Chapter – 1- Introduction:The CRM system in an organization – ADetailed Analysis

Customer Relationship management is the strongest and the most efficient approach in

maintaining and creating relationships with customers. Customer relationship management is

not only pure business but also ideate strong personal bonding within people. Development of

this type of bonding drives the business to new levels of success.

Once this personal and emotional linkage is built, it is very easy for any organization to

identify the actual needs of customer and help them to serve them in a better way. It is a belief

that more the sophisticated strategies involved in implementing the customer relationship

management, the more strong and fruitful is the business. Most of the organizations have

dedicated world class tools for maintaining CRM systems into their workplace. Some of the

efficient tools used in most of the renowned organization are BatchBook, Salesforce,

Buzzstream, Sugar CRM etc.

Looking at some broader perspectives given as below we can easily determine why a CRM

System is always important for an organization.

1. A CRM system consists of a historical view and analysis of all the acquired or to be

acquired customers. This helps in reduced searching and correlating customers and to

foresee customer needs effectively and increase business.

2. CRM contains each and every bit of details of a customer, hence it is very easy for

track a customer accordingly and can be used to determine which customer can be

profitable and which not.

3. In CRM system, customers are grouped according to different aspects according to the

type of business they do or according to physical location and are allocated to different

customer managers often called as account managers. This helps in focusing and

concentrating on each and every customer separately.

4. A CRM system is not only used to deal with the existing customers but is also useful in

acquiring new customers. The process first starts with identifying a customer and

maintaining all the corresponding details into the CRM system which is also called an
 ‘Opportunity of Business’. The Sales and Field representatives then try getting

business out of these customers by sophistically following up with them and converting

them into a winning deal. All this is very easily and efficiently done by an integrated

CRM system.

5. The strongest aspect of Customer Relationship Management is that it is very cost-

effective. The advantage of decently implemented CRM system is that there is very

less need of paper and manual work which requires lesser staff to manage and lesser

resources to deal with. The technologies used in implementing a CRM system are also

very cheap and smooth as compared to the traditional way of business.

Chapter – 2- Objectives and Scope of a CRM

Objectives of CustomerRelationship Management

• Uses Technology to:

o Collect

o Sort

o Integrate customer data

• The objectives are:

o Understand customer needs better

o Maintain long long-term customer relationships

o Be able to pursue a strategy of RelationshipMarketing

Relationship Marketing

• Marketing strategy that utilizes the entireorganization to:

o Identify individual customers’ needs

o Develop relationships that stretch over severaltransactions

 • Manage that relationship to the benefit of the customer and the company

• This is far more feasible with CRM technology

Conceptual Understanding of Relationship Marketing

• Initially Find Customers

• Understand Customers’ Needs

• Communicate Useful Information to Customers

• Deliver Value to the Customers

• Ensure Customers Value what is Delivered

Is CRM Successful

• 55% of CRM initiatives are reported to fail

o Firms are able to collect large databases ofcustomer data

o Lack an understanding of how to effectivelyuse this valuable data

o The cost of the CRM is not worth its limitedreturns

CRM Needs More Than Technologyto Succeed

 • Technology alone can only meet limitedobjectives:

o Collecting and distributing data

o Integrating the data throughout the firm

o People issues and the organizational culture areignored

• For CRM to achieve its potential, the structureof the organization has to undergo

significant changes

Organizations Must Change theWay They Look at Each Customer

o Before Relationship Marketing and CRMwas introduced:

o Business was “Product Product-Centric”

o Firms believe they exist simply to produce aproduct or deliver a service

o Firms need to become “Customer Customer-Centric”

o A belief that a firm exists to deliver value toits customers

Product vs. Customer Centric

o Product-Centric

o Initially Find Customers

 o Customer-Centric

o Understand Customers’ Needs

o Communicate Useful Information to Customers

o Deliver Value to the Customers

o Ensure Customers Value what is Delivered

Important Structural Changes

o To achieve the necessary structuralchanges a firm must have:

o Strong communication between variousdependant departments

o Senior management commitment andinvolvement

o Appropriately structured reward system

Inter Inter-departmental Communication

o Communication ensures the rightinformation is delivered to the right people

o The users of data must communicate with thecollectors, keepers and integrators of

data

o Departments must understand eachother’s needs and motivations

 o Cross Cross-functional committees and work teams

Example of Customer InformationCommunication

• Customer

• Sales Department (Data Collection)

• Marketing Department (Data Storage)

• IT Department (Data Integration)

• Customer Service Department (Data User)

