Download CRM UNIT 4 - KV Institute of Management and Information Studies

BA 7015 CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
UNIT IV CRM PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION
Strategic CRM planning process – Implementation issues – CRM Tools- Analytical
CRM –Operational CRM – Call center management – Role of CRM Managers.
Table of Contents
4.1. CRM Strategy .................................................................................................................................. 2
4.1.1. What is Strategic CRM? ............................................................................................................... 2
4.1.2. Why is it important?...................................................................................................................... 2
4.1.3. CRM Strategy consideration ......................................................................................................... 2
4.1.4. CRM Strategy ............................................................................................................................... 4
4.2. Strategic CRM planning process...................................................................................................... 7
4.2.1. Planning CRM – Strategies to Success ......................................................................................... 7
4.2.2. CRM process................................................................................................................................. 8
4.2.3. CRM process model .................................................................................................................... 12
4.3. Implementation issues of CRM...................................................................................................... 12
4.3.1. Key Challenges in CRM implementation ................................................................................... 14
4.3.3. Problems and challenges in the effective implementation of CRM systems .............................. 16
4.4. Analytical CRM ............................................................................................................................. 17
4.4.1. Definition of Analytical CRM .................................................................................................... 17
4.4.2. Key Features of Analytical CRM................................................................................................ 17
4.4.3. Analytical CRM components ...................................................................................................... 19
4.5. Operational CRM ........................................................................................................................... 21
4.5.1. Definition .................................................................................................................................... 21
4.5.2. Process of Operational CRM ...................................................................................................... 21
4.6. Call Center Management ............................................................................................................... 23
4.6.1. 5 Steps to Effective Call Center Management ............................................................................ 24
4.6.2. Key Elements of Call Center Management ................................................................................. 25
4.7. Role of CRM Managers ................................................................................................................. 26
4.7.1. Steps to be followed by CRM managers ..................................................................................... 26
4.7.2. Important aspects of CRM managers .......................................................................................... 27
4.8. CRM Tools..................................................................................................................................... 28
4.8.1. 18 Important CRM tools ............................................................................................................. 29
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Page 1
4.1. CRM Strategy
4.1.1. What is Strategic CRM? (2 mark)
CRM is a business strategy whose outcomes optimize profitability, revenue and customer
satisfaction by implementing customer-centric processes.
When developing a CRM strategy, it‘s important to identify all of the functional areas of
your business that touch your Customers or Prospects, and then develop and document the
business processes that you will use to manage those touch points.
4.1.2. Why is it important?

