What is CRM?

 Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a set of integrated technologies used

to document, track and manage an organizations relationships and interactions with
existing and potential customers.
 CRM systems benefit businesses by centralizing customer data, improving
collaboration, automating tasks, and providing insights for targeted email marketing.
 CRM supports the sales process and advances enterprise resource planning
(ERP) initiatives. CRM software helps companies measure and get control of their
lead generation and sales pipelines.

Customer Relationship Management Software

This helps companies measure and get control of their lead generation and sales pipelines.
It can also be used for lead management, sales forecasting and managing communications
with potential customers and for sales teams on the road who are in need of quick, efficient
data.

EX: Within a call center environment, a sales CRM system can analyze the frequency,
volume and outcome of follow-up communications with new leads.

This can lead to better customer retention over time and an improved customer experience.
The data is then used to research and analyzes the overall customer relationship and
improve workflows.

CRM Solutions

These include multiple technologies relative to deployment size, business model and
industry verticals to enhance the customer experience. CRM suites can also offer tools,
such as online chat and document sharing apps. In addition to supporting e-commerce and
marketing tools like Mailchimp, CRM applications offer order, revenue, social media and
opportunity management.

The Value of CRM

Forrester’s CRM Playbook (link resides outside ibm.com) indicates that 61% of global
software decision-makers were implementing, had implemented, or were expanding their
implementation of customer service software.

Meanwhile, 58% of software decision-makers intend to do the same for sales force
automation (CRM) applications; 17% of decision-makers plan to adopt customer service
software within the next year; and 18% intend to adopt sales force automation.
When properly integrated into your system, a good CRM adds value to your business in two
significant ways:

1. Business strategy enhancement: An effective CRM strategy identifies and develops

business objectives, benefits customer service protocols, clearly articulates CRM
features and processes, and addresses functional needs. It should include customer
information, customer service goals, employee roles and strategic opportunities. In
addition, a CRM strategy should include metrics relative to company initiatives and
overall goals. The CRM data is pertinent to the success of the business.

2. Cloud agility and adaptability: As more CRM platforms and solutions migrate to the
cloud, their workflow automation and the infrastructure on which they run becomes
more critical. For example, SALESFORCE augments its sales cloud on Amazon Web
Services (AWS), while Microsoft augments on Azure. Each cloud platform has a
distinct suite of analytics and machine learning (ML) that greatly influences insights
and determines CRM results.

The benefits of CRM

When quantifying the business value of CRM, its benefits should address revenue
generation and cost-efficiency. Therefore, your CRM should support existing business
processes and technological capabilities. According to Forrester, CRM benefits fall into
three distinct categories (link resides outside ibm.com):
• Higher revenue: Increase your revenue by improving product mix, value and price
realization.

• Lower direct costs: Reduce exposure to unprofitable customers and enhance

operational efficiency and sales productivity.

• Lower indirect costs: Improve vendor contracts and technology support by

consolidating CRM instances, minimizing CRM application customization and
increasing technology adoption and usability while reducing user training times.

These benefits help build customer lifetime value, which ultimately increases customer
retention. In fact, CRM automation alone increases customer retention by as much as 15%.

Types of CRM solution

The CRM needs and capabilities of a business-to-business (B2B) enterprise differ from those
of a business-to-consumer (B2C) enterprise, as the CRM needs and capabilities of small
businesses differ from those of large companies. Some CRM suites cater to individual
business owners and small teams (for example, contact management tools, social channel
engagement, email marketing campaigns). Vendors can also provide end-to-end CRM
solutions for salespeople, customer service reps and marketing teams.

There are three main types of CRM systems and a better understanding of each can help
business owners determine which is best suited for them.

Operational CRM: An operational CRM system is the most common and has the broadest
reach in terms of its functions. It focuses on front-end customer interactions and optimizing
business operations. The main purpose is to help teams understand their customers on a
deeper level and in turn optimize the customer experience so that a stronger customer
relationship can be built.

