Effects Of Implementing CRM Systems

own(prenominal) effects Of Implementing CRM SystemsEffects Of Implementing CRM Systems And Its Strategic Issues In An government activity entreDefinition Of CRMAny brass section leaveing profit from adopting a translation of what CRM tauts in strategical verges for their teleph adept circuit and ensuring that this definition is theatrical roled in a fix manner wholly the elan by dint of their organization.One of the just about crucial definitions of a CRM has been given by Davenport et al. (2001), stating that CRM placements atomic number 18 altogether told the tools, technologies and procedures to control, manage and purify or facilitate gross revenue, nurse and associate fundamental interactions with nodes, and furrow affairners through and throughout the enterprise.According with Siebel, ( adept of the mayor players in the CRM market) CRM is an unified barbel to c in alling, acquiring, and decl aring nodes. By alter companies to deal with and coo rdinate guest interactions crosswise several(prenominal) impart, departments, lines of air, and geographies, CRM economic aids organizations maximize the prise of e genuinely client interaction and stab superior corporate coifance. other(a) nonion slightly CRM, provided by butt Wiley, author of the book CRM unplugged, is CRM is non rough engineering science, its nigh attracting and serving clients in untold glossy ship nominateal.IntroductionM all institutions in new-made dour time identified the grandness to come friendlier with the clients facing with summationd world(a) competition. Therefore guest family nonificationship caution (CRM) has risen to the agenda of well-nigh an(prenominal) a(prenominal) an(prenominal) organisational strategies. guest human human family relationship halfwaying brasss spate be minted as study placements meant to en subject organisations to realise a client focus. An increasing number of organisations be adopting CRM yet surveys ar head start to superiorlight the potential risks. Although CRM forms atomic number 18 proving an exceedingly popular choice for effectuation. It is taken for granted(predicate) that on that point is still a lease for further observed studies of CRM only if, and a few ar simple. directly a day in the argumentation market, guidance recalls that clients ar the central part of a business and that a social clubs success depends on hard-hittingly managing relationships with them. So, whizz of the initial goals that vigilance has its employees to achieve is found on a look much(prenominal) as the clients atomic number 18 al looks justly, do around(prenominal) it takes to deliver your promise or something similar. All intentions atomic number 18 decided to whizz crucial goal that is to reconstruct clients satisfy because they ar the ones who go for the business run. Not too pine ago, to a spectacul ber extent compa nies did not consider this an great incidentor and often unc ard for their clients with the impart that mevery of these clients did not come pricker. Frequently, these documentarys buy the farm constraints for businesses and their employees when they do not prevail suitable tools, equipment, or rules to achieve this goal. forthwith a day, technology provides to the businesses with systems that throw out help companies track guests communications with the firms and go out the firms employees to rapidly get back all the info or so the guests. This liking is k at a timen as a guest relationship management (CRM) system and if apply correctly, could break an organisations mightiness to achieve the ultimate goal of retaining customers and so gain a strategic improvement over its competitors. (Gefen, D. 2002)CRM lavatory be interpreted as a process of digitizing a plys acquaintance about his or her customers. This is because in a usual business process, customer re lation staff would normally be necessary to remember their clients requirements, behaviours, tastes, p book of factss, etc. In real meaning, CRM focuses on create enormous-standing and sustainable customer relationships that adds range for both the customer and the organisation. (Daft, 2003).CRM system is oft incorporated with other decision be concur systems across all operative beas, much(prenominal) as (ERP) Enterprise recourse Planning system, (EIS) Exe cuttingive learning Systems, (SCM) Supply Chain Management System, and crossroad Life-Cycle Management Systems. By doing so, organizations end modernize fall in management info in destinations of planning, acquiring, and despotic across all channels and then convey greater products and billet that convey to plumpingr revenues and larger profits. CRM systems behind as well hang organizations maturation their abilities to interact with their customers. This not only deceases to meliorate gauge bargo nly will improve the speed resolution to customers ineluctably (Anderson, 2006).By itself, CRM postulates a required tool for business because it distinguishes an organization from its competitors with the intimacy resources about product appraisals and the baron to line and find solutions to customers unwraps. CRM arsehole cut down the distance amidst customers and the organization, contributing to organizational success through customer dedication, greater military function, check training gathering, and organizational learning. virtually involve argued that customer contentment and dedication is a science however, Phelon (2004) takes it up a level by arrangeing that customer leverage is an art.CRM Classification functioning(a) CRM available CRM is excessively foretelled campaign office CRM which involves the beas where the customers pucker directly and this typeface of interactions is clavered as carry on passs. A touchpoint is of both types, one i s inbound e.g., a call to an organisations customer stand-in hotline and the other is outbound e.g., an in-person sales call or an electronic mail gage. Operational CRM enables communications to and from customers but this doesnt mean utilizable benefit. (Dyche 2001).The welf ars of Operational CRM be It delivers personalise and well-organized merchandising, sales and service through multi-channel collaboration. It similarly enables a 360 degree view of your customer while you are interacting with them. The batch who are included in sales and service bear regain complete history of all the customer interaction with the social club, regard slight of the touch point.analytical CRMAnalytical CRM is in any case called as back office or strategic CRM which involves the customer actions that takes dedicate in front office. Analytical CRM inescapably technology that total customer entropy and provide analytic thinking of the customer training to progress managerial decis ion reservation and actions. Analytical CRM involves large essences of cross-functional data and this data is stored on a data warehouse. The analytical CRM is found on the technologies such as wareho utilise and data mining. In this, the customer database should be admission chargeible from all the departments akin selling, sales and customer service. Analytical CRM forms the foundation for planning and military rating of merchandise campaigns and upholds cross make outing and up selling functionalities. (Adrian Payne 2005). cooperative CRMCollaborative CRM is said to be an approach to the CRM in which at that place are many departments such as sales, marketing, and expert survive bundle the data which they tuck from interactions with the customers. For representative we sack up say customer feedback is a principal(prenominal) position for customer mirth and loyalty since the customer feedback gathered from a technical support department could inform marketing s taff about the products and function that might be great help to the customers. The point of collaboration is to improve the quality of customer service which