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CRM
> CRM Applications |
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| To begin with, the genesis of CRM that is Sales Force Automation (SFA). The current CRM applications are a combination of functional components such as sales, marketing, and customer service, with advanced technologies & communication channels. |
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Marketing Automation |
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This is what most people mean when they talk about CRM. Marketing automation "involves technology to the marketing process." Organizations that define CRM as marketing automation generate personalization, profiling, telemarketing, e-mail marketing, and campaign management projects. These initiatives are designed to get the right mix of the company’s products and services in front of each customer at the right time. This involve understanding what customers do and want, matching that knowledge with product and service information, presenting opportunities to customers and measuring success.
The marketing automation applications form the new breed in the CRM. This application includes:
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Web-based/traditional marketing campaign planning, execution and analysis |
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Collateral generation and marketing materials management |
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Prospect list generation and management |
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Budgeting and forecasting |
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Building a marketing encyclopedia (a repository of product, pricing and competitive information) |
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Lead tracking, distribution and management |
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Generating sales leads |
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Sales Automation |
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Sales involve the direct transferring of products and services to customers. It covers both making sure the customer receives the correct product and the activities of people within the organization who are responsible for selling. The thrust of sales applications is automating the fundamental activities of sales professionals.
Common functions include:
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Client or Campaign management |
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Calendar and scheduling |
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Forecasting tools |
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Sales configuration (for configuring products, pricing, etc.) |
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Building a marketing encyclopedia (a repository of product, pricing and competitive information) |
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Call management, Contact management and Ad management |
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Proposal generation and management |
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Partner Relationship Management |
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Configuration models |
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Electronic Territory Management Systems |
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Sales Force Automation (including territory) |
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Account and lead management systems |
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Collaborative tools that enable all parties to the transaction to interact with one another fall into this category |
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As well as systems that put sales reps directly in touch with customers at the point of sale. |
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Service and Fulfillment |
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This area encompasses the ability of the organization to serve customers it already has. Initiatives in these areas are E-mail response management, telephony capabilities such as automatic call distribution, computer- telephony integration, queue/workflow management, interactive voice response and predictive dialing. Problem resolution systems fall into the overall service fulfillment category, as do workflow automation and field service dispatch systems.
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Customer Self-service |
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These applications have gained currency as the customer acquisition, retention and profitability depends on delivering superior service. Some companies may consider CRM more specifically as systems or capabilities that can be directly invoked by the customer -- such as Web self-service, search, interactive chat, e-mail, voice over IP, browser and application sharing, conferencing, and "call me" capabilities. For these organizations, CRM is more accurately described as e-CRM, which invokes not only the idea of Internet access via PC, but also via wireless devices (cell phones, PDAs, etc.)
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E-commerce |
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In this case, capabilities such as shopping, marketplace, transaction and payment processing, and e-commerce security are addressed. E-commerce capabilities can be some of the most essential CRM projects for companies to pursue, depending on their readiness for handling transactions via multiple methods.
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