Customer relationship management is an essential component of customer-focused business operations and digital transformation. The combination of processes, data, applications, and technology makes CRM a core element within enterprise architecture.
By clearly visualizing and managing CRM architecture, organizations gain control over their customer processes, data quality, and integrations, enabling them to build valuable and consistent customer relationships.
What is CRM?
Customer relationship management is both a business strategy and a system that enables organizations to manage and strengthen customer relationships. It focuses on centrally capturing, visualizing, and leveraging customer information. This enables organizations to respond more effectively to customer needs, refine their commercial processes, and enhance the quality of their services.
A customer relationship management system supports this by collecting data on customers, leads, and interactions in a single location. By making this information accessible to sales, marketing, and service teams, a more comprehensive and consistent view of each customer is created, enabling the organization to anticipate needs and provide more informed advice.
CRM is rarely a standalone system. To truly deliver value, it must be integrated with other core applications. For example, a CRM system can retrieve sales information from an ERP system, synchronize marketing campaigns with a marketing automation platform, and link customer service cases to a service tool.
For example, a sales account manager preparing a quote can automatically see in CRM whether a product is in stock via the ERP integration. Similarly, the marketing team can execute follow-up actions through integrated marketing automation based on sales results—for example, sending a reminder campaign to customers who attended a webinar but have not yet purchased a product.
CRM Modules and Functionalities
CRM consists of multiple modules, each supporting a specific process:
- Sales: Lead management, opportunity management, account management, sales analytics.
Example: A sales account manager can automatically see which leads are warm and which actions are needed to close a deal. - Marketing: Campaign management, segmentation, lead nurturing, marketing analytics.
Example: A customer showing interest in a product category automatically receives a personalized email campaign. - Customer Service: Ticket management, self-service portals, knowledge base, SLA monitoring.
Example: Service cases are automatically assigned to the appropriate employee based on expertise and workload. - Data & Analytics: Customer data management, dashboards, predictive analytics, and AI applications.
Example: The system predicts which customers are most likely to make a repeat purchase, enabling targeted marketing actions.
Why CRM is Important
CRM helps organizations operate in a customer-focused manner based on reliable information. When a sales team can see exactly which previous conversations have taken place, which products a customer has purchased, and which issues have recently been reported to customer service, it becomes easier to make relevant proposals or provide advice.
At the same time, CRM plays a key role in digital transformation. For example, a company transitioning from an Excel-based workflow to a modern CRM platform will first harmonize its data models in the roadmap, then run a pilot with one sales team, and subsequently integrate with ERP in phases.
Customers today expect personalized and fast interactions across multiple channels (customer self-service). CRM enables this, for example, by:
- Scheduling automatic follow-up actions
- Sending personalized campaigns
- Digitally tracking and routing service requests
Organizations that use CRM strategically often notice that the quality of customer interactions improves, the sales cycle shortens, and marketing can segment and target more effectively.
A customer reports a service case via the portal → CRM registers the case → ERP checks the order status → Marketing receives a trigger for a follow-up email → Sales views the complete customer history → all data is updated in the 360-degree customer view.
From Customer Data to a 360-Degree Customer View
A central theme in CRM is creating a complete, integrated view of the customer. A 360-degree customer view collects all relevant data, including contact information, purchase history, service requests, marketing interactions, and payment status.
For example, when a service representative receives a complaint, they can immediately see that the customer recently showed interest in a new product line and was very satisfied with a previous purchase. This makes the service not only faster but also more personalized.
CRM as Part of Enterprise Architecture
Although CRM offers many benefits, there are also common challenges. Data quality is the most frequent issue: duplicate customer records, incomplete profiles, or inconsistent addresses can lead to inaccurate analyses.
An organization implements CRM but forgets to establish clear data standards. After a few months, customer names appear in five different variations. By visualizing this issue through a data quality analysis in Dragon1, it becomes clear that a governance measure is needed.
User adoption can also be difficult; if sales teams do not consistently record data, the system loses value. Additionally, complexity in integrations can be a challenge: linking CRM with ERP, marketing tools, and service platforms can be difficult.
Within enterprise architecture, CRM forms a central hub connecting people, processes, applications, and data. CRM touches all layers of the architecture:
- Business Layer: CRM influences the sales process, customer management, and marketing activities. Examples include defining a "lead-to-opportunity" process or a "case-to-resolution" workflow.
