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Putting Customers Right at the Center of Business
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CRM has sustained success through its ability to help companies do business but focuses on portion of the customer relationship; not taking into account pervasive business processes that can affect customers. CRM systems can be very effective solutions for managing sales cycles. However, using current CRM point solutions will not build and manage an entire customer experience, merely the components of the sales and marketing cycles. There is promise, however, while traditional CRM systems have lacked the ability to encompass the full realm of business processes, new technologies are emerging that empower businesses to realize the full potential of customer relationships.
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| Customer Expectations Have Changed |
Customer expectations have matured from viewing CRM as a technology useful for solving the problem of how to collect and update customer centric data to viewing it as a solution vital to addressing the transformation of data access across applications (front office, back office, enterprise performance management and decision support), thereby automating end-to-end business processes.
CRM’s original promise was to truly and cost effectively help an organization manage complex, changing and challenging customer relationships across an extended enterprise
Industry maturity is typically evidenced through the entry of late adopters, increased fierce competition among vendors to win new business, rapid consolidation in response to changing customer expectations, and buying criteria that only a few can serve on a profitable basis. One can easily note these trends in the CRM industry today. Customer perceptions around CRM have been changing as most are now asking how CRM can serve as a key enabler in today’s high velocity business environment.
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| Functional requirements and key features of CRM |
CRM should be integrated with the entire business operations rather than focused and remote functionality. A truly customer-centric solution not only ties customer relationships with enterprise business functions but can address other functions related to CRM, such as human resources and financial management.
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Accessibility
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People who shop online are most familiar with this type of website. A transactional site may be an electronic storefront for a brick-and-mortar retailer or a catalog business, or a manufacturer showroom for those wishing to sell directly to the public. Transactional sites conduct full “end-to-end” transactions via the website, allowing customers to search for, order, and pay for products online as well as allowing them to contact the company for after-sales service. The most sophisticated sites create efficiencies by integrating the transaction process with back-office systems such as accounting, inventory, sales and others.
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All Inclusive
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All business processes, including financial, workflow, documents and projects are a part of the CRM environment, providing a complete view of the customer experience available to anyone, including the customer.
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Visibility
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The customers should have the visibility as a part of the CRM cycle whereby they can view through the eyes of the provider and manage facets of their own account. Empower customers to have a direct line of communication into interactions that are affecting them.
The most important element of a customer centric solution is workflow, i.e. tracking what customers are doing and looking at, which in turn can be observed by the employee, and vise-versa giving customers the ability to access, control and participate in corporate issues and events that affect them. In addition every new customer touch point is an opportunity to reinforce the brand. Every customer dialogue offers valuable customer management system, organizations are better able to make successful strategic decisions.
A customer centric solution affords customers the opportunity to participate in more detail, the workflow giving them the ability and power to participate in more elements of the business.
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| Key success factors of CRM |
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Numerous success factors come to fore while evaluating technology for maximizing customer relationships:
• Measurable ROI within a fixed timeframe
• Easy installation and customization
• Customer oriented
• Integration with existing CRM information
• Pervasiveness
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At the end, in today’s increasingly competitive scenario, companies are looking to make the most out of each business. The most common perception is to sustain the existing customers and strengthen the relationships. Expanding this customer base involves giving customers the opportunity to improve the way they interact with you. No longer are customers sidelined now. Organizations are empowering their customers with a wealth of knowledge to engage in meaningful discussions for informed decision making.
A CRM solution that encompasses all aspects of your business gives customers unprecedented visibility into actions that impact them. Ultimately this leads to greater accountability within the organization, and greater satisfaction among customers.
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