Everything you always wanted to know about CRM, but were afraid to ask

Call Center CRM Solutions, Nov 2000 by Tehrani, Nadji

Dear Valued Readers:

Almost all companies are talking about CRM/CIM, but few are getting it right so far, as we see in the news every day. Too many companies imagine they can bluff their way through good customer relationship management and, as a result, are failing. These companies view CRM, and especially eCRM, as a single element: e-mail only, for example. Most companies have installed auto-response software to acknowledge receipt of e-- mail, but most of them do not follow up in a timely manner, if at all! E-mail ACDs are one way to route e-mail messages to the correct departments and agents, but more importantly, following up on an e-mail makes a huge difference in how a customer views a company.

The way I see it, the companies that are going bust for failing to provide good CRM are those that don't really understand what CRM is.. it's not a packaged software solution, it's not e-- mail management alone, it's not having a mission statement just stating that the company wants to improve its CRM. It's a whole management philosophy that everyone in the company must understand and embrace. Companies that do not realize this will fail sooner or later.

The good news is, the explosion of the CRM/eCRM market has meant many good things for customer interaction management. The telecommunications industry has been busy increasing the global bandwidth capacity and driving down the prices of voice and data communications. This means it is easier and cheaper than ever to implement a true distributed call center where a call or any other type of customer contact can land anywhere in the world and be dealt with by a live agent.

To present you with some fresh perspectives on the state of the CRM industry today and what you need to consider before purchasing CRM/eCRM products and services, I spoke with many of my esteemed colleagues here at TMC(TM) and asked their opinions on the subject. What I came up with is a wonderful collection of extremely valid points I think will help you in your pursuit of the ultimate CRM program.

E-Business is Providing The Push

C@LL CENTER CRM Solutions(TM) associate editor Randy Kemp made the point that it is e-business that has generated the driving need for improved CRM. More and more, e-businesses are requiring strong integration of e-mail, voice, phone and fax communications. Are you both short-changing and losing ecustomers at your Web site because you are not taking advantage of (or even providing) customer-friendly, multimedia contact alternatives such as chat and voice over IP, Web collaboration (screen push and sharing) or customer self-help? Empowering your customers with self-help/self-service tools adds vitality to your e-business, eliminates addressing repetitive support and service issues (when combined with a practical knowledge base strategy), reduces substantial volumes of e-mail, phone and fax queries and provides your customers with a sense of control and satisfaction. And let's not forget that every query must be viewed as a potential sale or cross-selling lead. The bottom line is, loyal customers mean lower costs!

Needs Determination

Sometimes the hardest part of implementing CRM is figuring out what your company's requirements are. Customer service and relationship management should be primary considerations in your analysis. Is your current infrastructure supporting your sales and marketing efforts and customer retention and loyalty? Can your infrastructure grow with your business? Does it meet the goals of your business plan in the long run? Are there inefficiencies in your systems or applications that, due to legacy issues, will require costly investments to correct, and does the end (an upgraded legacy system/application) justify the means (spending a lot of time, money and resources)?

If you are maintaining data or knowledge bases and would like to realize greater efficiency and reduce or eliminate cost of ownership, evaluate data and information services that you can obtain from third-party sources (such as aggregated data service providers). Also, determine if your current infrastructure is providing a sufficient level of shared data and intelligence across your enterprise. Can real-time, business-critical information be accessed by all who need it? Integration with other systems and applications is important for providing Web-based sales, information and support. Can you link your customers, suppliers and employees through the Web?

What Do Your Customers Want? Your Employees?

Erik Lounsbury, editorial director of C@LL CENTER CRM Solutions(TM), believes that before implementing a CRM program, you must first sit down and analyze how your current customer interaction systems function, how they affect each department, your suppliers, distributors and partners. You must also examine the customer/company interaction from the customers' point of view. Analyze what is most important to them and what questions they are asking. Next, find out which customers are the most profitable, which are the least profitable, and how they are segmented. You must also look at where the data is stored and work to integrate into the corporate knowledge base any data silos you may currently have so that whichever department needs the information can get it.