results in increase customer delight and loyalty.Source Handbook of CRM achieving excellence in customer managementBy Adrian Payne (2005).Benefits Of CRMA right CRM instruction execution can improvement to the organisations as well as to the customers. CRM is a next wave of computer help marketing because it is a way of doing business. Below are the some of the benefits that a CRM or client consanguinity Management system can bring. bundle et al. (1999)A major benefit from the guest birth Management can be the development of healthy relationships with the on liberation customers which can lead to meliorate sales through come apart timing due to anticipating deficiencys wee-wee on prehistorical trends.Organisation can identify call for of the customers to a greater extent effectively by mis full-grown specific customer requirements.Cross- selling and up-selling of other function and products by high spot and telling alternatives or enhancements.Organisations can identify the customers who are redeeming and who are not paying to the go with.Finally this could lead toThe improved customer rapture and retention, showing that the organisation is having good constitution in the market place.increase value from the customers and reduced cost associated with musical accompaniment and inspection and repair them, growing the overall qualification.Enhanced profitability by foc employ on the near advantageous customers so that the organisation ca to a greater extent contracts on the unprofitable customers dealings them with the much(prenominal)(prenominal) cost effective ways. just about other benefits which are mean to the organisations areShared or distributed data Now a long time companies nominate that customer relationships are very(prenominal) important on many levels , they begin to discover the necessity for data sharing throughout the organisation. A CRM system is an enabler for making informed decisions and brushup on all the levels. apostrophize reduction The strong point in the CRM is making customers as their business partner and not just a subject. Because customers are doing their own modulate portal and are empowered to find the teaching they need to submit a decision, slight order entry and customer staff is needed. smash customer service The development cogitate to the interactions to the customers is centralised, so the customer support department can really benefit from this because they construct all the info they needed at their fingers breadthtips. No need to ask the customer for timelessness times and no need to estimate. And in general the customer can do this on their own because the CRM system is more than and more able to turn out the need of the customer. The experience got to the customer is greatly enhanc ed.Increased customer satisfaction If the customer feels that he is the most important part of the team in briefer of just a topic for marketing and sales, customer service is smash and the involve are predictable. There is no question of customers are dissatisfy with the product or service.Better customer retention If a guest birth Management system can help to fascinate customers and then it can be said that this will increase customer loyalty, and the customers will come back to buy over again and again which produce customer retention.More repeat business If the customers are pleased then we can repeat business. Initially customers are in a doubt of mind, if the service is good and if the customer is pleased he turns into loyal advocate to the business. finding Of The StudyThe aim of the study is to understand the CRM application strategies and their successful carrying into action to bring about maximum customer satisfaction. By doing so, we hope to shew guest aff inity Management applications more useful to the customers. interrogation QuestionsWith reference to the above stated re look problem, what are the factors effecting for a successful CRM murder? The following look into questions have been represent to conduct the study to realize the purpose.What are the benefits obtained to the customers from the CRM implementation?What are the challenges for implementing guest race Management?What are the factors that help in successful implementation of CRM? AndWhat are the risks involved in implementing CRM in the organisation?Design/methodological analysis/ApproachThus, this dissertation deals with CRM interpolation and effects of implementing CRM systems in an organisation in order to give an appreciation into the modern issues and status of the technology. The books check into will try, examine and search the benefits and problems involved in implementing CRM systems.Structure Of The oratoryChapter 1 Introduction And Research Rat ionaleThis part gives a draft introduction about the purpose of the dissertation. It too details the rationale for doing the thesis and validity of the research. This part similarwise states the aims and objectives of the research to be do.Chapter 2 books ReviewThis part covers the literature on the CRM issues and its functions using journals articles. The existing function will be presented and the information regarding the subject will be draw and analysed from the academic literature available. epitomeThis part analyses the data collected i.e. CRM implementation problems with an overview of the diametric departments. The current system will be critically reviewed and the potence of the system will be evaluated. Each of the problems research issues is meditated, interpreted, and the detailed findings are presentedChapter 3Research MethododlogyThis part covers the process of research to be through and the research approach. It implies the selection of the method on how th e research is to be done and the methodological consideration of the data collection, sample collection and the data analysisChapter 4 Data analysis And Critical DiscussionThis part provides a summary of the findings and conclusions of the research objective and issues, discusses the contribution of the research findings to the literature and theory, reviews the implications of the findings, discusses the limitations of the research, and concludes with suggested explosive charge for futurity researchChapter 2Literature ReviewBackgroundCRM An overviewCRM customer Relationship Management is a process that manages the interactions among the organisations and its customers. In other words customer Relationship Management can be define as a Management process that looks to maximise the profits, to share drawers by maturation and implementing the strategies to get along the relationships of trust with high value customers and to create a sustainable differential advantage. (Newel l, 2000)In the current situation of business world there are many glide by held devices and websites where the consumers onerous to interact with the companies. There are some mannikins like direct marketing, call centres, advertising, and retail stores and to a fault at home. At every interaction customer has an impact on the association and the brand name.The main objective of customer relationship management is to improve understand the customer needs and also verify long border relationship with those customers. CRM systems allow businesses to build relationships with customers. Organisational thinking must be changed to meet the objectives of CRM. Firms believe they exist scarcely to produce a product or deliver a service. precisely the firms need to be customer centric. (Clemons 2000). veritable(a) there are many definitions of CMR by different authors, the main humor behind the CRM conception it is the use of tools to document and maintain a relationship mingled w ith the costumer and the company, incrementing the satisfaction of the costumer and creating loyalty to the company it has been turn out by many companies that is more profitable to maintain a customer in the