CRM and Customer Life Cycle

Customer Relationship Management or CRM is a combination of enterprise strategies, business processes and information technologies used to learn more about customers' needs and behaviors in order to develop stronger relationships with them. CRM software systems automate many customer-related business tasks.

CRM applications are traditionally developed as client-server software which incurs higher initial cost of ownership. The proliferation of the Internet and the Web has fueled the rapid growth of Web-based CRM or online CRM applications. Web CRM systems are widely deployed for web based call center, contact management, trouble ticket, personal information manager and scheduling.

The life cycle of CRM consists of three phases - customer acquisition, customer relationship enhancements and customer retention. CRM software streamlines CRM activities at each phase of customer relationship management.

Customer Acquisition

Contact management module and direct marketing module of CRM allow companies to effectively promote and market their products and services to prospects. Those modules help speed up the acquiring processes and reduce the cost of acquiring new customers.

Customer Relationship Enhancements

CRM helps companies better understand existing customers' needs and behaviors and enhance the profitability from existing customers by cross-selling. They can customize their products and services to individual customers' needs and preferences.

Customer Retention

Customer service module of CRM system gives the organizations the edge in customer support and call center services. They can increase customer satisfaction while reducing the cost of support. Customer retention is critical to the overall profitability of an organization. A customer you spend hundreds of dollars and months to acquire may leave you in seconds as a result of poor customer services.

Bruce Zhang has over 10 years experiences in developing and implementing ecommerce and ebusiness systems in various industries. He has created a news aggregator http://www.sysoptima.com/newsbot/crm.php that automatically extracts CRM news and new articles from over 50 sources daily to help corporate executives, IT professionals and consultants to keep up with the latest development in enterprise software market. The website offers a knowledge base for understanding CRM software from a systems perspective.

MORE RESOURCES:

Callidus Software Presents at 11th Annual Needham Growth Stock ... - MarketWatch (press release)

Perceptive Software lays off 53 Kansas City Business Journal - Bizjournals.com

PerkinElmer and IDBS Announce Software Collaboration to Improve ... - Reuters

Rainmaker Signs Three-Year Renewal with TIBCO Software for ... - Reuters

Insider Software to Unveil TypeTrax at Macworld Expo: Represents ... - Reuters

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/4-0fd=Rurl=http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS82934%2B05-Jan-2009%2BBW20090105cid=1287205999ei=GvFiSeWbHYu-9gSUhKyLBAusg=AFQjCNHiuKjZejQCuFW8st8HTLLk4wkB_wInsider bSoftware/b to Unveil TypeTrax at Macworld Expo: Represents b.../b/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fReutersnbsp;-/font nobr17 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1New Digital Asset bSoftware/b Tracks Projects, Font Usage and Automatically Preflights InDesign and Illustrator Jobs LOS GATOS, California--(Business Wire)-- b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/4-1fd=Rurl=http://stuff.techwhack.com/5956-typetraxcid=1287205999ei=GvFiSeWbHYu-9gSUhKyLBAusg=AFQjCNEVtcB_Lo0qW8xdbZRURaFGqF2HLwInsider bSoftware/b launches TypeTrax/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrTechWhack/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/4-2fd=Rurl=http://www.macworld.com/article/137910/2009/01/typetrax.htmlcid=1287205999ei=GvFiSeWbHYu-9gSUhKyLBAusg=AFQjCNHKR5lhpfp8KVavd-6XXc0s10O0pAExpo: TypeTrax manages Creative Suite projects/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrMacworld/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/4-3fd=Rurl=http://www.macnn.com/articles/09/01/05/insider.releases.typetrax/cid=1287205999ei=GvFiSeWbHYu-9gSUhKyLBAusg=AFQjCNHY9_FTkUHyC4WdZalHMUQdaUYgNgTypeTrax manages Adobe CS documents, fonts, more/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrMacNN/nobr/font/fontbrfont class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1287205999hl=ennobrall 21 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

