Collaborative CRM:
an end-to-end solution overview

Over the years, CRM systems have traditionally been classified into three main types, each with different functionality and suited to specific use cases. Nowadays, however, this categorization is largely conceptual, as most CRM tools encompass a wide range of features which cover multiple aspects of customer relationship management.

• Collaborative CRM
  focuses on facilitating information sharing and coordination across marketing, sales, and service teams to boost productivity. Its differentiating features include shared contact records, internal chats, activity feeds, team task assignment, and role-based permissions. It’s an ideal tool for companies with complex, cross-department business operations and suffering from information silos.
• Operational CRM
  helps organizations automate and optimize CRM processes to maximize operational efficiency with features such as lead capture from social media, corporate websites, or other touchpoints, automated sales follow-ups, and service case routing. It can be a good choice for businesses overwhelmed by manual workloads due to high-volume customer transactions.
• Analytical CRM
  enables companies to derive insights from customer and other business data for better decision-making. Common functionality includes audience segmentation, sales forecasting, sentiment analysis, and customer churn prediction. It’s best suited for organizations looking for new opportunities or areas for improvement in their CRM operations.

If you opt for an off-the-shelf CRM platform over custom CRM software, you should prioritize a solution whose out-of-the-box capabilities (feature set, integration options, etc.) cover most of your functional requirements. Other key selection factors include configuration and customization possibilities, user-friendliness, convenient pricing terms, and free trial periods

Like any other type of CRM, collaborative CRM solutions are evolving in line with new technological developments and emerging business needs:

• AI in CRM
  An expanding range of key features powered by AI, with a particular focus on agentic AI for CRM process automation over the past few years.
• Mobile CRM
  A seamless user experience on smartphone and tablet, typically through a dedicated mobile app.
• IoT-CRM integration
  Closer integration between CRM systems and IoT devices to collect data in real time, for instance to facilitate field service operations.

Common CRM implementation challenges include:

• Integration complexities
  Your collaborative CRM and other applications in your IT environment can use different communication protocols, resulting in potential incompatibilities. In this case, you should select a suitable approach to integrate heterogeneous systems, such as an enterprise service bus (ESB) serving as a middleware to convert different protocols.
• Data migration issues
  Migrating data from your legacy systems to a new collaborative CRM can compromise the quality of your data assets with each solution storing and processing information differently. To prevent this, adopt a data governance strategy covering data mapping, transformation, and validation.
• Data security
  Serving as a unified data repository, a collaborative CRM solution can be an ideal target for cybercriminals looking to access and exploit sensitive customer information.That’s why you should adopt a CRM product or equip your custom CRM with robust security mechanisms, including data encryption or access controls.

Collaborative CRM solutions typically comprise two main functional areas:

• Interaction management
  Tracking all interactions with customers and prospects across different channels to help marketing, sales, and service teams develop shared practices and strategies for customer communication.
• Channel management
  Identifying which channels customers prefer to use when connecting with your business and which channels are more effective to engage or get back to them.