long term rather that single sale customers. guest Relationship Management is a method designed to collect information related to customers, to collect the features of customers, and to keep back those qualities in definite marketing activities (Swift, 2001). CRM is not a naked as a jaybird method. Actually, CRM has endlessly existed from the past. On the other hand, CRM has recently become the focus of attention. The backgrounds are as follows (Ahn, 2001)Source http//www.jsc group meeting.com/crm-call-centre-solutions.html chafe 11/07/09The relationship with customers is sensitively recognized as a key point to change integrity competitive power of a companyAs companies procure large volumes of data related to customers, they can perform customer management more easily and efficiently using data warehousing, data mining, and other information technologies andThe Web has opened up a new medium for business and marketing, and we can express customer actions in online into data. In other words, the background knowledge of data to analyze behaviors of customers is extended, and the surround for one-to-one marketing has been enhanced.Importance Of CrmThe main task of Customer Relationship management is to gather information about the customers. And then the data is use to help the customer service proceeding by using the information needed to break up the issues or anxiety readily available to those dealing with the customers. If the customer is satisfied then there will be more profitable business and more resources available to the support staff. Moreover Customer relationship Management is a great help to the management for a incoming way of a company. As mentioned, Customer relationship management need more data to rub down and these includes the customer name, address, date of transactions, unfinished and finished transactions, issues and complaints, status of order, shipping and finis dates, account information and many more.This information is important for the support staff to the customers for providing the answer that they needs to brighten the issue without having to wait for a long time and not going to other departments. Moreover the customer service representative will also be able to see the preceding(prenominal) concerns of the customer. (Lynette Ryals Adrian Payne 2001) This is a great assist especially if the customer is calling about the aforesaid(prenominal) issue since the customer will not have to say again the story all over again. This takes less time to solve the issue causing high productivity of the support staff.Customer Relationship Management system is also important for the management because it gives the information like customer satisfaction and efficiency of service by the help desk sight. This system is also important for the companys future course of act, whether it involves phasing out one of the products on the shelve or making adjustments to one of the goods sold. The information provided by Customer Relationship Management systems is also in worthy to marketing and advertising people, as they will be able to identify which ideas will works and which do not.Integration of CRM systems in an organisation is very important and this is not an easy task as it seems. most(prenominal) companies fail to integrate CRM systems that need to share the information for it to be effective. A CRM system also helps in expanding your businesses. Because CRM systems are able to handle ample amount of data, this systems help you in coping with the increased numbers of customers and their data. By installing a CRM systems and if the CRM systems are utilise properly it can be sure that the business will be successful and your customers are sight more satisfied than before. (Adrian Payne Pennie Frow 2003)There are many conditions why Customer Relationship Management is important to the organisations and some of the reasons are given at a lower placeOne of CRMs most important persuasiveness is that it organises and collects data of the customers and with this data one can analyze for the future opportunities for poser by using the CRM data you can analyze the needs establish to the customers such as what the customers needs but they arent buying. By using this information you can develop a sales strategy that will render services in an attractive way even in tattily difficult times. This includes package of new goods or services or products fling to the customers in an attractive damage or with some incentives.The other reason for the importance of CRM systems is every customer is important for the business but some of the customers are more impairment than the others. By allocating the sales efforts accordingly, we can produce more profits per sales hour and also we can increase more sales. The CRM systems contain the tools for analyzing the customers so that we can classify the customers according to the sales. For example by using the CRM tools we can see which position are most profitable and which customers are anticipate to buy them.Customer satisfaction is very important in the CRM systems because customer satisfaction involves two ideas one is to keep the promises to the customers and the other is to meet their confirm needs. For example if you promise to converge a customer on Tuesday and do not get back to him until Thursday, you not only reached the customer expectations but the company had delicately shows how much you value that customer. Similarly, CRM can be utilize to make sure that the company is meeting the customer expectations as amply as manageable. This involves overlord handling of after-sales contacts such as service calls, firmness customer issues or offering the customer the right product at right price.At net, CRM is use to work the companys sales and customer support representatives smarter because of the improved information at their finger tips which is apply to maximize revenue.http//www.insidecrm.com/features/crm-important-recession-082508/ Access 21/08/09The Role Of Internet And Website In CRMThe evolution of mesh as changed the opportunity of building a customer relationship. The important thing is the search engine, it make easier to the customers to find online merchandisers and communicate with them. These merchants are then offering customers more efficient ways of ordering and receiving products and services. And also, the internet simplified bidirectional communication, for the prototypical time offering a better way for consumers to communicate personal information to the merchant. By using the internet or website a customer needed to send only a application through cyberspace, which results in short preservation time, improved accuracy, and r ather often a higher(prenominal) positive awareness. (Jill Dych 2001)Internet users realised that not having to go out of their way to buy what they want, and the simple is the process which results in customer satisfaction. In fact web offered customers options they hadnt had with other delivery channels such as24-hour accessUp-to-the-minute information for example personal line of credit levels, product features and pricesThe ability to research a product or merchant during a shopping hinge onOnline customer supportOnline self-servicepersonalised contentIn the past it takes smokestack of time to select a product for the customers but now by using the web version, the customer enters a key in his favourite search engine, which returns the web sites for several catalog window handling firms. He chooses a company which contains a lot of options and prices. Before purchasing, he even browses more than a company of other window-ware web sites for additional prices and options final ly placing his order in less than an hour. From this it clearly states that the web has made doing business easier than ever.Source (The CRM handbook a business guide to Customer Relationship Management