- Information Layer: CRM plays a role in defining customer data models and data flows. A typical example is modeling a 360-degree customer view, which integrates data from marketing, ERP, service, and e-commerce.
- Application Layer: CRM appears as a core system that must be connected to other platforms. Integration with ERP is crucial, for example, to provide sales teams with accurate order information.
- Technology Layer: This layer determines the required infrastructure, such as cloud solutions, security guidelines, and API gateways that exchange data securely.
By modeling CRM across these architecture layers using Dragon1, organizations gain a clear overview of how customer data flows through the enterprise.
CRM Architectures for GRC and Security
Because CRM contains sensitive customer information, governance plays a crucial role. Organizations must clearly define who owns which data, who has access to customer information, and how it is logged. GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is also a mandatory component: customers must be informed about how their data is used and, in some cases, provide consent.
Security principles and data standards can be documented in architecture documentation so that everyone knows how to handle customer information.
Additionally, GDPR compliance is required: customers must know how their data is used, and consent may be necessary. Security principles and data standards can be captured and enforced in Dragon1.
With Dragon1, organizations can document and communicate CRM architectures through:
- Blueprint of the future CRM landscape
- GRC - Governance, Risk and Compliance Blueprint
- Security Blueprint
- Customer journey map to analyze customer interactions
- Data model for customer information
- Integration model for connections with ERP and marketing tools
- Transition roadmap for CRM implementation
These visualizations support decision-making, communication, and project prioritization.
CRM KPIs and Value
CRM delivers value when the right performance indicators are tracked. Typical KPIs include customer satisfaction, retention, conversion rates, and service case turnaround times. By incorporating these KPIs into architecture roadmaps and dashboards, processes can be continuously monitored and optimized.
| Dragon1 Architecture Product | KPIs | Measurable Metrics | Cost ($) | ROI (%) |
Enterprise Architecture Blueprint
(Strategy Map, As-Is / To-Be Blueprint) | Retention Rate, Churn Rate | Retention 80–90%, Churn 10–20% | 50,000–120,000 | 125–250% |
Process Optimization
(Lead and Cross-Sell Processes) | Revenue per Customer, Number of Additional Products Sold | Avg. Revenue $1,000–1,500, +10–20% additional products | 40,000–100,000 | 100–212% |
Customer Service Automation Scenarios
(Decision Scenarios) | Average Response Time, Automatically Resolved Tickets | Response Time 1–3 hours, 50–70% automatic | 30,000–80,000 | 100–150% |
Marketing Analytics Dashboard
(Business Blueprint + Application Landscape + Roadmap) | Campaign Conversion Rate, Cost per Lead | Conversion Rate 8–12%, CPL $20–35 | 35,000–90,000 | 100–150% |
Sales & Marketing Data Integration
(Scenario Analysis + Data Models) | Data Quality, Time Savings on Reports | Data Quality 90–98%, Report Time –40–60% | 60,000–150,000 | 100–233% |
Roadmaps and Change Management Models
(Implementation Planning for CRM/ERP Integration) | On-Time Implementation, Project Completion | % on time, % of projects completed within budget | 25,000–70,000 | 100–214% |
Application Landscape
(Overview of CRM, ERP, and Marketing Applications) | System Consistency, Integration Efficiency | % integrated applications, error reduction | 30,000–80,000 | 100–150% |
Dragon1 as your Add-On to Existing CRM Systems
Dragon1 can be easily added as an add-on to your existing CRM system. It combines powerful data analysis with visual architecture modeling, enabling customer information not only to be stored but also to be visualized.
By visualizing CRM data in processes, data flows, and architecture landscapes, a complete overview of customer interactions is created.
Analyses are directly linked to the architecture, making trends, KPIs, and deviations quickly visible. This supports decision-making and helps optimize customer processes. Dragon1 makes complex data understandable through visualizations that can be easily shared within teams.
The platform can be configured flexibly without altering the core of the CRM system. This allows your organization to gain additional insight and control over customer relationships. In short, Dragon1 enhances CRM by combining data analysis and architecture into a single, clear tool.
A CRM transformation usually proceeds in stages. Organizations begin by analyzing their current situation — both in terms of processes and technology. Next, a vision and target architecture are developed. Then, CRM solutions are selected and integrated with existing systems, followed by the setup of adoption and governance. Finally, monitoring, optimization, and continuous improvement take place.