Literature Review The Changing Sales and Marketing Landscape Marketing and business development professionals are facing a rapidly changing and evolving business landscape. The traditional business model that was once the standard is now transforming thanks to technological drivers that enable advanced marketing and sales capabilities. Yesterday's business model supported mass marketing, mass production, and standardized cookie-cutter products and services. Businesses will fall behind the competition if they continue to rely on and operate on this sub-standard model. Today, companies are redesigning their operations and investing in improved IT infrastructures, which enable them to deliver customized, personalized, and information-rich products and services. The new focus for marketers and business developers involves understanding the needs of their customers and the markets they serve. This new focus on delivering customer value is redefining business processes. Professionals who understand and anticipate this change are positioning themselves ahead of the competition. The Impact of Technology-Enabled Business Processes There is no denying the effect that technology has had on the way we conduct business. In recent years, technology has begun to play a significantly larger role in all aspects of business, including sales and marketing. Business processes must be redesigned to incorporate a proactive strategy for using information and IT to create a competitive advantage over other organizations. In many cases, the capabilities provided by sales and marketing technology only automate current processes. Therefore, it is crucial that processes are clearly defined and well tested. Automating a poorly understood or followed process usually results in failure. Technology must be used as an enabler to support an already robust sales and marketing strategy. In addition to automating sales and marketing capabilities, the technology is now designed to provide professionals with a wealth of information about their company's customers and the markets they serve. Companies are now able to collect data about their customers which, if analyzed and used correctly, can result in a competitive advantage. Online shopping is a great example. If a customer makes a purchase, the transaction is completed and revenue is generated. However, if a… mid-paper profile… of a tomer based on data received from web recordings, surveys, and historical interactions. Information from customer transactions may be used to determine the customer's preferences, needs, as well as activities or events in which the customer has participated. This information can be used when making decisions about how to best optimize sales with that customer in the future. The architectural components of a CRM To understand the structure of a CRM solution it is necessary to consider the business model it is designed to support. As previously mentioned, marketing and sales departments are increasingly relying on relationship marketing as a means to more effectively acquire and retain customers. In short, to be competitive, companies must operate on the basis of a customer-centric business model. The Gartner Group predicts that there is an 80% chance that by 2001, 70% of marketing applications will be entirely redesigned to focus on customers rather than products and redistributed to take advantage of: 2020