EVOLUTION OF CRM

EVOLUTION OF CRM

•       The CRM movement is less than a decade old. The systems and software that are available help companies better understand and serve the existing customers, while enabling them to acquire new, profitable customers.

We can say CRM evolved in 5 stages which we can call as waves

•       1^st wave: single function client server systems:

                 - it began in the mid-,90’s, CRM solutions are designed to support particular group of employees- technical support personnel, the sales force, call centre agencies, or the marketing department.

•       2^nd wave:  integrated 360-degree client server systems:

       corporate customer began demanding more integrated solutions. CRM managers were seeking the blessed- to create a 360 degree view of their customers relationship. The integrated CRM solution enabled the employees to provide a single-face to the customer  by enabling employees to work from a common set of customer information and to use a set of loosely  coupled customer-facing applications.

•       3 rd wave: customers serve themselves via the web:

•       Customer self service and internet architectures became the next big hype in CRM. Many people referred to the suppliers that embraced this new wave as e-crm players. Customer touching   e-commerce  applications characterized the third wave of CRM catalyzed by the internet.EG: LIC premium calculator, premium paid through internet.

•       4^th wave: internet integrated with POS &ERP:

•           -CRM suppliers re-architect their integrated application suites to take further advantage of the internet.

•           - by using  web browsers and thin clients, these CRM solutions are able to offer much broader access to CRM functionality by integrating the CRM systems with back end ERP and legacy systems.

•           Fourth –wave solutions also begin to tie together customer self-service via the web with customer service through the contact customer. Eg Walmart- if one product has been sold it will be informed to backend though ERP.

•       5^th wave: Redesign business-” customer’s point of view”

•       CRM solutions further focus on “what matters most to the customers” when making decisions about application functionality and IT architectures.

•       It is the era in which customer portals abound and give the customer direct access to all of the information and application functionality they need in order to do business with companies.