The CRM Handbook.

• Author: Richmond, Heather
• Position: Business Guide to Customer Relationship Management

TITLE: The CRM Handbook: A Business Guide to Customer Relationship Management AUTHOR: Jill Dyche ISBN: 0-2017-30626 PUBLISHER: Addison-Wesley PUBLICATION DATE: August 2001 LENGTH: 279 pages PRICE: $27.99 SOURCE: Amazon.com The acronym "CRM" is a relatively new buzzword in the information technology (IT) industry. Yet already, there are books, courses, seminars, and presentations ad nauseum on the topic. CRM, in the IT arena, stands for customer relationship management; in the records and information management (RIM) professionals' circle it means something totally different -- or does it?

In the RIM field, a certified records manager -- also known as a CRM -- is someone who possesses a broad base of knowledge in the information management field and related disciplines. It is someone who knows and understands the RIM field and is able to convey that message to others. Likewise, people who specialize in customer relationship management know and understand their product or service and are able to communicate it effectively to their clients. Hmmm ... not too much of a difference after all.

It isn't the time or the place to get bogged down in the acronym; however, it is worth learning more about the principles and concepts of customer relationship management and how it relates to those in the RIM field. The CRM Handbook: A Business Guide to Customer Relationship Management provides a very good tool for those new to the field of customer relationship management and gives examples of how to go about achieving a good relationship with clients, whoever they may be.

The author, Jill Dyche, defines CRM as: "The infrastructure that enables the delineation of and increase in customer value, and the correct means by which to motivate valuable customers to remain loyal -- indeed, to buy [use] again."

Isn't that what all RIM professionals are striving for -- to retain the customers they have now by continuing to provide the products/services that customers currently want and to encourage other customers to buy in? In The CRM Handbook, it is obvious that the customers referred to are the buying/consuming public. However, the same ideas and principles can be applied to RIM customers, the employees and colleagues of the organization where a RIM professional works. CRM is really a more streamlined version and more conscious effort at a marketing program.

As the RIM profession evolves into more of a collaborative endeavor between administration, information...