In a CRM  database, each record has numerous fields that may include confidential information, not just about your customers, but also about your sales team and business operations. In the B2C world selling to consumers, confidential customer information often includes social security numbers, credit card details, and home addresses. While, in the B2B world -- selling business to business that is -- confidential information can include purchase histories that represent millions of dollars in sales, as well as potentially confidential information about your sales team, like sales commissions, sales goals, and a multitude of other strategic details.
The benefit of gathering so much information in a single database is that it can give a crystal-clear image of each customer's relationship with your company, both in terms of past behavior and potential future actions.
But is it such a good idea to allow full access for everyone who uses your CRM database -- from sales reps and support personnel, consultants and warehouse workers, all the way up to your C-level executives? Certainly not.
Sometimes, it's not good business for colleagues to see each other's commission information. Or, perhaps it creates a security risk for consultants to have access to all customer data if they could also be working for a competitor. Even in-house staffers can be a major cause for concern. It's not uncommon for companies to see their customer records "transported" to another firm when a disgruntled employee leaves.
Ensuring that customer records have some measure of privacy doesn't mean shutting users out completely, though, or forcing them to ask permission every time they use the system . Instead, creating a role-based structure can keep privacy controls in place without sacrificing productivity.
Role Playing
Role-based security is fairly straightforward as a concept. Basically, an administrator blocks out or allows information viewing based on the user's role or function within the organization. Working with a role-based security process involves setting permissions for different users to ensure that each person only has access to information that is essential or appropriate for their position.
For example, a company may decide to let only senior-level marketing executives see specific customer data that's tied to a recent campaign. Or they could release sales commission notes to the vice president of sales and no one else. (continued...)
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