What is CRM: A Holistic Guide with Definition & Benefits, etc

CRM is the abbreviation for Customer Relationship Management, as the name implies, the aim of a CRM is to improve the effectiveness of relationships between customers and the company. The advanced CRM also helps businesses in acquiring new customers. In this article, we will gradually unfold the key aspects of a CRM.

What is CRM and what it means for today’s world? Let’s first understand these notions. The term CRM was introduced in the late 20th century, but its concept is far older. Aviation and hospitality are some of those industries that adopted the idea of record-keeping and accounting methods for improving the relationship with customers.

It’s a wild misconception that CRM is a recent invention. In fact, keeping the record of customers like their ability to pay, wealth, who owned what, etc is part of the earliest form of customer database. Fast forward, near the end of the 20th century, the CRM was completely changed because of the computer revolution. Ever since then, it is an ever-evolving technology.

What does CRM mean in Today’s Era?

If you think a CRM cannot evolve further then you can’t be more wrong. Experts believe that it is no way near to reaching the saturation point. The most recent change in the CRM industry is its migration to cloud computing.

Other than this, companies have realized the importance of social platforms and they are providing software that can utilize social data optimally.

Some other latest developments are mobile CRM, chatbots, successful amalgamation of Big data and AI with CRM. There are so many things that are due, it is good to say that CRM will always be due.

Types of CRM systems

• On-Premise CRM:In this, a business has to install the entire back-end infrastructure which includes but not limited to on-site servers, systems, etc. Despite the higher initial price as compared to the OnDemand solution, on-premise can prove to be economical in the long run. It is more flexible and customizable, also it is better when it comes to integration with other business applications.
• On-cloud CRM: This is the emerging CRM trend, where a company can access its CRM software from anywhere. They just need a system and an internet connection. The reason why businesses prefer this option is because of scalability, low maintenance, high accessibility, and low operating costs.
• Industry-specific CRM: CRM verticals or industry-specific CRMs are quite popular nowadays. There are many vendors like SugarCRM, Hubspot, Zoho that are delivering vertical solutions. These are built for fulfilling the niche requirements of various industries. You can easily find such CRMs for industries like real-estate, sales, marketing, healthcare, etc.
• Open source CRM: The first open-source CRM was developed by SugarCRM back in 2004, although they stopped the development a decade later in 2014. Since then many free CRM software entered the market like SuiteCRM, Odoo, etc. The best thing about open source is that users can customize these in their own way.

Top Statistics related to CRM

We hope you have now got the answer to “What is CRM?”. Now, let us show you some statistics that will better understand the benefits of CRM.

• The sales departments have seen an upsurge of 300% in the lead conversion rate.
• The revenue generated by one salesperson has also increased by 41%.
• The customer retention rate has witnessed an increment of 27%. The sales cycle, which is a great headache for every sales rep, has decreased by 24%.
• The final sales and marketing costs have also declined by 23% as compared to before.

All of this has been achievable due to the features that CRM provides like lead management, contact management, deal management, email management, sales automation, reporting and analytics, marketing automation, etc.