management (CRM) is a term that refers to practices, strategies and technologies that companies use to manage and analyze customer interactions and data throughout the customer lifecycle, with the goal of improving business relationships with customers, assisting in customer retention and driving sales growth. CRM systems are designed to compile information on customers across different channels -- or points of contact between the customer and the company -- which could include the company's website, telephone, live chat, direct mail, marketing materials and social media. CRM systems can also give customer-facing staff detailed information on customers' personal information, purchase history, buying preferences and concerns.Customer relationship management (CRM) entails all aspects of interaction that a company has with its customers, whether it is sales or service-related. While the phrase customer relationship management is most commonly used to describe a business-customer relationship (B2C), CRM systems are also used to manage business to business to business (B2B) relationships. Information tracked in a CRM system includes contacts, clients, contract wins and sales leads and more.CRM PRODUCTSCRM products come with many features and tools and it is important for a company to choose a product based on their specific organizational needs. Most vendors will present information on their respective websites. Features : these are what the product actually does and what value it can provide to an organization. Support Many CRM vendors have a basic level of support which generally only includes email and/or access to a support forum. Telephone support is often charged in either an annual or ad hoc pricing strategy. Some companies offer on-site support for an extra premium. Pricing: this will be shown either per-user or as a flat price for a number of users. Vendors charge annually, quarterly, or monthly with variable pricing options for different features. Demonstration Periods Many vendors offer a trial period and/or online demonstrations.HOW CRM IS USED TODAYCRM solutions provides the 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 to better understand who your customers are. Organizations frequently look for ways to personalize online experiences (a process also referred to as mass customization) through tools such as help-desk software, email organizers and different types of enterprise applications.TYPES OF CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT1. CRM in customer contact centersCRM systems are customer relationship management platforms. The goal of the system is to track, record, store in databases, and then determine the information in a way that increases customer relations (predominantly increased ARPU, and decreased churn). The CRM codifies the interactions between you and your customers so that you can maximize sales and profit using analytics and KPIs to give the users as much information on where to focus their marketing and customer service to maximize revenue and decrease idle and unproductive contact with your customers. The contact channels (now aiming to be omni-channel from multi-channel) use such operational methods as contact centers. The CRM software is installed in the contact centers, and help direct customers to the right agent or self-empowered knowledge. CRM software can also be used to identify and reward loyal customers over a period of time.Growing in popularity is the idea of gamifying customer service environments. The repetitive and tedious act of answering support calls all day can be draining, even for the most enthusiastic customer service representative. When agents are bored with their work, they become less engaged and less motivated to do their jobs well. They are also prone to making mistakes. Gamification tools can motivate agents by tapping into their visceral need for reward, status, achievement, and competition. 2. CRM in Business-to-Business (B2B) marketThe modern environment requires one business to interact with another via the web. According to a Sweeney Group definition, CRM is all the tools, technologies and procedures to manage, improve, or facilitate sales, support and related interactions with customers, prospects, and business partners throughout the enterprise. It assumes that CRM is involved in every B2B transaction. Despite the general notion that CRM systems were created for the customer-centric businesses, they can also be applied to B2B environments to streamline and improve customer management conditions. B2C and B2B CRM systems are not created equally and different CRM software applies to B2B and Business-to-Customer (B2C) conditions. B2B relationships usually have longer maturity times than B2C relationships. For the best level of CRM operation in a B2B environment, the software must be personalized and delivered at individual levels. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CRM FOR BUSINESS TO BUSINESS (B2B) AND BUSINESS TO CUSTOMERS (B2C)B2B and B2C marketing operates differently, that is why they cannot use the same software. All the differences are focused on the approach of these two types of businesses: B2B companies have smaller contact databases than B2C The amount of sales in B2B is relatively small In B2B there is less figure propositions, but in some cases they cost a lot more than B2C items Relationships in B2B environment are built over a longer time B2B CRM must be easily integrated with products from other companies. Such integration enables the creation of forecasts about customer behavior based on their buying history, bills, business success, etc. An application for a B2B company must have a function to connect all the contacts, processes and deals among the customers segment and then prepare a paper. Automation of sales process is an important requirement for B2B products. It should effectively manage the deal and progress it through all the phases towards signing. A crucial point is personalization. It helps the B2B company to save strong and long-lasting relationships with the customer. To help the company communicate with their clients more effectively, there should be integration with the company's email system.CRM USABILITYCRM software has typically been considered difficult to use. As an enterprise application, stability, scalability and security has been the primary focal points of CRM solutions. Usability, according to this Enterprise Apps Today article, was not a key part of CRM which often resulted in failed software projects, largely attributed to undue complexity. With increased adoption of CRM applications, however, today's CRM software vendors make usability a central part of their products. To improve usability many vendors today focus on usability issues to make CRM workflow as simple and intuitive as possible, to offer navigation that can be performed in three clicks or less and to ensure CRM software is designed to suit the needs of sales teams.THE CRM STRATEGYCustomer relationship management is often thought of as a business strategy that enables businesses to improve in a number of areas. The CRM strategy allows you to following: Understand the customer Retain customers through better customer experience Attract new customers Win new clients and contracts Increase profitably Decrease customer management costs

THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON CRMTechnology and the Internet have changed the way companies approach customer relationship strategies. Advances in technology have changed consumer buying behavior, and today there are many ways for companies to communicate with customers and to collect data about them. With each new advance in technology especially the proliferation of self-service channels like the Web and smartphones customer relationships are being managed electronically.Many aspects of customer relationship management rely 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.THE BENEFITS OF CRMThe biggest benefit most businesses realize when moving to a CRM system comes directly from having all your business data stored and accessed from a single location. Before CRM systems, customer data was spread out over office productivity suite documents, email systems, mobile phone data and even paper note cards and Rolodex entries. Storing all the data from all departments (e.g., sales, marketing, customer service and HR) in a central location gives management and employees immediate access to the most recent data when they need it. Departments can collaborate with ease, and CRM systems help organization to develop efficient automated processes to improve business processes.Other benefits include a 360-degree view of all customer information, knowledge of what customers and the general market want, and integration with your existing applications to consolidate all business information.TRENDSTraditionally, data intake practices for CRM systems have been the responsibility of sales and marketing departments as well as contact center agents. Sales and marketing teams procure leads and update the system with information throughout the customer lifecycle and contact centers gather data and revise customer history records through service call and technical support interactions.The advent of social media and the proliferation of mobile devices has caused CRM providers to upgrade their offerings to include new features that cater to customers who use these technologies.Social CRM refers to businesses engaging customers directly through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Social media presents an open forum for customers to share experiences with a brand, whether they're airing grievances or promoting products.To add value to customer interactions on social media, businesses use various tools that monitor social conversations, from specific mentions of a brand to the frequency of keywords used, to determine their target audience and which platforms they use. Other tools are designed to analyze social media feedback and address customer queries and issues. Companies are interested in capturing sentiments such as a customer's likelihood of recommending their products and the customer's overall satisfaction in order to develop marketing and service strategies. Companies try to integrate social CRM data with other customer data obtained from sales or marketing departments in order to get a single view of the customer.Another way in which social CRM is adding value for companies and customers is customer communities, where customers post reviews of products and can engage with other customers to troubleshoot issues or research products in real time. Customer communities can provide low-level customer service for certain kinds of problems and reduce the number of contact center calls. Customer communities can also benefit companies by providing new product ideas or feedback without requiring companies to enlist feedback groups.Mobile CRM -- or the CRM applications built for smartphones and tablets -- is becoming a must-have for sales representatives and marketing professionals who want to access customer information and perform tasks when they are not physically in their offices. Mobile CRM apps take advantage of features that are unique to mobile devices, such as GPS and voice-recognition capabilities, in order to better serve customers by giving employees access to this information on the go.

CRM CHALLENGESFor all of the advancements in CRM technology, without the proper management, a CRM system can become little more than a glorified database where customer information is stored. Data sets need to be connected, distributed and organized so that users can easily access the information they need.Companies also struggle to achieve a "single view of the customer," where many different data sets can be seamlessly accessed and organized in a single dashboard or interface to create one view of a customers account and relevant information. Challenges arise when customer data is siloed in several separate systems or when data is complicated by duplicate or outdated information that slows down and hampers the business process. These problems can lead to a decline in customer experience due to long wait times during phone calls, improper handling of technical support cases and other issues.Studies show that customers, particularly Millennials, are increasingly dissatisfied with the contact center experience. They demand multiple avenues of communication with a company and expect a seamless interaction across many different channels, the most popular of which tend to be Web chat, mobile apps and social media. The main challenge of a CRM system is delivering a cross-channel customer experience that is consistent and reliable.Social media, for example, has been touted as a more efficient channel by which customers can reach companies and get problems resolved or queries answered, rather than enduring the traditional method of waiting in a phone queue or awaiting an email response. In some cases, particularly in high-touch customer service scenarios, social platforms can fall short for customer service.Companies also continue to struggle to identify real sales prospects with their data. New lead-generation technologies that combine CRM data with third-party data from companies like Dunn & Bradstreet and social streams have also been emerging to provide sales and marketing teams with better sales prospects. These methods work best, however, when companies spend time cleaning up their existing data to eliminate duplicate and incomplete records before they supplement CRM data with external sources of information.

REFERENCESDavenport, T.H., Harris, J.G., Kohli, A.K. (2001), "How do they know their customers so well?", MIT Sloan Management Review, Vol. 42 No.2, pp.63-73.Rebekah Henderson, B2B Insights (2013) How to build a B2B-friendly CRMCloud Taxonomy CRM Software as a ServiceLester, Aaron (2013-04-23). "Seeking treasure from social media tracking? Follow the customer". SearchBusinessAnalytics. Retrieved 2013-10-01.DeGregor, Dennison (2011). Customer-Transparent Enterprise: Beyond 20th Century CRM. Motivational Press. ISBN 1-935723-23-5.http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/definition/CRMhttp://www.salesforce.com/uk/crm/what-is-crm.jsp