• Need for ConstantCommunication

• Customer

Senior Management Commitment

• Senior management must

• Communicate and reinforce organizationalchanges throughout the company

• Continually measure the results of the CRMsystem to ensure it is performing

• Re-Structured Reward System

o Organizations often structure theirrewards based on revenue generation

 o Incite employees to think about theimmediate sale/revenue

• New reward structure will emphasize theobjectives of CRM

o Building and maintaining long long-termrelationships

o Delivering customer needs

 Digest

o CRM is more than technology

o Technology is a means to an end

o CRM systems allow business to build relationshipswith customers

o Organizational thinking must change to meetCRM objectives

o Customer Customer-centric not product product-centric

o Inter Inter-departmental Communication

o Senior management must be committed

o Reward system must support new organizationalculture

Chapter – 3- Theoretical Perspective

Much research has been conducted on Customer Relationship Management (CRM) since its

academic emergence in 1997.

1. After more than a decade, CRM for corporate clients in service industries such as

telecommunications has been neglected in both academic and professional domains –

often regarded as ‘quick fix’ technology projects.

2. Many CRM approaches focus on mass markets and on related CRM initiatives such as

retention and churn management.CRM academics’ theoretical writings are often

unrelated to business realities, consisting of overly abstract CRM models. CRM

practitioners writing about the topic often address the success rate of technology-

focused CRM software projects.

3. However, CRM for corporate clients is very complex, in particular in service

industries such as telecommunications. A tentative complexity analysis carried out

during this research project uncovered more than 1400 CRM ‘hard’ activities for

marketing, sales, customer service and billing. However, CRM for corporate clients is
 not just related to ‘hard’ factors. ‘Soft’ issues prevail in the business-to-business (B2B)

world, where clients are known personally by supplier staff. CRM studies and CRM

market data propose a narrow view focusing just on CRM strategy, processes and

systems. However, bearing in mind the actual complexity of CRM for corporate

clients, perhaps Einstein described the best approach: ‘Everything should be made as

simple as possible, but not simpler’.

Notwithstanding the progress in CRM project success rates and wider academic propositions,

CRM for corporate clients has never been fully explored, embracing both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’

factors.

Chapter – 4- Methodology and Procedure of Work

CRM FLOW – WHAT ARE THE STEPS IN CRM WORKFLOW?

User Sign-on

Figure 1 Sign On Screen

CRM FLOW FOR SALES - EXAMPLE

 The flow of CRM for sales will typically start with the capture of new leads. These

new leads will come from webforms, email inquiries, email marketing campaigns,

word of mouth or outbound calls.

 Once the leads are captured the flow of the CRM process will have the newly captured

leads assigned to the sales team and scored

 The sales team will then work the lead and try to close the deal. By using CRM

features such as events, tasks, email marketing, reminders and quotes, your sales team

has the CRM tools needed to close the deal or reassign the lead as nurture or not ready.

 Final step of the CRM workflow for sales is the “close”. Upon close, the CRM flow

then moves to projects and operations.

CRM BUSINESS FLOW FOR PROJECTS AND OPERATIONS- EXAMPLE

While some businesses may think the flow of CRM ends at the “close”, you know that it’s just

the start of the relationship with your newly acquired customer. Now, you have to set up a

project for the work that needs to be done for your customer.

Following this, you need to create the project, select a project type, assign it to the right team,

and create different stages for the project.

The final stage of the CRM flow for the project side involves assigning tasks, creating

deadlines and dependencies, and working the project until delivery.

New Account Creation

Figure 2 New Account Creation

Adding Company Contacts

 Figure 3 Company Contacts Creation

Maintaining Logs of Client Interactions during Implementation and Training

Figure 4 Customer Call Logs

CRM FLOW THROUGH ACCOUNTING - EXAMPLE

 As you work through your customer’s projects, you’ll need to bill your customer for

subscriptions, expenses, timesheets,product sale, milestones, or commission.

  Your accounting team will then need to view unbilled charges and apply taxes and

discounts.

 Final stage of the CRM workflow for the accounting department is simple, collect

payments and manage overdue accounts.

FINAL STAGE OF CRM WORKFLOW – CUSTOMER SUPPORT - EXAMPLE

 Customer support ticket is sent in via mobile app, support ticket, or email.

 Cases are then assigned to service agents by priority.

 Support agents can then use the CRM software to view entire customer history

including details of products used and past issues.

 After the problem is identified, support agents can remedy the issue and create an

online discussion.

