Group project discussion - Essay Example

f the applications can be applied to gain a competitive advantage in the market and to reap higher profits through either cost cutting or making higher revenues. Below, each of these applications is discussed along with its benefits and challenges of implementation. Customers are the main focus of SWU who they must treat with care, respect and value so that they keep returning to buy home decorations. The aim of a CRM system is to deliver the company’s services in such a way that it builds goodwill and customer loyalty.

It is an interactive process that turns customer information into positive customer relationships. By offering “the right product (or service), to the right customer, at the right place, at the right time through the right channel, to satisfy the customer’s need or desire” customer loyalty, customer retention and customer profitability can be built (Swift, 2001). Today the emphasis of marketing has shifted towards 1 to 1 marketing and thus CRM now caters to needs of the customers by giving them customized products and services.

Deploying CRM software from well known vendors including Siebel, SAP and Oracle, even large organizations are reaping enormous profits. CRM has grown into a business need and SWU can gain more market share by implementing it to cater to its small customer base. (Turban et al., 2005) While CRM systems cater to the customer side, SCM is involved at maintaining healthy relationships with the company’s suppliers and improving its supply side processes. Being a manufacturer of home decoration goods, SWU needs supplies and inventories of raw materials at the manufacturing times.

Inventory management, costing, production and maintaining friendly relationships with the suppliers all comes under the domain of SCM. However in a competitive world, only this is not enough. The company needs to collaborate and share its information with the suppliers making them business partners to achieve the necessary integration required