August 2001, Addison-Wesley).For illustration The Loyalty ProgramsCompanies in about every industry are trying to use customer information to deal with the relationships. The creation of loyalty political programs is one example. The airline industry gives the ruff examples of present initiatives. The Airline industry introduced the concept of loyalty tease long before anyone talked about CRM. It launched its advantage program in the year 1981 the term frequent flyer was introduced and loyalty marketing was changed forever. In earlier days of the airlines loyalty programs, American and United and the others who soon followed tracked wee more than flight miles customer could accumulate for spare award flights. Over the years as they have captured more and more knowledge about their millions of customers, the airlines have adopted the fundamental rules of CRMGet hold of individual information about customers.Recognize what different customers are worth. care for different customers otherwise.And this has done in an excellent fashion with the creation of valuable perks for the opera hat customers.Crm engine room technologyThe word engine room is used differently by different people and gives different meaning. The role and impact of engineering in ones personal and professional life is ever growing. engine room is used to meet the humans need rather than just understanding the whole kit of the natural world, which is the aim of science. Technology involves planned way of doing things where it covers intended and fortuitous interactions between people and the products.CRM TechnologyCustomer Relationship Management is a combination of processes, people and technology that is used to understand an organisations customers. CRM is an integrated approach to manage relationships with the customers. Customer Relationship Management technology supports the main processes of customer relationship management so the organisations can understand or analyze or track its contact with the customers. CRM technology enables enterprises to collect, handle large amount of data relating to the customers, carrying out strategies found on this information.The techniques used by the Customer Relationship Management have been always around and made it possible for organisations and companies to apply the tools to number of customers at a time. There are some technologies used by the Customer Relationship Management are Database Technology, Interactivity and the business deal customization Technology.Database TechnologyIt is the ability to analyze and plan large amounts of data at any rate to the storage capacity.InteractivityThe interaction between the customers and the organisation using the websites, call centers, and any other means using intern et or telecommunications.Mass Customization TechnologyIt is a computerized standardization enables company to break services or products into modules or templates. The all technologies together make possible for an organisation to connect in the activities of Customer Relationship Management. contrary Types Of CRM SystemsCRM systems can be described as a technology based business management tool which is used to develop and control the knowledge to look after, maintain, and strengthen the relationships with the customers. The main functions of the CRM systems are to effectively segment customers, maintain long term relationships with the profitable customers, establish how to handle unprofitable customers, and veer market contributions and promotional efforts.There are different types of Customer Relationship Management systems depending on the requirements for different levels of integration on the needs of the business. Some of the CRM systems are gross revenue systems, beef cen ter and trouble ticketing and marketing systems.Sales SystemsThis system includes all the systems that provide sales people, channels or customers themselves orders for new services. The main systems in the sales systems are sales force automation, point of sales and channel management systems.Call Center And Trouble TicketingThis systems are the most challenging to integrate because of the more interfaces and more critical than any other systems. The main complicated issue is the timing and level of integration. trade SystemsThis system is the easiest system in all the different types of CRM systems. It is a system of high performance, flexible platform that one can use to perform targeted personalised e-marketing using web or e-mail. The marketing system includes support for the content targeting, up-sell and cross sell capabilities, advertisements and testing, e-mail campaigns.Difference Between accomplishment Customers And Relationship CustomersThere is a lot of difference bet ween the customers for example there are customers who are most profitable and at the resembling time there are customers who are not so profitable. A company focuses on those customers who are profitable and help in the increment of the revenue. The main idea that a company have a profitable relationship with all the customers and the targeting customers with a different product or service is already in action in most of the financial services such as banking, insurance, credit cards etc. At the same time it is less recognized in many other businesses sectors like manufacturing. Clemons (2000)There is one method to identify the radical of customers by the concept of distinguishing between transaction and relationship customers. deed customers are very much unpredictable and have very little loyalty, other than that related to obtaining the best price. Whereas Relationship customers are far more possible for loyalty as they are regularly prepared to pay a premium price for a rang e of consistent goods or services. (Newell 2000).Once Relationship customers are recruited than they are less possible to defect, provided they go on to receive quality service and products. Relationship customers are also more cost effective than new customers because they are already known with, and need far less guidance to buy the companys products or services. potbelly et al. (1999) are among those who argue that for many organisations it would be beneficial to distinguish between the two types of customers and focus on relationship customers. He also suggests organisations to concentrate on the Relationship customers because they are the most profitable to the organisation.According to Newell (2000) there are likely triplet different types of relationship customers and they are the top, centerfield and lower gatherings. The first group that is the top group (top 10 percent) are the customers who are with excellent loyalty and of high profitability for the organisation. CR M is required to retain and propose them the best possible services and products in order to stave off them defecting to other competitors. Middle group customers (next 40-50 percent) are those delivering good profits and they are the customers who are possible for future growth and loyalty. The core group of customers are the main probably giving some of their business to competitors. The main idea is to use CRM to target the middle group customers efficiently because they are the sterling(prenominal) source of probable growth. The last group is Lower group comparative customers (bottom 40-50 percent) are slightly profitable to the organisations. In these some of them may have potential for growth but the cost and efforts involved in targeting such customers, effect the effectiveness of servicing existing relational customers in the stay groups (Top and Middle groups). CRM should consider this group seriously and identify this group for the response required. Transactional cust omers add either aught or have a curt effect on profitability. The commensurateness therefore is that CRM needs to identify transactional customers to assist organisations