Help better understand the needs of every individual customer

Reduce customer churn - eg: lower selling costs

Increase leads - eg: referrals

Increase revenue per customer - eg: cross sell, upsell

Help deliver a consistent experience every time
4.1.3. CRM Strategy consideration
People
• Communicate vision
• Recognise customer-centric behaviour
• Train staff on Customer Service and customer dispute resolution
• Make customers front and centre for all key business decisions
• Measure and report
-Surveys (written or face to face)
-Social media monitoring
-Mystery Shopping
- Management involved with Customer
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Processes
• Lead management
• Sales Pipeline management
-Call back responses
• Accounts Management
- Record account specifics and all account interactions across the
organisation
- Customer care program
-Account Ratings –Advocate, Passive, Detractor
• Service Desk
-Case management
- Dispute recognition
- Social media management
• Marketing
-Leverage technology, individual behaviours and context to drive more
personalized marketing and engage prospects and customers
Technology
• Implement a CRM System
- Use CRM to cement your process
- Make CRM central source of truth
• Integrate your CRM system
- Content Management System (CMS)
- eCommerce platform
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- Marketing Automation software
- Learning Management System
- ERP
- Accounting software
4.1.4. CRM Strategy
1. Identify the best customers, and the worst
A business relationship requires that we identify good customers, ones that likewise want a
relationship with us—and collaborate with them to create new value that will benefit both
parties over the long term. First, then, who are the customers with whom we should form a
meaningful relationship? Just the biggest? Or the most profitable? Or the ones that will be
most profitable tomorrow? Or those that are most amenable to a relationship with us? Or
perhaps even other customers? Deciding which customers to focus on and which ones to
neglect is the first and most important strategic decision.
2. Distribute value differently to different customers
A company should determine which are its best, average and worst customers and ensure that
each receives appropriate value. Absurd though it sounds, most companies reward the worst
customers and penalize the best by giving both groups average value. This is sometimes the
result of not fully allocating all customer costs, including those that occur after gross margin,
such as inventory carrying costs, late payments, customer communications and merchandise
returns.
3. Compete on scope
One way of discriminating among customers is to become more relevant to each one. For
many companies, this means broadening the range of products, services or solutions, whether
or not the company makes them. Firms can collaborate with third parties to ensure that the
customer receives the value each wants, rather than insisting that the customer buy what the
company makes. This is a major strategic departure from the old belief that growing larger
would give the company the economies it needed to succeed. In a world of individual
customers, unique value must be created for each one. Being larger may not offer the
opportunity to be more relevant. Frequently, the opposite is true. Larger companies can be
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less able to cater to individual needs, especially where their technologies and processes have
been engineered for efficiency rather than effectiveness.
4. Focus on strategic capabilities
Managers sometimes do not want to plan because they fear that their plan will become
rapidly outdated (it will), or that some of their strategies will be wrong (quite likely). Rather,
in the era of CRM, strategies should be framed in terms of strategic capabilities rather than
strategies per se. Base a plan on the range of capabilities that the company should have,
including process, technology, people and knowledge/insight. CRM initiatives could prove
difficult if technology is the only focus and people and their organizations receive insufficient
attention. Stakeholders such as suppliers, employees and channel intermediaries form a chain
of relationships, and the end-customer relationship can only be as strong as the weakest link.
Plan to create durable bonds with these stakeholders, too. For example, when considering
employees, pay attention to the link between relationship management and performance
reviews, recruitment, training and compensation.
5. Win through customer-centric innovation
Creating new and mutual customer value, the core of CRM, means that companies need to
have a process for customer inclusion and collaborative innovation. Most firms continue to
innovate in the old style, using off-line research and product definition, rather than by
involving the customer throughout the process. The challenge is to involve customers as the
company works with each one of them to define and create new value.
Integrate the customer‘s technology, people and business processes with those of your own
company. If you can tell where your firm ends and the customer‘s starts, you probably have
not yet fully implemented relationship marketing. Amcan Castings makes castings for
companies such as DaimlerChrysler. Their engineers work alongside those of their
customers, and they would probably have difficulty saying when the sale is made. Design and
development is collaborative. The purchase process is continuous; it is harder to tell when the
sale starts and when it ends.
6. Measure customer performance
Focus on customer profitability with the goal of improving it, rather than the tradition of only
measuring product, product line and divisional profitability, customer costs and customer
value perceptions. It is quite in order to sell products at a loss if the relationship is profitable
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and/or strategic. Miss Mew cat food used to include the unprofitable tuna flavour, but the cats
loved it and made the overall range of flavours quite profitable.
7. Unlearn and relearn
We need to unlearn the principles of ―mass‖ everything if the company is to realize the
benefits of CRM. The car industry, among the first to mass-produce, mass sell and mass
market, is now among the first to go down the road to mass customization, building on the
ability of the collaborative Covisint electronic marketplace to design its own approaches to
mass customization. This is not a minute too soon. After a year-long examination of the
Canadian automotive retailing industry, we know that the customer interface needs to be
considerably improved and that the main challenge is to put the word ―custom‖ back into
―customer.‖ Unlearning is really needed if a company is to shed what made it successful in
the past, but which now threatens its ability to adapt and rise to new heights. And unlearning
may be hard to do, since it means changing entrenched attitudes throughout the chain of
relationships to achieve the end result of a delighted customer.
Inside most companies, there is tension between those who ―get‖ CRM and those who do not.
If CRM is to take root and move the company into new territory, the group that doesn‘t ―get‖
CRM will need to learn or relearn what it is and the potential it has. In particular, the CFO
should become involved in the visioning exercise; his or her commitment is most important if
the plan is to work.
8. Redefine the focus
Many leaders encourage their firms to ―focus,‖ by which they often mean focus on products
or services. The company using CRM should instead see ―focus‖ in terms of customers, not
products or services, and should welcome the very significant changes that this redefinition
will force. In particular, the CRM company will have to make significant change in its
processes as it begins to supply what customers want rather than what the company makes.
This disruption can undermine the initiative in the early going, unless the changes have been
anticipated and presold to internal managers.
9. The new competition
The old rules of marketing are mostly broken and ineffective, providing a poor basis for
making the company a winner. After all, there are only so many good customers to go round
and all competitors want them. The 4Ps of marketing made little or no provision for this
reality, nor did they create an opportunity for adjusting each aspect of product, price,
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promotion and distribution according to the unique preferences of the customer. In the era of
CRM, customers target companies even more than vice versa. The 4Ps do not address this
much newer reality.
In the era of CRM, competing has taken on a new meaning. Increasingly, companies will be
competing for six things:
1. Obtaining preferential access to the best customers.
2. Becoming the ―lowest-time‖ producer, or taking up as little as possible of the customer‘s
most precious resource.
3. Winning the right new employees, especially those who ―get‖ CRM, whatever their
functional job titles.
4. Aligning and collaborating with a selected group of companies, both competitors and noncompetitors.
5. Developing more customer data, knowledge and insight than competitors, and moving faster
than them down the ―customer‘s knowledge curve,‖ to position the company and its products
when and where the customer is most likely to buy.
6. Creating the best new strategic capabilities.
4.2. Strategic CRM planning process (16 mark)
4.2.1. Planning CRM – Strategies to Success
CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is the successful blend of a business
strategy and technology that enables a company to achieve their goals. The technology
provides companies with ways to keep contact with existing customers, manage leads more
effectively, measure results more often and standardize business processes. However,
software can not do this on its own. The software is actually only there to help enabling the
