Many reading this may want to know what CRM is and how CRM and social CRM differ.  CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management.  This is the process of managing customer interaction and data within a company. 

CRM provides a maintenance platform, while social CRM provides a maintenance platform as well as a way to interact with customers from a social perspective. The history of social CRM covers only the last few years, but is a convergence from traditional CRM, which has been around for over a decade.

As these two services met, a new era of greater communication with the consumer began.  Social CRM is expected to be a $1 billion industry by 2013 or 8% of the entire $12 billion CRM industry. 

Among the many players is a tiny startup changing the face of how Social CRM is being done. They are branding themselves as a customizable social CRM and business productivity company committed to tailoring themselves.  Their name is Dynamictivity.  Dynamictivity’s product Kinspir began to make steady progress in gaining new customers and is currently in negotiations with Zappos.com.

As CRM has blended with social media, this field has grown to incorporate several more upstart companies, including:  Bantam, Jitterjam, SugarCRM, and countless others.  Recently, Bantam and Jitterjam were acquired.  However, there are still many companies in this field and a constant need for continued integration, innovation and service. 

As we close this year, new startups will likely be founded and there will be new buyouts as this technology finally reaches the mainstream.  Social CRM will likely continue to fill the void between traditional media, social media and traditional CRM for years to come.

Jason Baudendistel is an author, blogger, entrepreneur and consultant.   Baudendistel is the Director of Marketing at Dynamictivity and CEO of Bored Student Records.  He has a new book coming out soon on entrepeneurship and another on social media marketing.  Visit him at Kinspir.com.