Customer Relationship Management (CRM)is the strategy that defines how you and your organization will manage the life cycle of a customer relationship. The is the process of adopting a CRM strategy is very difficult and organizations need to take a methodical approach when implementing a CRM strategy. CRM is NOT something you can purchase “Out of the Box”, install, and then hope that the software solves all of your problems.

Companies must use the following steps before adopting a CRM strategy and solution:

• Identify all of the functional areas of your business that touch the Customer.
• Identify all of the business processes that manage these touch points with the Customer.
• Select the appropriate enabling tools that allow the business processes that impact the customer to be managed in the most efficient manner.
• Document the business processes and then train the users on the utilization of the enabling tools in order to maximize the efficiency of managing customer relationships.

CRM touches many different functional areas of an organization, depending on the type of company. The most common areas that need to be considered when implementing a CRM strategy include these top Business Roles.

Business Roles for CRM:

• CRM for Sales and Marketing
• CRM for Customer Service
• CRM for Customer Support and Case Management
• CRM for Quote and Order Management
• CRM for Accounts Receivable/Invoicing/Collections
• CRM for Research and Development
• CRM for Project Management
• CRM for Purchasing/Procurement/Production
• CRM for Inventory and Warehouse Management

At the core of CRM is Sales Force Automation (SFA). Sales Force Automation is the practice of maximizing the efficiency of the repeatable processes a salesperson performs as a part of identifying, qualifying, as well as closing sales and project opportunities.