 Final stage of the CRM flow involves adding the case to the knowledge base and

continuing communication with your customer.

Snapshot for CRM Home Screen

Figure 5 CRM Home Screen

Snapshot of Company Listing in CRM

Figure 6 Company Listing in CRM

Chapter – 5- Analysis of Data: CRM data types: Understanding data diversity

Not all data is the same. This primer explains the diversity of your CRM data types and how to

glean actionable data from them.

Let's introduce a new concept in the big data discussion. Too often, we lump all CRM data

types together without differentiating between their key categories. We also focus on

extraneous details such as how, where and how long to store it. But what's that got to do with

using data to derive actionable information and to drive better business?

In fact, all data is not the same, so the discussion needs to be about the CRM data types we

have and whether they are sufficient to derive business insight. Data scientists divide the data

realm into two parts, quantitative and qualitative, and each part again into halves.

In business we work with all kinds of data, so understanding its diversity is critical to gleaning

its meaning. Marketing uses a lot of qualitative data and finance uses quantitative data, and

perhaps that's a reason the front and back offices have communication troubles. Interestingly,

marketing has recently found ways to turn qualitative data into the quantitative stuff the back
office craves by scoring it and analyzing the results. This little trick has been responsible for

much of the marketing automation surge lately.

Quantitative data

This data is measurable -- your height as you grow, the quantity of goods bought or sold,

revenue, and profit are all quantitative data, and there are two types of quantitative data.

Data that cannot be logically divided mathematically and where there is no true zero point, is

interval data. Temperature is a good example. While there is a zero-degree reading in most

temperature scales, it is arbitrary and capable of being exceeded. Only the Kelvin scale has an

"absolute zero." Also, it makes no sense to divide one temperature by another.

Ratio data has a true zero possibility, such as profit and loss. Elapsed time can also be

considered to be this kind of quantitative data.

Qualitative data

Quantitative data is also known as categorical data because it represents distinct categories, not

numbers. You can't perform math on categorical data, and there are two types:
Hair color and postal codes are nominal data because they have no order: Blond does not

necessarily come before or after brown. Your postal code does not depend on your friend's, nor

does it make sense to perform math on it.

Letter grades are ordinal data because they have an order, but B times two means nothing. A

digital photo file is qualitative data that is also ordinal, in that the order of the data's rendering

(i.e., transformation into a picture) matters quite a bit.

Data diversity

Over the past decade, we've become partial to social media and the mountains of data it

generates. Often that's qualitative data revealing people's attitudes, needs and intentions. Social

data alone might be good at giving you the zeitgeist of the times in the market, but by itself it

doesn't provide a vivid picture of specific demand that you can satisfy.

Marketing and sales also use a great deal of nominal data, which can be bought from list

providers. It can include names and contact information about companies and their executive

decision makers, but not necessarily anything about their aspirations, goals and the business

problems they need to solve. This can be the most valuable and hardest-to-get information.
That's where data diversity begins to matter -- right at the intersection of completeness and

relevance. When you start talking about those two big ideas, you are no longer discussing data

or even information; you've crossed the line into knowledge, or insight as some would call it.

The nominal data about names and addresses is relatively static. It changes over time, but

keeping it accurate is a manageable task that many vendors provide technologies for. Social

data has value but its rapidly changing information needs to be tempered through triangulation

with data from providers and market intelligence as well. The CRM data types you can capture

through intelligence-gathering on the Web -- reading through press releases, news stories and

official reports -- can complete a picture and upgrade your data to knowledge.

Knowledge is power

Knowledge is what you take action on, including deciding which opportunities to invest your

limited resources in. Prior to the digital information age, gut instinct often substituted for

knowledge because the intelligence-gathering was costly and time-consuming. In that slower

age, you could get the information, but by the time you had it in hand, it was usually too late to

do much about it.

Today we've got more tools to capture this essential data and time to act. But curiously, what

might hold us back is the lack of business processes that adequately exploit intelligence-

gathering. Changing the situation starts with understanding that all data is not the same. We

know this intuitively, but once we bring the idea into our conscious minds, we can begin

evaluating the CRM data types we collect and then figure out how we can upgrade them to

business knowledge. Intelligence-gathering might be the next frontier in the marketing

revolution, and as usual, the first ones into the breach will get the biggest returns.

