Several Outlook-based CRM systems such as MX-Contact
(www.mxcontact.com)
are Outlook Add-Ins that overcome these limitations by extending
the functionality of Outlook to transform it into a powerful CRM
system without changing the way users send mail, schedule appointments,
etc. Such systems utilise all of Outlook’s existing functionality
but add the functionality found in CRM systems to co-ordinate
the activities and items in Outlook into “one
central view of all customer related information”.
This is the so-called holy grail of CRM. An example of an Outlook
form adapted to reflect this “customer information”
view is shown below: