Evolution of Customer Relationship Management

CUSTOMER
RELATIONSHIP
MANAGEMENT
Evolution of CRM
History
⚫It’s no secret that customers and customer
satisfaction drive the growth of your
organization. Since the pre-PC era, business
owners and entrepreneurs have been forging
ways to capture and capitalize on invaluable
information of their customers. Let’s take a look
at how their CRM journey has progressed from
being a mere necessity for data entry to
becoming a boon for their business.
The 1950s
⚫Businesses recorded their
day-to-day tasks on pen
and paper. File cabinets
were purchased in bulk to
support the documentation
process while tracking
information and updates
became increasingly
frustrating. Later in the year
1956, the first rolling index
or Rolodex was invented to
store contact information
of business prospects.
⚫The Rolodex was invented
in 1956 by Danish
engineer Hildaur Neilsen for
a manufacturing company
in New York.
The 1960s
⚫Most businesses reached out to their
customers by scheduling on-ground
meetings. Sales executives would sell products
either by engaging with people in one-on-one
sessions or cold calling.
The 1970s
⚫With the emergence of early mainframe
computers came the ability to register customer
information such as name, address and
transaction history on a standalone digital
database. Database marketing enabled
businesses to customize communications to their
customers with targeted messages and monitor
business relationships as they progressed, on a
screen.
⚫Customer databases were created to enable
business-to-customer(B2C) marketing, and
business databases were created to allow
business-to-business(B2B) marketing.
The 1980s
⚫In the year 1987, a digital version of the
Rolodex called ACT! was launched by
Conductor Software. It had a contact
management tool built-in and paved the way
for Content Management Systems or CMS
prototypes to be developed.
⚫ACT! Was earlier known as Activity Control
Technology and later renamed as Automated
Contact Tracking before settling on the
acronym.
The 1990s
⚫Database marketing expanded its set of features like
tracking and analyzing customer data while allowing trivial
tasks to be automated, transforming itself into Sales Force
Automation (SFA). In 1993, Tom Siebel left Oracle and
founded Siebel Systems. His company took the lead and
became the most popular SFA provider at that time. By 1995,
SFAs were capable of converting leads and automating
marketing campaigns at the click of a button, and the term
Customer Relationship Management or CRM was coined. In
1999, Tom’s company released the first mobile CRM called
Siebel Sales Handheld into the market. It was also the year
that SalesForce launched the first cloud-based CRM as an
affordable alternative to on-premise CRM.
⚫The leading technology research company Gartner was
among the first few advocates of the term CRM.
The 2000s
⚫Does anybody remember the Y2K bug? It was
primarily responsible for the dot-com bubble
burst. And with it, it managed to topple online
service providers and CRM vendors in one
shot. Thankfully, Paul Greenberg’s book titled
‘CRM at the Speed of Light’ managed to shift
the conversation to a more coherent CRM
system as a solution. This was followed by the
launch of the first-ever open-source CRM by
SugarCRM in 2004. Shortly after that, Vtiger
also launched an open-source CRM in the
same year.
The 2010s - Modern CRM
Systems
⚫With the advent of mobile computing and Big
Data in recent years, CRM solutions are now
fully equipped to manage sales pipelines and
deliver outstanding customer experiences for
small businesses, mid-size enterprises, and
large multinational corporations. Modern CRM
tools can project pragmatic sales forecasts for
every quarter and can be integrated with
social media platforms and a surplus of
applications, including Zapier and Gmail.
CRM Software Industry
⚫As more and more industries have begun to
incorporate CRMs into their ecosystem, it has
become evident that CRM systems can make
or break your business. CRM trends in the
market today are composed of features that
can help you optimize business processes and
cut down on operational costs while
increasing customer retention and
satisfaction.
Future of CRM
⚫CRM is now among the fastest-growing sector in
Software as a Service(SaaS) space. With each
innovation, CRM systems are moving the needle
towards customer satisfaction.
⚫Breakthrough technologies such as Artificial
Intelligence and Machine Learning will help your
sales team shift their focus from identifying
prospects and pushing products to care for the
customer. It’s only a matter of time before the
barriers between your sales, marketing, and
support teams entirely breakaway to provide a
holistic roadmap for your business growth.
Future of CRM
⚫If the CRM evolution maintains its pace in the
coming days, data-driven deep insights about
your customers can reshape the way you
conduct your business. Titbits of information
such as your customer’s favorite sport or their
favorite car can unlock a level of relationship
that was previously thought to be
unimaginable. Only time will tell what’s next
and we’ll have to wait and watch.

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