Customer relationship management (CRM)

(CRM) is a widely-implemented strategy for managing a companys interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processesprinciply sales activities, but also those for marketing, customer service, and technical support. The overall goals are to find, attract, and win new clients, nurture and retain those the company already has, entice former clients back into the fold, and reduce the costs of marketing and client service

E-Business and India: Case study

Since the arrival of the internet, the concept of business has undergone many changes
E-commerce Internet has introduced itself as a new worldwide dimension by surpassing all other channels of trade and transfer of information

Acquire: CRM can help a business acquire new customers through contact management, selling, and fulfillment Enhance: web-enabled CRM combined with customer service tools offers customers service from a team of sales and service specialists, which offers customers the convenience of onestop shopping
Retain: CRM software and databases enable a business to identify and reward its loyal customers and further develop its targeted marketing and relationship marketing initiatives

Phases

Benefits of CRM
The use of a CRM system will confer several advantages to a company:
* Quality and efficiency * Decreased costs * Decision support * Enterprise agility

Challenges
Tools and workflows can be complex, especially for large businesses.
Previously these tools were generally limited to contact management: monitoring and recording interactions and communications.

Software solutions then expanded to embrace deal tracking, territories, opportunities

Types/variations
Sales force automation (SFA)
Marketing Customer service and support Analytics Integrated/Collaborative Social Media

Sales force automation (SFA)

involves using software to streamline all phases of the sales process, minimizing the time that sales representatives need to spend on each phase. This allows sales representatives to pursue more clients in a shorter amount of time than would otherwise be possible.

Marketing
CRM systems for marketing help the enterprise identify and target potential clients and generate leads for the sales team.

A key marketing capability is tracking and measuring multichannel campaigns, including email, search, social media, telephone and direct mail.
Metrics monitored include clicks, responses

Customer service and support

Recognizing that service is an important factor in attracting and retaining customers, organizations are increasingly turning to technology to help them improve their clients experience while aiming to increase efficiency and minimize costs. Even so, a 2009 study revealed that only 39% of corporate executives believe their employees have the right tools and authority to solve client problems.

Analytics
Relevant analytics capabilities are often interwoven into applications for sales, marketing, and service. These features can be complemented and augmented with links to separate, purpose-built applications for analytics and business intelligence.

Sales analytics let companies monitor and understand client actions and preferences, through sales forecasting and data quality.

Integrated/Collaborative
Departments within enterprises especially large enterprises tend to function with little collaboration More recently, the development and adoption of these tools and services have fostered greater fluidity and cooperation among sales, service, and marketing.

This finds expression in the concept of collaborative systems which uses technology to build bridges between departments.

Social media
Social media sites like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook are amplifying the voice of people in the marketplace and are having profound and far-reaching effects on the ways in which people buy. Customers can now research companies online and then ask for recommendations through social media channels, making their buying decision without contacting the company

Strategy
Processes
People

Technology

Process
Though these systems have many technological components, business processes lie at its core. It can be seen as a more client-centric way of doing business, enabled by technology that consolidates and intelligently distributes pertinent information about clients, sales, marketing effectiveness, responsiveness, and market trends. Therefore, a company must analyze its business workflows and processes before choosing a technology platform; some will likely need reengineering to better serve the overall goal of winning and satisfying clients

People
For an initiative to be effective, an organization must convince its staff that the new technology and workflows will benefit employees as well as clients.
Senior executives need to be strong and visible advocates who can clearly state and support the case for change. Collaboration, teamwork, and two-way communication should be encouraged across hierarchical boundaries, especially with respect to process improvement

Technology
In evaluating technology, key factors include alignment with the companys business process strategy and goals, including the ability to deliver the right data to the right employees
sufficient ease of adoption and use. Platform selection is best undertaken by a carefully chosen group of executives who understand the business processes to be automated as well as the software issues.

Depending upon the size of the company and the breadth of data, choosing an application can take anywhere from a few weeks to a year or more

Implementation issues
Poor planning
Poor integration

Toward a solution

Adoption issues
Choose a system that is easy to use Choose appropriate capabilities Provide training Lead by example

Privacy and data security system

One of the primary functions of these tools is to collect information about clients, thus a company must consider the desire for privacy and data security, as well as the legislative and cultural norms.
Some clients prefer assurances that their data will not be shared with third parties without their prior consent and that safeguards are in place to prevent illegal access by third parties.

