CRM (customer relationship management)

CRM (customer relationship management) is an information industry term for methodologies, software, and usually Internet capabilities that help an enterprise manage customer relationships in an organized way. For example, an enterprise might build a database about its customers that described relationships in sufficient detail so that management, salespeople, people providing service, and perhaps the customer directly could access information, match customer needs with product plans and offerings, remind customers of service requirements, know what other products a customer had purchased, and so forth.

1. A management philosophy according to which a company’s goals can be best achieved through identification and satisfaction of the customers' stated and unstated needs and wants.

2. A computerized system for identifying, targeting, acquiring, and retaining the best mix of customers.
Customer relationship management helps in profiling prospects, understanding their needs, and in building relationships with them by providing the most suitable products and enhanced customer service. It integrates back and front office systems to create a database of customer contacts, purchases, and technical support, among other things. This database helps the company in presenting a unified face to its customers, and improve the quality of the relationship, while enabling customers to manage some information on their own.