CRM(Customer Relationship Management) as a concept can be viewed as a business strategy that places the customer in the center, while promoting satisfaction and loyalty. Once these indicators are optimized, revenue and profitability are positively influenced. Through the current offer of CRM software, customer relationships are identified and managed in a proactive and strategic manner, both in person or through online CRM. Various business functions are directly impacted by CRM solutions: sales, marketing, customer service and digital commerce. For a long time, Customer Relationship Management has been associated only with sales professionals. However, as businesses became more customer-oriented, the need for integrating all customer interactions and associated internal and external activities emerged. Consequently, the CRM software is currently much more than a sales tool. It is a customer intelligence solution. Such a solution is mandatory in what is called the age of the customer stage, in which buyers hold the power and linear sales projections used by previous business generations are no longer of use. CRM software initially appeared during the 1980s when database marketing emerged as a direct marketing tool. A rudimentary CRM software was introduced around 1985 and it included simple solutions built around basic customer information gathering. The CRM term as it is understood today was first used in 1995. As CRM solutions evolved, new functionalities were added: real-time updates, customer engagement logs, customer analytics collected at all points of contact leading to a complex history created for each customer. The main benefits of using a modern CRM software include:

• Sales and revenue growth driven by sales force automation, cross-selling, e-commerce, lead management, forecasting, etc.
• Access to real-time customer insights for seizing new sales opportunities, for managing effective marketing campaigns and for amazing customers with a personalized approach;
• Targeted marketing – the right customer is reached with the right message at the right time;
• Improved customer services;
• Enhanced internal and external communication.

In the absence of a CRM software, business representatives tend to handle customer interactions through old-fashioned methods: manual data collection in disparate spreadsheets, documents, emails, cards and others. Even though at a first sight this appears a proper solution for small businesses or start-ups, a manual approach in a highly-technologized era is more than counterproductive. The lack of an online CRM of cloud CRM can prove costly exactly in the most important time of an organization: its growth stage, when scalability and customer insights are essential. The manual approach is even more ineffective for middle-sized and large organizations. The need for juggling with all customer contact channels (e.g. phone, website, live chat, social media, direct mail, helpdesk, mobile marketing, etc.) is time consuming, expensive and prone to human error. Slow response times and inaccurate information leave customers unhappy and unengaged. Nowadays, cloud CRM and SaaS CRM solutions have become the norm, being able to gain their position in the market through their lower cost, flexibility, scalability and speed of integration. More recently a new term was introduced to describe the communication with customers through social networking - social CRM.