Beginners Question

Hi All

I had a beginners question about CRM and this seemed like a good place
to start :-)

I'm looking at what constitutes a CRM application - in your mind. I've
seen some references to people importing data from apps like Symantec
ACT! (which, if memory serves, is an SFA application).

As you might note from my sig, my company produces a help desk
application (which I'm led to believe is another part of a CRM app).

So, I'm left with the impression that CRM is a help desk app, an SFA
app and some customer data mining tool all melded together. Am I close?

--
Derek Davidson
http://www.enterpriseblue.com
For the world's EASIEST Help Desk software
Now Verified for Microsoft Windows Server 2003

Steve
Mon Aug 02 10:17:59 CDT 2004

Yes,

When we developed Microsoft CRM, we built a core platform for
relationship/process centric applications. We probably invested more in SFA
than any other broad vertical, but we also spent considerable time on
customer service.

We included the basic entities and business logic to run a help desk
solution, but we also anticipated that partners would take these building
blocks and add more value.

Steve Silverberg
--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no right

--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no right
"Derek Davidson" <derek.davidson@REMOVEenterpriseblue.co.uk> wrote in
message news:8IadncdFOZubvZPcRVn-tA@nildram.net...
> Hi All
>
> I had a beginners question about CRM and this seemed like a good place
> to start :-)
>
> I'm looking at what constitutes a CRM application - in your mind. I've
> seen some references to people importing data from apps like Symantec
> ACT! (which, if memory serves, is an SFA application).
>
> As you might note from my sig, my company produces a help desk
> application (which I'm led to believe is another part of a CRM app).
>
> So, I'm left with the impression that CRM is a help desk app, an SFA
> app and some customer data mining tool all melded together. Am I close?
>
> --
> Derek Davidson
> http://www.enterpriseblue.com
> For the world's EASIEST Help Desk software
> Now Verified for Microsoft Windows Server 2003

MattNC
Mon Aug 02 11:13:02 CDT 2004

You might find this article mildly interesting:
http://www.crn.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=23905047&flatPage=true
Basically, it talks about how "CRM" is becoming much broader than it was just a few years ago. For instance, we use Microsoft CRM for our helpdesk/customer service, sales & marketing, and reporting, as you mentioned. But, because these tasks encompass 80% of our job functions, it is easy to envision a time when CRM might become more of a portal to everything we do for our customers (both internal and external) that ties everything together in a powerful way. I know that Microsoft wants to integrate more Office into CRM in future releases, and if they could turn the CRM web client email into a full email client, they'd be pretty close to accomplishing that.
--
Matt Wittemann


"Derek Davidson" wrote:

> Hi All
>
> I had a beginners question about CRM and this seemed like a good place
> to start :-)
>
> I'm looking at what constitutes a CRM application - in your mind. I've
> seen some references to people importing data from apps like Symantec
> ACT! (which, if memory serves, is an SFA application).
>
> As you might note from my sig, my company produces a help desk
> application (which I'm led to believe is another part of a CRM app).
>
> So, I'm left with the impression that CRM is a help desk app, an SFA
> app and some customer data mining tool all melded together. Am I close?
>
> --
> Derek Davidson
> http://www.enterpriseblue.com
> For the world's EASIEST Help Desk software
> Now Verified for Microsoft Windows Server 2003
>