CRM-strategy that a company designed before the implementation of their CRM-software.
CRM-strategies vary according to the company they are designed for, however,
successful strategies have several things in common. Here are five essential things one
should always consider in setting up their strategy.
1. Design a strategy before implementing your CRM-software. This might seem
obvious since we are talking about essential things in setting up a strategy, but planning
projects is often the one thing that companies tend to forget. It is essential to design the
CRM-strategy before you go and implement the software. Your strategy should contain all
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the short, medium and long term goals you have as a company in regard to your CRM usage.
The plan must be complete, clear and for everyone to understand.
2. A CRM-strategy has to be aligned to the mission and purpose of the
organization. It should communicate a consistent message about the company. But having a
strong strategy that directly reflects your company‘s mission and purpose is not the only
important aspect in creating a CRM-strategy. When having different departments, it is
essential to also align all departmental strategies with the CRM-strategy. Each department
has its own requirements and goals that you have to take in to account when developing your
CRM-strategy.
3. CRM-strategies must acquire support by their senior executives to succeed. Not
having executive sponsorship correlates to CRM failure. But gaining support from other
stakeholders is mutually important! Since the sales management team will be the ones
holding their salespeople and others accountable for using the CRM software in alignment
with the organization‘s mission and purpose, it is especially important to get them on board.
Without the full support of the sales management team, a successful CRM implementation
can be very difficult. Companies may experience serious objections from salespeople as well
as their sales managers if the CRM-strategy was not discussed with them before.
4. The key people from your organization, who will be using the CRM-system,
should not only support but also fully understand how CRM works. Giving end-users the
time to get to know the new system will make the implementation much easier. The sooner
training begins, the sooner end-users will realize they are a part of the process and the
quicker they will see the benefits to the application for them. Making them understand how
the software works, how it will improve the company‘s competitive position and how they
will benefit from it personally, will not only give you their support but will also increase
their commitment to the software.
5. Choose your CRM-software wisely. Take the time to understand your business,
decide what you truly need from the system and set up cost parameters in which the software
can be implemented. Find a system that fits your business most, then, personalize the
program to your needs with the help of the manufacturer.
4.2.2. CRM process
The process can be defined as the way in which things are done within an organization.
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CRM processes is defi ned as "the activities performed by the organization concerning
the management of the customer relationship and these activities are grouped according
to a longitudinal view of the relationship". The objective of CRM process is to form
customers' perceptions of an organization and its products through identifying customers,
creating customer knowledge, and building customers relationships. CRM processes are
categorized into vertical and horizontal processes, front-office and back-office processes,
and primary and secondary processes. vertical processes refer to the processes that are
placed completely within business functions like customer acquisition process while,
horizontal processes refer to the cross-functional processes like product development
process. Front-office processes refer to the customer facing processes like complaint
management process while, back-office processes refer to the hidden and non-facing
processes from customers like the procurement process. The primary processes are the
processes that have major cost or revenue implications for organizations like the logistics
process in courier organization and claims process in insurance organizations while, the
secondary processes are the processes that have minor cost or revenue implication for
organizations.
Customer-facing level CRM processes
CRM process at the customer-facing level can be defined as "a systematic process to
manage customer relationship initiation, maintenance, and termination; across all customer
contact points to maximize the value of the relationship portfolio". There are three CRM
processes at the customer-facing level of CRM including relationship initiation, relationship
maintenance, and relationship termination. For each one of these processes as the following:
a) the initiation process refers to the activities that take place before or in the early stages of
the relationship, such as identifying potential customers; b) the maintenance process
includes the activities that portray normal customer relationships, such as cross-selling, upselling, or retention programs; and c) the termination process includes both the activities
used to find and settle on ending a bad relationship for example, ending the relationship with
unprofitable, or low value customer, and the termination management activities. This process
could happen at any time of the relationship.
The customer-facing level CRM processes includes the building of a single view of the
customer across all contact channels and the distribution of customer intelligence to all
customer-facing functions. This perspective emphasizes on the importance of coordinating
information across time and contact channels to manage the entire customer relationship
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systematically.
Customer-oriented CRM processes
Customer process encompasses the customer activities performed to satisfy a need or to
solve a problem. Three kinds of customer-oriented CRM processes; (i) CRM delivery
processes, (ii) CRM support processes, and (iii) CRM analysis processes. CRM delivery
processes are the processes of direct contact with customer and are considered as part of the
customer process including campaign management process, sales management process,
service management process, and complaint management process. CRM support processes
deal with accomplishing supporting purposes through the market research process and
loyalty management process while, CRM analysis processes concentrate on combining and
analyzing the collected customer knowledge in other CRM processes, including the
processes of customer scoring and lead management, customer profiling and segmentation,
and, feedback and knowledge management.
Cross-functional CRM processes
Five generic cross-functional CRM processes based on a holistic approach including (i)
the strategy development process, (ii) the value creation process, (iii) the multichannel
integration process, (iv) the information management process, and (v) the performance
assessment process.
Four of these CRM processes are allocated to the CRM forms;
strategic, analytical, and operational those mentioned before, and how they interact with
each other, as depicted in figure 1.
Four CRM processes including strategic planning, information management, customer
value, and performance measurement processes. The categorization is very close to
classification where, there share phases between the two views and some of them are
included within one another.
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The strategy development process (figure 1) encompasses an interactive set of strategic
processes that inaugurate with a detailed review of an organization's strategy where, the
focus within this process is on the organization's business strategy and customer strategy.
CRM Macro-level processes
CRM macro-level processes refers to the undertaken activities of an organization to create
market intelligence that the organization can leverage to build and sustain a profitmaximizing portfolio of customer relationships through two sub-processes; knowledge
management process and interaction management process. The knowledge management
process and the interaction management process are highly dependent on the technological
and human resources of the organization.
Knowledge management process is defined from CRM perspective as the process that "is
concerned with all of the activities directed towards creating and leveraging the market
intelligence that firms need to build and maintain a portfolio of customer relationships that
maximizes organizational profitability". The knowledge management process can be subdivided into three processes; data collection, intelligence generation, and intelligence
dissemination. Data collection refers to the capture of information related to the market and
customers. The intelligence generation refers to the conversion of the captured information
into actionable intelligence witch needs to be disseminated in the intelligence dissemination
process across the organization to all employees who have a direct contact with the customer
or working on the marketing activities of the organization.
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4.2.3. CRM process model
This model starts with the development of customer strategy in which the target market is
identified. Differentiated strategies are developed to deal with customers segments
based on their profitability. Then, the setting of customer objectives is performed that aim for
achieving customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and customer value. After that, assessing
the organizational readiness is carried out through turning the organization focus toward
customer rather than products, assuring the top management commitment and support, and
planning for the implementation of a CRM system.
4.3. Implementation issues of CRM (16 mark)

