A CRM system is a software application that helps businesses manage their customer relationships. It provides a central repository for customer data and enables businesses to track and manage interactions with their customers. CRM systems typically include features such as contact management, sales force automation, marketing automation, and customer service management. The term "customer relationship management" was first coined in the early 1990s by two marketing professors at Stanford University. Today, CRM is a popular business buzzword and an essential tool for many companies. Though there are many different types of CRM systems available, they all share the common goal of helping businesses better manage their customer relationships.

CRM systems can offer a number of benefits to businesses, including:

- improved sales and customer service efficiency

- ability to better target marketing campaigns

- greater visibility of sales data and trends

- improved customer retention rates.

When sales teams have access to CRM data, they can more easily identify potential sales opportunities and track their progress through the sales pipeline. This means that sales representatives can spend less time on administrative tasks and more time selling.

Customer service representatives can also use CRM data to resolve customer issues more quickly. Having all of the relevant customer information stored in one place makes it easy for customer service reps to access the information they need to resolve an issue.

Additionally, CRM data can be used to create more targeted marketing campaigns. By understanding which customers are most likely to be interested in a particular product or service, businesses can focus their marketing efforts on those individuals, resulting in a higher return on investment.

There are four main types of CRM systems: operational, analytical, collaborative, and sales-oriented.

Operational CRM systems are focused on automating and streamlining business processes. These systems help organizations keep track of their customers and manage customer data. Operational CRM systems include features such as contact management, sales force automation, and customer service management.

Analytical CRM systems are focused on analyzing customer data to help organizations make better decisions about their sales and marketing efforts. Analytical CRM systems include features such as data warehousing, data mining, and business intelligence tools.

Collaborative CRM systems are focused on helping organizations improve communication and collaboration between sales, marketing, and customer service teams. Collaborative CRM systems include features such as social media monitoring, sales force automation, and customer service management.

Sales-oriented CRM systems are focused on helping organizations increase sales and improve their sales processes. Sales-oriented CRM systems include features such as sales force automation, lead management, and quota management.