CRM System for XYZ Corporation - Assignment Example

CRM Question I propose to implement CRM system for XYZ Corporation whereby with the aim of winning new s through better customer relations, ensuring better customer satisfaction and retain the existing customers. This system will replace the home grown system in use at the corporation which is frequently faced by inconsistency between the information systems and the customer relation strategies. The CRM system will also ensure customer information quality, customer satisfaction as well as increased profitability (Peelen 63). The system will also make use of the internet and the World Wide Web to build better relationships with the corporation’s customers. This system will be available to the customers over the internet where they directly send their requests therefore maintaining an interactive customer experience thus enhancing customer satisfaction (Peelen 108). However, the primary goal of the system I am proposing for XYZ Corporation is to increase profits and reduces the costs incurred by the customers in accessing the products. The CRM system will also enable the corporation to track the online actions of the consumer thus it will possible to determine their future moves. The system will also be able to send direct emails to customers. The first step towards implementation of the CRM will be creation of a customer database which is the foundation of the customer relationship activity (Annekie and Adele,57). The homegrown systems used at XYZ Corporation will help in gathering the customer information for the already existing customers. The catalog will consist of data about the customers such as their transactions like the purchase history, price paid and the delivery date. The database will also contain the customer contacts that will be extracted from the homegrown system for the existing customers. Descriptive information will also be included in the database for the purpose of data analysis. The database will be integrated with the CRM system to be implemented such that the data stored on the database can be accessed through the system. Capturing all the data related to the customers will help XYZ corporation management in understanding the needs of their customers thus; they can focus their production on the customer preferences (Annekie and Adele, 66). It also helps the management understand the customer trends thus they can identify the customer potential. Having a clear understanding of the customers will also help in maximizing profits. By considering all the needs and preferences of the customers, XYZ will also to be able ensure customer satisfaction and keep their customers under control by making them feel that they are part of the corporation (Peelen 82). The CRM system will also involve use of computer processes to make decisions. It will also involve automation of the integrated business processes such as management and sales. The CRM implementation will therefore be used in functional areas like sales and marketing and customer support. The CRM system will be implemented in three phases including; integration, analysis and action. The integration involves integration of the front office system with the data related to the customer, which is collected and stored on the database. The second phase is the analysis, which is the most critical in CRM implementation. During the analysis the analysts enable effective management of the customer relationships. Through the CRM analytics, XYZ Corporation will be able to analyze the customer behavior, determine the customer buying patterns and identify the casual relationships. The last phase of the implementation is action where all the strategic decisions are put into action. The business processes and business structures are defined based on better customer understanding attained through analysis. The system will be implemented on the corporation’s premises where the Information technology infrastructure such as server, computers and networking infrastructure will be situated at the premises. The actual operation of the system will be done in six iterative processes including exploring and analyzing, visioning, building business case, designing solution, implementing, integrating, and realizing value (Annekie and Adele, 188). To ensure success of the CRM implementation, XYZ Corporation will however be required to be profitable enough. The corporation will be required to use Microsoft office applications such as ms outlook to manage emailing so as to facilitate communication with the customers. Oracle will be used to ensure the security and integrity of the data. Oracle will also ensure the accessibility of the data to the different users at the corporation. This therefore means that oracle will be strategically integrated with the system to be developed. All transactions related to the customer services will be recorded and stored on the database. For example if a shopper buys merchandise from the company, the details of the transaction are recorded and stored. In addition, the existing customer information will be integrated with the database management system. The system will also enhance direct communication with the customers through emails and other online platforms. The marketing department will be assigned task of tracking the information related to the customers and also consistently communicate with them. Implementation of this system will require resources in terms of hardware and software infrastructure (Peelen 121). Additionally, staff members should be trained on the use and effectiveness of the CRM system so as to ensure its functionality. Question 2: Incorporating the new customer data will help the corporation view the customers, their details and contacts in a unified way. The new customer data will be incorporated with the CRM system so as to focus on marketing and enhancing of business processes. The customer database contains information the personal details of the customer including their phone numbers, contact information and demographic information among others (Goldenberg, 93). The database also consists of information on the purchase transactions such as warranties, service calls and the customer support details among others. The concept of big data will be used to incorporate. The concept of big data predicts the customer behavior and allows the businesses to modify their operations to increase profitability. Three steps will be followed to incorporate the customer data into the system. The first step is rounding up the data where data from different sources is combined. Using the big data concept, ABC Corporation will integrate different tools including their website, blogs, customer contacts and email marketing among others so as to come up with a common platform (Peelen 206). This process automates the process of gathering data and collects the data in one place. This as a result makes it easier to analyze all the data collectively and also determine how the data relates across the entire engagement between the customer and the corporations employees (Peelen 208). The second step towards incorporating the data is testing the data so as to ensure a positive income once the data has been fully incorporated into the system. This step increases the chances of success. Testing involved running the small chunks of data with the system to identify and eliminate any kinds of errors (Goldenberg, 125). The final step towards incorporation of the data is getting educated on the data where you learn about the data from the results of the test (Goldenberg, 132). This also involves understanding why the results of the test could be critical to the success or failure of an entrepreneur. This will help the management come up with strategies that they could use to improve sales and maximize