Old school advertising isn't as effective as it once was. There are over 60 trillion individually

indexed web pages out there. According to IBM, 90 percent of the data in the world today was

created in the last 2 years. The average e-mail subscriber gets 416 commercial messages a

month. Breaking through to your customer is harder than ever before. In this complex

environment, we offer 5 new trends for 2015 that will challenge marketers:

1) Content: Corporate web sites tend to be loaded with irrelevant content. They also often fail

to meet Google’s Quality Score guidelines which power Google's Adwords. Consumers, on

the other hand, are much more sophisticated today which means that companies need content

that is interesting and relevant on all platforms, in order to make that emotional and rational
connection that is necessary for engagement. Consumers want in-depth information, and they

want it now. Hence marketers are creating shareable content and microsites to highlight

products and promotions, but also deliver targeted messages around topics relevant to the

buying stages (information at the prospect stage and offers at later stages).

Some brands are finding that content can be four times more effective than a traditional

marketing campaign. These same brands are selecting content niches that they feel they can

own - often in niches that, arguably, have little direct relation to the products they sell.

Companies that are leading in content include:

•Nike

•P&G's BeingGirl

• Out-Law, a UK law firm

• OpenView Venture Partners - a VC firm no less

• Louis Vuitton: Art

• Burberry: music

• Red Bull: sport

2) Geo-location: This affects both the digital and offline worlds equally as we now have a

physical cookie. No, we're not speaking of Local Search, we're talking about customers near or

in brick-and-mortar stores or digital kiosks receiving geo-located messages and offers.

Retailers can now, via mobile phone signals, track customer movements around and within a

store. Retailers can even identify repeat shoppers and keep a record of their in store behavior.

With beacon technology, it is now possible to push messages to consumers when retailers

think they are relevant to consumers. Not too far off will be the day when a retailer can push

offers based upon knowing a consumer's prior location e.g. consumer just near the beach, on

their way back to their hotel could receive a push offer for swim wear that the consumer could

purchase as they passed the retailer's store or digital kiosk, or they could purchase it from the

comfort of their hotel room.

This technology, while still in its infancy, is rapidly being adopted by retailers and is going to

fundamentally change the way retailers think of their customers. Data analytics just rose to a

new level.
3) Customer Experience: According to McKinsey, seventy percent of a customer’s buying

experience is based on how the customer feels they are treated. Today, customers have more

choices than ever and are more frugal. This affords them the luxury of demanding more. Key

to satisfying this empowered customer is offering a holistic experience across all company

touch points and developing the infrastructure that allows for knowledge sharing and smart

communication.

Like it or not, 2015 is going to be up close and personal.

5) Omnichannel: Omnichannel is critical today as many brick-and-mortar stores are

experiencing negative or anemic year-over-year retail sales growth; but the online component

of omnichannel continues to do well as consumers slowly alter the balance of their purchase

behavior - shifting more online. Those companies that understand that the brand’s offline

dynamism needs to be recreated online - that sense of discovery, inspiration and entertainment

- will be the companies that survive and prosper. Who says that e-commerce sites can’t

intermingle presentation, duration and yes, personality? This is the year that the customer's

mobile and digital experiences will evolve and rival the customer's offline experience -

hopefully with some fun and humor mixed in.

The idea of "first screen" and " second screen" is no longer relevant to marketers as consumers

never had a device by device mind set. Screens have blended together. Consumers want a

seamless and consistent experience, digitally and offline. It is now incumbent upon marketing

to guide a holistic marketing strategy and customer experience.

Mobile is mainstream now, and will continue to grow and dominate. Marketers now need to

put mobile at the center of the omnichannel journey. Start consideration with mobile and

evolve the design up to larger screens, utilizing responsive design techniques. Implement

strategies that touch the consumer's browsing and buying journey. This includes arming the

floor sales force with mobile technology to check inventory, place orders or make a sale.

But design and technology will only get marketers so far - they need to ensure that they are

developing a differentiated value proposition for their organization along the way. Leaders in

the omnichannel area include American Eagle, Sears, lululemon, and Selfridges.
 CRM Best Practices

Figure 7 Industry Best Practices

So what is CRM? Simply put, CRM is putting your customer at the heart of your business.

Today it is more important than ever to build better relationships with your customers as, in

this day and age of social media; they now talk to 130+ people at a time. They have a

megaphone, making it easier for positive and negative messages to spread fast and wide.

With the support of technology, the goal of CRM is to have a 360-degree view of the customer

which will enable you to improve the quality and satisfaction of each customer interaction and

maximize the profitability of your customer relationships... a win/win for both you and your

customers. Depending on how you look at it, CRM can be practiced in companies at different
levels. It can be practiced at the organizational level (ideally). It can be practiced at a customer

facing level - anything that has to do with interactions with customers, marketing, sales and

service. Or it can be practiced at the very functional level, like in a call center within a sales

force, etc. While we can look at CRM on many different levels, our definition of CRM is at a

strategic level i.e. an organizational level.

