Author: Mehmet Yesilbas, Ph.D. | Certified Salesforce Developer

What is a customer relationship management (CRM) system?

Based on the scale of the business, the traditional paradigm of having software programs installed on on-premise hardware, which can range from desktop computers to rooms full of servers, has been quickly replaced by a cloud computing system.

With cloud computing, businesses access applications via the Internet, which is called Software as A Service (or SaaS). Businesses are liberated from needing to update or maintain their hardware or online infrastructure. Simply log in and begin working from wherever you are and, in many cases, using any device (Salesforce, Oct 2002).

The main purpose of a customer relationship management system (CRM) is to track all the stages in a sales process. All information related to the customers is stored in this system. Also, CRM allows you to track all types of contacts or follow-ups performed for the customer effortlessly.

Based on Salesforce's definition, customer relationship management (CRM) is a technology for managing all your company’s relationships and interactions with customers and potential customers. The goal here is simple: Improve business relationships to grow your business. A CRM system helps companies stay connected to customers, streamline processes, and improve profitability. When people talk about CRM, they are typically referring to a CRM system, which is a tool helping with contact management, sales management, agent productivity, and more. CRM tools in today’s world are used to manage customer relationships across the entire customer lifecycle, spanning marketing, sales, digital commerce, and customer service interactions.

A CRM solution enables you to concentrate on your company's relationships with a specific target group, such as clients, service users, coworkers, or suppliers, over the course of your interactions with them. This includes finding new clients through a lead process, securing their business, and maintaining and enhancing your relationships with them.

(Image source: salesforce.com)

When using CRM tools, business owners are able to monitor all the related tasks and also eliminate potential duplications. When businesses do not have an effective CRM system, there will be a lack of successful communication in the various departments and eventually impact the customer relationship.

Having a dynamic customer relationship management (CRM) tool and robust workforce management is an essential part of conducting business, particularly online businesses as it will help such businesses to assess and stress the instant needs of the customers.

History of Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

CRM tool or the process was not as concerned as it is now. CRM systems have undergone several adjustments over the evolution stage. These kinds of technologies have been around for the last 40 years, and businesses have been using them to efficiently manage their clients and daily operations.

Robert and Kate Kestnbaum were considered the main researchers who were the pioneers behind this new and improved way of keeping track of customer data and database marketing. In 1980, they changed marketing strategies by incorporating new metrics and techniques, including customer lifetime value, econometrics, and financial modeling. This allowed for the collection of data on potential customers as well as the analysis and categorization of that data (www.vivian.tiiman.com). In 1986, stand-alone CRM software entered the scene.

Later, the server/client architecture and the supply and demand for personal computers came to light. This leads to remarkable growth in terms of development. The tool underwent extensive changes between 1990 and 1993, during which time the acronym appeared. The technology was created by fusing the advantages of contact management, sales force automation, and database marketing. CRM gradually gained popularity and had incredible growth. To capitalize on the platform, the majority of market rivals started developing value-added suite offerings that can complement the current model.

The solution was developed by combining the benefits of database marketing, contact management, and sales force automation. CRM experienced remarkable growth as it slowly gained mainstream. Most of the market's competitors began creating value-added suite solutions that can supplement the present model in order to profit from the platform.

Most CRM-related businesses either got bought by larger firms or went out of business after the dot.com bubble burst. Later in the year, in 2007, Salesforce re-released the platform under the brand name of Force.com, offering more capabilities and services than the typical CRM tool or system can.

It has answered every complaint that cloud-based applications were not entirely customized with the help of Force.com. During this transformation, many integration opportunities were seen, including but not limited to Social CRM and cloud-based customer service management.

What is Cloud Computing? Why are Businesses Turning to Cloud Computing Services?

According to a Microsoft definition, ‘‘cloud computing, in a nutshell, is the delivery of computing services—including servers, storage, databases, networking, software, analytics, and intelligence—over the Internet (“the cloud”) to offer faster innovation, flexible resources, and economies of scale. You typically pay only for cloud services you use, helping you lower your operating costs, run your infrastructure more efficiently, and scale as your business needs change. Cloud computing is a big shift from the traditional way businesses think about IT resources.’’

Here are some common reasons organizations are turning to cloud computing services (Microsoft, Nov 2022):

• A cost-effective system: It eliminates the capital expense of buying hardware and software.
• Ability to scale elastically: It delivers the right amount of IT resources from the right locations.
• Effective performance: The biggest cloud computing services run on a worldwide network of secure data centers. As they are frequently upgraded to the latest version of fast and efficient computing hardware, this comes with several benefits over a single corporate data center, including reduced network latency for applications and greater economies of scale.
• Fully confidential and secure: It strengthens security posture overall, helping protect the company data, apps, and infrastructure from possible risks.
• Speed: Most cloud computing services are provided self-service and on demand, and thus vast amounts of resources can be obtained simultaneously without any effort.
• Flexibility: The speed provided by cloud computing gives businesses great flexibility and takes the pressure off capacity planning.
• Productivity: On-site data centers typically require a lot of “racking and stacking”—hardware setup, software patching, and other time-consuming IT management chores. Cloud computing removes the need for many of these tasks, so IT teams can spend time on achieving more important business goals.
• Reliability: Cloud computing makes data backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity easier and less expensive because data can be mirrored at multiple redundant sites on the cloud provider’s network.

Is Salesforce a CRM?

Salesforce is considered one of the biggest management systems, which is a combination of information systems and customer relationship management systems. Marketing and sales activities are the essential parts of CRM systems, and businesses are able to focus on marketing and sales activities using such tools.

Cloud Computing and Salesforce

Salesforce was developed using the same CRM business strategy to give its clients on-demand services as needed. Salesforce is by far the industry leader in cloud computing, providing software and applications for all aspects of companies, including CRM, sales, enterprise resource planning, customer service, marketing automation, business analytics, and more. Additionally, everything uses the same connected platform and the same consumer data to operate. Your entire business may thus collaborate as a single entity and unit as opposed to functionating in silos. Also, as everything is in the cloud rather than deployed on-premise, even the largest, enterprise-wide deployments can be completed much faster than conventional deployments, which can take years.Based on International Data Corporation (IDC) reports and its latest Worldwide Semiannual Software Tracker, Salesforce is ranked #1 CRM provider and is the global leader of CRM.

In my next articles, I will continue to discuss the main benefits of using Salesforce and the different products and services offered by Salesforce.

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