The spread of Internet is growing and so is e-commerce. With this online trade in both B2B and B2C is growing and is expected to grow further. Most of the brick and mortar organizations have opened up the e-channel. Hence, e-CRM or CRM online has become very important. Organizations can benefit from such an environment in which e-CRM, ERP and PRM are integrated. This article discusses the elementary aspects of e-CRM and its interrelationship with ERP and PRM.
When businesses understood the true potential of Internet, they realized that it can open up new opportunities and extend business frontiers. This led to the development of online businesses, popularly known as e-commerce or e-business. When the concept proved to be very successful, a number of organizations and individuals started online businesses, which were referred to as dotcoms. In the beginning of the dotcom era, many professed the death of the brick and mortar businesses. The forecasts were wild, to say the least. Nothing of that sort has happened. In fact, what happened was the other way round. Many organizations that jumped into the dotcom boom burnt their fingers and the dotcom boom busted sooner than expected. Notwithstanding what happened to dotcom organizations, the Internet has come to stay as one of the main business arteries. According to the Forester Group estimates, by the end of 2004, the Business-to-Consumer (B2C) market will be worth US $184 bn and the Business-to-Business (B2B) market will be worth US $2.7 tn. Gartner, another market consultancy firm, estimates the figure to be US $7.3 tn. What these statistics point out is that online activity is growing and is expected to grow in future also as the number of Internet users is increasing with each passing day. |