In today‘s business environment, most companies interface with their customers
through a variety of channels including sales people, service personnel, call
centers, Internet websites, marketing departments, fulfillment houses, market and
business development agents, and so forth.

For large customers, it also includes cross-functional teams that may include
personnel from various functional departments. Although each of these units could
operate independently, they still need to share information about individual customers
and their interactions with the company on a real-time basis.

For example, a customer who just placed an order on the Internet and
subsequently calls the call center for order verification expects the call center staff
to know the details of his or her order history. Similarly, a customer approached by
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Page 12
a sales person unaware of the fact that the customer had recently complained about
dissatisfactory customer service is not likely to be treated kindly by the customer.

On the other hand, if the salesperson was aware of the problem encountered by the
customer, the complaint, and the action already initiated to resolve the complaint,
the salesperson would be in a relatively good position to handle the situation well.

Therefore, effective CRM implementation requires a front-line information system
that shares relevant customer information across all interface units.
Relational
databases, data warehousing, and data mining tools are thus very valuable for CRM
systems and solutions.

The challenge is to develop an integrated CRM platform that collects relevant
data input at each customer interface and simultaneously provides knowledge output
about the strategy and tactics suitable to win customer business and loyalty. For
example, if call center personnel cannot identify and differentiate a high value
customer and do not know what to up- sell or cross-sell to this customer, it could
mean a tremendous opportunity lost.

CRM solutions platform needs to be based on interactive technology and processes. It
should
assist
the
company
in
developing
and
enhancing
customer
interactions and one-to-one marketing through the application of suitable intelligent
agents that help develop the front-line relationship with customers.

Such a system would identify appropriate data inputs at each customer interaction
site and use analytical platforms to generate appropriate knowledge output for frontline staff during customer interactions.

