Glossary · CRM
What is a CRM system?
Definition: A CRM is a system for recording and managing relationships with customers and prospects: contacts, opportunities, quotes and service cases.
The acronym stands for customer relationship management. A CRM brings together all sales and service activity in a single record per customer: calls, emails, meetings, open opportunities, quotes sent and incidents. It organises opportunities into stages, giving a view of the sales pipeline and a basis for forecasting revenue.
In a business, it stops commercial information from depending on each person's memory. With complete data, it makes it possible to measure the quote conversion rate, flag contracts nearing expiry, prioritise opportunities and coordinate sales, service and finance teams. It is also the usual data source for sales dashboards and pipeline reviews.
A CRM is only useful if the team keeps it up to date. When logging every activity takes a lot of manual effort, the data becomes incomplete and reports lose their value. Integrating it with email, the ERP and invoicing reduces that effort. It differs from an ERP in focus: the CRM manages the customer relationship, while the ERP handles operations and accounting.
Example: ninety days before a maintenance contract expires, the CRM creates a task for the account manager with the renewal proposal already prepared.