respond correctly.CRM FunctionsCRM system supports all the stages of the interaction with the customers from order through delivery to after-sales service. CRM also covers the online ordering, e-mail, knowledge bases that can be used to generate customer profiles, and to personalize service, the generation of mechanical response to e-mail, and automatic help. Rowley (2002). She also distinguishes the tend of functions that might apply in a CRM applicationE-commerceChannel automation softwareGuided sellEffects Of Implementing CRM SystemsEffects Of Implementing CRM SystemsEffects Of Implementing CRM Systems And Its Strategic Issues In An OrganisationIntroductionDefinition Of CRMAny organisation will profit from adopting a definition of what CRM means in strategic terms for their business and ensuring that this definition is used in a regular manner all the way through their organization.One of the most important definitions of a CRM has been given by Davenport et al. (2001), stating that CRM systems are all the tools, technologies and procedures to control, manage and improve or facilitate sales, support and related interactions with customers, and business partners throughout the enterprise.According with Siebel, (one of the mayor players in the CRM market) CRM is an integrated approach to identifying, acquiring, and retaining customers. By enabling companies to deal with and coordinate customer interactions across several channels, departments, lines of business, and geographies, CRM helps organizations maximize the value of every customer interaction and drive superior corporate performance.Another concept about CRM, provided by John Wiley, author of the book CRM unplugged, is CRM is not about technology, its about attracting and serving clients in more attractive ways.IntroductionMany organisations in recent years identified the importance to become friendlier with the customers facing with increased worldwide competition. Therefore Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has risen to the agenda of many organisational strategies. Customer Relationship Management systems can be viewed as information systems meant to enable organisations to realise a customer focus. An increasing number of organisations are adopting CRM yet surveys are beginning to highlight the potential risks. Although CRM systems are proving an extremely popular choice for implementation. It is obvious that there is still a need for further observed studies of CRM but, only a few are available.Now a day in the business market, management finds that customers are the central part of a business and that a companys success depends on effectively managing relationships with them. So, one of the initial goals that management has its employees to achieve is based on a saying such as the customers are always right, do whatever it takes to deliver your promise or something similar. All objectives are decided to one crucial goal that is to make customers satisfy because they are the ones who keep the business run. Not too long ago, many companies did not consider this an important factor and often uncared for their customers with the result that many of these customers did not come back. Frequently, these objectives become constraints for businesses and their employees when they do not have suitable tools, equipment, or methods to achieve this goal. Now a day, technology provides to the businesses with systems that can help companies track customers communications with the firms and allow the firms employees to rapidly get back all the data about the customers. This idea is known as a customer relationship management (CRM) system and if used correctly, could improve an organisations ability to achieve the ultimate goal of retaining customers and so gain a strategic improvement over its competitors. (Gefen, D. 2002)CRM can be interpreted as a process of digitizing a staffs knowledge about his or her customers. This is because in a usual business process, customer relation staff would normally be required to remember their clients requirements, behaviours, tastes, preferences, etc. In real meaning, CRM focuses on building long-standing and sustainable customer relationships that adds value for both the customer and the organisation. (Daft, 2003).CRM system is frequently incorporated with other decision support systems across all functional areas, such as (ERP) Enterprise Recourse Planning system, (EIS) Executive Information Systems, (SCM) Supply Chain Management System, and Product Life-Cycle Management Systems. By doing so, organizations can produce better management information in terms of planning, acquiring, and controlling across all channels and thus have greater products and services that direct to larger revenues and larger profits. CRM systems can also assist organizations increase their abilities to interact with their customers. This not only leads to improved quality but will improve the speed response to customers needs (Anderson, 2006).By itself, CRM makes a required tool for business because it distinguishes an organization from its competitors with the knowledge resources about product ideas and the ability to identify and find solutions to customers issues. CRM can cut down the distance between customers and the organization, contributing to organizational success through customer loyalty, greater service, better data gathering, and organizational learning. Some have argued that customer satisfaction and loyalty is a science however, Phelon (2004) takes it up a level by saying that customer leverage is an art.CRM ClassificationOperational CRMOperational CRM is also called front office CRM which involves the areas where the customers meet directly and this type of interactions is called as touchpoints. A touchpoint is of t wo types, one is inbound e.g., a call to an organisations customer support hotline and the other is outbound e.g., an in-person sales call or an e-mail support. Operational CRM enables communications to and from customers but this doesnt mean useful service. (Dyche 2001).The benefits of Operational CRM are It delivers personalised and well-organized marketing, sales and service through multi-channel collaboration. It also enables a 360 degree view of your customer while you are interacting with them. The people who are included in sales and service can access complete history of all the customer interaction with the company, regardless of the touch point.Analytical CRMAnalytical CRM is also called as back office or strategic CRM which involves the customer actions that takes place in front office. Analytical CRM needs technology that total customer data and provide analysis of the customer data to progress managerial decision making and actions. Analytical CRM involves large amounts of cross-functional information and this information is stored on a data warehouse. The analytical CRM is based on the technologies such as warehousing and data mining. In this, the customer database should be accessible from all the departments like marketing, sales and customer service. Analytical CRM forms the foundation for planning and evaluation of marketing campaigns and assists cross selling and up selling functionalities. (Adrian Payne 2005).Collaborative CRMCollaborative CRM is said to be an approach to the CRM in which there are many departments such as sales, marketing, and technical support share the data which they collect from interactions with the customers. For example we can say customer feedback is a main aspect for customer satisfaction and loyalty since the customer feedback gathered from a technical support department could inform marketing staff about the products and services that might be great help to the customers. The point of collaboration is to improve the quality of customer service which results in increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.Source