The lack of a CRM strategy or CRM programs would leave the front-line people
without any knowledge of what they should be doing with the additional customer
information that they now have access to. Those applying themselves and developing
improvised solutions could find that their ad hoc solutions backfire and cause
unintended deterioration in customer relationships.
Exclusivity – one of the major problems of effective CRM implementation is being a
loner department. In order to create a truly effective CRM initiative, every business
should approach the issue as a single creature, and do so from the start.
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Poor Planning – pleasing the customer should, above all else, take precedence for a
company, but it needs to be done in a systematic, well planned manner. Failing to do so
may result in dissatisfied customers in general.
Lack of Training – a business must hire a CRM expert and make sure everybody
involved in CRM within the company is adequately trained with the tools.
Wasted Funds – CRM is expensive. It can cost a lot to give the customers exactly what
they want. Look at the cost associated with your CRM initiative and determine whether or
not the additional money is actually a necessity.
4.3.1. Key Challenges in CRM implementation
1. Defining Clear Objectives
The organization should have a clear set of objectives which it would like to achieve through
the CRM. These objectives need to be listed and defined as measurable metrics. Without
doing so, the company can‘t assess the benefits or the ROI of the CRM system.
2. Appointing a Core CRM Team
The CRM initiative is not an IT project. A core CRM team should be formed in addition to
the participation from Top Management, Senior Executives, Customer Service, IT and endusers. Only after the requirements are clear should they be handed over to IT for
implementation.
3. Defining the Processes
It is important for the processes to be clearly defined and enforced in order to set up the CRM
project for success. One good practice is to create a central repository, accessible to all, which
stores all the process definitions. This allows the document to be available for referencing by
anyone using the system.
Key processes that need to be defined from the start are Change Management process,
Feature Re-evaluation process, etc. Also, clear security measures with access management
need to be in place to make sure that important data is not accessible by those who shouldn‘t
be accessing it.
4. Managing the Application
Once the CRM has been rolled-out, it is important to re-align the work culture of the teams
around it. The business operation should properly map with the CRM application. This also
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Page 14
means that end users should perform day-to-day operations through the CRM application by
default and not optionally.
5. Finding the Right Partner
The rate of CRM success considerably goes up with the right solution partner. Ideally select a
partner who can do both, strategy & implementation. It is important that your partner shares
the risks of your implementation. Working with a vendor who understands local work
culture, technology limitations and listens to the employees, are ideal.
4.3.2. Keys to CRM Implementation Success
Executive Sponsorship
Assign a senior executive who is committed to the project, stays informed, clears roadblocks,
allocates resources, manages saboteurs (people invested in the status quo), and acts as
cheerleader for the project.
Project Team Commitment
Include the right people, give them the time and authority to complete project tasks, and
make sure all team members are committed to the project‘s success.
Project Manager
Assign a strong Project Manager with a business focus of Customer Service and/or Sales and
marketing.
Planning and Business Process Analysis
It is tempting to skip all the preparation and jump right to the implementation. DON‘T! Take
an enterprise-wide approach and consider the entire customer life cycle.
Facilitation
It may be advantageous to hire an outside (objective) facilitator to help with business process
analysis and redesign if people seem to be protecting the status quo.
Define Success
List all the things that would fit in the blank in this sentence: ―I will know this
implementation has been successful when_______.‖ Be sure to include all the reasons you
chose the system in the first place.
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Phased Approach
Work towards the long-term enterprise rollout through a series of smaller, phased
implementations, either by functional business unit or by feature set or both.
Keep it Simple
Recognize that what you are embarking on is the intertwining of a computer application with
your business processes.
Train, Train, Train
Every one of the people involved with this project will need to be trained. Ensure that the
project team is trained before they begin making decisions about the implementation.
4.3.3. Problems and challenges in the effective implementation of CRM systems
The implementation of CRM systems varies from one organization to the next; each one must
be treated as a separate application, having different needs and requiring different solutions.
Seven types of CRM applications:
(1) CRM systems for call centers
(2) CRM systems for service representatives in the field
(3) CRM systems for telemarketing
(4) CRM systems for sales managers in the field (sales managers who are in direct contact
with the client)
(5) CRM systems for marketing
(6) Analytic CRM systems for the creation of BI insights and reports based on a database of
client contacts
(7) XRM systems for servicing partners and clients over the Internet.
What is needed to succeed in the introduction of a CRM system? The success of a CRM
project depends first and foremost on the people who implement it and on the manner in
which they use the system. A working CRM system that is not being used is useless. A smart
CRM system requires a smart user. Therefore the successful deployment of a CRM system
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Page 16
depends on upgrading the entire sales and service organization, including the personnel and
the supporting tools.
4.4. Analytical CRM (16 mark)
4.4.1. Definition of Analytical CRM (2 mark)
Analytical CRM comprises the analysis and systematic evaluation of customer data using
business intelligence functions. The aim is to filter out the key facts from gathered
information and gain customer knowledge. Analytical CRM allows customer satisfaction to
be measured, for example, or trends among customers to move to other suppliers to be
detected. Knowledge of customers' behavior can also be used specifically for communication
and addressing customers in operational CRM, such as in campaign management.
Example: Customers' buying behavior is analyzed in analytical CRM. This analysis reveals
which customers have not bought anything for a considerable length of time. A mailshot
campaign, guided by operational CRM, will address this target group directly and encourage
it to purchase various products.
4.4.2. Key Features of Analytical CRM

Seizing all the relevant and essential information of customers from various channels
and sources and collaboratively integrating and inheriting all this data into a central
repository knowledge base with a overall organization view.

Determining, developing and analyzing inclusive set of rules and analytical methods
to scale and optimize relationship with customers by analyzing and resolving all the
questions which are suitable for business.

Implementing or deploying the results to enhance the efficiency of CRM system and
processes, improve relationship and interaction with customers and the actual
business planning with customers.

