Customer Relationship

Management and IT
What is CRM?
CRM is a collective term for processes and strategies
regarding individualized relationships between
enterprises and customers, prospects, and business
partners for marketing, sales and service with the
goal of winning new customers, extending existing
customer relationships across the entire customer
life cycle, and improving competitiveness and
business success by optimizing the profitability of
individualized customer relationships.
CRM is the integration of sales, marketing, service
and support strategy, process, people and
technology to maximize customer acquisition, value,
relationships, retention and loyalty.
What is CRM?

Email Analytics

Web

BackOffice
Customers Call Center Customer
Information

Field

Marketing

Partner
 The Four Aspects of CRM

1. Active CRM: A centralized database for storing data, which

can be used to automate business processes and common
tasks.
2. Operational CRM: The automation or support of customer
processes involving sales or service representatives
3. Collaborative CRM: Direct communication with customers
not involving sales or service representatives (‘self
service’)
4. Analytical CRM: The analysis of customer data for a broad
range of purposes
Source: Wikipedia
Active CRM
Centralized Data Store
Ordering Information Customer details, and Business
Prospects all stored in a single system.
IT department helps in creating new user accounts and
maintaining the data store.
Single centralized data store helps to organize data
efficiently
Segment
Manage
Track
Analyze
Active CRM
Advantages
Improved Customer Relationships
Automated Business Tasks and Processes.
Targeted Marketing Campaigns.
 Operational CRM
 Operational CRM generally refers to the products,
services and operational capabilities that enable
an organization to ‘take care of its customers’
 Operational CRM

 Customer care is essential to every company

 Tens of millions of dollars have been invested,
yet management still cannot say what, if any,
business benefits have resulted from CRM
initiatives
 Many can’t even say why they decided to
implement a CRM strategy
 Goal of Operational CRM

 Should be to ‘integrate people, processes

and technology using the customer’s
perspective and expectations as the key
driver.’
 Generally cuts across many organizational
boundaries, making it high profile
Benefits of Operational CRM

 Drive revenue growth

 Reduce costs
 Solve problems quicker
 Gain a 360-degree view of your customer
while you are interacting with them
Collaborative CRM
Emphasis on direct Interaction with customers
Internet
Email
Automated phone/ Interactive voice response
Automated “self-service” type of relationship
Customer interactions are mostly “automated”.
Information can be directly captured by a CRM
system without “special formatting” by a middle layer.
Collaborative CRM
 IT department helps design customer interaction
methods
 IT staff carefully designs web pages and email
formats, so data can be directly entered into the
system without reformatting.
 IT staff continuously scans for newer and better ways
to automate customer interaction and data capture.
Collaborative CRM
Includes Partner Relationship Management
Managing relationships with partners (resellers and
distributors)
Objectives
Cost reduction by using automated systems.
Service improvements through efficient consumer
response.
Better understanding of customer needs with various
departments pooling data from different sales and
communication channels.
Analytical CRM
Analytical CRM aids the preparation, support, and
optimization of customer oriented decision processes
Goals of Analytical CRM:
Analysis of customer behavior to aid product and service
decision making (pricing, new product development)
Management decisions (Financial forecasting, Customer
profitability analysis)
Design and execution of specific customer campaigns
including customer acquisition, up-selling, cross-selling,
retention
Design and execution of targeted marketing campaigns
to optimize marketing effectiveness
Analytical CRM Benefits
Employees can quickly assign, manage and resolve
incidents with automated routing, queuing and
service request escalation
Reports help identify common support issues,
evaluate customer needs, track processes and
measure service performance
Employees can easily share sales and order
information as well as support information and use it
to identify top customers and prioritize service needs
Analytical CRM Benefits
Access to a centralized, customizable view of sales
and support activity along with complete customer
history either online or offline and from any location
using a Web browser
Shorter sales cycles and improved close rates with
tools that enable lead and opportunity management,
workflow rules customization for automated sales
processes, quote creation and order management
Comprehensive reports that forecast sales, measure
business activity and performance, track sales and
service success, as well as identify trends, problems
and opportunities.
Goal of CRM
Gain insight into the behavior of the
customers and the value of those customers
Provide better customer service
Increase business revenues
Discover new customers
Simplify marketing and sales processes
Helps sales staff close deals faster
Make call centers more efficient
Company can get continuous feedback
Cross selling products more effectively
Need for CRM
No accurate information on who your
customers are and what their needs or
desires are or will be at any given stage in
their lives
Losing customers to a competitor, lack of
understanding of your customers
Customers have different characteristics
Having multiple offices and/or mobile
workers and need to share and manage
customer information from all sources
 Start with Strategy
 Must be practical, simple and easy to
articulate
 Must be shared by all levels of the
organization
 Should be measurable
 Start with Strategy
 “A CRM initiative should help an
organization generate more leads,
convert a high proportion of them to
customers, retain customers longer
through enhanced service and ensure
more profitability from the customers
through the effective promotion of
additional products and services.”
Subhomoy Sengupta, General Manager, Applications Sales, Oracle India
CRM Strategies
Customer Acquisition
Gain the greatest number of new “Best”
customers as early in their “lifespan” as possible
Customer Retention
Retain and expand your business and
relationships with your customers through up-
selling, cross-selling and servicing
Customer Loyalty
Offer programs to ensure that your customers
happily buy what you offer only from you
CRM Strategies
Cost Reduction
Reduce costs related to marketing, sales,
customer service and support
Customer Evangelism
Enable loyal customers to become a
volunteer sales force
Improve productivity
Enhance your e-business strategies
What data do you have on your
customers’ ?
Problems, Pains, Fears, Needs, Wants, Likes, Goals,
Influences, Relationships, Affiliations, Alliances,
Experiences, Aspirations, Options, Expectations,
Questions, Knowledge, Skills, Activities, Attention,
Communications, Interactions, Emotions, Memories,
Satisfaction, Perceptions, Beliefs, Admirations,
Attitudes, Opinions, Values, Learning, Ideas,
Motivations, Objections, Priorities, Choices,
Behaviors, Personality, Self-Concepts, Trust, Loyalty,
Attention, Recognition, Time, Energy, Risks,
Investments, Rewards, ROI, Lifestyle, Lifecycle
Stage, Social Class, Culture, Sub-culture, Age,
Family, Education, Hobbies, Interests…?
CRM People
Customer Segments:
Suspects, Visitors, Prospects, Subscribers , Patrons,
Members, Users, Consumers, VIP’s, Volunteers,
Annual/ Major Donors, Advisors, Advocates,
Legislators, Strategic Partners, Sponsors
Users:
Management, Employees and Visitors
Suppliers:
Services- Consultants (CRM/ Customer
Development)
Products- Technology ( Software, Hardware,
Connectivity)
CRM Technology Requirements
Integration with other company applications
Focus on the end user’s needs
Support cross company collaboration
Alignment with the specific requirements of
individual industries
CRM Processes / Mapping
Re-examine all of your customer
management business processes
Redefine where CRM provides the greatest
value to your “best” customers and your
organization
Incrementally implement CRM to improve top
targeted processes like Subscription Renewal
Processes
How CRM helps Business?
Personalized customer contact
Customer specific product catalog and
catalog views
Customer specific prices and conditions
Customer specific product configuration
Customer specific product recommendations
Customer specific user interfaces in e-selling
solutions
 CRM Architecture
 Business Environment Information
 Competitors, Trends
 Macro Environment Variables
 Business Intelligence
Ent
erp
rise
 Lead/ Account Mar
ket
Sale
in
Management (EM g Aut
 Contact Management A) om
s Fo (SFA)

