How Does CRM Help Companies with Their Customers - Term Paper Example

ID # How does CRM help companies with their s? The Relationship Management (or simply CRM) refers to a strategy that business organizations implement to manage customers’ communications. One well-known instance of a CRM policy is the rewards card program available at numerous supermarkets. In this scenario, the business offers its customers a free card that allows them with the access to particular deals and discounts when they swipe the card at the checkout point. In addition, this card as well tracks the entire process of shopping by the customer as well as allowing the store to produce a tremendously detailed buyer personal and shopping profile based on customer purchasing behavior. Thus, on the basis of such application of information, the store is able to offer its clientele targeted coupons and additional programs that will motivate its consumers to purchase more products from that store (Connick; Turban, Leidner and McLean). In addition, the customer relationship management is an information industry paradigm intended for software, methodologies and especially the Internet service that facilitates a company to manage customer relationships in a well-organized way (Williams; Turban, Leidner and McLean). This paper will discuss some of the important aspects of customer relationship management and how CRM help companies with their customers. The basic purpose of this research is to assess the potential influence of effective CRM policies, technologies and strategies for building better customer services for any business. Customer Relationship Management Systems In the past, the customers’ data were stored in various remote systems in a variety of functional departments, for instance, sales, finance, distribution, and marketing. On the other hand, the emergence of e-commerce created huge amounts of customer data that were not incorporated with the data in the service area of the information system. Thus, the CRM applications were created in an attempt to deal with these issues by offering information and tools to bring a better customer experience and to maximize the time customer value for an organization. Basically, the CRM puts together customers’ data from a variety of corporate departments, evaluate these data, and then offer the results to both customers and employees touch points. In this scenario, a customer touch point can be any method to communicate with the customer for instance, email, telephone or fax (Turban, Leidner and McLean; Stair and Reynolds). However, we will make a mistake if we consider the customer relationship management as simply a software system or solution. Without doubt, customer relationship management can offer the companies a wide variety of tools and techniques to effectively manage and monitor clients. However, CRM is as well a viewpoint, a strategic method for recognizing the requirements of the organization’s customers. In fact, the effective management of a customer’s requirements directs toward customer satisfaction. In addition, if an organization does not link itself with the trends of always growing marketplace, not expecting and responding to its customers, it fails to survive. In addition, a business is not able to construct preference for a product if its customers’ requirements and desires are not precisely understood and satisfied. In this scenario, in the approved manner implemented CRM solutions can be an influential tool that businesses can utilize to build brand preference, and make their customers happy (SageAsiaPac). The Applications of CRM Systems The majority of CRM applications and service packages exist to help organizations manage the customer relationship process. In fact, salespeople are likely to consider of these computer applications as the be-all and end-all of customer relationship management. On the other hand, customer relationship management has at the present turned into a great deal broader as compared to a computer; actually, it has been present in one form or another for offering people a lot of services. Additionally, the computers have very much improved the customer relationship management process for the reason that the basic way to a high-quality CRM is discovery and storing information regarding clients and customers. Thus, the more a business would be familiar with its customers, the more it will be able to manage those associations (Connick; Turban, Leidner and McLean). In addition, the customer relationship management systems can be used to store customers’ data and information in a simple accessible format. With a distinctive CRM program, new entries are done in the application's database and salespeople insert notes all through the sales cycle. It is then simple for a business person to accumulate reports from these data that help them to derive a superior CRM strategy that is customized to its customers. Additionally, the CRM software can automatically transfer customized emails to people as elected by the salesperson. For instance, a salesperson might plan his CRM to convey a message containing a thank you note whenever a client reaches his/her one-year anniversary of the relationship, or to transmit an e-card on the customer’s birthday (Connick; Turban, Leidner and McLean). Moreover, once a business has received all the customer’s details, the subsequent step is training its sales staff and other workers to make best use of that information to maintain the customer relationship effectively. In view of the fact that the sales staff is frequently the 'face' of any business, thus they play a significant role in a CRM program. In fact, a customer who runs into technical issues will make a phone call to their sales staff in place of calling up the client service team. They already have been familiar with their sales person and almost certainly have high-quality feelings for him, or they would not have bought the product from him. In addition, it is a great deal simple to arrive at out to somebody they are familiar with than to attempt to explain their issues to a stranger. Hence, even the sales are done and transactions are completed, sales people often carrying on to speak and customers on a regular basis (Connick; Turban, Leidner and McLean). Though, these customer interactions could a burden for a salesperson, however they can bring a blessing in the form of increased sales. In fact, when a salesperson helps out their customer to resolve hard issues, it is a great deal additional possible that the customer would like to be in contact with them for future purchases. In addition, there is as well a possibility that the customer will refer their friends and family to that salesperson. And that’s what a successful customer relationship management system attempts to do. However, it is essential for the business organization that their sales team recognizes and applies its business's CRM strategy. In this scenario, the sales staff manager should advise their team on how to construct and maintain a high-quality customer relationship. The majority of salespeople are glad to do so once the fruits of this labor institute rolling in the appearance of extra sales (Connick; Turban, Leidner and McLean). How CRM Helps Companies? The implementation of a customer relationship management system allows the business organizations to manage their accounts effectively by providing the marketing, sales and support staff with the comprehensive customer histories they require in order to deliver a great deal additional personalized service. In addition, it as