Electronic Customer Relationship Management

Electronic customer relationship management provides an avenue for interactions between a

business, its customers and its employees through Web-based technologies. The process
combines software, hardware, processes and management’s commitments geared toward
supporting enterprise-wide CRM business strategies.

Electronic customer relationship management is motivated by easy Internet access through

various platforms and devices such as laptops, mobile devices, desktop PCs and TV sets. It is
not software, however, but rather the utilization of Web-based technologies to interact,
understand and ensure customer satisfaction.

An effective E-CRM system tracks a customer’s history through multiple channels in real
time, creates and maintains an analytical database, and optimizes a customer’s relation in the
three aspects of attraction, expansion and maintenance.

A typical E-CRM strategy involves collecting customer information, transaction history and
product information, click stream and contents information. It then analyzes the customer
characteristics to give a transactional analysis consisting of the customer's profile and
transactional history, and an activity analysis consisting of exploratory activities showing the
customer's navigation, shopping cart, shopping pattern and more.

The benefits of E-CRM include the following:

 Improved customer relations, service and support

 Matching the customers' behavior with suitable offers

 Increased customer satisfaction and loyalty

 Greater efficiency and cost reduction

 Increased business revenue

Businesses that strategize and implement an E-CRM solution are able to align their processes
around technology to effectively deliver seamless, high-quality customer experience across
all channels. Customers have the power to help themselves through online personalized
services that are made available on demand. The Internet provides a simple and ideal medium
where customers can get information from websites, buy products and find answers using
FAQ sections, forums or chat rooms.

Meaning of E-CRM:

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a way to identify, acquire, and retain

customers – a business’ greatest asset. By providing the means to manage and coordinate
customer interactions, CRM helps companies maximise the value of every customer
interaction and in turn improve corporate performance.
E-CRM, or Electronic Customer Relationship Management, is an integrated online sales,
marketing and service strategy that is used to identify, attract and retain an organisation’s
customers. It describes improved and increased communication between an organisation and
its clients by creating and enhancing customer interaction through innovative technology. E-
CRM software provides profiles and histories of each interaction the organisation has with its
customers, making it an important tool for all small and medium businesses.

E-CRM software systems may contain a selection of the following features:

i. Customer management:

Provides access to all customer information including enquiry status and Correspondence

ii. Knowledge management:

A centralised knowledge base that handles and shares customer Information

iii. Account management:

Access to customer information and history, allowing sales teams and customer service teams
to function efficiently

iii. Case management:

Captures enquiries, escalates priority cases and notifies management of unresolved issues

iv. Back-end integration:

Blends with other systems such as billing, inventory and logistics through relevant customer
contact points such as websites and call centres

v. Reporting and analysis:

Report generation on customer behaviour and business criteria

Evolutions of E-CRM:

Customer Support – A Historical Perspective:

The Customer is King. This mantra, although used for a long time, has not been put into
practice until recently. Forget the notion of royal treatment; customers were not even treated
with dignity by most organizations.

As recently as the 1970s and 80s, the concept of customer support meant that organizations
were doing a favor by answering a few questions for the customer on the phone – after
putting them on hold for an hour! Standing in line to buy something was common and
expected. Remember when the customers had to go to the airports to buy tickets only because
the airlines kept them there? Organizations simply lost touch with the realization – that they
existed because of these customers.
Evolution of Customer Relationship:

The 1990s brought two new concepts that challenged the prevailing business landscape:
deregulation and the Internet. These forces brought down the barriers of entry resulting in an
environment of intense competition.

Stores faced competition from on-line start-ups. Traditional bricks-and-mortar banks fought
for customers with online or virtual banks. Airline tickets were increasingly purchased from
the convenience of your home. The explosion in information allowed consumers to compare
features, and prices across multiple providers. Products became commodities and prices
could not be lowered further to ensure survival.

Customer service became the only major differentiator in many cases. Customers received
what they have always deserved – respect. The customer was now truly the king. Business
customers, although always treated with more respect than individual consumers, were more
or less ignored in the early stages of the Internet boom.

