The ABCs of CRM

2002-1-13 21:54:58【作者】 畅享网 【进入论坛】
本文关键字 学习培训
广告

The ABCs of CRM


What is CRM?
What is the goal of CRM?
That sounds rosy. How does it happen?
Are there any indications of the need for a CRM project?
How long will it take to get CRM in place?
How much does CRM cost?
What are some examples of the types of data CRM projects should be collecting?
What are the keys to successful CRM implentation?
Which division should run the CRM project?
What causes CRM projects to fail?
What industries are leading the way in CRM implementations?
Which industry is behind the curve?


What is CRM?
CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. It is a strategy used to learn more about customers' needs and behaviors in order to develop stronger relationships with them. After all, good customer relationships are at the heart of business success. There are many technological components to CRM, but thinking about CRM in primarily technological terms is a mistake. The more useful way to think about CRM is as a process that will help bring together lots of pieces of information about customers, sales, marketing effectiveness, responsiveness and market trends.

What is the goal of CRM?
The idea of CRM is that it helps businesses use technology and human resources to gain insight into the behavior of customers and the value of those customers. If it works as hoped, a business can:

That sounds rosy. How does it happen?
It doesn't happen by simply buying software and installing it. For CRM to be truly effective, an organization must first decide what kind of customer information it is looking for and it must decide what it intends to do with that information. For example, many financial institutions keep track of customers' life stages in order to market appropriate banking products like mortgages or IRAs to them at the right time to fit their needs.

Next, the organization must look into all of the different ways information about customers comes into a business, where and how this data is stored and how it is currently used. One company, for instance, may interact with customers in a myriad of different ways including mail campaigns, Web sites, brick-and-mortar stores, call centers, mobile sales force staff and marketing and advertising efforts. Solid CRM systems link up each of these points. This collected data flows between operational systems (like sales and inventory systems) and analytical systems that can help sort through these records for patterns. Company analysts can then comb through the data to obtain a holistic view of each customer and pinpoint areas where better services are needed. For example, if someone has a mortgage, a business loan, an IRA and a large commercial checking account with one bank, it behooves the bank to treat this person well each time it has any contact with him or her.

Are there any indications of the need for a CRM project?
Not really. But one way to assess the need for a CRM project is to count the channels a customer can use to access the company. The more channels you have, the greater need there is for the type of single centralized customer view a CRM system can provide.

How long will it take to get CRM in place?
A bit longer than many software salespeople will lead you to think. Some vendors even claim their CRM "solutions" can be installed and working in less than a week. Packages like those are not very helpful in the long run because they don't provide the cross-divisional and holistic customer view needed. The time it takes to put together a well-conceived CRM project depends on the complexity of the project and its components.

How much does CRM cost?
A recent (2001) survey of more than 1,600 business and IT professionals, conducted by The Data Warehousing Institute found that close to 50% had CRM project budgets of less than $500,000. That would appear to indicate that CRM doesn't have to be a budget-buster. However, the same survey showed a handful of respondents with CRM project budgets of over $10 million.

What are some examples of the types of data CRM projects should be collecting?

What are the keys to successful CRM implentation?

Which division should run the CRM project?
The biggest returns come from aligning business, CRM and IT strategies across all departments and not just leaving it for one group to run.

What causes CRM projects to fail?
Many things. From the beginning, lack of a communication between everyone in the customer relationship chain can lead to an incomplete picture of the customer. Poor communication can lead to technology being implemented without proper support or buy-in from users. For example, if the sales force isn't completely sold on the system's benefits, they may not input the kind of demographic data that is essential to the program's success. One Fortune 500 company is on its fourth try at a CRM implementation, primarily because its sale force resisted all the previous efforts to share customer data.

What industries are leading the way in CRM implementations?
As in most leading-edge technology implementations, the financial services and telecommunications industries set the pace in CRM. Other industries are on the CRM bandwagon include consumer goods makers and retailers and high tech firms.

Which industry is behind the curve?
Heavy manufacturing.

Source: www.cio.com

 

如果您希望与本文章的作者或其所在机构,进一步交流,请联系:畅享网 姜小姐
jill.jiang@amteam.org | 021-51096826-112 | 在线联系
CRM会客厅IM营销与CRM

    越来越多的企业都说想到达年轻人,因为年轻人逐渐成为消费的主流。或许你有产品或者服务销售渠道、分销组织网……

CRM畅想屋从Windows 7到CRM系统升级

管理软件与工具系统软件固然有很多不同,但其操作性、分析性共性是显而易见的,扩展性强的CRM系统是厂商选择的必然趋势。