CRM applications are primarily used to address the needs of marketing, sales and distribution, and customer service and support divisions within an organization. The purpose of CRM software is to allow the marketing, sales and distribution divisions to share data on prospects, customers, partners, competitors and employees, and also to manage a customer through the entire customer lifecycle.

The nature of the CRM application functions necessitates access to real-time data and enhanced technical features that would translate such data to personalized marketing strategies.