Customer Relationship Management - Assignment Example

Running head: Customer Relationship Management Customer Relationship Management [Writer’s Name] [Institution’s Name] Table of Contents Question 1: Page no. 1. Introduction 3 2. Successful Implementation of CRM 3 I. Strategies 3 II. People 3 III. Process 4 IV. Technology 4 3. Conclusion 5 Question 2: Page no. 1. CRM 6 2. B-to-B and B-to-C 6 3. CRM in B-to-B and B-to-C in 2021 6 Question 1: Introduction There can be good CRM software and not as good CRM software. The actual thing is that the success of the CRM depends on how it is implemented by its practitioners. They cannot simply set up software and leave it alone, hoping to attain gains through it. There is a requirement of the employees backing up the software in order to lead to a suitable influence on customer management. First of all, there is a requirement of determining the constituents of success for the company. Later on the implementation of the success measures has to be done in order to reach out to success. For successful implementation of CRM there has to be strategy, people, technology and process. These should also be there in the exact sequence. Successful Implementation of CRM Strategies The group of strategies will be discussed first. This includes there being objectives of CRM. That is, what the company is aiming to attain through CRM. This could be done by reducing the churn rate, by increasing cross-selling rates among the present clients, by increasing the repeated purchase rate, by increasing the profits attained from each client, to distinguish among the valuable and useless customers. Several of the CRM implementations overlook the aspect of change management. CRM demands plenty of alterations about the whole of the business and so there has to be the capability of successfully conducting change management in order to make the implementation gainful. There should be considerations of elements such as people, culture, organisational structure, resistance-handling, motivation and rewarding and crisis management. People The success of CRM implementation also depends on the willingness of the employees of adopting the new CRM system and process. The employees are the ones executing the strategies of the organisation on CRM to the clients. CRM implementation can be well-received in the case of there being present motivation, education and user friendly processes. The employees are also to be trained with the software/system interface and operation. This is the basic training. The more important is skill-set and mind-set training since these can lead to a change of mind-set through which there is a drive for customer-centred behaviour. Following this the employees are to be trained for the manner in which they should be serving customers. The employees also have to be motivated and not simply be provided the necessary training. The motivation should be a reward for their customer-centred behaviour while they are interacting with the customers. Motivation can consist of monetary rewards as well as the praises. Process Following the deciding upon of the strategy, and training the employees accordingly, there comes the aspect of process that has to be considered. There is first the internal process which is the work flow among the colleagues and departments that are present in the company. The external process is the work flow and contacts with the outside groups, that includes clients, associates and suppliers. Both the internal and external processes have to be evaluated to find the degree to which they are customer-centred. There have to regular organisational changes in the organisational framework if there is an imposition of customer-centric strategy. Such can include a reduction in the layers of management and decision makers, a division of the company by clients, improvement in and creation of further touch points that face the outside clients. Such are the aspects which can contribute toward alterations happening in the organisational framework. Technology The return on investment for the expenses of CRM has to be considered. These expenses can include software, execution, system incorporation, training, labour, opportunity costs and such other elements. The return is to be compared with the gains that could be obtained. Time is of consideration in any organisation. The implementation cannot be a year long as most of the organisations do not tolerate it. The implementation should be short and a planned one as this measures the performance of the vendors. If a software or system is to succeed it has to be user-friendly. The importance of this is not just for the starting time and current workers but also for the maintenance that may take place later on and the employees that may be recruited at a later time. The organisation should have problem-solving capabilities. That would depend on whether the software or system of the organisation can assist in the deliverance of the desired results. Such results can be rise in profits, reduction in churns, rise in cross-selling and other such elements. Conclusion Through such elements the CRM implementation can turn out to be successful. And as has been seen, the implementation is not related to just the financial measures such as advanced technology but there also has to be other non-financial measures such as proper and suitable strategies for the success of the system. Question 2 CRM The definition of customer relationship management (CRM) as given by the Sweeney Group is: “All the tools, technologies and procedures to manage, improve, or facilitate sales, support and related interactions with customers, prospects, and business partners throughout the enterprise” (Davenport et al., 2001). Such a definition takes into consideration all the procedures involved in a business transaction. A properly planned CRM would have the characteristics of relationship management, salesforce automation, use of technology and opportunity management. B-to-B and B-to-C B-to-B allows a business in the interaction with some other business and the exchange is performed in an electronic manner, usually through the Web. A B-to-B solution has several advantages and they include high yield, lower potential employee overhead, and clear audit trailing (Yang and Papazoglou, 2000). B-to-B models have a difference when compared to the B-to-C models in such that the former ones have aspect of certain productive B-to-C models (such as auctions) plus also are based on highly profitable economic standards. The most important point is that B-to-B illustrates the aspect of whatever the Internet can do in an improved manner as compared to the offline world, and which is provide complicated information services. In particular, B-to-B models have the characteristics of Externalities and exponential growth, critical mass, Customer “cohesion”, Content and category depth, Broadening and deepening hub services and Disintermediation. CRM in B-to-B and B-to-C in 2021 One of the features of CRM is relationship management. In this there are characteristics like instant service response that are based on customer input, one-to-one solutions to customers’ requirements, direct online communications with clients at all times and places, and customer service centres which can assist the client in providing solutions to their problems. In 2021 there would be increased advancement and highly sophisticated technology would be present for use. In such a scenario the processes would get faster and more effective. The scenario that has been provided reflects highly advanced technology