When people in marketing talk about CRM, they typically mean one of two things: the practice of CRM, which stands for customer relationship management; or CRM systems, the platforms that enable marketers to carry out customer relationship management.

The two are pretty closely linked, as if you’re considering improving or building a strategy for CRM in your organisation, chances are you’ll want a platform that can facilitate that. But before getting into the ins and outs of technology, let’s ask a more fundamental question: what is customer relationship management (CRM), and why do you need it?