Assignment 10: Chapter 11.

Okay now, Lets learn about the customer relationship management. 

1. Describe customer relationship management and its role in supporting business operations.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a strategic approach concerned with creating improved shareholder value through the 

development of appropriate relationships with key customers and customer segments. CRM 

unites the potential of relationship marketing strategies and IT [information technology] to 

create profitable, long-term relationships with customers and other key stakeholders. CRM 

provides enhanced opportunities to use data and information to both understand customers 

and co-create value with them. This requires a cross-functional integration of processes, 

people, operations and marketing capabilities that is enabled through information, technology and applications.

The roles or an important in supporting business operations are:

• CRM consists of a historical view and analysis to be acquired customers. It's helps in reduced searching and correlating customers and increase business.
• CRM contains each of details of a customers. Hence, it's easy to track a customer information accordingly and can be used to determine which customer can be profitable and which is not. The company can update or give a new information about the business to the customer based on their information.
• Customers are grouped accordingly to different aspects according to the types of business they do or accordingly to physical location. Company can focus and concentrate on each every customer separately. Example, there is a customer from Malaysia and America. Company will grouped the customer based on their location and information of the customer.
• Deal with useful in acquiring new customers. The process start with identifying a customer and maintaining all the corresponding details into the CRM system.
• It's very cost-effective. In the CRM system, there is less need of paper and manual work which is requires lesser staff to manage and lesser resources to deal with. Because it's fully technologies used in implementing a CRM system and its smooth compared to the traditional way of business.
• All the details in CRM is available anytime and the company can update or change the information of the customer on anytime. This reduces the process time and increase the productivity.
• CRM system is protected with the security system. Other customer or other company cannot obtain the information on the system. This increase the customer satisfaction because their information is being protected.

2.Identify the benefits and challenges of CRM

The Benefits

Improve customer experience: CRM will enable quickly identify the customers, address their initial need and subsequently recommend additional products or services that match their profile. Customer also does need to keeping on waiting for the service provided. CRM also give the ability to the staff of the company to be more efficient and more productive.

Focused marketing efforts : Only on your fingertips you can identify and target individual with the greatest potential for future sales. CRM allows to focus and fine-tune the marketing efforts to make those efforts more productive. Hence, its saves money because does have to expending resources on individuals who ultimately won't become customers.

Automated analysis and reporting : CRM can automatic access to a full range of reports on which products or services are selling and who's buying them. It's can gain a clearer picture of the sales pipeline itself : How is it working? Where are the snags? Which staff-members is the most productive?

CRM gives a powerful analytic and reporting tools that would be hard to replicate in stand-alone systems.

The Challenges

Expensive costs when implementing the system :  It is a huge investment to maintain a customer database.  The additional expense comes from the money needed for the computer hardware, software, and personnel that is needed to maintain it.  These exorbitant costs can lead to a negative vibe within the company and can result in a CRM collapse. 

The problem of an inadequate focus on objectives : This typically occurs after the CRM system is implemented.  When hard times hit, the organization may lose sight of its goals and eventually steer away from the clearly laid out objectives.  Goals may get interchanged and ultimately lose their original importance.

Insufficient resources : Sufficient training needs to be given to employees in order for them to comprehend and deal with the difficulties easily.  Companies need to keep in mind that the business needs are the most important.  The problem arises when companies gain the technology needed and applies it to business problems to discover it isn't actually solving the main problems.  They need to analyze their business problems first and then find the appropriate  CRM solution for it, not the other way around.