atio
 Quote Management n
rce

 Forecasting t
 Sales Administration por
Auto

 Customer Preference S up
A nd
m at

 Performance Management
vice )
er SS
ion

r S (C  Service Requests
me
usto  Complaints
C  Product Returns
 Information Request
 Customer Interaction Center
 Computer Telephony Integration
CRM and IT
Biggest returns come from aligning business,
CRM and IT strategies should run across all
departments not just run on one group
Business departments who use the software
take ownership of the project, with IT and
CIO playing an important advisory role.
 CRM and IT

Customer Interaction
Letter, Fax, Email, SMS, Phone, Personal Contact, EDI, web, XML

IT
Call Center
Operation
Monitor C A
R P
M Help Desk P
L
E I
CRM DB
N C
G SFA A
I T
N I
Analyze
ERP O
N
CRM Implementation
Planning
Development
Deployment
Post Deployment
Implementation Plan
Creating the implementation strategy
Identifying the implementation team
Creating a schedule
Analyzing your business processes
Identifying hardware and software requirements
in addition to current organizational resources
and how any new resources are to be integrated
into existing systems
Determining customization needs and data
import requirements
Identifying reporting requirements
Identifying training and ongoing support
requirements
Development
Setting up hardware and installing software
Installing CRM in a limited use and test environment
Testing CRM
Importing or migrating data
Customizing the application and the reporting
features
Integrating CRM into existing systems
Identify a group of users who can use and evaluate
the product installation
Perform the common activities
Address difficulties during training
Post Development
Organization must develop processes and tools that
will add long-term customer value
Initial deployment period will affect productivity in
the beginning
Customer relationships are owned by the
organization, not the individual
Users must see CRM as a tool to help them
 Common Reasons for Failure

 Implementation costs
 Political Friction
 Initiatives driven by technology
 Tendency to push ‘work’ to the customer
 No measures for success or accountability
 Poorly Implemented
…more Reasons for Failure
Lack of communication between everyone in the
customer relationship chain
Technology being implemented without proper support
Lack of training to the staff
 Ways to avoid failure

 Don’t fall victim to anything mentioned in

the previous slide
 Establish visible top-down support from
the most senior levels
 Communicate strategy and buy-in
Successful CRM Implementation
Choose your vendor successfully
Develop customer focused strategy before
considering the technology
Break the project into manageable pieces
Make sure the CRM plans include a scalable
architecture framework
Don’t underestimate the amount of data you might
collect for easy expansion of systems in the future
Be thoughtful about what data is collected and
stored
Spend time creating the best business processes
 Ways to Ensure Optimal Benefits

 Create a customer focused business

strategy
 Have a CRM-friendly organizational
structure
 Build a customer information
environment
 Example – Grocery Stores
 Many grocery stores offer ‘customer
reward’ cards to their customers
 These cards allow the stores to target
specific customers
 Stores are laid out according to their
demographics
 Marketing materials are sent using the
data gathered
 Example – Progressive Auto
Insurance
 Created their niche through their CRM
strategy
 Initially Progressive focused on a
web-based consumer
 Differentiated themselves by quoting
other car insurance companies
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management
Customer Relationship Management: Key components for IT
success
Ranjit Bose, Industrial Management and Data Systems Journal
Mar 2002
CIO Magazine: http://www.cio.com/topic/1465/CRM
http://www.crm2day.com/editorial/50018.php
http://www.tmcnet.com/channels/crm-solutions/crm-solutions-
articles/crm-can-work-for-you.htm
http://www.microsoft.com/canada/smallbiz/themes/build-your-
business/what-can-crm-do-for-your-business.mspx