The emphasis focused on expanding the consumer base regardless of positive cash flow,
revenues, and margins. The demise of many dot-coms brought an epiphany. Companies
realized that they needed to focus on their enterprise customers. The advent of e-CRM
applications was the first big step toward providing better support to the strategic business
customers. Although these solutions provided automated self-service to customers, they still
treated all customers the same.

Furthermore, the focus of these applications is more on improving call-center productivity.

Clearly, these applications add value and help many organizations execute their CRM
initiatives.

However, they are not effective in meeting the needs of an organization’s strategic enterprise
customers. Each enterprise customer has its own needs and craves personalized support.

Evolution of Customer Relationship Management:

The genesis of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) lies in Sales Force Automation
(SFA) tools. Companies like Siebel and Vantive (now part of PeopleSoft) took the early lead
by introducing tools to help the sales personnel become more efficient in tracking their
customers.

There were also a few problem-tracking tools for help desk such as Remedy. As companies
focused more on customer relationships, additional applications emerged in areas of customer
support, field support, and marketing automation. Most CRM companies today a retrying to
address these four areas usually by partnering with other companies. Most of the ERP players
are also expanding their solutions to include CRM. There are a number of niche players
focused only on certain pieces of CRM such as e-mail management, sales force automation,
technical support, marketing campaigns, among others.

“CRM is a business strategy designed to optimize profitability, revenue, and customer

satisfaction” – Gartner Group
Although there are quite a few vendors providing CRM related products and services, there is
still a lot of confusion around the concept of CRM. CRM is not just an application or a
technology that can be thrown at the customer satisfaction problem to make it go away.

CRM, essentially, is a strategy that involves applications, processes, policies, business

context, and people, to enable companies to manage and increase profitable relationships with
their customers. An enterprise’s strategic customers expect top-notch treatment. They want
the vendor to understand their needs. They want companies to build a strong relationship with
them – on a 1- to- 1 basis.

Current CRM and E-Support Environment:

There are currently over 200 CRM software vendors and the number continues to grow.
Although, there are various types of applications included in CRM suites, as described
earlier, the core application within the CRM landscape that truly builds customer
relationships is the customer service application. Other pieces, though useful, are focused on
helping the vendor rather than the customer.

Many of these applications were initially focused on providing an environment to improve

the productivity of call-centers. In addition, some of these applications integrated message
queuing functionality to provide a common environment for all channels. So, whether the
customer was trying to reach the call-center by making a call, via e-mail, by fax, or through
the Web site, their query is prioritized and channeled through the same mechanism. Most
customer service applications now provide Web-based self-service features for companies to
offer their customers.

Customers can look up their basic information like billing , order status, etcetera by logging
in to the vendor’s Web site. While this solution works for a B2Cmodel, for enterprise
customers with hundreds of users and hundreds of products to support, this simply doesn’t
work.

Enterprise customers demand personalized support in order to access their information

quickly and easily. In the era of information-glut, they want specific and relevant information.
Companies are trying to manage relationships with their customers, partners, and suppliers in
a personalized and automated manner. True personalization is not easy as each customer has
its own needs and requirements. The issue is further complicated by the fact that

Business Benefits of E-CRM:

Implementation of an E-CRM system enables an organisation to streamline processes and

provide sales, marketing and service personnel with better, more complete customer
information. The result is that E-CRM allows organisations to build more profitable customer
relationships and decrease operating costs.

Direct benefits of an E-CRM system include:

i. Service level improvements:

Using an integrated database to deliver consistent and improved customer responses

ii. Revenue growth:

Decreasing costs by focusing on retaining customers and using interactive service tools to sell
additional products

iii. Productivity:

Consistent sales and service procedures to create efficient work processes

iv. Customer satisfaction:

Automatic customer tracking and detection will ensure enquiries are met and issues are
managed. This will improve the customer’s overall experience in dealing with the
organisation.

v. Automation:

E-CRM software helps automate campaigns including:

(i) Telemarketing

(ii) Telesales

(iii) Direct mail

(iv) Lead tracking and response

(v) Opportunity management

(vi) Quotes and order configuration

Across every sector and industry, effective CRM is a strategic imperative for corporate
growth and survival:

a. Sales organisations can shorten the sales cycle and increase key sales-performance metrics
such as revenue per sales representative, average order size and revenue per customer.

b. Marketing organisations can increase campaign response rates and marketing driven
revenue while simultaneously decreasing lead generation and customer acquisition costs.

c. Customer service organisations can increase service agent productivity and customer
retention while decreasing service costs, response times and request-resolution times.