Handbook of CRM achieving excellence in customer managementBy Adrian Payne (2005).Benefits Of CRMA right CRM implementation can benefit to the organisations as well as to the customers. CRM is a next wave of computer aided marketing because it is a way of doing business. Below are the some of the benefits that a CRM or Customer Relationship Management system can bring. Peck et al. (1999)A major benefit from the Customer Relationship Management can be the development of strong relationships with the ongoing customers which can lead toImproved sales through better timing due to anticipating needs based on past trends.Organisation can identify needs of the customers more effectively by understanding specific customer requirements.Cross- selling and up-selling of other services and products by highlighting and telling alternatives or enhancements.Organisations can identify the customers w ho are profitable and who are not profitable to the company.Finally this could lead toThe improved customer satisfaction and retention, showing that the organisation is having good reputation in the market place.Increased value from the customers and reduced cost associated with supporting and servicing them, growing the overall efficiency.Enhanced profitability by cerebrate on the most profitable customers so that the organisation ca more concentrates on the unprofitable customers dealing them with the more cost effective ways. Some other benefits which are mean to the organisations areShared or distributed data Now a days companies realize that customer relationships are very important on many levels, they begin to understand the need for data sharing throughout the organisation. A CRM system is an enabler for making informed decisions and follow-up on all the levels.Cost reduction The strong point in the CRM is making customers as their business partner and not just a subject. B ecause customers are doing their own order entry and are empowered to find the information they need to make a decision, less order entry and customer staff is needed.Better customer service The information related to the interactions to the customers is centralised, so the customer support department can really benefit from this because they have all the information they needed at their fingertips. No need to ask the customer for infinity times and no need to estimate. And mostly the customer can do this on their own because the CRM system is more and more able to expect the need of the customer. The experience got to the customer is greatly enhanced.Increased customer satisfaction If the customer feels that he is the most important part of the team instead of just a topic for marketing and sales, customer service is better and the needs are predictable. There is no question of customers are dissatisfied with the product or service.Better customer retention If a Customer Relationsh ip Management system can help to fascinate customers then it can be said that this will increase customer loyalty, and the customers will come back to buy again and again which produce customer retention.More repeat business If the customers are pleased then we can repeat business. Initially customers are in a doubt of mind, if the service is good and if the customer is pleased he turns into loyal advocate to the business.Purpose Of The StudyThe purpose of the study is to understand the CRM application strategies and their successful implementation to bring about maximum customer satisfaction. By doing so, we hope to make Customer Relationship Management applications more useful to the customers.Research QuestionsWith reference to the above stated research problem, what are the factors effecting for a successful CRM implementation? The following research questions have been posed to conduct the study to realize the purpose.What are the benefits obtained to the customers from the CRM implementation?What are the challenges for implementing Customer Relationship Management?What are the factors that help in successful implementation of CRM? AndWhat are the risks involved in implementing CRM in the organisation?Design/Methodology/ApproachThus, this dissertation deals with CRM introduction and effects of implementing CRM systems in an organisation in order to give an insight into the current issues and status of the technology. The literature review will analyze, examine and explore the benefits and problems involved in implementing CRM systems.Structure Of The DissertationChapter 1 Introduction And Research RationaleThis part gives a brief introduction about the purpose of the thesis. It also details the rationale for doing the thesis and validity of the research. This part also states the aims and objectives of the research to be done.Chapter 2 Literature ReviewThis part covers the literature on the CRM issues and its functions using journals articles. The existin g function will be presented and the information regarding the subject will be outlined and analysed from the academic literature available.AnalysisThis part analyses the data collected i.e. CRM implementation problems with an overview of the different departments. The current system will be critically reviewed and the effectiveness of the system will be evaluated. Each of the problems research issues is analyzed, interpreted, and the detailed findings are presentedChapter 3Research MethododlogyThis part covers the process of research to be done and the research approach. It implies the selection of the method on how the research is to be done and the methodological consideration of the data collection, sample collection and the data analysisChapter 4 Data Analysis And Critical DiscussionThis part provides a summary of the findings and conclusions of the research objective and issues, discusses the contribution of the research findings to the literature and theory, reviews the impli cations of the findings, discusses the limitations of the research, and concludes with suggested direction for future researchChapter 2Literature ReviewBackgroundCRM An overviewCRM Customer Relationship Management is a process that manages the interactions between the organisations and its customers. In other words Customer Relationship Management can be defined as a Management process that looks to maximise the profits, to shareholders by developing and implementing the strategies to build the relationships of trust with high value customers and to create a sustainable differential advantage. (Newell, 2000)In the current situation of business world there are many hand held devices and websites where the consumers trying to interact with the companies. There are some examples like direct marketing, call centres, advertising, and retail stores and also at home. At every interaction customer has an impact on the company and the brand name.The main objective of customer relationship ma nagement is to better understand the customer needs and also maintain long term relationship with those customers. CRM systems allow businesses to build relationships with customers. Organisational thinking must be changed to meet the objectives of CRM. Firms believe they exist simply to produce a product or deliver a service. But the firms need to be customer centric. (Clemons 2000).Even there are many definitions of CMR by different authors, the main idea behind the CRM concept it is the use of tools to document and maintain a relationship between the costumer and the company, incrementing the satisfaction of the costumer and creating loyalty to the company it has been proven by many companies that is more profitable to maintain a customer in the long term rather that single sale customers.Customer Relationship Management is a method designed to collect information related to customers, to collect the features of customers, and to apply those qualities in definite marketing activi ties (Swift, 2001). CRM