Customer Relationship Management

Customer Relationship Management is an integrated information system that is used to plan, schedule and control the presales and postsales activities in an organization. CRM embraces all aspects of dealing with prospects and customers, including the call center, sales force, marketing, technical support and field service. The primary goal of CRM is to improve long-term growth and profitability through a better understanding of customer behavior. CRM aims to provide more effective feedback and improved integration to better gauge the return on investment (ROI) in these areas.

Architecture of CRM

Operational CRM
Operational CRM means supporting the so-called front office business processes, which include customer contact. Tasks resulting from these processes are forwarded to employees responsible, information necessary for carrying out the tasks and interfaces to back-end applications are being provided and activities with customers are being documented for further reference.

Analytical CRM
In analytical CRM, data gathered within operational CRM are analyzed to segment customers or to identify cross- and up-selling potential. Data collection and analysis is viewed as a continuing and iterative process. Ideally, business decisions are refined over time, based on feedback from earlier analysis and decisions.

Collaborative CRM
Collaborative CRM facilitates interactions with customers through all channels (personal, letter, fax, phone, web, e-mail) and supports co-ordination of employee teams and channels. It is a solution that brings people, processes and data together so companies can better serve and retain their customers. The data/activities can be structured, unstructured, conversational, and/or transactional in nature.

Benefits of CRM:
Practicing CRM requires an efficient and integrated internal business system. Many businesses benefit from the organizational discipline CRM imposes, as well as from the technology itself. CRM will help your business if you view it as a set of tools that let you do more for, and get more from, your customer.
• Develop better communication channels
• Collect vital data, like customer details and order histories
• Create detailed profiles such as customer preferences
• Deliver instant, company-wide access to customer histories
• Identify new selling opportunities

CRM for Organization:
The ultimate purpose of CRM, like any organizational initiative, is to increase profit. In the case of CRM this is achieved mainly by providing a better service to your customers than your competitors. CRM not only improves the service to customers though; a good CRM capability will also reduce costs, wastage, and complaints. Effective CRM also reduces staff stress, because attrition - a major cause of stress - reduces as services and relationships improve. CRM enables instant market research as well: opening the lines of communications with your customers gives you direct constant market reaction to your products, services and performance, far better than any market survey. Good CRM also helps you grow your business.

Customer’s needs are distinctly different to and far broader than a product or service, and the features and benefits encompassed. Customers' needs generally extend to issues far beyond the suppliers proposition, and will often include the buying-selling process (prior to providing anything), the way that communications are handled, and the nature of the customer-supplier relationship: customers stay with you longer; customer churn rates reduce; referrals to new customers increase from increasing numbers of satisfied customers; demand reduces on fire-fighting and trouble-shooting staff, and overall the organization's service flows and teams work more efficiently and more happily.

What do customers want?
Modern CRM theory refers to the idea of 'integrating the customer'. This new way of looking at the business involves integrating the customer into all aspects of the supplier's business, and vice versa. This implies a relationship that is deeper and wider than the traditional 'arms-length' supplier-customer relationship.

The traditional approach to customer relationships was based on a simple transaction or trade, and little more. Perhaps there would be only a single point of contact between one person on each side. All communication and dealings would be between these two people, even if the customers' organization contained many staff, departments, and functional requirements.

The modern approach to customer relationship management is based on satisfying all of the needs - people, systems, processes, etc - across the customer's organization, such as might be affected and benefited by the particular supply.

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