Objectives of CRM

CRM, the technology, along with human resources of the company, enables the company to analyze the behavior of customers and their value. The main areas of focus are as the name suggests: customer ,relationship , and the management of relationship and the main objectives to implement CRM in the business strategy are:

• To simplify marketing and sales process
• To make call centers more efficient
• To provide better customer service
• To discover new customers and increase customer revenue
• To cross sell products more effectively

The CRM processes should fully support the basic steps of customer life cycle . The basic steps are:

• Attracting present and new customers
• Acquiring new customers
• Serving the customers
• Finally, retaining the customers

Selection of the Right CRM Technology

The point here is one size doesn't fit all . There is no single CRM software or formula which will give instant success to all companies. For small or medium enterprises, the requirement is different from that of big firms. Most CRM packages provide excellent sales force automation, but not equally good integration with computer telephony, or with web. These are adequate for small and medium firms but not for large firms. A mix of different software to link the databases, data warehousing software, contact management software, and a CRM package will go a long way in helping to upgrade the small companies.

Other internet enabled applications available are enterprise resource planning packages, e-commerce applications, relationship management packages, enterprise portal applications etc. One can adopt the best practices to slash costs, introduce efficiencies into supply chain and internal operations. Today t he global market for CRM services and solutions is currently worth $148 billion. This proves to show the numerous choices available in this field.

Benefits

The following are the benefits of adopting CRM processes:

• Develop better communication channels
• Collect customer related data
• Create detailed profiles of individual customers
• Increased customer satisfaction
• Access to customer account history, order information, and customer information at all touch points
• Identify new selling opportunities
• Increased market share and profit margin
• Increased revenues
• More effective reach and marketing
• Improved customer service and support
• Improved response time to customer requests for information
• Enhanced customer loyalty
• Improved ability to meet customer requirements
• Improved quality communication and networking
• Reduced costs of buying and using product and services
• Better stand against global competition