Maximizing Growth Through Customer Relationship Management (CRM) - Essay Sample

Introduction

Customer relationship management (CRM) refers to the approaches employed by a company to aid the interaction the potential and current customers. In the process, there is always the use of data analysis about the customer's history to improve business relationship with different customers. Usually, the evaluation or analysis focuses on the customer's retention, a scenario that often drives sales growth. One of the essential aspects of the CRM is the system that assembles data from various channels of communication including social media, company's websites, email, telephone numbers, marketing materials and live chats (Peppard, 2000). Through customer relationship management, businesses and organizations can learn more about their target customers or audiences and find ways on how to best furnish their needs. CRM became popular in the year 1997 as a result of the work by Gartner, Siebel, and IBM. Between the year 1998 and 2000, most of the CRM products became equipped with marketing and shipping capabilities (Peppard, 2000). In the year 2000, there was the introduction of the first CRM mobile application that enhanced customer management for various businesses. The evolution of CRM is characterized by improvements in different aspects of the databases (Peppard, 2000). With the development and improvement in the technological products, more products are being incorporated into the system bringing more complexity and efficiency.

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Since 1990, CRM has undergone a lot of changes characterized by the development of the relationships between customers (Avery, Fournier, & Wittenbraker, 2014). The growth in businesses and the association between different people in the system creates a complex environment that leads to the adoption of new customer service techniques. In the last four decades, CRM has evolved from different business programs. Within the above period, the CRM industry underwent sea-changes and shakeups that could have disrupted the entire concept. At the beginning of 1990, there was the introduction of the CRM software (Avery, Fournier, & Wittenbraker, 2014). Most of the features in this software were in the form of database marketing, automation and the combined contact management. The above criterions provided businesses with more customer information. There was also the automation of various business tasks such as inventory control as well as sale tasks such as customer interaction tracking. The development of the CRM was impacted by various political, economic, cultural, and ethical factors exhibited by various organizations. Most of the political changes in the 90s brought about different business management styles (Peppers & Rogers, 1996). Also, the economic changes and social variations forced business managers to adopt new systems that could effectively ensure that the management of customers and other stakeholders within an organization. The improvement and incorporation of the CRM reflected on the relationship within the marketing focus.

With the introduction of CRM in business management, several factors have been impacted by the changes. One of the main factors that have had a significant impact amidst the introduction of CRM is the customer relationship (Silver, 1990). Customer relationship management has brought about changes in the way business owners interact with the customers and different clients, as well as the organizational stakeholders (Silver, 1990). CRM has also come with different ethical approaches in different organizations. In an attempt to understand the current portfolio of relationships, organizations need to pick up on the signals from numerous sources of information. As a result, various organizations can build the strategic mix of connection through bolstering the desired relationships and changing customers to more valuable roles. The system of CRM has also brought a lot of changes in the organizational brands as well as customer relationships.

References

Avery, J., Fournier, S., & Wittenbraker, J. (2014). Unlock the mysteries of your customer relationships. Harvard Business Review, 92(7), 72-81.

Peppard, J. (2000). Customer relationship management (CRM) in financial services. European Management Journal, 18(3), 312-327.

Peppers, D., & Rogers, M. (1996). The one-to-one future: Building relationships one customer at a time. New York, NY: Currency Doubleday.

Silver, C. S. (1990). One earth, one future: Our changing global environment. National Academies Press.