Combine and integrate the values of customers with strategic business management of
organization and value of stakeholders.
Analytical CRM is a solid and consistent platform which provides analytical applications to
help predict, scale and optimize customer relations. Advantages of implementing and using
an analytical CRM are described below.
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1. Leads in making more profitable customer base by providing high value services.
2. Helps in retaining profitable customers through sophisticated analysis and
making new customers that are clones of best of the customers.
3. Helps in addressing individual customer‘s needs and efficiently improving the
relationships with new and existing customers.
4. Improves customer satisfaction and loyalty.
The power of CRM provides a lot of managerial opportunities to the organization. It
implements the customer information in an intelligent way and creates views on customer
values, spending, affinity and segmentation. Analysis is done in every aspect of business as
described below:
1. Customer Analytics- This is the base analytic used to analyze customer knowledge
base. It provides a better view of customer behavior and by modeling, assessing
customer values and assessing customer‘s portfolio or profiles and creates an exact
understanding of all the customers.
2. Marketing Analytics- This helps discovering new market opportunities and seeks
their potential values. It also helps in managing marketing strategies and scale and
plan marketing performance at district, regional and national levels. Marketing
analytics also focus on campaign management and planning, product analysis and
branding.
3. Sales Analytics- Sales analytic provides essential environment to plan, simulate and
predict sales volumes and profits by constantly analyzing organizational sales
behavior. It helps in pipelining all the selling opportunities in an efficient way by
indulging and improving the sales cycle.
4. Service Analytics- Analytical CRM has major role in enhancing the services which
answering all the questions regarding customer satisfaction, quality and cost of
products, complaint management etc. It even helps in improving and optimizing the
services by sophistically analyzing the service revenue and cost.
5. Channel Analytics- This type of analysis helps to determine the customer behavior
on channel preferences, like web channel, personal interaction, telephone channel etc.
This information is efficiently integrated in customers‘ knowledge base so that they
can be contacted accordingly.
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4.4.3. Analytical CRM components
Data Warehousing
Data warehousing technology and a comprehensive customer data warehouse are keys to
making analytical CRM work. Ideally, there should be a single customer repository for all
transactions, behaviors, preferences, customer profitability and valuation, and segmentation
treatments - but the reality is that most organizations have created silos of data and it will not
be easy to coordinate all of the sources initially. Data warehousing technologies include the
extract, transformation and load (ETL) functions to move data in and out of legacy systems
and disparate data marts into the comprehensive customer data warehouse.
Data Enhancement
This is a broad category consisting of data cleansing, data enhancement and customer
profitability. Data cleansing includes cleaning up, standardizing and linking the data as it is
loaded from the legacy systems. Data enhancement involves adding external data such as
demographic or spatial information. Customer profitability is the application of identifying
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historical, current and projected value of your customers and then using it to improve
segmentation and to implement customer strategies. Customer profitability analysis is one of
the most important and underappreciated components of analytical CRM.
Data Mining, Personalization and Segmentation
These solutions are related but are sometimes perceived as vastly different because of how
they arrive at their answers. Ultimately, they are performing the same task - using various
modeling techniques to predict, tailor and present customers with better messages and
increase the odds of acceptance.
Business Intelligence
Business intelligence solutions range from ad hoc query and OLAP analysis to portals,
standardized reports and balanced scorecards. Business intelligence provides users with
access to the customer information and will be different for different types of users. Business
intelligence is the window into understanding the analytical information.
Marketing
The marketing or campaign management application is generally seen as the link between the
analytical and operational worlds. The marketing application manages the marketing process
by creating, executing and tracking offline batch and real-time offers to customers. The
execution of marketing offers is the link into the operational or customer-facing CRM
solutions and the reason marketing is sometimes seen as the Trojan Horse of the traditional
CRM world.
Data Movement, Workflow and Integration into other CRM Applications
This last category is the glue that will connect the analytical and operational solutions into a
cohesive and seamless total solution. Without getting into too many details, the emergence of
XML as a standard for integration will be a huge enabler. Workflow and business-rule driven
capabilities are also key. Ultimately, suites of CRM applications will dominate the landscape
and minimize the integration issues - but it will take time and money to swap existing
systems for new systems.
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4.5. Operational CRM (16 mark)
4.5.1. Definition (2 mark)
The operational CRM includes the systematic use of analytical CRM filtered customer
knowledge within the operational processes. This knowledge is used, for example, for the
assessment and classification of customers, sales work or campaign management. The
operational CRM provides the functions to do this, so that customer groups are specifically
approached and customer loyalty is strengthened.
Example:
In analytical CRM, customer buying patterns are evaluated. Through the analysis, it becomes
clear which customers haven‘t bought for a long time. Thanks to a mailing campaign, which
runs through operational CRM, this target group is directly addressed and incited to buy
various products.
4.5.2. Process of Operational CRM
Operational CRM is mainly focused on automation, improvement and enhancement of
business processes which are based on customer-facing or customer supporting. The main
importance of a CRM system lies on how the selling, marketing and service oriented
processes are automated, and for which operational CRM systems are embedded with
following major automation applications:
1. Marketing automation- As the name implies, marketing automation is basically
focused on automating marketing processes. In marketing, campaign management
involves marketers to use customer specific information to determine, evaluate and
develop communications that are targeted to customers in individual as well as
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multilevel or multichannel environment. Campaigns developed to communicate
customers individually are easy and involves unique and direct communications. For
multichannel environment the implementation of marketing strategies and campaign
management is quite difficult and challenging. For example, some retailers have
multichannel transactions like shops or stores, wholesale stores, websites, home
shopping and even television shopping. Here integration and implementation of
communication strategy is difficult and evaluation of performance and quality of
campaigns needs to be automated and should be technologically sound across each of
the channels. For handling this, a CRM marketing strategy called event-based
marketing is inherited. Using event based marketing communication and offers are
presented to customers as and when they are required. For example, credit card
customer calls the call center for inquiring the current interest rates, this indicates that
customer is specific about the interest rates and is trying to compare the interest rates
and may switch to different competitor to find specific deals which suits him. Without
wasting time the automated CRM system pops up an event of offer which is best
suited for that customer and helps to retain him back.
2. Sales-force Automation- A CRM system is not only used to deal with the existing
customers but is also useful in acquiring new customers. The process first starts with
identifying a customer and maintaining all the corresponding details into the CRM
system. This process can be distributed into many stages which includes generation of
lead and then qualifying those leads as prospects. The Sales and Field representatives
then try getting business out of these customers by sophistically following up with
them and converting them into a winning deal. Automation of selling process is
efficiently handled by Sales-force automation which automates all the methodologies
or sales cycle and above described process sophisticatedly.
3. Service
Automation- Service
automation deals with
managing
organization‘s
service. The actual interactions with customers such as contact, direct sales, direct
mail, call centers, data aggregation systems, web sites and blogs etc. are examples of
operational CRM. Each interaction with a customer can be collected to the client
database generally known as ‗customer‘s history‘ and the information can later be
used wherever necessary. Any one in the organization can have access to this
information about customer which gives a clear view of customers needs and
important information on the customer such as products owned, prior support calls
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etc. It naturally eliminates the need to obtain this information individually from the
customer. On the basis of the information, if required, the customer can easily be
contacted at right time at the right place.
Operational CRM refers to services that provide support for various ‘front office’
business processes in helping organization to take care of their customers. Focus on
customers‘ value is important for a successful operational CRM strategy. Different customers
have to be treated differently so information on variables like customers‘ ranking, actual
value and potential value is of strategic value.
4.6. Call Center Management (16 mark)
One of the biggest issues of call center management is how to meet or exceed service levels
while controlling payroll costs. More accurate forecasting, flexible scheduling and real-time
adherence will make your daily call center management more effective by avoiding under or
over staffing and ensuring agents are working when they are needed, directly resulting in
improved service levels.
Monet Workforce Management Live is an affordable and easy to use call center forecasting
and employee scheduling solution which includes ACD integration, real-time agent
adherence and intra-day management. Call centers will start improving service levels and
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reducing center costs within days - all without the upfront expenses and IT requirements of
traditional software.
Monet Workforce Management Live was especially designed for small and medium sized
call centers to meet their specific needs:

