Customer Relationship Management
Automating CRM is a continuous process, a business strategy, which cannot be implemented overnight. It takes multiple technologies and multiple vendors to achieve this.
Experts say that a company must first review the processes, applications and technologies it uses to deal with customers and that it should consider its schedule, budget and long-term goals it hopes to achieve with a CRM application.
The main focus of a CRM system targets sales, customer service and marketing. As for sales, the system addresses the area of field sales, call centre telephone sales, third-party brokers, retail and e-commerce. Customer service includes Internet-based services and call centre services. Marketing automation includes data-cleansing tools, data analysis and business intelligence tools, content management applications and a campaign management system.
Depending on your goals, the technology involved with CRM automation can include databases, data warehouses, servers, telephony system and software for business intelligence, workflow management and e-commerce.
In order to combine all these aspects into a coherent system, you may have to call in the help of a systems integrator. Remember, doing this will also involve having to train everyone in your company -- from IT employees to telephone representatives to sales people.
Don’t overlook customer service
However, the hype surrounding CRM has created the belief that customer service is no longer necessary. But experts warn that you should be aware that without customer service, there are no customers with whom to form relationships.
With e-commerce on the rise, businesses tend to assume that only a small fraction of online transactions will result in customer service contacts, most of which will be handled by online self-service facilities. Experts argue that self-service should be a main part of customer service, but that it cannot be regarded as a replacement for human contact.
Instant customer service
Customer service systems are divided in two categories: instant service and delayed service. Experts recommend implementing at least two types of instant service, preferably self-service and assisted service. Self-service can be as simple as a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section or online forum on the company’s Web site, whilst assisted service could be a phone help line or online real-time chat facility.
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