"Is Customer Experience Management (CEM) a replacement for CRM?" This is a very good question, and from my perspective the answer is "No".

Most CRM systems today were designed for call-center phone interactions and therefore the software itself was only used by employees. The "customer experience" in call-center environments are actually initially managed by IVR (Interactive Voice Response) systems, or what are commonly referred to as "phone trees" (you know... "Press 1 for English, 2 for Espanol").

But in the Internet era, online customer interactions can be highly personalized, relevant, and tightly integrated with CRM. I always tell people that CEM is "IVR for the Web".

Hence, Customer Experience Management is a logical extension to CRM that incorporates technologies and best practices that ensure each customer interaction is relevant and personalized.