Customer relationship management (CRM) - Introduction

The dynamics of business has kept on changing over the years. Increasing competition has forced companies to set up new strategies and think over the old ones. In accordance with changing times, the corporate mindsets have also changed. Now every business strives to make good, long lasting relationship with its customers. Because success of every business depends upon how good a relationship it shares with its customers. The dawning of this realization in corporate boardrooms has propelled the theory of customer relationship management to the vanguard of many businesses’ tactical planning.

So what is CRM? CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. Basically, CRM is a process or method which is used to gain knowledge about consumers' requirement and actions in order to grow stronger and better relationships with them. With technological advancement, CRM has acquired various tools but it would not be a great idea to evaluate its importance in purely technological terms. At the core of CRM is a continuously evolving process that helps in bringing together multiple and multi-layered pieces of information about consumers, marketing, sales, awareness and trends prevalent in the market. Its primary function is to help business in using technical know-how and human resources to gain insight into the behavior of customers and the importance of the values that these customers bring.