QUALITATIVE INVESTIGATION OF TAM
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achievements of CRM systems, including greater integration of social media, marketing tools,
sales tools, artificial intelligence, and data mining capabilities. This research examines CRM
from a technology acceptance perspective. However , the CRM technology discussed to support
CES efforts in the areas of marketing, communications, and engagement can only be as
successful as the CRM philosophy that each CES organization considers when implementing or
evaluating CRM technology. That same philosophy can also be the reason for implementation
failures or for not considering the use of CRM technologies within a CES organization. For these
reasons, it is critical to understand the origins of CRM over the past several decades, its role in
business and organizational outreach to clients or customers, and its evolution over time.
Baran and Galka (2016) discuss the origins of CRM and state that there are many
different views as to what led to the CRM seen today. The Rolodex may be viewed as the earliest
form of CRM technology, dating back to the 1950s, or mainframe computer systems that began
to appear in businesses during the 1960s. One perspective offered is that CRM had its origins in
marketing research’s customer satisfaction studies of the late 1970s and its relationship w ith total
quality management in the early 1980s (Baran & Galka, 2016). Additionally, B2B interactions
between companies and their early suppliers in the 1980s paved the way for CRM models that
are prevalent today. By the mid-1980s, information technology systems became more prevalent
in business operations, leading to the creation of customer databases alongside materials
resource planning (MRP) efforts. By the early 1990s, the company SAP-integrated MRP
functions with accounting and customer data, leading to the first basic commercial CRM system.
Shortly after, sales force automation functions began to appear in these new customer systems,
followed by basic marketing campaign management tools.
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