The importance of customer relationship management (CRM) in commerce education and practice

This dissertation looks at how Customer Relationship Management (CRM) practices affect commerce education and its use in real-world businesses, filling an important gap in understanding how CRM impacts customer engagement and retention strategies. Using a mixed-methods approach, the research includes quantitative data collected from surveys of educational institutions and qualitative insights from interviews with industry professionals. This study assesses how effective CRM integration is in commerce curricula. The results show a strong positive link between thorough CRM training in schools and better customer engagement metrics in businesses hiring graduates with CRM skills. Additionally, the research shows that graduates with strong CRM abilities improve customer retention strategies and build strong client relationships, confirming the need for this training in commerce education. The implications of this study go beyond commerce, indicating that including CRM practices in educational structures can help future professionals across various industries improve customer satisfaction and loyalty. Ultimately, the research stresses the vital importance of aligning educational practices with industry needs to prepare a workforce skilled at handling customer relationship challenges, thus contributing to the broader conversation about improving vocational readiness in a competitive business environment.