Customer Relationship Management definition - part 2

Below are just some examples of CRM definitions.

- “CRM is a strategic approach concerned with creating improved shareholder value through the development of appropriate relationships with key customers and customer segments. CRM unites the potential of IT and relationship marketing strategies to deliver profitable, long-term relationships. Importantly, CRM provides enhanced opportunities to use data and information both to understand customers and implement relationship marketing strategies better. This requires a cross-functional integration of people, operations, processes and marketing capabilities that is enabled through information, technology and applications.” (Payne)

- "CRM is the values and strategies of relationship marketing – with particular emphasis on customer relationships – turned into practical application". (Gummesson)

- "CRM is a philosophy and a business strategy supported by a system and a technology designed to improve human interactions in a business environment". (Greenberg)

- "(…) a comprehensive approach for creating, maintaining and expanding customer relationships" (Anderson and Kerr)

- "CRM is the people, processes, and technology necessary to assure that the organization is in touch with the customer and suppliers". (Fjermestad and Romano)

- "(…) business approach that integrates people, process, and technology to maximize relationships with customers". (Goldenberg)

- "A marketing-led approach to building and sustaining long term business with customers". (Chaffey)

- “(…) a complex set of interactive processes that aims to achieve an optimum balance between corporate investments and the fulfilling of customer needs in order to generate maximum profit”. (Schierholz, Kolbe and Brenner)

- “CRM is a IT enhanced value process, which identifies, develops, integrates and focuses the various competencies of the firm to the “voice” of the customers in order to deliver long-term superior customer value, at a profit, to well identified and potential customer segments” (Plakoyiannaki and Tzokas)