Why You Should Implement a Customer Relationship Management System - Research Proposal Example

Why you should implement a relationship management system BY YOU YOUR SCHOOL DATA HERE HERE As an employer that markets itself to adult learners, the college has three main departments that make up the online campus. They are admission counselors, student service advisors, and financial aid officers. The goal of all three of these departments is the same: that is to get the students enrolled into the college and to eventually graduate. The issue this college faces is that all three departments do not have the same visibility on the student’s information. This can lead to a poor experience for the student and the employees. The recommendation provided is to implement CRM software that would give all three departments the visibility they require to successfully service the student, therefore improving relationships and college marketing image. Why you should implement a customer relationship management system Problem Identification The operation of an e-business enterprise, especially when part of the small- to medium-sized business network, requires having a sound grasp on marketing and taking advantage of online promotion. Since the majority of interactions with students, both current and incoming, takes place via the Internet, the ability to successfully advertise and build the foundation of relationship are important to securing customer loyalty. Unlike most traditional campuses that have face-to-face networking capabilities, the online campus is heavily reliant on the impression that is given to potential (and current) students by means of how the business presents itself. At the same time, the admission counseling department, student service advisors, and financial aid officers have specialized roles with unique job functions. However, students rely on all of these business divisions in order to guarantee a high quality educational experience. At the online campus, these job roles are segregated, meaning that they do not currently interface or have access to the same student information electronically or otherwise. This puts a great deal of the effort on the student to make these connections, which can be backlogged with missed phone call messages or delayed email responses. From the marketing angle, this can cause problems with student loyalty, create frustrations with both the student and the departments, and reduce overall service quality. Finding a method to link these departments together to make them more effective is the solution, in this case an electronic customer relationship management (CRM) system. What are the Issues? Research has identified that 88 percent of surveyed executives view client relationships as the most important factor behind revenue creation, with trust and mutual respect being the key to successful relationship-building (Addis, 2010). At the online campus, online relationships begin the moment the student accesses online information about the school, including its program offerings, staff credentials, pricing, and program duration. The method by which the organization presents itself, including visual representations in the online environment and personal interactions with campus staff members, is a form of advertising needed to generate higher revenues. Marketing is essential in this environment. Building trust and respect becomes a difficult task when the financial aid officers and admission counselors are forced to refer students to separate divisions in order to access needed information. Students rely on the competency and knowledge of all divisions at the campus in order to ensure that the learning process is ready to begin effectively. However, in the current system at the campus, there is no method by which to exchange inter-departmental knowledge. Marketing costs continue to rise due to higher volumes of competition in the online adult education market, with the majority of competition coming from highly-funded post-secondary organizations (Lefkowitz, 2006). These high-budget competitors have more advanced online systems for customer relationship management as well as the tools to create more quality advertising literature and develop superior website presence. The smaller campus needs a method by which to compete more effectively and the CRM system can put less emphasis on expensive advertising tools and put more emphasis on customer relationship and satisfaction. The CRM System The proposed CRM system should include an outbound chat strategy, using social networking tools. “An effective outbound chat strategy allows you to understand and connect with customers, efficiently promote and sell products, and provide real-time customer service” (Martinez, 2010, p.27). The current popularity of sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace (to name only a few) provide no-cost or low-cost access to chat features that can easily be incorporated into the current campus system. Outbound chat features allow for customers to make instant contact and the end user is able to send out messages even before the student has started writing their messages (Martinez). Such chat features can be linked together with financial services, student services, and admissions, allowing staff members to view the content and quality of inbound chat and provide inter-departmental feedback when needed in real-time. The speed by which customer service is improved with instant chat features is one method to manage the student and improve response times. It is a low-cost method of gaining access to distance learners that can be inter-linked between departments so that questions can be easily referred to the right knowledge leader. Social networking is becoming a very large trend with more users of all ages taking advantage of chat systems in the workplace and in personal lifestyle. Many students attend the online campus because it