CRM was once little more than a database of client interactions that a sales rep kept on their hard drive in various stages of decay. Full of cryptic notes and out-dated contacts, it was the epitome of the term GIGO (garbage in, garbage out). Today, CRM is at the core of a customer-centric world. Earlier this year a story emerged from within the financial press that cloud-based CRM pioneer Salesforce was on the block. The asking price, according to reports, was $US44 billion. Among the rumoured suitors: Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, Google, IBM and Amazon.