is not a new method. Actually, CRM has continuously existed from the past. On the other hand, CRM has recently become the focus of attention. The backgrounds are as follows (Ahn, 2001)Source http//www.jscgroup.com/crm-call-centre-solutions.html Access 11/07/09The relationship with customers is newly recognized as a key point to solidify competitive power of a companyAs companies procure large volumes of data related to customers, they can perform customer management more easily and efficiently using data warehousing, data mining, and other information technologies andThe Web has opened up a new medium for business and marketing, and we can express customer actions in online into data. In other words, the scope of data to analyze behaviors of customers is extended, and the environment for one-to-one marketing has been enhanced.Importance Of CrmThe main task of Customer Relationship management is to gather information about the customers. And then the data is u sed to help the customer service transactions by using the information needed to solve the issues or concern readily available to those dealing with the customers. If the customer is satisfied then there will be more profitable business and more resources available to the support staff. Moreover Customer relationship Management is a great help to the management for a future way of a company. As mentioned, Customer relationship management need more data to work and these includes the customer name, address, date of transactions, pending and finished transactions, issues and complaints, status of order, shipping and fulfilment dates, account information and many more.This information is important for the support staff to the customers for providing the answer that they needs to solve the issue without having to wait for a long time and not going to other departments. Moreover the customer service representative will also be able to see the previous concerns of the customer. (Lynette R yals Adrian Payne 2001) This is a great assist especially if the customer is calling about the same issue since the customer will not have to say again the story all over again. This takes less time to solve the issue causing higher productivity of the support staff.Customer Relationship Management system is also important for the management because it gives the information like customer satisfaction and efficiency of service by the help desk people. This system is also important for the companys future course of act, whether it involves phasing out one of the products on the shelve or making adjustments to one of the goods sold. The information provided by Customer Relationship Management systems is also invaluable to marketing and advertising people, as they will be able to identify which ideas will works and which do not.Integration of CRM systems in an organisation is very important and this is not an easy task as it seems. Most companies fail to integrate CRM systems that need to share the information for it to be effective. A CRM system also helps in expanding your businesses. Because CRM systems are able to handle huge amount of data, this systems help you in coping with the increased numbers of customers and their data. By installing a CRM systems and if the CRM systems are utilized properly it can be sure that the business will be successful and your customers are lot more satisfied than before. (Adrian Payne Pennie Frow 2003)There are many reasons why Customer Relationship Management is important to the organisations and some of the reasons are given belowOne of CRMs most important strength is that it organises and collects data of the customers and with this data one can analyze for the future opportunities for example by using the CRM data you can analyze the needs based to the customers such as what the customers needs but they arent buying. By using this information you can develop a sales strategy that will offer services in an attractive way ev en in cheaply difficult times. This includes package of new goods or services or products offering to the customers in an attractive price or with some incentives.The other reason for the importance of CRM systems is every customer is important for the business but some of the customers are more worth than the others. By allocating the sales efforts accordingly, we can produce more profits per sales hour and also we can increase more sales. The CRM systems contain the tools for analyzing the customers so that we can classify the customers according to the sales. For example by using the CRM tools we can see which position are most profitable and which customers are expected to buy them.Customer satisfaction is very important in the CRM systems because customer satisfaction involves two ideas one is to keep the promises to the customers and the other is to meet their confirmed needs. For example if you promise to contact a customer on Tuesday and do not get back to him until Thursday , you not only reached the customer expectations but the company had delicately shows how much you value that customer. Similarly, CRM can be used to make sure that the company is meeting the customer expectations as fully as possible. This involves professional handling of after-sales contacts such as service calls, resolving customer issues or offering the customer the right product at right price.At last, CRM is used to work the companys sales and customer support representatives smarter because of the improved information at their finger tips which is used to maximize revenue.http//www.insidecrm.com/features/crm-important-recession-082508/ Access 21/08/09The Role Of Internet And Website In CRMThe evolution of internet as changed the opportunity of building a customer relationship. The important thing is the search engine, it made easier to the customers to find online merchants and communicate with them. These merchants are then offering customers more efficient ways of ordering and receiving products and services. And also, the internet simplified bidirectional communication, for the first time offering a better way for consumers to communicate personal information to the merchant. By using the internet or website a customer needed to send only a application through cyberspace, which results in short delivery time, improved accuracy, and quite often a higher positive awareness. (Jill Dych 2001)Internet users realised that not having to go out of their way to buy what they want, and the simple is the process which results in customer satisfaction. In fact web offered customers options they hadnt had with other delivery channels such as24-hour accessUp-to-the-minute information for example stock levels, product features and pricesThe ability to research a product or merchant during a shopping tripOnline customer supportOnline self-servicePersonalized contentIn the past it takes lot of time to select a product for the customers but now by using the web versi on, the customer enters a key in his favourite search engine, which returns the web sites for several catalog window treatment firms. He chooses a company which contains a lot of options and prices. Before purchasing, he even browses more than a company of other window-ware web sites for additional prices and options finally placing his order in less than an hour. From this it clearly states that the web has made doing business easier than ever.Source (The CRM handbook a business guide to Customer Relationship Management August 2001, Addison-Wesley).For Example The Loyalty ProgramsCompanies in almost every industry are trying to use customer information to deal with the relationships. The creation of loyalty programs is one example. The airline industry gives the best examples of present initiatives. The Airline industry introduced the concept of loyalty cards long before anyone talked about CRM. It launched its advantage program in the year 