is convenient and can, generally, be accessed from any remote location so that a more flexible learning program can be developed for the individual learner. Expectations for service convenience are going to be a top priority, with frustrations likely rising when representatives from all three departments cannot be easily reached. It also provides a unique method to communicate with students without over-reliance on advertising. Adult distance learners want the experience hassle-free and this chat system in CRM provides just that. CRM systems also can be designed to improve database function so that larger volumes of information can be stored and cross-referenced easily. One well-known CRM system used in higher education is the Enrollment Rx program that can provide serve staff the ability to track graduate participation, maintain job placement data, or provide counseling data on internship programs (enrollmentrx.com, 2010). Even though most of these functions are related to the current student, having a database that can be accessed by all three departments can assist in answering student questions as they arise without necessarily having to refer the student to another specialized division. With a small information technology team and a rather small budget requirement, programs such as Enrollment Rx can be custom-tailored to fit the needs of the individual campus. The ability to house larger volumes of data related solely to the student is one major advantage in building more marketing presence and positive student sentiment. CRM is referred to as a “customer-centric” philosophy that must have three specific elements in order to be successful: people, technology and process (destinationcrm.com, 2010, p.1). At the campus, processes are already in place that ensure well-trained staff members, with specialized roles, who are able to provide students information effectively and manage their student affairs related to finance or individual goals. It is the technological barriers to cross-functional team development that is missing at the campus. In order to be customer-centric, a CRM system must have the ability to measure buying behavior, price sensitivity, and student longevity. “Customers vary in their needs and preferences and e-CRM systems help organizations assess customer loyalty and profitability through these measures” (Kriemadis, Kotsovos & Kartakoullis, 2009, p.230). The campus needs to have access to student profiles, such as their drop-out rates or their financial requirements, in order to provide meaningful data that is valuable to the company from a profit perspective. For example, though the financial aid office provides monetary information to the student, it is likely they are going to be asked questions that do not necessarily pertain to finance. Being customer-centric means equipping the financial aid office with technological access to student profiles so that busy adult distance learners do not have to spend their time making numerous phone calls for information that could be retrieved at the touch of a button. Cloud computing is a system where a secondary technology provider offers another business access to CRM systems using the web browser. An organization does not have to have its own CRM infrastructure in order to support advancing more quality service. With cloud computing, data is stored on service provider’s servers and users are allowed access with payment only for the use of their software systems (Burns, 2010). Cloud computing is an option for the online campus as it recognizes cost factors, requires no technical support for maintenance and upgrades, and information can be retrieved by all three departments if they are granted user access. For example, the admission office may have information about student values that are important to handling their online communications effectively that should be shared throughout the organization. This information, through CRM cloud computing, can be added on the student profile so that service advisors and the financial aid office understand how to best communicate with individual students. Most college departments do not understand employees at the individual level and take a somewhat generic approach to handling student inquiries. However, the entire goal of the CRM system is to provide a more effective, relationship-minded experience for students in order to gain better revenues from satisfied students. Using cloud computing CRM tools or developing a self-managed system opens the door for more student profiling so that each student is understood by all three departments as more than just a student number, but an individual with varying behaviors, lifestyles and values. CRM systems, then, tend to personalize the educational experience so that students feel valued regardless of which division they are contacting. “People’s wants, needs, desires and feelings change over time and result in different responses throughout different situations” (Weber, 2010, p.25). Having a more adaptable system that is able to be changed by all departments when new knowledge is gained gives students the impression of a more flexible and dynamic organization that genuinely understands how to provide excellence in service and one-on-one support. If there are concerns about how to manage the information technology architecture successfully, there is a software package known as BatchBlue that has gained national recognition as one of the most supportive package providers for CRM (Weinberger, 2010). Information technology support requires, generally, highly-paid tech engineers with the knowledge to make software additions, upgrades and corrections as needed based on business demand. Choosing a package such as BatchBlue puts the support back into the hands of the provider, therefore avoiding high payroll packages usually associated with more sophisticated and flexible IT support teams. When maintenance is