CRM History: The Evolution of Better Customer Service
There was a time when frequent flyer miles, loyalty rewards systems, and credit card points were virtually unknown to businesses and consumers alike. The history of CRM shows that customer relationship management is the system that popularized consumer benefits like this.
The history of CRM is really short when it comes to the technological aspect of customer service. Although marketing campaigns and strategies go back a long way, most business owners used to rely on generic media to attract leads and retain them. Before the dawn of CRM, most companies were not resourceful when it came to having personalized customer relationships.
The dawn of CRM
CRM emerged in the 1980s and this early version was called database marketing. Database marketing was not as complicated as today’s well-developed CRM. It is primarily made up of an organization’s customer service staff who interact with a company’s customers. While useful, it wasn’t exactly an ongoing process, and the information in the existing database tended to be disorganized, difficult to track, update, and retrieve.
The rise of CRM
CRM history shows that the 1990s saw a huge improvement in terms of customer relationship management. Companies began to see the benefits of offering benefits to customers and prospects in exchange for relevant customer information or repeat purchases. Companies have also begun to view customer service as an ever-evolving skill rather than a stagnant service that can be called upon when needed.
A fully developed CRM
Today, CRM has reached its full potential, allowing companies to also maximize their own potentials for superior customer service. More advanced tools become available, and innovation allows customization of the software to suit a particular business or industry. The benefits that customers enjoy, such as bonus points and loyalty rewards, are also advantageous for the companies that provide these benefits: they can now easily track their customers’ behavior, spending history, and patterns.
With the online capabilities of CRM, large database storage problems can now be solved, especially for large corporations. CRM software developers now offer external data storage and open secure internet media for CRM staging.
CRM is most useful for organizations whose success depends heavily on technology or customer service. That is why many CRM-based tools and software are used by credit card companies, the telecommunications industry, and even the computer hardware and software sectors. From customer acquisition to problem solving to building customer loyalty, CRM will be a helpful system in achieving these goals.
The history of CRM has shown that something truly useful and effective can go a long way in such a short time. As long as businesses continue to prosper through effective customer relationship management and as long as there are customers to satisfy, CRM will also continue to develop and evolve to greater heights.
As the history of CRM shows, customer relationship management has empowered consumers to choose the companies worth patronizing. CRM has made customer service a global interaction so that consumers can now easily switch to better services if they are not satisfied with the current one.
