Exercise 22.2

Question 2.
Differentiate between software systems such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, Business-to-Business e-commerce programs and Supply-Chain Management (SCM) software.

CRM stands for Customer Resource Management and entails all aspects of interaction a company has with its customer, whether it be sales or service related.

Business-to-business or B2B describes commerce transactions between businesses, such as between a manufacturer and a wholesaler, or between a wholesaler and a retailer as opposed to business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-government (B2G). The volume of B2B transactions is much higher than the volume of B2C transactions.

Supply chain management or SCM is the control of the supply chain as a process from supplier to manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer. There are three goals of SCM: to reduce inventory, to increase the speed of transactions with real-time data exchange, and to increase revenue by satisfying customer demands more efficiently.

References
Business-to-business (n.d.). Retrieved July 19, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B2B_e-commerce
CRM (n.d.). Retrieved July 19, 2009, from http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/CRM.html
Supply chain management (n.d.). Retrieved July 19, 2009 from http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supply_chain_management.html
What is CRM Software(n.d.). Retrieved June 19, 2009, from http://www.tech-faq.com/crm-software.shtml