Customer relationship management (CRM) refers to processes and systems used by companies to manage their relationships with customers, including the capture, storage and analysis of customer, vendor, partner, and internal process information.
CRM is an evolving concept. An end-to-end CRM Software solutions spanning marketing, automation, and sales force automation software, customer service and helpdesk software, sales order processing software, asset and project management software, defect tracking software and more. Some typical features of a CRM system are:

• Sales Force Automation: Customer-Centric Sales Function Management, Sales Management, Sales Forecasting, Pipeline Management, Mobile Sales, Sales Commissions Mgmt,
• Sales Order Processing: Order Lifecycle Management, Quotation and Invoicing, Inventory Management, Shipping & RMA
• Marketing Automation: Marketing Management, Email Campaigning, Direct Mail Campaigning, Tele-marketing, Marketing Analytics, promotional documents, etc.
• Issue/Project Management: Defect Management, Test case Management, Product Release Mgmt, Time & Cost tracking, Project Management
• Customer Help Desk: Customer Support, Multi Channel, Contact Center, Mobile Support, Customer Portal, Customer Self Service, Customer Survey, SLA Management
• Partner Management: CRM Portal, Partner Lead Distribution, Partner Self-service, Partner Order processing, Reseller and Affiliate Management, etc.
• Helpdesk Software: Employee Help Desk, Multi Channel Contact Center, Mobile Support, Asset Management, Employee Portal, Employee Self Service, Employee Survey

The technology requirements of a CRM strategy can be complex and far reaching. The basic building blocks are:

• A database to store customer information. This can be a CRM specific database or an enterprise data warehouse.
• Operational CRM requires customer agent support software.
• Collaborative CRM requires customer interaction systems, e.g. an interactive website, automated phone systems etc.

Analytical CRM requires statistical analysis software as well as software that manages any specific marketing campaigns.

Each of these can be implemented in a basic manner or in a high end complex installation.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System :

Related Terms:CRM, Customer Relationship Management, CRM System, CRM components