HaoTechI. What is CRM Software? History of Development
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software is a tool that helps businesses store, analyze, and report all customer information, interaction history, transaction history, and engagement history. This enables businesses to comprehensively connect with customers, streamline their entire business processes, improve work efficiency, and boost revenue.
History of Development
CRM is currently considered the “heart of the business” and is increasingly heavily invested in. It is projected that the CRM market revenue will reach $80 billion by 2025. Let’s take a quick look at major milestones in the development journey that have made CRM as significant as it is today:
1980s – 1990s:
CRM began to appear as customer list management and contact information software. This was the early stage of CRM, with limited integrated functions.
1990s – 2000s:
CRM became more popular and developed significantly. Companies used CRM software to manage customer interactions, track information about them, and provide better services.
2000s – 2010s:
CRM evolved into CRM 2.0 with the advent of social features such as social networks and online information sharing. This helped create a more comprehensive view of customers.
2010s – Present:
CRM has advanced further with the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. This helps predict customer behavior, customize their experiences, and provide personalized solutions.
II. Who Uses CRM Software?
There are seven main groups within a company that need CRM software:
- Sales Representatives: Manage customer information, track transaction progress, plan sales, and create performance reports.
- Marketing Staff: Manage marketing campaigns, track advertising performance, analyze customer data, and create better marketing strategies.
- Customer Service Staff: Track support requests, resolve customer issues quickly, and provide personalized support.
- Managers and Executives: Track overall business performance, view key statistics, and make strategic decisions.
- Accounting and Finance Departments: Link with accounting systems to track customer payments, manage contracts, and financial projects.
- Technical Support Staff: Manage technical issues, schedule maintenance, and help customers resolve problems.
- Partnership Managers: Manage and approve business partners, particularly for distribution businesses.
CRM is a versatile and essential tool for various stakeholders within an organization, helping to optimize customer relationship management and improve business performance.
III. Key Features of CRM Software
To determine if CRM is suitable for your business, consider the following features:
- Customer Data Management: Store detailed information about customers, including names, contact information, purchase history, and personal notes. Track customer interactions by recording call history, emails, meetings, and other interactions.
- Sales Team Management: Allocate KPIs, measure effectiveness, track sales productivity, and monitor customer care activities.
- Distribution Channel Management: Analyze data, evaluate the effectiveness of distribution channels based on sales data over time.
- Promotion Program Management: Create, apply, and measure the effectiveness of promotional programs, points accumulation, and rewards.
- Inventory, Debt, and Order Management: Features support mobile app access for quick inventory lookup and order placement while on the go.
- Optimizing Business Processes: Quickly update real-time steps in the sales process, save hours on creating quotes, contracts, approvals, and customer care.
- Comprehensive Reporting: Generate multi-dimensional business reports, including sales, customer, market, and employee productivity reports to help managers make accurate decisions.
- Warranty and Maintenance Management: Manage product warranty information, easily check warranty periods and handle warranty requests.
With these comprehensive features, CRM today meets most business needs. It’s clear that CRM will continue to receive more investment in the future.
And if you want to try a CRM Software, Hubspot is a platform you need to try.