well ensures the smooth execution of key operations and practices, by facilitating businesses to get a deep insight into the communications that absolutely and harmfully influence the customer experience, so more effectual procedures could be implemented in order to resolve those issues (Business-Software; Turban, Leidner and McLean). In addition, a wide variety of CRM applications and solutions encompass modules for call center, campaign and contact management, and customer analytics that bring vital intelligence regarding customers’ requirements, preferences, and behaviors. Additionally, the customer relationship management systems as well offer dashboards that permit administrators to track serious customer related performance metrics. Moreover, the CRM could be used for modernizing email marketing by completely automating the method business has launched, developed and tracked. As well, CRM improves the global account management, eradicating overlapping and redundant activities by effectively organizing service delivery to customers through many offices spanning numerous countries (Business-Software; Turban, Leidner and McLean). Additionally, the customer relationship management plays a significant role in the e-commerce. For this purpose, the CRM analysis encompasses all the information technologies that analyze data regarding corporate customers and then present it efficiently, supporting the business decisions to be made rapidly and correctly. In addition, determining and analyzing complex data and information regarding customers’ actions and behaviors is much more advantageous than analyzing customer thoughts or predicting customer dealings without solid data to support these postulations. In fact, a number of corporations at the present time collect terabytes of information regarding customers, such as buying cycles, demographics, product interest and reaction to marketing efforts (Gondwe; Gordon; Fernekees; Fathy). According to Fernekees (2008) the basic reason of using a CRM is the customer satisfaction that brings more return on investment (ROI) and customers to a business. In addition, this modern attention is the direct outcome of the new web based electronic business world. Additionally, the WWW (World Wide Web) is the ideal place to find and develop the client on a one-to-one basis. In addition, it presents a matchless prospect to personalize services, numerous alternatives for consumer support, delivers loyalty plans, and measures customer satisfaction. Moreover, the application of the CRM goes further than automating business tasks. It involves a basic transformation in the operations and culture of a business. It as well deals with tackling the business communications needs intended for its implementation on the web. In the same way, Fathy discusses some ideas about the customer relationship management, according to their viewpoint, the CRM is all about identifying the customer's requirements and making use of these collected data and information to increase business sales as well as improve service. In fact, CRM systems build the boundaries between service and sales (Fernekees; Fathy). Moreover, CRM allows the businesses to attract more customers to their business by authorizing sales representatives through efficient opportunity management that facilitates them to prioritize their forecast, systematize their sales cycles, and precisely uphold calendars and activity logs. Once a view is complete to make a purchase, CRM can be used for status tracking and order processing. In addition, the business wide measures can be improved through CRM. Additionally, high level forecasting potential offers more timely and accurate business supply chain management (Business-Software; Turban, Leidner and McLean). From the discussion, it is clear that CRM offers a lot of advantages to the businesses. So by using a CRM an organization can improve its services and attract more customers. How Does CRM Help? If an organization is willing to take the necessary steps to implement a good CRM, its automation can make the company vastly more efficient. However, initial adopters of computer technology took charge to develop efficient methods to keep track of the prospective clients and customers. In addition, they found that centralizing a database of their clients gave their sales professionals valuable information about other similar prospective successes, it gave their management a way to see what is happening in their sales organization in one universal platform and, most importantly, it gave organizations a way to professionally and effectively establish continual contact with perspective clients who might have otherwise been neglected. Since that time, CRM software developers have been attempting to add more and more functionality, tools and problem solving features to help organizations get ahead with the customers (Soleran; Turban, Leidner and McLean). CRM Systems Leverage Customer Service Opportunities The majority of marketing automation CRM tools helps the organizations to determine the life cycle for a service or a product. For instance, with a CRM system a manufacturer can be able to learn extra regarding how frequently a usual customer likes to put back a product with a new model. In the same way, a CRM system can allow a service provider to present a prompt to renovate a contribution or to return for service. Hence, the businesses that make use of CRM systems to track their long-standing relationships with customers are able to intertwine an efficient story into yet the majority frustrating experiences (Taylor; Turban, Leidner and McLean). Conclusion In the past, the customers’ data were stored in various remote systems in a variety of functional departments, for instance, sales, finance, distribution, and marketing. On the other hand, the emergence of e-commerce created huge amounts of customer data that were not incorporated with the data in the service area of the information system. Thus, the CRM applications were created in an attempt to deal with these issues by offering information and tools to bring a better customer experience and to maximize the time customer value for an organization. The Customer Relationship Management (or simply CRM) refers to a strategy that business organizations implement to manage customers’ communications. One well-known instance of a CRM policy is the rewards card program available at numerous supermarkets. Works Cited Business-Software. CRM A-Z. 2012. 31 March 2012 . Connick, Wendy. What is CRM? 2012. 30 March 2012 . Fathy, Nazan. "E-commerce: All about Customer Relationship Management." 01 April 1999. suite101.com. 25 March 2012 . Fernekees, Bob. "CRM magazine Best Practices Series: CRM & eCommerce." 01 June 2008. AllBusiness.com, Inc. 26 March 2012 . Gondwe, Eric. "Electronic Commerce, eCommerce: Trading Goods & Services Online." 2009. Web Development Career. 25 March 2012 . Gordon, Ian. "Best Practices: Customer Relationship Management." 2002. IveyBusinessJournal.com. 25 March 2012 . SageAsiaPac. Customer Connect. 2012. 30 March 2012 . Soleran. How can CRM help me? Time to clear your doubts. 2010. 31 March 2012 . Stair, Ralph M. and George W. Reynolds. Principles of Information Systems, Sixth Edition. Toronto : Thomson Learning, Inc., 2003. Taylor, Joe. How CRM Helps Companies Market to Buyers. 2008. 31 March 2012 . Turban, Efraim, et al. Information Technology for Management: Transforming Organizations in the Digital Economy, . 4th. New York: Wiley, 2005. Williams, Eric. CRM (customer relationship management). 2006. 31 March 2012 . Read More