a serious issue in order to improve inter-departmental efficiency, the type of package and the philosophy of the provider are important, therefore BatchBlue or cloud computing are quality options for budget and support. It is the process of giving all three departments access to more student-based information that is critical to helping the online campus compete and gain more student loyalty. The online environment provides little opportunity for support without a CRM system that provides this knowledge that can be accessed or distributed throughout the entire organization. Since online staff representatives must conduct virtually all of their transactions with students in the virtual or voice communications environments, CRM allows for a knowledge management environment that is team-focused and will likely improve staff relationships with one another in the process. Real-life Issues with Implementation It has been recommended that the development of a CRM system is necessary for the online campus to compete effectively and build higher revenues through more satisfied students. However, implementation of these systems can sometimes be extensive with high emphasis on cost. McKay (2008) offers that difficult-to-adopt CRM systems is wasted money and implementation timelines should be very seriously considered prior to actually selecting a service provider. There are risks associated with complicated systems from the user angle, as the more sophisticated these systems become, the more frustration and dissatisfaction can develop with staff (McKay). Another program available for the campus is Prophet 5, which has a recognized platform that requires little user adjustment or extensive training (McKay). This system is built on the foundation of Microsoft Outlook. This is an advantage as it often becomes an organization-wide effort to provide new systems training with change management practices needing development in order to guarantee success in learning. It is highly recommended that before the campus select its recommended CRM provider, these factors be taken into consideration to avoid resistance, cost-overruns or interruptive implementation cycles. Additionally, the development of a CRM system may also change internal policies and processes related to how information filters throughout the organization. Leadership may have to re-examine the organizational structure and look for redundant job roles or be forced to create new staffing positions. Since CRM provides a knowledge transferring environment, reliance on co-workers becomes higher that can impact staff members at the relationship level. Before implementing the recommended CRM system, an assessment of the capacity and competence of all three divisions should be conducted with a performance appraisal or skills profiling system. More interpersonal demands are going to be placed on all three divisions that had not previously existed. Though this is a rather small-scale issue, the level of frustration that could arise between division staff members could be transparent to students during their interactions if new team-working values are not addressed prior to launching the new systems. Conclusion and Recommendation There is clearly a need for a CRM system at the campus in order to build better relationships with students and ensure knowledge transfer and access efficiently. It is recommended, based on all of the proposed alternatives, that the college choose an in-house CRM system that can be modified and upgraded with internal support teams. Even though cloud computing is a cheaper alternative, it would not provide the type of flexibility for improvements that might be needed as the business evolves or student values and behaviors shift over time. The role of student service advisor is one of the most complex, relationship-oriented job roles at the college. A wealth of information is provided in this role about student lifestyle, values and goals that can be easily entered into a custom-tailored CRM system. Many of these student characteristics would be valuable to admissions and financial aid services since these can be some of the most frustrating encounters for students. Having knowledge about their behaviors or individual preferences could give the entire organization the chance to provide a consistent service encounter. Students are going to offer word-of-mouth to other potential students about their experiences with the campus, so again marketing is a major concern. It is recommended that the chosen CRM system have some form of inbound and outbound chat system for real-time support to improve student perceptions of convenience that is expected in an online campus education. References Addis, Scott. (2010). “Relationships…Your Benchmark to a Meaningful Career”, Rough Notes. 153(9), pp.218-220. Burns, Michael. (2010). “CRM Survey 2010”, CA Magazine. 143(3), p.11. Destinationcrm.com. (2010). “What is CRM?”. Retrieved November 1, 2010 from http://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/CRM-News/Daily-News/What-Is-CRM-46033.aspx Enrollmentrx.com. (2010). “Enrollment Rx: On-demand CRM software for higher education”. Retrieved November 2, 2010 from http://enrollmentrx.com/assets/enrollment_rx_llc.pdf. Kriemadis, T., Kotsovos, A. & Kartakoullis, N. (2009). “A strategy for managing customer relations on the internet: evidence from the football sector”, Direct Marketing. 3(4), pp.229-243. Lefkowitz, Neil. (2006). “College Buyers Widen their Horizons”, Mergers & Acquisitions. 41(5), pp.38-42. Martinez, J. (2010). “How Can I Help U?”, Customer Relationship Management. 14(10), pp.26-31. McKay, Lauren. (2008). “8 Enterprise Strategies that Stick”, Customer Relationship Management. 12(8), pp.34-39. Weber, Alan. (2010). “Grow Your Customers”, Target Marketing, Philadelphia. 33(4), pp.25-28. Weinberger, Joshua. (2010). “The Small Fry”, Customer Relationship Management. 14(8), p.28. Read More