1. Technology and customer relationship management (CRM) software go hand and hand. CRM is software. It's software that extends across the organizational structure beginning with a web-based, user-friendly interface for sales executives and customer service personnel and ending with massive databases and knowledge management systems. In some applications, the web-based interface extends to the customer as well. Everything about CRM is information technology-driven. Technology is pervasive from the basic user-friendly interface to complex back-end database and knowledge management systems. Massive databases are the heart of any CRM system. Data is collected from multiple sources ranging from data entry from customer service personnel to online data collection forms made available to the customer via a web browser. Sales executives or customer service personnel can access this data via the worldwide web, an extranet relationship with a corporate partners or an internal corporate intranet. Given the rise of PDAs and smartphones, many companies offer CRM mobile applications to sales executives in the field.
2. Types of communications I would use with other companies would be e-mail, telephones, and instant messaging.
3. Yes I would allow my company to use social media sites as part of the CRM strategy. Customer management is the biggest task for any organization. Be it small or large, it is very essential for any business to keep their customers happy and satisfied. Traditionally, businesses have been using several CRM tools to see that they maintain sufficient customer loyalty towards their brands. However, some of the businesses lacked this ability due to financial and technical inefficiencies. This allowed large organizations taking the big pie of market share. However, with the emergence of social media marketing tools, even small businesses are finding ways to be a part of growing competition.
