From the outside, customers interacting with a company perceive the business as a single entity, despite often interacting with a number of employees in different roles and departments. CRM is a combination of policies, processes, and strategies implemented by an organization to unify its customer interactions and provide a means to track customer information. It involves the use of technology in attracting new and profitable customers, while forming tighter bonds with existing ones.

CRM includes many aspects which relate directly to one another:

• Front office operations — Direct interaction with customers, e.g. face to face meetings, phone calls, e-mail, online services etc.
• Back office operations — Operations that ultimately affect the activities of the front office (e.g., billing , maintenance , planning, marketing , advertising , finance , manufacturing , etc.)
• Business relationships — Interaction with other companies and partners, such as suppliers/vendors and retail outlets/distributors, industry networks (lobbying groups, trade associations). This external network supports front and back office activities.
• Analysis — Key CRM data can be analyzed in order to plan target-marketing campaigns, conceive business strategies, and judge the success of CRM activities (e.g., market share, number and types of customers, revenue , profitability ).

Proponents of CRM software claim that it doesn't only allow more effective ways of managing customer relationships, but also more customer-centric ways of doing business. [ 5 ] Executives often cite the need for the proper tools as a barrier to delivering the experience their customers expect. A 2009 study of over 860 corporate executives revealed only 39% believe that their employees have tools and authority to solve customer problems