CRM is similar to customer loyalty and relationship marketing in that the goal is to move your

customer from a transactional interaction to an emotional relationship. The two components

most often missing from loyalty and relationship marketing being: a) technology and b) the

management of relationships with other members of the business network: affiliates, branches,

employees etc. - i.e. recognizing your customer as a customer through any channel.

The term CRM, arguably, was first put into the public domain around 1993, when Tom Siebel

came up with it. So it is closely connected to Siebel Systems - an IT company. Hence the

problem. Many executives are under the misconception that CRM is principally an IT

implementation... which explains many of its failures -- and there have been many of them. If

technology is applied to a faulty business strategy, all that is going to happen is that the

company is going to become more efficient at doing the wrong things. If the core business
strategy isn't put right first, you'll have failure. As we view CRM more as a strategy than a

process... get the business strategy right first. Decide which customers or segments to target.

Develop sensible customer acquisition, retention and development plans. Sort out the channel

strategy first (direct or indirect) then sort out which products, services, bundles of value to

offer the chosen customers. Once that's in position, then start looking for IT to support it -- but

not until then.

We spoke earlier about putting your customer at the heart of your business. Part of that process

involves developing a "relationship" with your customer. How your customers define that

relationship will vary? As the CRM marketer, it is up to you to find out what's important to

that customer. At the end of the day, you want to be able to answer the question: "What’s the

“one thing” that is distinctive about my customer relationships?

As we are in a business of one sort or another, our goal as marketers, is to have CRM help us

acquire, grow and retain profitable customer relationships to create a sustainable competitive

advantage.
Without a doubt, customer loyalty is a key driver of profitability. Creating customer loyalty

must be an integral part of your organization's strategy - particularly in a time of industry

consolidation. Understanding customers' requirements is fundamental to business success.

"It's incredibly arrogant for a company to believe it can deliver the same sort of product that its

rivals do and actually do better for very long. That's especially true today, when the flow of

information and capital is incredibly fast."

-- Michael Porter

The most important basis for strategy development, however, is a comprehensive

understanding of what drives customer loyalty and how strong those drivers are. The key to

understanding what drives your customers' loyalty lies in finding answers to the following

questions:

•How does our business define customer loyalty?

•Are our customers loyal? To what extent or intensity?

•How do we create, build or earn customer loyalty?

•How can we use customer loyalty strategically and tactically for positioning?
The first step in answering these questions is to measure both customer satisfaction and

customer loyalty. In working toward a thorough understanding of your customer, begin by

looking at why your customers leave. Profitable CRM projects start by understanding

customer needs.

Figure 8 Reasons Customer Leave

"If growth is what you're after, you won't learn much from complex measurements of customer

satisfaction or retention. You simply need to know what your customers tell their friends about

you."

-- Frederick F. Reichheld
Figure 9 Study Results
Figure 10 Example with Graphical Presentation

Great service and customer recommendations alone are not sufficient for relationships. If you

give poor service you won't have a relationship. And if you give great service, you might not

have a relationship if you don't take care of that relationship, knowing your customers'

preferences. It is essential to have a solid grasp of which factors in your business relationship

with your customers are most important to them. Listen to your customers and then begin

developing your CRM strategy because if you don't satisfy your customers, they won't come

back.
Figure 11 Customer Experience

a) CRM isn't CRM unless it affects the customer's experience

b) CRM is a strategy, not a project

c) CRM should improve ROI

d) Technology is a means, not an end

e) You want a 360-degree of your customer

Consider the checklist below. We believe that these strategies will enhance your likelihood of

long-term CRM success.

1: Get sponsorship from the top brass. If management doesn't believe in the new approach,

why should the employees? Implementing CRM requires working across organizational

boundaries and breaking down long-term siloed behaviors and attitudes. You can't do that by
yourself! Many times the difference between a successful CRM strategy and a huge waste of

money is backing from the executive suite.

2: Build a team. Prior to developing your CRM strategy or selecting your CRM software, form

a CRM team with representatives from each department to make sure colleagues' needs and

concerns are addressed. Too often companies neglect to include the correct stakeholders, and

the initiative fails to meet the needs of those tied to its results. Pick your CRM team wisely -

everyone will need to own the customer experience. Remember in forming the team, consider

people, process, and technology as all will be affected.

