Customer Relationship Management

The term CRM (Customer Relationship Management) has been hi-jacked by the software industry so that today it is most commonly associated with software programmes and those that sell them. Although the capability and flexibility of such software can contribute much to the effectiveness and day to day working of customer management processes, customer relationship management is clearly about far more than IT enablement.

It is our view that CRM software (where applicable) is excellent for enabling various elements of a Customer Management Strategy.

The flexibility provided by recent CRM packages can be unsurpassed for:

• Providing users with "Fast Access" to customer knowledge.
• Monitoring purchasing and other buyer patterns and providing alerts.
• Measuring and tracking "open" demands, issues and tasks.
• Gaining a "Customer View" of the various data held and functions undertaken by an organisation.

As a note of caution, many organisations set off down the path of investing heavily and installing CRM systems with unclear goals in mind. This results in poor tailoring and lack of Return on Investment.

Refer to Imonic Services CRM Specification.