Working of E-CRM:

In today’s world, customers interact with an organisation via multiple communication

channels—the World Wide Web, call centres, field salespeople, dealers and partner networks.
Many organisations also have multiple lines of business that interact with the same
customers.
E-CRM systems enable customers to do business with the organisation the way the customer
wants – any time, via any channel, in any language or currency—and to make customers feel
that they are dealing with a single, unified organisation that recognises them every step of the
way.

The E-CRM system does this by creating a central repository for customer records and
providing a portal on each employee’s computer system allowing access to customer
information by any member of the organisation at any time. Through this system, E-CRM
gives you the ability to know more about customers, products and performance results using
real time information across your business.

Implementation of an E-CRM System:

When approaching the development and implementation of E-CRM there are

important considerations to keep in mind:

i. Define customer relationships:

Generate a list of key aspects of your customer relationships and the importance of these
relationships to your business.

ii. Develop a plan:

Create a broad Relationship Management program that can be customized to smaller

customer segments. A suitable software solution will help deliver this goal.

iii. Focus on customers:

The focus should be on the customer, not the technology. Any technology should have
specific benefits in making customers’ lives easier by improving support, lowering their
administrative costs, or giving them reasons to shift more business to your company.

iv. Save money:

Focus on aspects of your business that can contribute to the bottom line. Whether it is
through cutting costs or increasing revenue, every capability you implement should have a
direct measurable impact on the bottom line.

v. Service and support:

By tracking and measuring the dimensions of the relationship, organisations can identify their
strengths and weaknesses in the relationship management program and continually fine tune
it based on ongoing feedback from customers.
Modern Organization VS Traditional Organization

Today there are two main flows of organization run concurrently; One Traditional
Organization, established in between 20th century another is Modern Organization emerged
in this ongoing century. There are huge differences between these two trends. Why the
traditional organization criticizes the modern as a misguided and vulnerable organization?
What’s the real fact?

Generally the meaning of organization is an entity comprising multiple people, such as an

institution or an association that has a collective goal and is linked to an external
environment.

Traditional organization represent the organizational structure in a business is hierarchical,

meaning power flows vertically and upward, and employees are departmentalized. All
employees follow a chain of command. Such as a manager is the chief coordinator of all
department. Each department has a head who report to the manager. Like the military system-
very hierarchical, organized, disciplined. Every department has its own rules and regulations
as well as and every employee has own job description and accountability to his superior.
There’s strictly follow their own business strategy that’s set in annual economic year. All the
goal achievement plan are set before and difficult to change. Always traditional organization
is fixed and rigid.

Modern Organization means a boundaryless organization which are networking together and
collaborating more than ever before. They are well-suited for rapid innovation and therefore
ideal for companies in the growing technology industry. Its main concept is to diversify its
activities and connectivity as a result it can accept new challenges and can set a goal
frequently. Modern style of management largely depends on soft skills – consensus building,
relationships, listening, and understanding, taking the team along with you willingly than
dragging them along with you.

The main points of disagreement:

Stability: People believe that traditional organizations are stable in their activities and
progress. On the other hand modern one is more dynamic with its multiple business strategy.
They need multiple progress and constant changes.

Flexibility: Modern Organizations are always flexible to change their workflow, focuses as
well as connectivity. There the organization is need to update their competitive advantages
and the employees are required to upgrade their knowledge and skills. Traditional
Organizations are fixed, inflexible and planned.