Fast setup within days, avoiding large implementation projects

Affordable monthly fees without large upfront investment

Easy to use through 100% web interface

Quick integration with any ACD or PBX for call history and real time adherence
4.6.1. 5 Steps to Effective Call Center Management
Hiring Natural Talent
Few call center managers put sufficient time and energy into hiring the best people for the
job. It is important for call centers to bring in employees that have a natural aptitude for
customer service, with effective communication and listening skills, an enthusiastic attitude
and a strong memory retention.
By carefully screening new hires into call centers, you can begin working with individuals
who have the characteristics necessary to provide optimal customer service in the first place.
Thorough Training
Once you have hired the best people for the job, a comprehensive training program is another
essential feature of a high quality call center. Special focus should be placed on dealing with
customer complaints, since these customers may make up a majority of the calls received.
When employees feel equipped to handle complaints, and they see them as an opportunity
rather than a hurdle, they will be more likely to tackle those calls with zeal.
Smart Scheduling
When call center employees begin to feel over-worked and overwhelmed, the quality of
service automatically goes down. Proper scheduling is essential to ensure customers get
assistance in a timely fashion and that the service they do receive is patient and friendly.
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When determining scheduling, do so by the quality of calls, rather than the quantity. This will
ensure that you have sufficient staff to provide the highest quality of service possible to your
customers.
Regular Evaluation
To keep call center staff motivated, it is important to regularly assess the quality of service
that is being provided. Your evaluation program should accommodate every call center
employee on your staff and provide you with sufficient information to accurately assess the
quality of service each employee is giving. Evaluations need to be given regularly to ensure
call center reps maintain a consistent level of service every time they are on the job.
Positive Incentives
Negative consequences like evaluations work, but they work much more effectively when
they are balanced with positive incentives to encourage employees to put their best foot
forward every day. Contests and service quality quotas can keep employees motivated and
maintain a higher morale level across your entire staff. Happier employees tend to provide
higher quality service overall.
A call center can be challenging when it comes to quality customer service, but there are
steps you can take to raise the bar on your level of service. With these tips, you not only keep
your call center employees more satisfied, but you have the potential to delight your
customers as well.
4.6.2. Key Elements of Call Center Management
1. Contact Center Performance – When investigating a potential solution, ask about the
performance measures that are used to determine success levels. Once you have established
measures, ask how monitoring of performance is accomplished, how often it takes place and
what incentives are used to ensure expected performance is achieved.
2.
Contact Center Scheduling – While this may seem like a topic to leave up to the
contact center management, this is an area that you should make a priority to cover. Improper
scheduling practices lead to higher stress for agents and degradation in customer service. This
can also lead to higher attrition, resulting in the contact center being understaffed when
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handling your customer interactions. Ask contact center leaders about their scheduling
practices and how they ensure the anticipation of peaks and valleys, to make efficient use of
agent time.
3.
Workforce
Management – While closely related to scheduling, workforce
management also looks at how employees are tied to certain tasks. If the contact center does
not have an effective workforce management program in place, they most likely
cannot offer you a quality solution. This type of program will ensure that specific customer
interactions are handled by the most qualified agent to not only achieve first contact
resolution, but to also deliver a high level of customer service.
4.
Customer Care Solutions – Customers today demand information and services any
time and anywhere. If your customers meet this profile, look for a solution
that offers inbound calling and electronic communications such as Web, chat and IVR selfservice 24 x 7. An outsourced solution that is available 365 days a year can guarantee that
customer interaction and experiences remain healthy-- contributing to long-term customer
loyalty.
4. Recruitment and Retention – This is an area where many organizations fail in their
search for an effective contact center outsourcing solution. Attrition rates are directly
linked to contact center performance and customer satisfaction levels. If the
outsourcer is not employing comprehensive recruiting practices as well as proper ongoing training and coaching, robust scheduling and workforce management practices
are not likely to offset the impact that high attrition has on the customer experience.
Be sure that efficient practices are in place and that attrition rates are lower than the
industry average.
4.7. Role of CRM Managers
4.7.1. Steps to be followed by CRM managers
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
Customer relationship managers should know their customer's needs , wishes and dreams.
He or she should be well versed in the value delivered to customers and the problems
customers are trying to solve.

