| Customer Relationship Management Software also | | | | Scheduling o Knowledge Management (FAQs, How |
| known as CRM is software that allows a | | | | to guides) Sales - The sales function focuses |
| company to manage their relationships with their | | | | helping the sales team of the company to |
| customers by capturing, analysing, and storage of | | | | manage and execute the pre-sales process, |
| customer, partner, vendor details and also internal | | | | making it more organized. The sales team in most |
| process information. The key functionality of a | | | | companies are responsible for capturing any leads |
| CRM system is divided into 3 basic modules these | | | | or opportunities, capturing customer interaction, |
| are Marketing, Service and Sales and the 3 | | | | the CRM helps them process this data and |
| aspects of the system are Operational, | | | | monitor it in the future. o Opportunity |
| Collaborative and Analytical (these can be | | | | Management - helps to organize all relevant data |
| implemented in isolation from one another). | | | | received and captured for a deal to be put into |
| Marketing - The marketing module deals with | | | | one place, it could hold data as expected budget, |
| providing functionality of short term execution of | | | | total spending, prospective customers, key |
| marketing related activities and long term planning | | | | players, products interested in, important dates |
| within a company. o Campaign Management - | | | | and expected closing dates of a deal. o Quotation |
| running marketing campaigns using different | | | | and Sales Order Management - if an opportunity is |
| communication channels, which targets potential | | | | reached the quotation phase a quotation is |
| buyers using a product or a group of products as | | | | formed and if this is won the quotation is turned |
| a message. o Planning - making long term market | | | | into a sales order - the sales order then gets |
| plans which are quantitative or qualitative | | | | passed to the ERP system. o Activity |
| measures. These can be set for a period of time | | | | Management - this represents activities that go on |
| and for different product groups and geographies. | | | | within the sales and service areas with the |
| o Lead Management - generating sales related | | | | interaction with the customer including meetings, |
| leads which then can be converted into sales, lead | | | | discussions, calls and emails. Operational - this is |
| management deals with processing the leads by | | | | the automation of customer support and the |
| carrying out sanity checks and evaluating the | | | | processes that include the company's sales and |
| genuineness of the information received and then | | | | service representative. Collaborative - is the direct |
| deciding which leads are hot and cold. Service - | | | | communication between the customers that does |
| The service function focuses on how effective | | | | not include a company's sales and service |
| the system is of managing customer service | | | | representative. Analytical - the analysis of |
| which is planned or unplanned. Below are some of | | | | customer data which is used for a broad range of |
| the functions of the Service module: - o Service | | | | purposes. Customer Relationship Management |
| Order Management o Service Contract | | | | Software is a good way of organizing and running |
| Management o Planned Services management o | | | | your company effectively. |
| Warranty Management o Installed Base | | | | Jene Pedder is the webmaster of Synergy |
| (Equipment) Management o Service Level | | | | specialists of CRM Software. |
| Agreement Management o Resource Planning and | | | | |