Sunday, January 06, 2013

CRM System Aided by Technology

Since time immemorial, business entities have been dealing with the challenges of customer relationship. Both prospective and existing customers are included in the consideration.

Case in point is the multiple functions of barber shops during human history. Barber-dentists back then are oftentimes the source of the latest news and gossips. Aside from the typical haircuts and anesthetic-less tooth-pulling, patrons regularly came to barber shops for social purposes and to be updated with the current events. This is a strategy of maintaining the loyalty of current customers and attracting prospective customers.



Retaining customers for repeat transactions and attracting potential new customers have been the main objectives of customer relationship management since the very first business entity came into existence. Having excellent memory for a barber is an important competitive edge. Giving priorities to customers is also an important issue.

At the heart of a customer relationship management system is the information about the customers and potential customers. It may require professional analysis such as business analysis. It is about optimizing this information that is essential. Information may simply consist of the business owner and staff about their customers. It may also include written information. It may also refer to the digital data stored in computers.

Digital and online technologies provide greater advantage to modern businesses when it comes to customer relationship management. Digital CRM systems are interactive and provide real-time results.

Computerized customer relationship management systems become more complex as business operations expand. This is true for all types of business operations. Big business operations usually have large customer base. Business leverage is directly dependent on the size of the customer population. Just imagine managing the customer relationship of a social media business with half a billion users such as in the case of Facebook. Managing customer relationship for a large scale business entity would be very difficult with automated or computerized systems.

The types of CRM system designs vary depending on the specific needs of the business and the clients. However, these systems can be generally classified into the following categories:

• Sales force automation
• Marketing
• Customer service and support
• Appointment setting
• Analytics
• Integrated and collaborative
• Social media

The various CRM system designs may vary depending on the needs of the business and on the needs of the customers. Many business entities need highly customized systems that response well to the changing demands of the market place.

You can know more about the topic discussed in the article by following the hyperlinks. You may also check http://www.conducive.com.au/data-management-resources/ for other details.