Most customers have a centralized view of a company, yet companies often work with many divergent views of the customer. Your organization may have multiple departments that interact with the same customers; marketing, sales, customer service & support, and operations are the most common. However, each department may have similar, but ultimately incomplete, information about the customer they are serving.

From the customer's 'centralized' perspective, they are dealing with only one entity of your organization. Therefore, your employees need to have a comprehensive view of each customer so that every touch-point enhances the relationship between your customers with your organization. Having all of your customer data centralized in a single, accessible source enables a more complete and personal customer experience and encourages employees to deliver the best solution to each customer's unique needs. 

In an ideal world, companies would know each of their customers on a personal level. Customers are more likely to purchase from companies who display genuine interest, concern, and knowledge about their needs and issues. As your customer base grows, it becomes increasingly difficult to offer a personal touch to each and every customer.

Many companies employ 'point' solutions; solutions that address only the needs of a specific department or function, not of the entire organization. Independent applications are customized and implemented for each of the various functions within an organization. While these applications often increase efficiency in each department that they serve, they are unconnected 'silos' of customer information, where critical customer information is not shared. Fundamental to an effective CRM practice is having the tools necessary to integrate key customer data from across the organization. Only when you have a most comprehensive view of the client can you effectively nurture the relationship between your customers and your organization.

Your organization may have numerous sources of customer information: direct response mail campaigns, web site traffic, brick-and-mortar visits, call centers, mobile sales force staff, and other marketing and advertising efforts. After reviewing the variety of sources available, your company can then focus on the types of information that are most crucial for positive customer relationships.

Types of information that your company might choose to collect are:

• Account information
• Customer profile data
• Demographic data
• Campaign responses
• Web registration data
• Sales and purchase data
• Web sales data
• Shipping and Fulfillment Dates
• Service and Support Records

Once collected, this information can be made accessible to groups and employees across the organization for use in determining follow up sales activity; running trend and pattern analysis; devising cross-sell strategies and campaigns; informing new product development; and generating management reports. A quality CRM solution should not only provide one central store of customer information, but it should organize and display the information in a format that is useful to each solution user.