The customer relationship manager will not only solve customer requests but will
proactively offer ideas and insights to improve the customer's issues and challenges.

The customer relationship manager will follow up on every issue and ensure complete
satisfaction and maximum utilization of the product or services sold to customers.
4.7.2. Important aspects of CRM managers
This role is increasingly valued in large companies as customer knowledge becomes ever
more important in marketing strategy. The CRM manager will plan, execute and follow up on
customer retention campaigns through a variety of media – most likely to be SMS, direct
mail, email and social marketing.
The CRM Manager is ultimately responsible for retention campaigns, from conceptualization
through to post-event analysis. This includes coming up with creative ideas, proposal
preparation, overseeing the production process, overseeing execution, and reporting back
results.
A CRM manager needs to have a detailed understanding of how CRM databases work, and
be able to use them strategically to deliver business value. In most businesses the CRM
manager will report directly to the Director of marketing and may manage a team of CRM
administrators and data analysts. The role also requires a strong knowledge of budgeting and
forecasting.
Senior level CRM database managers will be expected to have excellent knowledge of IT
systems, such as Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle CRM or Sale force.
Large organizations need sophisticated reporting and security as they manage their CRM
systems. They are likely to have large data volumes, and will be implementing a lot of
customization. So the CRM manager will be aiming to tailor the system to their exact
business processes and to tie in with other back office systems such as inventory, fulfillment,
and billing.
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Traditionally, all CRM systems were in-house applications – installed and run on servers
within the organization. Nowadays, newer CRM systems are Cloud based, meaning that the
application and data is all held on the CRM providers‘ servers in a data centre, and accessed
via a browser.
What makes a great CRM manager?
• They love data and can explain its complexities simply in order to drive actionable
consumerinsight.
• They will be able to own and manage a loyalty scheme and ongoing campaigns, setting the
strategy in place for revenue benefits through loyalty.
•They will have great marketing communication ideas
• They will communicate well and work closely with other marketing department players
such as email managers, social media and PR
4.8. CRM Tools
Choose the right tool and generate more sales
Choosing a good CRM tool for your business is as important is choosing a good employee.
once you know what a CRM tool does, it will be easy to see how a CRM tool can boost your
business.
CRM tool for customer data
One of the most important features of a CRM tool is its ability to record and analyze
customer data. A CRM tool will allow you to personalize your customers experiences and
drive repeat business through the roof.
CRM for organization
Another convenient tool is the ability to organize various aspects of your business. From
assigning tasks to maintaining client contact at regular intervals, all of this can be
accomplished using a CRM tool.
CRM Tools for Reports
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A great CRM tool will allow you to make customized reports that will let you know what
your sales outlook is, what your conversion rate looks like, and where your employees are not
utilizing the CRM tool to its fullest.
Using a CRM tool to close sales
Once the initial contact with a customer is made, the key to closing more sales with a CRM
tool is follow up and direct marketing.
4.8.1. 18 Important CRM tools
1. Batch book
2. Big contacts
3. Daylite
4. Infusion soft
5. Insightly
6. Landslide
7. On contact
8. Oprius
9. Pipeline Deals
10. Plaxo
11. Sage act
12. Splendid CRM
13. Stride
14. Stitch labs
15. Sugar CRM
16. Vtiger
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17. Work
18. Xobni
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