3: Define your business objectives? Your CRM strategy must be designed with your business

objectives and customer requirements in mind.

4: Identify who your customer is. Is there agreement on definition of "customer?" - The

marketing department of an automobile company might consider a "customer" to be a dealer,

but the call center might consider it to be a driver. Have consensus on this and other key

definitions. Can you identify your customers across multiple touch points (retail, call center,

mail, catalog, web and e-mail)?

Consider life stages. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are roughly 75 million baby

boomers (born between 1946 and 1964), more than 49 million gen Xers (born between 1965

and 1979), more than 72 million gen Yers (born between 1980 and 1999), and 40 million

millennia’s (born between 2000 and now).

5: Differentiate. Identify your customer segments - your high-value and high potential

customers. Know who you want to serve. Understand what that customer wants? Prioritize.

What is the customer worth and what is their potential worth?

Figure 12 Customer Tiering Levels by Value

6: Understand your Customers - what they want, and how they want it from you.
7: Agree on desired customer behaviors - build consensus on how you want customers to

behave differently and what the customer experience will be... from the customer's

perspective. Design a different customer experience for each customer segment.

8: Define customer experience goals. Articulate the customer experience. How should your

experience feel? Identify important business interactions e.g. high volume or high cost.

Identify interactions that are important to the customer - high involvement and high perceived

importance. Evaluate performance: How are these interactions currently handled by your

company? Are there opportunities for improvement? Focus on hot spots: Identify the areas that

require your greatest focus and will provide the greatest potential return.

Many companies don't have a good connection with customers. That's why firms should

consider developing a systematic approach for incorporating the needs of customers into the

design of customer experiences - ideally led by a senior officer who will act as the voice of the

customer. The key to developing a successful new customer experience is to develop a

response to a customer need that is unique, compelling, and adoptable. A response so attractive

that customers are willing to change long-standing, often deeply ingrained behavior.
9: Have an integrated customer strategy. Today interactive marketing is a fragmented

discipline in which marketers work with many different vendors to develop and execute

marketing programs. Recognize that disparate databases of customer information prevent

companies from gaining a holistic view of the customer throughout the organization. Break

down those silos. Line of business managers is often employing tactics that address products

and not customers. That is because they are still looking at accounts on file, rather than at

customer relationships e.g. banks that send two offers within a short time span - one that

recommends consolidating their debt into a home equity loan and the other that offers a

balance transfer for their credit card.

10: Define and map data requirements - You'll need to know what customer data is necessary

and from what system it will originate. See your customer through the same lens. A firm

understanding of the level of customer data - account or household level - is critical. Do you

plan to append external data? If so, what types: household size, income, psychographics, ZIP,

real estate information etc.

11: Standardize data. Various departments in your organization may see your customer quite

differently from another. Using one integrated set of analytical data throughout the company

can help executives to make key decisions about how much to invest in a particular customer.

12: Dialogue with your customers. Have a clear (and realistic) picture of who you are in the

matter of serving your customer. What do you value? What are you really selling them (are

you reliable? Are you the most creative?)? It's not just a list of products; you need to focus on

what you're trying to be to your customers. Make sure individuals are recognized at all contact

points. Have you truly defined your privacy policy? Understand your company's boundaries

for using data about your customers. And ask customers how they want to interact with your

company.

Keep your promises. Remind customers of promises kept and take responsibility for promises

unfulfilled. Respond quickly to customer queries. Whether they send an email or leave a

message, or come to the service counter, customers' time is precious.

13: Get personal. Customers hate to feel like the sales agent is reading to them from a script.

Learn your customers' personal needs and profiles and target your service to each individual. It

will make them feel important and that you value the relationship. In order to do this
effectively, you need to staff and empower your talent pool appropriately to deliver on the

customer experience. To do this effectively, focus on people, process and tools.

14: Develop success metrics - How will you know if your CRM program has been a success?

15: Create customer engagement programs (acquisition, growth and retention). Customer

engagement is a process, not an event. Too often retention is treated as a project, rather than a

guiding principle.

Move your customers through the lifecycle... to maximize their value. Utilize business rules:

Figure 13 Customer Retention Cycle

16: Collect Data - collect and use information from each customer interaction to make your

chosen customers more valuable to your enterprise. Can you identify behaviors, attitudes,

needs, propensities or intentions? Plan to clean your data regularly.

17: Test, test, test. Troubleshoot with test customers before making your services generally

available. Focus on ROI. Experiment with your Marketing.

