What is a CRM Solution?
How does your company develop customer strategies? What technologies are most efficient?
For you to be able to give your customers the service they expect, your company must have a well functioning organization.
But to give them the right service and offers they demand, you have to understand your customers as well as your market. BC Advice can guide you in the right direction, thus bypassing barriers so you can achieve success with your investment.
Strategy:
We help companies develop a thought-through Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategy and action plan that will be supported by management with the aid of strategic business goals. An action plan can consist of numerous initiatives, i.e. customer segmentation, channel distribution, partner and supplier strategies, competence development, re-engineering, process development, rewards systems, and installation of various support systems.
Action plan:
The cornerstone in this engagement is that we would be involved in the initial parts of your planning stage. This is important because that allows us to develop a CRM vision, strategy and action plan together. We will break down the action plan in smaller more manageable parts with clear measurable objectives that are tied in with your overall strategic business goals.
Managing change:
A vital aspect in all CRM projects is to manage change. We will therefore develop a sense of understanding with your employees and with your customers or partners.
Support Systems:
We have experience in administration and evaluation of system administrations and installations processes. We will assist you in the installation and maintenance process as well as show you how to use the technology.
So What?
By using our CRM solutions you will have a greater opportunity to improve and streamline your customer processes so you can offer a 100% customer satisfaction to not only your customers but also to your suppliers, partners and distributors. This will make your delivery or production cycle times faster and more cost efficient.
Customer relationship management is an important step to successful Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). CRM handles effectiveness at a specific business process level, e.g. customer retention. CRM involves retaining and growing business and individual customers through strategies that ensure their satisfaction with your firm and your products.
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"Customers Redefine CRM" by Neil Sutton
[ Computing Canada, November 29, 2002, Vol. 28 No. 23 ]
"Long-term CRM strategies without short-term goals are headed for disaster."
That was the conclusion of a panel of experts at the eighth annual CRM conference held recently by the Canadian Marketing Association.
The panel was chaired by David Williams, managing director of international business for British consulting firm QCi Ltd. A recent report from the firm indicates 60 per cent of all customer relationship management (CRM) initiatives will fail. The greater the scope of the initiative, the more likely the failure, said Williams.
The panel, which was composed of analysts, marketers and bankers, couldn't agree on the best way to implement CRM — or even on the definition of CRM — but did agree with Williams on one thing.
"If you're involved in the 10-year project — run," said David Moxley, a private consultant who has worked with the Bank of Montreal and IBM. "It is doomed."
The problem, said Williams, is poor preparation and impatience. Companies expect immediate results from CRM implementations without laying down the groundwork.
He described "board-level confusion" about CRM where senior staff approve a project without understanding what's involved. "Even if you have a clear vision . . . you won't arrive at your destination if you don't know where you started from," said Williams.
Data accrued over the short term should be put to use, he argued, rather than waiting for long-term results.
Bob Carroll, vice-president of customer insights and relationship marketing for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, claimed return on investment can be achieved in nine months. They key is breaking a CRM strategy into small, workable projects.
It's also about realizing the value of your employees, said David Neilly, HR consultant with Towers Perrin. "For CRM to be successful, you have to be really clear about behaviours," he said. "You have to choose people for roles that are compatible with your CRM strategy, then you have to train them."
The only way a CRM project ever gets approved in the first place is because someone within the organization champions it, added Williams. That makes it a fragile proposition to begin with and champions are frequently blamed for failure. But high turnover is bad for business, since it just involves training new employees. "You're better to pay people more and retain them for longer," he said.
One issue that divided the panel was the word "relationship" and whether it still belongs in the acronym CRM.
Sometimes customers don't want a relationship with a company, they just want fast results, said Don Barnes, managing director of OgilvyInteractive. "Sometimes it's an emotional bond, sometimes it's just value," he said. "The movement from customer relationship management to customer management is almost customer-driven."
Mark Tonnesen, vice-chairman and CFO of RBC Insurance, said the company consistently ranks the best call centre agents as those who take the shortest time on the phone with clients. "I have a problem with people who think productivity is the enemy of service," he said.
The R in CRM isn't right for everybody, agreed Moxley. He said the president of online bank ING once told him, "If you want a relationship, get a dog."
ING, said Moxley, focuses on process and efficiency rather than building a relationship with a customer.
QCi research indicates European CRM implementations are more successful than those in North America and Asia-Pacific, but Canada is faring better than the U.S.
Bankers and retailers are better at CRM than technology firms and travel companies, but there is no clear leader yet. CRM deployment hasn't radically improved over the last few years, said Williams, but companies are beginning to learn how to do it better. "We have this gun," said Williams. "We're beginning to know where to aim it and what to load it with."
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