THE PLANNING OF A CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT PROJECT: REQUIREMENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES Professor PhD Adriana OLARU Lecturer Alexandru CAPATINA Dunrea de Jos University of Galati, Romania Abstract: After a brief presentation of the aspects regarding the planning of a customer relationship management (CRM) project, we emphasize the factors that assure the success of such an approach. In order to obtain the attended results, an organization needs the best selection of the project manager and the most efficient teamwork, which implies employees from the company’s departments and also IT specialists. In the final part, we made appreciations concerning the efficiency of a CRM project and the opportunities created by its implementation. Keywords: customer relationship management project, business strategies General considerations concerning the planning of a CRM project The planning of a CRM project supposes the realization of a real partnership between the top management of a company and its stakeholders, those interests consist of the maintenance and the development of customer relationships. One of the most difficult tasks in a CRM project launching is the definition of the factors that assure its success. A research managed by Yancy Oshita, Senior Manager of Oracle and Professor of Dayton University, U.S.A., emphasizes the main successfully principles of a CRM project [1]: • the ability of the CRM project manager to adapt its objectives to the global strategy of the company; • the integration of CRM technologies in the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) information system; • the instauration of a strategic partnership based on the multiplication of the interactions between a company and its customers; • the quick assimilation of the knowledge by the team project members that participate to training programs. The initial challenge that determines the implementation of a CRM project in an organization can be outlined in the following three situations. The general manager of a company reads a book in CRM domain, appreciates the benefits of this business philosophy and wants to adapt such an approach to its business; A marketing manager comes back from a conference which main topic is CRM and is impressed by a study case that revealed different techniques referring to the augmentation of customers’ profitability; A product manager participates to a presentation of software which insures the sales force automation and is fascinated by its capabilities to increase the sales volume and customer loyalty. The project management in CRM automation processes implies both a planning of the objectives and the surveillance of the specific activities, based on the following tasks: the definition of the resources, the