A lot of time passed by before we could use the CRM software that we know so well today. To understand all of its functions better, we decided to take a closer look at the history and stages of its development.
Nowadays it is hard to imagine managing a company without the support of new technologies. Not only do we use multifunctional devices like smartphones, but also we rely on specialistic programs and applications. CRM belongs to the second category – it helps create relationships in business, manage sales, and data. But CRM was developed not so long ago and its history is strictly connected to the development of informatics, telecommunication, and marketing.
From analog to digital
In the 80s American economics endured big corporate boom which influenced basically all of the world. It came with the need of different marketing strategies and new solutions and so the term „contact management” was created. It referred to the new ways of communication outside and inside the companies. It can be easily described as a traditional business calendar and agenda, but digitalised and easier to access even with huge databases. This first stage of contacts management was focused mainly on mass communication and strategies channeled to every single client together. At that time it didn’t seem necessary to personalize the messages, with the most valuable clients as an exception.
From WWW to CRM
The 90s brought fast software and WorldWideWeb development which enabled growth of the contact management system. Apart from that, the marketing strategies overcame big change into more personalized and complexed relationships with clients. It was found neccessary to engage recipients in order to receive more feedback and data. There was a need for new contact centers, which were a conjunction of telecommunication with electronic mail and text massagers. Dynamic growth came with the need to catalogue and interpret bigger data and knowledge bases, which could be accesed by the company’s team. It simplified the process of lead generation and opportunities, regardless of the size of the business.
The crucial moment of CRM development
CRMs as we know them started to emerge after year 2000 what was related to the Web 2.0 movement. Needs and requirements begun to rise – the development of customer relationship management became a necessity. This is how new features were brought to life, which could analize client satisfaction, generate leads more efficiently and manage all of the sales. Besides, CRM software could finally examine company’s efficiency and analize sales data. All of these features were combined into one intelligent CRM system, that we know and use today.
