Short answer
Customer relationship management (CRM) is both the practice of managing every interaction with clients and prospects and the software that supports it. A CRM system stores contacts, accounts, activities, opportunities and service requests in one place so teams share a single view of each relationship.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) explained
Modern CRM platforms such as Salesforce and HubSpot go well beyond a contact database. They automate sales, marketing and service processes, provide reporting and forecasting, connect to other systems, and increasingly run AI assistants and agents on top of the customer data. Industry versions, such as Salesforce Financial Services Cloud, add data models for specific sectors.
A CRM succeeds or fails on adoption and data quality, not on features.
How Vantage Point helps: we help firms choose between Salesforce and HubSpot, implement them, and keep them healthy through managed services.
Frequently asked questions
Salesforce or HubSpot?
Salesforce suits complex processes, heavy customization and industry data models; HubSpot suits teams that want speed, ease of use and marketing strength. Our Salesforce vs. HubSpot guide compares them.
Why do CRM implementations fail?
Most often because of poor adoption, unclear processes and bad data, rather than the software itself.