ZyLAB Receives Highest Rating in Research Firm`s E-Discovery ... - Reuters

Expo: ModelBaker rapid app development software debuts - Macworld

TX Announces AutoSave(TM) CD/DVD Recordable Media Lineup With ... - Reuters

Smith Micro Mobile WiMAX Management Software for Clearwire - TMCnet

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-0fd=Rurl=http://wimax.tmcnet.com/topics/wimax/articles/48021-smith-micro-mobile-wimax-management-software-clearwire.htmcid=1286850288ei=GvFiSeWbHYu-9gSUhKyLBAusg=AFQjCNF9cbeF8BjqbPUJnCynOuyjjv-guQSmith Micro Mobile WiMAX Management bSoftware/b for Clearwire/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fTMCnetnbsp;-/font nobr15 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1And now, Smith Micro bSoftware/b, Inc., a developer and marketer of mobility solutions and services for the wireless market, has announced it has been selected b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-1fd=Rurl=http://newsticker.welt.de/%3Fmodule%3Dsmarthouse%26id%3D828433cid=1286850288ei=GvFiSeWbHYu-9gSUhKyLBAusg=AFQjCNFOnpDTRZWSKSoB5EzjqCvNRgB1DwSmith Micro’s Connection Management bSoftware/b Tapped for Clear b.../b/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrWELT ONLINE/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-2fd=Rurl=http://www.xchangemag.com/hotnews/clearwire-mobile-broadband-usability.htmlcid=1286850288ei=GvFiSeWbHYu-9gSUhKyLBAusg=AFQjCNFzW03OMv8R2rTj2VbPVwJUhwTKewClearwire Simplifies Mobile Broadband Usability/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrxchange Magazine/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-3fd=Rurl=http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS82928%2B05-Jan-2009%2BBW20090105cid=1286850288ei=GvFiSeWbHYu-9gSUhKyLBAusg=AFQjCNHTS1DfX6VlpdqRIQ-ojkUfcDbMRASmith Micro`s Connection Management bSoftware/b Tapped for Clear b.../b/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrReuters/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-4fd=Rurl=http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/156392/clearwire_set_to_launch_its_first_wimax_city.htmlcid=1286850288ei=GvFiSeWbHYu-9gSUhKyLBAusg=AFQjCNGngrLkM1AqCX4NF6dI4m-iMtqyyAnobrPC World/nobr/anbsp;- a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-5fd=Rurl=http://www.forbes.com/wireless/2009/01/05/wimax-clearwire-portland-tech-wire-cz_rb_0105clearwire.htmlcid=1286850288ei=GvFiSeWbHYu-9gSUhKyLBAusg=AFQjCNHLn5En87vUa5OIGafTatwO-q4X_QnobrForbes/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1286850288hl=ennobrall 39 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

MasterCard acquires software provider Orbiscom - Reuters

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9i-0fd=Rurl=http://www.dividend.com/blog/%3Fp%3D4595cid=1287219423ei=GvFiSeWbHYu-9gSUhKyLBAusg=AFQjCNGoSA4p3uF8WIl17L3R1sk1WMES8Aimg src=http://nt0.ggpht.com/news?imgefp=oEjN6kenIpUJimgurl=www.dividend.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/storypics/mastercard.jpg width=80 height=64 alt= border=1brfont size=-2Dividend.com/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-0fd=Rurl=http://www.reuters.com/article/euMergersNews/idUSN0536893220090105cid=1287219423ei=GvFiSeWbHYu-9gSUhKyLBAusg=AFQjCNG0GLPxNnOnpqVtRSErzFt1tc8K8QMasterCard acquires bsoftware/b provider Orbiscom/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fReutersnbsp;-/font nobr13 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1N) said on Monday it has acquired bsoftware/b provider Orbiscom Ltd for $100 million to enhance its payments processing system. Part of the purchase price for b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-1fd=Rurl=http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/MasterCard-buys-payment-software-firm/story.aspx%3Fguid%3D%257BF9433138-E6FB-4DF7-877D-0DCD92EAB8E3%257Dcid=1287219423ei=GvFiSeWbHYu-9gSUhKyLBAusg=AFQjCNFk0p2xivPXcaStQCTltR-PgJT85wMasterCard buys payment bsoftware/b firm Orbiscom/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrMarketWatch/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-2fd=Rurl=http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0105/breaking53.htmcid=1287219423ei=GvFiSeWbHYu-9gSUhKyLBAusg=AFQjCNHeXf8cngFxabYWOZK6w8R9yl2gxAIrish bsoftware/b firm sold to Mastercard for $100m/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrIrish Times/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-3fd=Rurl=http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2009/01/05/daily1.htmlcid=1287219423ei=GvFiSeWbHYu-9gSUhKyLBAusg=AFQjCNEhinwsQFo4a6lku8Dc1LjTgTZzggMasterCard buys Orbiscom for $100M/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrBizjournals.com/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-4fd=Rurl=http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/article/12025/comms/pbx-goes-virtualcid=1287219423ei=GvFiSeWbHYu-9gSUhKyLBAusg=AFQjCNGF5TDlxvcEsnGZPuowO89ekS9LzwnobrSiliconrepublic.com/nobr/anbsp;- a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/9-5fd=Rurl=http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D95H1ETO0.htmcid=1287219423ei=GvFiSeWbHYu-9gSUhKyLBAusg=AFQjCNGVMda5I8YytmKSuf_OIT36BRTqlwnobrBusinessWeek/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1287219423hl=ennobrall 56 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Software - Google News

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