Summary

In this chapter, we've looked at all the important elements of a CRM system, including operational CRM, analytical CRM, and collaboration CRM. We also saw in five different case studies how particular business pain points and strategies will shape functional priorities for your CRM design.

We touched upon the TCO/ROI for CRM projects. These metrics are measurement tools that are used to evaluate the business improvements achieved through CRM compared with the investment in a CRM solution. You define these metrics based on business goals and selected processes that are to be improved versus the cost of implementing the functional requirements.

Throughout the rest of this book, we will engage in deeper discussions on all these topics, with a number of implementation examples that could be applied in your business.

In the next chapter, Getting to Know Your Customers, we will explore the most critical element in CRM, before we deep dive into CRM design techniques in Chapter 3, Conceptualizing the CRM Design from Business Requirements.