Banner Default Image

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

​Strategic

Strategic CRM concentrates upon the development of a customer-centric business culture.[18]

The focus of a business on being customer-centric (in design and implementation of their CRM strategy) will translate into an improved CLV.[19]

Operational

The primary goal of CRM systems is integration and automation of sales, marketing, and customer support. Therefore, these systems typically have a dashboard that gives an overall view of the three functions on a single customer view, a single page for each customer that a company may have. The dashboard may provide client information, past sales, previous marketing efforts, and more, summarizing all of the relationships between the customer and the firm. Operational CRM is made up of 3 main components: sales force automation, marketing automation, and service automation.[20]

Sales force automation works with all stages in the sales cycle, from initially entering contact information to converting a prospective client into an actual client.[21] It implements sales promotion analysis, automates the tracking of a client's account history for repeated sales or future sales and coordinates sales, marketing, call centers, and retail outlets. It prevents duplicate efforts between a salesperson and a customer and also automatically tracks all contacts and follow-ups between both parties.[21][22]

Marketing automation focuses on easing the overall marketing process to make it more effective and efficient. CRM tools with marketing automation capabilities can automate repeated tasks, for example, sending out automated marketing emails at certain times to customers, or posting marketing information on social media. The goal with marketing automation is to turn a sales lead into a full customer. CRM systems today also work on customer engagement through social media.[23]

Service automation is the part of the CRM system that focuses on direct customer service technology. Through service automation, customers are supported through multiple channels such as phone, email, knowledge bases, ticketing portals, FAQs, and more.[20]

Analytical

The role of analytical CRM systems is to analyze customer data collected through multiple sources and present it so that business managers can make more informed decisions.[24] Analytical CRM systems use techniques such as data mining, correlation, and pattern recognition to analyze the customer data. These analytics help improve customer service by finding small problems which can be solved, perhaps by marketing to different parts of a consumer audience differently.[20] For example, through the analysis of a customer base's buying behavior, a company might see that this customer base has not been buying a lot of products recently. After scanning through this data, the company might think to market to this subset of consumers differently, to best communicate how this company's products might benefit this group specifically.[25]

Collaborative

The third primary aim of CRM systems is to incorporate external stakeholders such as suppliers, vendors, and distributors, and share customer information across groups/departments and organizations. For example, feedback can be collected from technical support calls, which could help provide direction for marketing products and services to that particular customer in the future.[26]

Customer data platform

Main article: Customer data platform

A customer data platform (CDP) is a computer system used by marketing departments that assembles data about individual people from various sources into one database, with which other software systems can interact.[27] As of February 2017 there were about twenty companies selling such systems and revenue for them was around US$300 million.[27]

Devon(/ˈdɛvən/, also known asDevonshire) is acountyofEngland, reaching from theBristol Channelin the north to theEnglish Channelin the south. It is part ofSouth West England, bounded byCornwallto the west,Somersetto the north-east andDorsetto the east. The city ofExeteris thecounty town. The county includes the districts ofEast Devon,Mid Devon,North Devon,South Hams,Teignbridge,TorridgeandWest Devon.PlymouthandTorbayare each geographically part of Devon, but are administered asunitary authorities.[4]Combined as aceremonial county, Devon's area is 6,707 km2(2,590 square miles)[5]and its population is about 1.1 million.

Devon derives its name fromDumnonia(the shift frommtovis a typicalCeltic consonant shift). During theBritish Iron Age,Roman Britainand theearly Middle Ages, this was the homeland of theDumnoniiBrittonicCelts. TheAnglo-Saxon settlement of Britainresulted in the partial assimilation of Dumnonia into theKingdom of Wessexduring the eighth and ninth centuries. The western boundary with Cornwall was set at theRiver TamarbyKing Æthelstanin 936. Devon was later constituted as ashireof theKingdom of England.

The north and south coasts of Devon each have both cliffs and sandy shores, and the county'sbayscontainseaside resorts,fishing townsandports. The inland terrain is rural, generally hilly and has a lower population density than many other parts of England.Dartmooris the largest open space in southern England, at 954 km2(368 square miles);[6]itsmoorlandextends across a large expanse ofgranitebedrock. To the north of Dartmoor are theCulm MeasuresandExmoor. In the valleys and lowlands of south and east Devon the soil is more fertile, drained by rivers including theExe, theCulm, theTeign, theDartand theOtter.

As well as agriculture, much of theeconomy of Devonis based ontourism. The comparatively mild climate, coastline and landscape make Devon a destination forrecreation and leisure in England. Visitors are particularly attracted to the Dartmoor and Exmoornational parks; its coasts, including the resort towns along the south coast known collectively as theEnglish Riviera; theJurassic CoastandNorth Devon's UNESCO Biosphere Reserve; and the countryside including theCornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape.

Latest jobs