profits. Properly understanding the data helps the marketing personnel and management in making appropriate decisions that could drive up the sales (Goldenberg, 173). Incorporation of the customer data into the CRM system will be beneficial to the corporation since the product sales will eventually go up. One of the advantages of fully incorporating the customer data into the system is the ability to track the behaviors and trends of the customers hence it will be easier to determine the future trends of the customers (Peelen 218). Furthermore, social media is significant in marketing through merging the social media platforms with the fundamental business activities. The corporation could also use the data as a marketing strategy by using social media platforms in the CRM database to establish engagement with the customers (Goldenberg, 68). This will improve the relationship with the customers therefore increasing the sales. This will also help improve customer satisfaction since the get personalized attention from the corporation. To ensure effectiveness of the CRM system in increasing the sales, the marketer should have keen interest is various CRM marketing aspects. One of the aspects they should be keen on knowing their customers not only by their identity but by their personal details as well as their purchasing behavior. After acquiring information about the customers, they should stay connected with the customer by ensuring constant communication via the social media platforms or email (Peelen 212). Common social media platforms that marketers could use in marketing include facebook and twitter. The marketers should also ensure that they provide value to all customers by offering them personalized interactions. After interaction with the customers, the marketer can figure out their needs and preferences through anticipation. The marketer should then create some micro moments of engagement with the customer to establish a conversation. Finally, the marketer should influence the customer to purchase the products. After they have purchased the product, it’s the responsibility of the marketer to maintain constant communication so as to retain them. This process then becomes iterative with different customers. This as a result eventually leads to increase in sales as well as increase in productivity of the marketers as they will always focus on prospective customers (Goldenberg, 228). Question 3: JKL Corporation requires a system where communication with the customers will be enhances by implementing better and more effective communication channels as compared to the phone call and emails currently being used. I would as a result suggest the execution of a new CRM that integrates the use of social media so as to facilitate communication with the customers. The availability of social media has transformed how activities are carried out in the business. People connect with real people via social media thus it can be used to ensure customer engagement (Annekie and Adele,88 ). The CRM I propose will automate all the activities related to customer service through use of social media tool in marketing activities. Using this system the customers will have a platform where they can constantly engage with the marketers before having to buy the products from the company. The marketers also get to interact with the customers therefore they can easily convince the customers to buy the products. To implement this kind of system, JKL Corporation will be required to train both the employees and the customers how to use social media as a marketing tool (Peelen 119). Using this system, the marketers can be able to build their personal brand so as to gain the trust of the customers as well as build on the message of the company. Using the CRM system, the marketers will be able to keep track of all communication processes that were carried out throughout the sales cycle (Annekie and Adele, 152). All conversations between the marketers and the customers will be automatically stored in the database. The marketers and management are authorized to access the past transactions so as to come up with an analysis that that helps them in determining future trends. Due to the automatic storage of the conversations, it will be easier to track all transactions that were carried out over a given period of time. This system will be based online thus it will be easier to locate the HTML WebPages and store them on the database (Goldenberg, 136). This ensures an easy way to collect the customer data and have it integrated into the database. The system will also consist of filters that will ensure that the users only view the data that is significant to the chore they are working on (Goldenberg, 169). This will lend a hand to manage the time and energy used since the users will not have to customize and filter out the applications they are not using. This system will also facilitate analyzing of the sales for a certain period and come up with periodical reports thus easing the functions of management. In addition, the CRM system will also be in form of a mobile application where users can access it through the internet from anywhere. This as a result will increase the productivity of the marketers since they can work from anywhere at any time. The marketers will also most likely focus on the prospective customers therefore increasing the sales. Due to the marketers and management ability to view the reports and analysis, financial planning is enhanced (Peelen 95). The proposed with the proposed system being online, the data will be prone to various security threats including hackers. To counter such kinds of security threats, the CRM system will be cloud based where all the data will be collectively stored in a cloud. With this arrangement, users will access the system online from any location and from any apparatus as long as there is internet connection. The cloud based storage of data also eliminated the need for using spread sheets to records all the transactions details which could be cumbersome. Cloud storage is also cheaper since JKL Corporation will not have to invest in storage infrastructure. The automation of processes such as report generation and analysis will improve the speed of the sales cycle as well as reduce cases of loss of steps (Annekie and Adele,121). The CRM system will also enable document and file sharing enabling the user to access the tools and files they need at the same time through remote access. Further, the users will get notifications via text message or emails from the system once a record on the database has been updated. This will help in easier management of the workflow. To implement this system JKL Corporation will be required to have reliable internet connection at their premises so as to ensure constant communication between the customers and marketers (Peelen 113). Resources will also be required to purchase hardware infrastructure including computers and other portable devices that can be used to access the system online. JKL Corporation will also be required to have software resources such as the operating system and Microsoft office among others. Additionally, to ensure consistent running of the systems, JKL will be required to hire highly skilled personnel to uphold the systems and also train the other users (Annekie and Adele,166). Some of the personnel required will include system administrators and computer technicians to maintain the systems. Works cited Brink, Annekie, and Bernd Adele. Relationship Marketing and Customer Relationship Management. Claremont: Juta and Company Ltd, 2000. Print. Goldenberg, Barton. CRM Automation. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Professional, 2005. Print. Peelen, Ed. Customer Relationship Management. London: Financial Times, 2005. Print. Read More