CRM Tools Manage Your Most Important Asset—Customers

Software Magazine, April, 2000 by Elizabeth U. Harding

RESPONDING to the new Internet world order where the customer rules, software vendors in multiple markets have started to put the label "CRM"' (Customer Relationship Management) or "eCRM" on their products. Needless to say, the term CRM has become an ambiguous industry buzzword.

According to Michael Schiff, director of data warehouse strategies, Current Analysis Inc., Sterling, Va., overuse of the term CRM will devalue its impact. "Its important for vendors to clarify their specific CRM services," says Schiff, adding that users implementing an operational CRM system should make sure that it not only addresses their day-to-day needs but also easily utilizes their generated transactions.

The spectrum of CRM products on the market spans operational systems generating transactions from various customer touch points, to the data warehouse and decision support systems that analyze the transactions, to hybrid or closed-loop applications that utilize raw data and resulting intelligence. The latest wave of CRM products embraces the enterprise--integrated eCRM front-end solutions capable of accessing legacy back-end applications.

Not All About the Internet

"We need to understand that eCRM isn't all about the Internet," says Matt Maiden, director of call center and service products, Siebel Systems Inc., San Mateo, Calif. "It's also about traditional channels that are intertwined with your Internet strategy for managing every, touch point of customer interaction.

The Siebel CRM application today, is an "ecosystem of technology" used. by employees, call center agents, Web customers, and channel partners, Malden says. "It's focused on generating customer loyalty and increasing profits through cross-selling."

Reaching out into the field, Siebel will release Siebel Wireless, a WAP (Wireless Access Protocol) browser for the Siebel 2000 by the end of the second quarter, Siebel Wireless will make it possible for users in the field to get as many as 60 views into Siebel application offerings.

Hot, Hot, Hot[ldots]

CRM is hot. In the past few years, for instance, Oracle dedicated an entire division to CRM. "We have over 40 products that touch every single segment of the CRM market," says Juliette Sultan, vice president of CRM product strategy, Oracle Corp., Redwood Shores, Calif. "We have grown the CRM product division and increased development resources from 50 developers to close to 900."

Oracle's CRM components, such as sales, call center, e-commerce, and mobile access applications, are part of the Oracle e-business suite which, Sultan says, was built around open APIs for easy integration with legacy systems.

"CRM is going into all the functions of a corporation," says Sultan. "You need interaction through all the channels. Oracle deals with out-of-the-box integration with ERP systems such as SAP."

According to Ed Kilroy, general manager, IBM Electronic Commerce Division, one of the most important questions to ask when implementing a CRM system is: "Will this system enable us to serve up content and enough information to enable people to serve themselves?"

He adds, "What our customers are looking for first are personalization and serving up relevant content, and secondly, for integration into back-end systems. Rather than talking about CRM in connection with call centers and data analytics, we need to start talking about self-service capability, relevant data, and relevant content."

In order to offer an end-to-end CRM solution, IBM is partnering with various vendors. According to Kilroy, IBM is integrating its WebSphere Commerce Suite version 4.1 (formerly Net.Commerce) with multiple vendors' solutions. WebSphere Commerce's modules for CRM, order and inventory management, visitor registration, and auctions, include components from Siebel Systems, NetPerceptions, J.D. Edwards, and net.Genesis.

IBM also entered an agreement with SAS Institute Inc. Cary, N.C., wherein IBM will create a consulting group dedicated to SAS solutions, and SAS will optimize its CRM and e-business software for IBM's DB2 Universal Database.

"No single vendor can deliver a complete CRM solution that encompasses all," says Rich Rovner, SAS senior marketing manager, CRM and business intelligence. "Operational CRM applications by themselves don't give you the ability to understand your customers. You need to bring data together to build a view of the customer--that's the data warehousing piece. Then you need to analyze the data, and then you can implement."

The recently introduced SAS Solution for E-intelligence suite is the vendor's first set of products specifically for analyzing e-commerce data.

According to Philip Russom, director, data warehousing and business intelligence knowledge center, Hurwitz Group Inc., Framingham, Mass, a CRM system can yield a high return only if it includes an analytic component. Many organizations with CRM solutions are at the point where an operational CRM is in place--generally for front-office tasks--and now it's time to integrate it with an analytic CRM solution.