available. According to Moore’s Law the performance of the processors is expected to double every 18 to 24 months; this could be the case for at least several years. This means there could be doubling of the computer power every eighteen months. Intel has been continuing with this practice for around forty years (Intel, n.d.). This law has been proven in the given scenario. As is mentioned, by 2021 the computing power would be increased by 250 times, and this is in accordance with this law. The second law in discussion is Gilder’s Law. This law proposes that the total bandwidth communication increases by three times after every 12 months. Therefore, in 2021 the bandwidth would be such that, as mentioned, the uploading and downloading of huge files would be done immediately. That would mean faster and more efficient processes which would lead to improved productivity and exchange with the consumers. The third law to be discussed is Metcalfe’s Law. According to this, with the growth in network the value of being connected to it also increases and the growth is exponential; at the same time the cost per user is the same, or can also decrease. By 2021 such would be the scenario. The improvement would be beneficial to the businesses and also the customers. 2021 would be a great year for the developed nations. The businesses in those nations would have access to a wide range of sophisticated and highly advanced technology like computing devices and optic fibre everywhere. The businesses would be able to develop CRM a lot which would lead to gains for them. The businesses would have the devices and high speed internet to work with. The customers would also be to contact the organisations and would be able to send in their suggestions and complaints, which would be dealt with as soon as possible. The companies would be able to get to know the wants and needs of the customers and would fulfil them, retaining the existing customers and getting more customers as well. The businesses would be able to track down the client’s account history, in the case of B-to-C, and the other businesses’ account history, in the case of B-to-B. This would enable them to find out about how the valuable they are to the business. That is, they can find out if there were repeated sales or if there can be future sales. They can also coordinate sales and conduct marketing. In 2021 these processes would become more accurate and rapid. The technology available would help them in keeping track of the necessary accounts and they would be able to perform the necessary search in an adequate and rapid manner. This would allow them to increase the productivity as they would be having the necessary tools to do so. Although currently as well they have the devices, these would become more efficient and faster by 2021. By 2021 everything would become digital and surveys, researches, purchases, etc all would be conducted on the Web. The customers would be able to put forward their concerns through web. Such would be the case in the developed nations. However, the undeveloped and developing nations would be slightly different as they would not be having access to each of the sophisticated devices and technologies. The businesses in those nations may be able to attain them but the customers may not. Therefore, the customers might not be able to put forward their requirements. In this case the businesses would have to make sure to improve their CRM and see to that they get in contact with the customers and get their views. They would have to make utmost use of whatever would be available to them. There is the issue of community acceptance to be considered in here. There is likelihood of the community not accepting the new and advanced ways and adhering to the old, traditional ways of working. In such a case there would be a requirement of the organisations providing other ways of reaching out to their existing and potential customers. Another issue to be considered is the wealth issue. The rich would be able to access the technology and thus gain from it. The poor would be left out. There would be a requirement of the organisations providing alternate ways to the customers of reaching out to the company. There could be service centres instead of online query systems where the customers would be able to place their inquiries or complaints. Through the technology the business models would be able to deliver value as they would have technology to make “up to the second” customer information accessible. They would have the option of applying data-warehousing technology to aggregate transaction data which would be done for merging the data with CRM solutions and for providing key performance to indicators. Other than this in 2021 the businesses would also have greater efficiency and flexibility in managing the irregular expansion and demand and would be able to come up with a more reliable forecasting model for integrating sales history with sales projections. When compared to B-to-C sale, the B-to-B sales process is much longer and more complicated. It also consists of several variables, along with several decision makers as well. “In 2005, 3.5 more people on average were involved in making a purchasing decision than in 2001” (Aventi Group, 2009). In a B-to-B environment there is a huge number of persons participating in a particular purchasing decision and this number can increase. There is a problem of maintaining relationships with each of these persons since they are in such a huge number. Every person has their own particular programme and requirements which the business is supposed to meet. For this purpose there has to be a CRM system. A CRM system is to be having basic contact management as a necessity. There is a requirement of remembering names and appointments. In case there is a mix-up there can be problems. There has to be a system such that the organisation can access the required information in no time or be reminded of it. In 2021 all this could become easier since the advanced technology could be made use of for this. The devices and fast internet would allow for any wanted information to be on the finger tips. In this case one cannot simply ignore certain needs. This may happen with the lower level needs. Certain people may not be able to buy but they certainly can have the power of disqualifying the organisation or an employee. For this purpose there is a requirement of the organisation having a perfect CRM system. In 2021 the organisations would be surely having such a highly advanced and efficient system and would be able to fulfil each of the requirements of the customer. In this way they would be termed as effective and given a high regard. They would also be able to retain customers along with gaining more of them. Through entering all the requirements and relevant information into an efficient CRM system the organisation would be able to attain a proper picture of the steps that a company is required to take which would be based on the various priorities. References Aventi Group. (2009). Making Executive Meetings Count. [Online] Available at: http://www.pacifica-group.com/2009/03/making_executive_meetings_coun.php [Accessed 01 August 2009] Davenport, T.H., Harris, J.G., & Kohli, A.K. (2001), "How do they know their customers so well?", MIT Sloan Management Review, 42(2): 63-73. Intel. (n.d.). Moore's Law. [Online] Available at: http://www.intel.com/technology/mooreslaw/ [Accessed 01 August 2009] Yang, J., & Papazoglou, M.P. (2000), "Interoperation support for electronic business", Communications of the ACM, 43(6): 39-47. Read More