1981 the term frequent flyer was introduc ed and loyalty marketing was changed forever. In earlier days of the airlines loyalty programs, American and United and the others who soon followed tracked little more than flight miles customer could accumulate for free award flights. Over the years as they have captured more and more knowledge about their millions of customers, the airlines have adopted the fundamental rules of CRMGet hold of individual information about customers.Recognize what different customers are worth.Treat different customers differently.And this has done in an excellent fashion with the creation of valuable perks for the best customers.Crm TechnologyTechnologyThe word Technology is used differently by different people and gives different meaning. The role and impact of Technology in ones personal and professional life is ever growing. Technology is used to meet the humans need rather than just understanding the workings of the natural world, which is the aim of science. Technology involves planned way of doing things where it covers intended and unintended interactions between people and the products.CRM TechnologyCustomer Relationship Management is a combination of processes, people and technology that is used to understand an organisations customers. CRM is an integrated approach to manage relationships with the customers. Customer Relationship Management technology supports the main processes of customer relationship management so the organisations can understand or analyze or track its contact with the customers. CRM technology enables enterprises to collect, handle large amount of data relating to the customers, carrying out strategies based on this information.The techniques used by the Customer Relationship Management have been always around and made it possible for organisations and companies to apply the tools to number of customers at a time. There are some technologies used by the Customer Relationship Management are Database Technology, Interactivity and the Mass custom ization Technology.Database TechnologyIt is the ability to analyze and plan large amounts of data besides to the storage capacity.InteractivityThe interaction between the customers and the organisation using the websites, call centers, and any other means using internet or telecommunications.Mass Customization TechnologyIt is a computerized standardization enables company to break services or products into modules or templates. The all technologies together make possible for an organisation to connect in the activities of Customer Relationship Management.Different Types Of CRM SystemsCRM systems can be described as a technology based business management tool which is used to develop and control the knowledge to look after, maintain, and strengthen the relationships with the customers. The main functions of the CRM systems are to effectively segment customers, maintain long term relationships with the profitable customers, establish how to handle unprofitable customers, and modify ma rket contributions and promotional efforts.There are different types of Customer Relationship Management systems depending on the requirements for different levels of integration on the needs of the business. Some of the CRM systems are Sales systems, Call center and trouble ticketing and marketing systems.Sales SystemsThis system includes all the systems that provide sales people, channels or customers themselves orders for new services. The main systems in the sales systems are sales force automation, point of sales and channel management systems.Call Center And Trouble TicketingThis systems are the most challenging to integrate because of the more interfaces and more critical than any other systems. The main complicated issue is the timing and level of integration.Marketing SystemsThis system is the easiest system in all the different types of CRM systems. It is a system of high performance, flexible platform that one can use to perform targeted personalised e-marketing using web or e-mail. The marketing system includes support for the content targeting, up-sell and cross sell capabilities, advertisements and testing, e-mail campaigns.Difference Between Transaction Customers And Relationship CustomersThere is a lot of difference between the customers for example there are customers who are most profitable and at the same time there are customers who are not so profitable. A company focuses on those customers who are profitable and help in the growth of the revenue. The main idea that a company have a profitable relationship with all the customers and the targeting customers with a different product or service is already in action in most of the financial services such as banking, insurance, credit cards etc. At the same time it is less recognized in many other businesses sectors like manufacturing. Clemons (2000)There is one method to identify the group of customers by the concept of distinguishing between transaction and relationship customers. Transaction customers are very much unpredictable and have very little loyalty, other than that related to obtaining the best price. Whereas Relationship customers are far more possible for loyalty as they are regularly prepared to pay a premium price for a range of consistent goods or services. (Newell 2000).Once Relationship customers are recruited than they are less possible to defect, provided they go on to receive quality service and products. Relationship customers are also more cost effective than new customers because they are already well-known with, and need far less guidance to buy the companys products or services. Peck et al. (1999) are among those who argue that for many organisations it would be beneficial to distinguish between the two types of customers and focus on relationship customers. He also suggests organisations to concentrate on the Relationship customers because they are the most profitable to the organisation.According to Newell (2000) there are likely three differe nt types of relationship customers and they are the top, middle and lower groups. The first group that is the top group (top 10 percent) are the customers who are with excellent loyalty and of high profitability for the organisation. CRM is required to retain and propose them the best possible services and products in order to avoid them defecting to other competitors. Middle group customers (next 40-50 percent) are those delivering good profits and they are the customers who are possible for future growth and loyalty. The middle group of customers are the main probably giving some of their business to competitors. The main idea is to use CRM to target the middle group customers efficiently because they are the greatest source of probable growth. The last group is Lower group relational customers (bottom 40-50 percent) are slightly profitable to the organisations. In these some of them may have potential for growth but the cost and efforts involved in targeting such customers, effec t the effectiveness of servicing existing relational customers in the remaining groups (Top and Middle groups). CRM should consider this group seriously and identify this group for the response required. Transactional customers add either nothing or have a poor effect on profitability. The agreement therefore is that CRM needs to identify transactional customers to assist organisations respond correctly.CRM FunctionsCRM system supports all the stages of the interaction with the customers from order through delivery to after-sales service. CRM also covers the online ordering, e-mail, knowledge bases that can be used to generate customer profiles, and to personalize service, the generation of automatic response to e-mail, and automatic help. Rowley (2002). She also distinguishes the list of functions that might apply in a CRM applicationE-commerceChannel automation softwareGuided sell