| Suppose you have a customer or a potential | | | | |
| client who mails you a question and you respond | | | | 1. Operational - automation of customer |
| to them and days later. They respond back with | | | | processes offering support to a company's sales |
| a one word answer without the rest of your | | | | or service representative |
| thread in the mail and we may have no idea what | | | | 2. Collaborative - the program communicating with |
| the client is replying to. | | | | the customers without a company's sales or |
| Hence customer relationship issues have become | | | | service representative |
| more complex when there are more than one | | | | 3. Analytical - analysis of customer data and |
| person dealing with a client. It's important for | | | | information for multiple purposes CRM features |
| people communicating with a client to be fully | | | | include, |
| familiar with the customer and their needs, and | | | | - Can be easily integrated with popular accounting |
| have the information at their fingertips. | | | | systems. |
| Customer relationship management also known as | | | | - Offers integration with advanced email support. |
| CRM is a broad term that covers concepts used | | | | - Supports perforce integration also. |
| by the companies to manage their relationships | | | | - It provides features that enable the engine to |
| with customers, including the capturing, storage | | | | support automated business rules, email support |
| and analysis of customer, vendor, partner, and | | | | and alerts etc. |
| internal process information. | | | | - It eliminates the requirement of writing code at |
| The technology requirements of a CRM | | | | the client's end or any requirement to download a |
| - A database for customer information. | | | | plug-in . |
| - A Customer support software is required by | | | | - All modules should be inherently integrated with |
| Operational CRM | | | | one another. |
| - Collaborative CRM requires an interactive | | | | - A single repository should store all the data |
| system There is also an Operational CRM which | | | | generated across various customer touch points |
| provides support to front office business | | | | and support databases Web pages, email, |
| processes, including sales and marketing service. | | | | automated phone or SMS provide a surface for |
| Every interaction with a customer is added to a | | | | interaction. The data gathered as part of CRM |
| customer's contact history, and information on | | | | considers customer privacy and data security as |
| customers can be retrieved when necessary. The | | | | well. Customers require assurance that their data |
| Collaborative CRM covers direct interactions with | | | | is not shared with or illegally accessed by others |
| customers, including feedback and reporting of | | | | and also want their data used by companies to |
| issues for a variety of purposes. | | | | provide a benefit for them. |
| The three most important aspects of CRM | | | | |