Editing Customer relationship management (section)

=== Sales and sales force automation ===
Sales forces also play an important role in CRM, as maximizing [[Sales Effectiveness|sales effectiveness]] and increasing sales [[productivity]] is a driving force behind the adoption of CRM software. Some of the top CRM trends identified in 2021 include focusing on customer service automation such as chatbots, hyper-personalization based on customer data and insights, and the use of unified CRM systems.<ref>{{Cite web|title=CRM Trends 2021: How the Pandemic Altered Customer Behavior Forever|url=https://www.informationweek.com/software/enterprise-applications/crm-trends-2021-how-the-pandemic-altered-customer-behavior-forever/d/d-id/1340192|access-date=2021-08-04|website=www.informationweek.com|date=18 February 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Forrester|title=Three Key CRM Trends In 2021 That Will Allow You To Better Engage Your Customers|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/forrester/2021/04/09/three-key-crm-trends-in-2021-that-will-allow-youtobetter-engage-your-customers/|access-date=2021-08-04|website=Forbes|language=en}}</ref> CRM vendors support sales productivity with different products, such as tools that measure the effectiveness of ads that appear in 3D video games.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Gagliordi|first=Natalie|title=Oracle announces in-game ad measurement technology in new CX portfolio update|url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/oracle-announces-in-game-ad-measurement-technology-in-new-cx-portfolio-update/|access-date=2021-08-18|website=ZDNet|language=en}}</ref>

Pharmaceutical companies were some of the first investors in sales force automation (SFA) and some are on their third- or fourth-generation implementations. However, until recently, the deployments did not extend beyond SFA—limiting their scope and interest to Gartner analysts.<ref>{{cite web | title = Gartner's Top 54 CRM Case Studies, Sorted by Industry, for 2005 | url=https://www.gartner.com/doc/481170/gartners-top--crm-case | access-date=20 May 2005}}</ref>