18: Monitor the customer experience. Keep your eye on the prize. Measure the results and

soothe the inevitable hiccups. Walk a mile in your customers' shoes. Don't rely on complaints

from customers about how horrific it is to do business with you. Put yourself in their shoes by

going through the typical customer experience. It is amazing how many companies institute

processes and halfheartedly mystery shops themselves. Once you suffer through what you dish

out, you'll be shocked into a more customer-centric mindset. Guaranteed!

19: Automate processes. Having customers enter their personal information on a Web site

versus providing it to an agent over the phone reduces the potential for human error. Also,

customers may feel uncomfortable revealing personal data like medical and financial

information to another person.

20: Empower staff. Give front line staff the ability to please the customer. Too often they can't

make timely decisions nor can they present relevant offers - effectively facilitating customer

dissatisfaction and defection.

21: When buying any new CRM system, keep it simple. Don't buy what you don't need. The

fewer bells and whistles, the less time and money you'll need to devote to training. People

don't like change as it is; keeping things simple only makes the switchover that much easier.

And train early and train often.

22: Communicate your successes to the rest of the organization. Identify quick wins. Tackle

the smallest, easiest task straight away and save the hard stuff for later. Success early on gets

the ball rolling and motivates employees. Success can be contagious.

Too often, relationship programs are set up with the arrogant assumption that consumers

should be happy in a relationship where they just sit around and receive marketing messages.

This is a mistake. There needs to be a feeling of reciprocity by both parties (not to be confused

with economic parity). At the end of the day, you will want both the customer and the business

to perceive that they are getting more from the relationship than they are contributing. While

the company is most likely defining its benefits and costs in purely monetary terms. The
customer is more likely to be weighing more intangible aspects of the interaction. In any event,

there is satisfaction in both camps and the relationship is likely to go on. A win-win situation.
Chapter – 6- LIMITATIONS OF CRM

Figure 14 Limitations of CRM

•System Integration — CRM software may not integrate well with other email and accounting

systems. If this is the case, a CRM could prove costly for a company because it is utilizing

more resources than originally thought. Companies must evaluate all departments that will be

involved in its use before the purchase.

•Resentment — CRM software's biggest disadvantage is the resentment employees may feel

toward the software. Many employees disagree with change. Often, implementing new

systems indicate growth or the need for cutbacks to save the company money. Older

employees who have used older systems or their own methods may feel offended as though
they are not competent in doing their jobs. Once a new system is brought around, it's important

for an organization to keep employees in the loop.

•A Learning Curve — Another disadvantage to newly implemented CRM software is the

learning curve. Either implementing a CRM for the first time or upgrading an older version

will require employees to take the time out to learn the system. People fear what they do not

know. This may reduce productivity as they become familiar with the new system.

•Usability Issues - Some of the main disadvantages of Customer Relationship Management

(CRM) occur when professionals do not use software in a way that is beneficial to their

organizations. When salespeople neglect to update customer records, for example, the software

ends up costing more than it benefits a business. A customer relationship management system

that is incorrectly implemented can also cause problems for a business. If an executive decides

to implement this kind of system, for instance, but does not include all departments, the

information generated can be inaccurate. Some opponents point to other disadvantages of

customer relationship management, such as the depersonalization of sales processes, the

difficulties of implementing these systems into preexisting business systems, and the

comparatively time consuming tasks associated with retrieving and recording data.
Customer relationship management is a strategy that allows sales and marketing professionals

to record, access, and track information related to customers and potential clients. This strategy

normally requires use of computer programs that allow users to keep records that can help

professionals to determine how to sell and market to new clients and how to satisfy current

customers. Proponents of customer relationship management believe that it is a more cost

effective way for service and retail professionals to increase profitability.

One of the most commonly cited disadvantages of CRM is that it can lead to dehumanization

in sales processes. Instead of learning from firsthand experience which services and products

clients prefer, salespeople access information digitally stored in databases. Some professionals

believe that selling is most effective when sales professionals are able to appeal to clients at a

visceral level.

Some critics point to the technical disadvantages of customer relationship management. In

most cases, these systems are implemented into business systems that may already include a

complicated network of software and hardware. Some sales professionals have found that

customer relationship management systems may not be compatible with other management

systems. This can lead to confusion among users, and inconsistent results.
Chapter – 7- Findings, Inferences and Recommendations

 The customers using CRMPRO are mainlyPhysician’s practices located in the United

States.

 These practices are of small, medium and large sizes.

 Owners or Providers (Doctors) would sign up a business contract with an EMR/PM

company, in order to streamline their day to day workflow and be able to claim the US

Federal Incentive program, known as the Meaningful Use.

