Almost any business system that even remotely interfaces with a customer may be considered part of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. CRM systems, however, typically focus on but not limited to four main areas: 1) Sales, 2) Customer Service and Support, 3) Marketing Automation, and 4) Collections Management.
The sales component, or Sales Force Automation (SFA) system, usually provides support for retail sales, field sales, call-center sales, and E-commerce. The support may include the collection or distribution of sales information from and to brokers, distributors, and agents. The Customer Service and Support component provides service technician contacts, call-center interactions, and Internet-based contacts with customers. Marketing Automation involves analyzing and automating marketing processes that ultimately impact customer relations. For example, a campaign management system may be used to design marketing campaigns and then track the impact of the campaign on certain groups or types of customers.
Traditionally, CRM systems have been premises-based systems requiring a business to outlay considerable capital to implement and maintain. Recently, with the advent of the Internet, Hosted CRM applications that reside on remote Internet-connected servers have emerged that allow businesses to implement CRM on an on-demand basis. Such Hosted CRM systems have reduced the cost associated with implementing CRM by eliminating the significant capital outlay required by a business while only charging for the services used by a business client of the hosted CRM.
The effectiveness of a CRM system is dependent on the system's ability to collect, maintain, and disseminate important customer information from, for, and to various entities of a business. A particularly challenging issue involves maintaining relevant and up-to-date information for agents using a Sales Force Automation system.