The operational CRM system takes customer details and uses that data across different
disciplines within the business, such as through marketing automation, sales automation
and service automation. As the success of operational CRM depends on an organizations
data entry, it might be a worthwhile, albeit time-consuming, process. Below are some
benefits of operational CRM:

• Sales operations: The operational CRM helps businesses automate their entire
sales cycle and helps them keep track of important points, such as customer
interaction and sales projections.

• Customer service: By giving access to customer information to all employees in an

organization, operational CRM empowers businesses to improve customer
interactions across the entire business.

• Marketing: With operational CRM organizations can automate marketing tasks and
create tailored promotional campaigns that can accelerate growth. The customer-
specific information provided by operational CRM helps to personalize marketing
campaigns and design them as you see fit.

Analytical CRM. Analytical CRM is to help an organization sort and manage large amounts
of data and turn them into actionable insights to improve customer experience. The data
typically kept by an analytical CRM can often include data trends, channels and customer
preferences.

This type of CRM is likely going to be best suited for a mid to large-size organization that has
a large amount of data that needs to be analyzed. While this can be an extremely productive
CRM, it can become quite technical, so having the proper staff on hand will be important.

An example of analytical CRM is SAP. IBM Consulting activates SAP's enterprise-grade CX

solutions by using data and AI to create world-class customer experiences. Below are some
benefits of analytical CRM:
 • Data mining: Analytical CRMs typically use data mining techniques for mapping
trends and giving clear, more in-depth insight into the customer journey. There are
several approaches to data mining, including correlation, classification and
monitoring objects.

• Sales opportunities: By analyzing a customer's data, an organization can learn

customer preferences and trends. This information can then transfer into
personalized marketing and sales techniques. Analytical CRM gives organizations a
chance to continuously monitor sales activity and marketing campaigns.

• Trend prediction: Analytical CRM gives organizations the data that it needs to dive
into historical sales trends to compare with current market conditions. This
information comparison helps to monitor purchasing behavior and forecast trends,
such as the speed of trend development.

Collaborative CRM: As it states in the title, a collaborative CRM involves multiple teams
working collaboratively within an organization to share customer data. Sometimes referred
to as a strategic CRM, this system uses the same basic data about a customer to then create
a clear and concise approach to managing the customer relationship. The collaborative CRM
system is typically made up of two components; interaction management and channel
management.

It is best for organizations that operate in multiple locations so that they can better
communicate and share customer information. An example is Microsoft Dynamics 365,
which in collaboration with IBM Consulting, can help clients tailor their secure hybrid
multicloud journey and use the full potential of AI and Microsoft Cloud. Below are some
benefits of collaborative CRM:

• Integrated data: The beauty of collaborative CRM is that it connects your customers
through different platforms. By integrating data, it helps to streamline interactions
and link call center activities with other departments within the company.

• Retainment of clients: Through this software an organization can build a customer

profile specific to the consumer. Equipped with the right data and up-to-date
information, an organization can retain existing clients and drive customer
engagement.

• Streamlined work process: With customer interaction data all in one place,
employees across different departments in an organization can spend less time
searching for information and more time viewing individual case files. Instead of
having to track down one person who might or might not have the information you
 need, collaborative CRM allows for real-time data available to everyone in the
organization.

Smaller organizations typically only need one CRM tool, whereas larger organizations might
require more CRM applications and third-party integrations. Regardless of company size,
versatile CRM platforms that unify data entry, business processes and security within
various departments are becoming more prominent in the market:

• Marketing: Multichannel messaging and distribution.

• B2B/B2C: E-commerce and sales cycle automation.

• Support: Customer engagement and satisfaction.

Other types of CRM worth mentioning include on-premises, cloud-based CRM and
customizable CRM. There are many different CRM options to choose from and can fit any
type of organization, from a startup all the way to a global company with multiple locations.
There is a CRM option to fit your business needs and enhance the customer experience
throughout the entire customer lifecycle.