 The product is named as Insync and it’s a CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid

Services) Certified EHR.

 The product is divided into 2 major categories i.e. EMR (Electronic Medical Record)

and PM (Practice Management).

 Once customer enters into a sales contract, a new account is setup in the cloud based

environment and customer is provided with the login credentials.

 It is imperative that a new customer enters into a phase known as implementation and

training.

 Under implementation and training, customer is trained on the EMR/PM software, to

be used for making their practice paperless and more efficient.

 The objective of using Insync is to let providers concentrate at what they are best at,

i.e. rendering medical services to their patients. And Insync does their complete office

management.

 The second prominent objective is to help providers in qualifying for the CMS

incentive payouts for Meaningful Use Stages (a federal government program for

promoting usage of EMR for centralization of medical records, across the U.S.)
CRM Documentation Process – Client Information

Company Information

As per the below screenshot please document the following:

Figure 15 Company Information Capture in CRM

Key Required Documentation

A. Company = Business Name of the Practice that is on

the new client form. If it is a Billing Company, put the

 Billing Company's name in Parenthesis. For example,

"Dr. John Smith (Shoreline Billing Company)"

B. Implementation Status = New, In Implementation,

Go-Live Phase, Active, On - Hold, Inactive, Back to

Sales, Read Only Mode

C. Category = "Client." Each customer implementation

is required to be in the category of "Client."

D. Phone, Fax, Email, Website = Please put the contact

information of the person who is on the New Client

Form.

E. Owner = Implementation Specialist. If it yet to be

assigned, this would be the Team Lead/Implementation

Manager

F. Address that is on the Contract (if it is a Billing

Company for a Medical Practice, it would be the

address of the Billing Company)
The Conclusions and Recommendations of CRM Systems Information Technology

This final chapter draws conclusions on how CRM can be initiated and improved at Insync

Healthcare Solutions LLC. I conclude the research by summarizing the findings drawn from

the literature review and the primary research explained in finding and analysis, whilst

focusing on the project objectives to draw out recommendations.

This chapter will end with a brief discussion on the limitations of the research and possible

future research on the topic.

Conclusion

I conclude that CRM initiatives and implementation activities within the organization is at its

infancy stage. One of the main reasons could be the fact that thecompany been in the industry

for a period of six years and therefore much effort has not been directed in building

relationships. The only document I was able to find that linked a small degree of CRM activity

was in the organizations Software, sales and Implementation and Training department and

therefore one could conclude that CRM initiatives at present is solely limited to these divisions
in the organization. However for CRM to succeed, it requires initiatives taken from divisions

across the organization.

Even though at present CRM initiatives are limited to the software and sales division the

management has taken no CRM strategies besides the marketing strategy that vaguely stresses

on a couple of CRM strategies. Department heads states that no proper CRM planning and

strategies in an organization is bound to organization failure, as future competitive advantage

will be based on key customers and human resources.The primary research undertaken bought

into light many loop holes in CRM initiatives in the organization. In order for basic CRM

initiatives to succeed it requires the organization to exhaust resources into CRM dimensions.

Conclusions based on CRM components

Key customer focus- At present the organization has taken measures to identify 25 key

customers' based on criteria has been the quantum of transactions with the company. However

I am of view that as a company comprising close upon 2000 in its customer base this

segmentation is insufficient. Therefore the organization requires taking measures to improve

on customer segmentation strategies. The current segmentation strategies followed by the

company are old segmentations strategies which are not in par with the rapidly changing world

and competition. Assessment of customer lifetime value, improve on co-creation marketing

and improve on cross selling and up-selling initiatives needs to be embraced by the

organization. Therefore to improve on CRM initiatives the organization will have to focus on

its key customers as this will assist in customer relationship building.

CRM Organization- This component too needs to be improved in the organization. For CRM

initiatives to succeed it require organizations to commit resources in all divisions to meet

customer requirements. Therefore the organization needs to focus on improving its human

resources, as the "people" component is said to influence success of CRM .One fact that is

inevitable is most of the staff lack knowledge on CRM and its benefits, staff lack motivation,

enthusiasm and pro-activeness and prefer going about doing their work the way they've been

used to. The staff lack thorough knowledge about companying and are not aware about the

new products, marketing campaigns of the organization. Key leads states CRM initiatives to be

successful it requires change in staff culture, being customer focused. Organizations

structuring will also require attention as cross functional process working towards a common

goal is important to CRM to deliver positive results .

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