Tuesday, April 24, 2012
When customer relationship management (CRM) first came into existence in the 1980s, it was primarily seen as a means of improving contact management, according to Destination CRM. Eventually, CRM developed to focus more on customer support. Now, a number of experts believe ecommerce and social media are driving the next stage in the evolution of CRM, according to TechTarget.
Gene Alvarez, for example, a research vice president and ecommerce analyst at Gartner, explained that the rise of social media places extra pressure on organizations to make a positive first impression with customers. In the past, consumers were limited in their retail options, as well as their means of disseminating their displeasure with a company. Now, a dissatisfied customer can quickly and easily tell thousands of people about his bad experience by posting on social media, and he can switch to a different online store.
These major shifts in the world of retail force companies to use CRM in different ways. Specifically, they need to communicate with their customers via social media networks, and to use CRM-gathered data to improve their customer support and other services.
