CRM is designed for large companies that have multiple product or service lines provided by more or less independent profit centers, especially when these profit centers may do business with the same customers. What CRM does is:

• Provide a single face for the company. All calls go in through the same phone number and can easily be directed to the correct call center group, and easily transferred from one group to another.

• Provide each profit center with information on the total value of the customer. That way, a profit center will not (we hope) piss off a customer they do little business with when the same customer is doing mondo business with another profit center.

• Provides a single customer database for "data mining" that covers the activities of all profit centers.

• Improves cross marketing and coordinated sales efforts across the boundaries of the individual profit centers.