Business and IT Glossary  > Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Customer relationship management (CRM) is the top application for sales professionals to track and manage sales. It involves adding leads, converting them to opportunities, and then developing them and promoting the opportunities into a forecast.

CRM applications have multiple layers, and sales managers count on them to track activities and understand what is happening in the sales pipeline. For any enterprise, the effective use of CRM in the sales process cannot be overlooked. It is a key way to accelerate sales activities.

The shift in CRM is the growth into what we call CRM platforms—or sales engagement platforms (SEPs)—that support ecosystems. Leading providers are leveraging their core CRM platforms and adding app store functions to integrate third-party apps (via simple configuration) that can greatly enhance the platform's functionality. Examples include document assembly, marketing automation integration, and more.