The goal for most companies, large and small, is to offer the sales team a CRM system that helps manage customer relationships effectively and uniformly - with the ultimate goals of boosting customer satisfaction and increasing sales.

There are a number of challenges companies face in implementing CRM effectively. Saby Mitra, a manager at ZS Associates, a global   sales and marketing consulting firm, said this about the challenges in deploying and using CRM software today: "Historically, non-intuitive user interfaces, poor data quality, and lack of offline access have been the top organizational barriers towards the adoption of CRM solutions."

While these challenges still exist in some CRM implementations, he said, the ease of data integration through cloud technologies and the availability of mobile platforms have addressed some of these barriers in the recent past.

"The bigger challenge towards sustained CRM usage however continues to be inadequate change management practices," Mitra said.

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Keywords: Customer Relationship Mgmt., Technology, Business Strategy Alignment, Supply Chain Security & Risk Mgmt, HR & Labor Management, Supply Chain Analysis & Consulting, Global Supply Chain Management, Data Integration, Mobile Systems, Cloud Technologies