Hierarchy: Modern Organizations flow “Flat Hierarchy” and Traditional flow “Tall
Hierarchy”

Teamwork: Team work is the main concept of modern organization. The organization who
build more effective team can gain more. On the other hand a traditional one follows a chain
of command where every employee should be obeyed to his superior.

Employee Morale: As an employee of a modern organization get more freedom and

flexibility to exchange his or her assessment. Consequently in this type of organization you
find high employee morale. Traditional is a job oriented organization so you are not sure
about the matter of employee morale.

Risk Management: Traditional organization maintain a specific policy to protect any kind of
risk that would be hampered for the organization or its employees. So employees are more
educated about the matter thus can take any step. Modern organization are slightly brave in
this matter. Though they are always ready to take new challenges so everyone here prepared
to face any risk instantly.

Diversification: Moreover the main contradiction between the modern and traditional
organization is their business policies. Traditional organizations are slightly conservative and
they try to follow traditional rules and regulation. They always flow a static business strategy
and make a workflow model maintaining a traditional marketing policy and employee
management system. A modern organization is doing modification, rescheduling, flexible
entity management and dynamic business strategy.

Technology: Modern Organization is more technology based and boundaryless. So the

number of employee or the office compartment doesn’t matter. But traditional organizations
are centralized and backward to accept advanced technology.

So today is the right time to think about the business model of your organization. In present
situation public demands are unlimited and their attention become diversified. So you should
be more dynamic, more virtual and more advanced in modern technology.

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Digital information technology has reduced the cost, inconvenience and time involved in
communication within and outside an enterprise. A 2000 study by Bresnahan, Brynjolfsson,
and Hitt titled " IT, Workplace Organization and the Demand for Skilled Labor: A Firm-level
Analysis" found that "firms that adopt decentralized organizational structures and work
structures do appear to have a higher contribution of IT [information technology] to
productivity." The advent of the personal computer and digital communication technology
has led to flatter, less hierarchical organizational structures in business, particularly in e-
business. Flatter organizational structures are less centralized, allowing greater workplace
innovation and distributing decision-making authority throughout all levels of the
organization.

Organizational Structure

There are many organizational structures, but they can be simply categorized into being either
centralized or decentralized and either tall or flat. The organizational structure reflects the
way information flows within a company, how tasks are assigned and supervised and the
degree of control that top management exercises over the entire enterprise. A tall
organizational structure is a centralized organization with all decision-making authority at the
top and information flowing down the hierarchy. A bureaucracy is a tall, centralized
organization. A flat, or horizontal, organizational structure is more decentralized, with a two-
way flow of information between management and staff.
Fast

An e-business operates at a greater speed than a traditional business prior to the

popularization of digital technology and commercialization of the Internet. Brick-and-mortar
business transactions are characterized by the customer traveling to the store, entering the
store, talking with a sales person and, if the desired item is in stock, purchasing it and then
traveling back to his home or office. An e-business transaction takes much less time, as the
customer simply finds an online retailer, selects the product, pays with a debit or credit card
and awaits delivery in a day or two. Before the customer exits the website, the money is
already paid and the goods ordered out for shipping. This rapid transaction time requires a
quick operational response and often presents problems or questions that must be settled
immediately. A flat, decentralized structure is better suited to the rapid response requirements
of e-commerce.

Flexible

Many e-commerce companies maintain inventory at warehouse locations far from their
transaction centers. These transaction centers may also be located at different places around
the globe. The rapid interplay of financial transactions, fulfillment and customer service
across distances and different business cultures requires flexibility in an organizational
structure. Decisions must be made at the point where a problem arises, not delayed until top
management gets around to them. For this reason, a tall, hierarchical structure is ill-suited to
e-business needs.

Innovative

E-business is also characterized by innovation -- a characteristic that thrives in a flat or

horizontal organizational structure because of the wide distribution of decision-making
authority. In a tall organizational structure, rules and standardized processes and procedures
control operations so innovation must be approved at the top of the hierarchy before
application in operations. This takes time and discourages the personal initiative that results
in innovation.