Market structures
This market grew by 12.5 percent in 2008, from revenue of $8.13 billion in 2007 to $9.15 billion in 2008

Related trends
Many CRM vendors offer Web-based tools (cloud computing) and software as a service , which are accessed via a secure Internet connection and displayed in a Web browser.
These applications are sold as subscriptions, with customers not needing to invest in purchasing and maintaining IT hardware, and subscription fees are a fraction of the cost of purchasing software outright.

E-CRM

Differences

CRM

It provides information in response to specific customer inquiries Promotion and discounts are offered to inaividual customers Pricing of products is negotiated with each customer New product failures are created in response to customer demands

It has the uniform message of 'PUSH AND SELL for all customers Promotion and discounts are the same for all customers The sellers set the pricing of products for all customers CRM is determined by the seller,based on research and development

Functions of A CRM system

It encourages the philosophy of customer orientation
It recognizes aspects that are significant to customers It develop end -to -end processes to serve clients It provides successful customer support It tracks sales-related aspects It handles customer complaints It takes up customer -based

E-CRM solutions
Step-1:Customer information environment Step-2:Customer value orientation Step-3:Customer loyalty .

Implementing and Integrating CRM Solutions

Adoption of customer -focussed mangers for better satisfaction .Creating an organisation that follows a customer -focussed culture .Developing an end -to -end process for serving customer .Tracking every aspect of selling to existing as well as prospective customers .Recommending the habit of asking suggestions when helping customers with problems

Privacy Issues and CRM

Use of e-CRM .Providing round-the-clock technical assistance and customer service Offering methods

Privacy Issue and CRM

Password
Credit card

Use of e-CRM
Providing round- the-clock technical assistance and customer service Offering methods to manage and shedule follow-up scale calls Recognizing customer's value and develop suitable service strategies for all customers Storing customer interests in order to target customer selectively Tracking all communication with a customer Providing a system to rectify service insufficiencies Providing a system to shedule and manage repair and on going support Identifying potential problems before they occur Providing method to handle complaints and issues

Failure of e-CRM
Intangible benifits are not easy to measure or value

Specific business problems are not possible to be identified and focussed on

Absence of sponsorship from the active senior management User acceptance is not up to the mark

Failure to automate a badly defined process

SCM
Supply chains have often been seen as rigid sequences of activities that contribute to the manufacture, production and delivery of products
SCM involves inflexible manufacturing plans, shipping schedules and questionable inventory forecast SCM spans all movements and storage of raw materials, work-in-process inventory and finished goods from point of consumption

Need for e-SCM : Internet enabled SCM

Minimize administrative overhead Abstain from costly disasters Reduce labour cost Earn bigger profit margins from completed goods

Harvest on revenue producing gains and cost cutting

Remove outdated business processes Accelerate responsiveness and production to customers Decrease needless inventary(thereby maximising working capital)

Advantages of e -SCM
Real time advantages
Strategic advantages

Real time advantages

Global trading capabilities
Knowledge can be exchanged globally

Enterprise-to-enterprise connectivity
E-Marketplace-to-e-marketplace connectivity Provision of a specific marketplace

Strategic advantages
It supports the exchange of information through trading communities
It acts as an interface with any third party software It is platform independent

It is fully integrated system

It allows for rapid deployment and scalability

Selling :- Ten ways to successful online selling

Hardwork specifically matters on web
Everyone is curious to know what sells best online Printed catalogues- production values refer to quality of printed material

We surfers often visit a few selected websites

Best way to learn to sell online is to start shopping online

 Many people find the idea of online shopping strange. Their confidence needs to be taken care of. A good quality website acts as a confidence booster Website: Attract visitors An ideal way to cover the costs spent on promotion of a website is to bring down the prices The more time spent by a company on its online store, the better its performance will be

Some traders are fortunate enough to receive a large number of orders on the opening day.But the majority of online stores grow slowly and steadily

Enterprise resource planning (ERP)

integrates internal and external management information across an entire organization, embracing finance/accounting, manufacturing, sales and service, etc.
ERP systems automate this activity with an integrated computer-based application. Its purpose is to facilitate the flow of information between all business functions inside the boundaries of the organization and manage the connections to outside stakeholder

 ERP systems can run on a variety of hardware and network configurations, typically employing a database to store its data ERP systems typically include the following characteristics: * An integrated system that operates in (next to) real time, without relying on periodic updates. * A common database, that supports all applications.

* A consistent look and feel throughout each module.

* Installation of the system without elaborate application/data integration by the Information Technology (IT) department

Functional areas
Finance/Accounting
Human resources

Manufacturing
Supply chain management Project management Customer relationship management Access control

 India is the fourth country in the world to have the highest number of internet users, while china is at first place
India persists to be one of the most rapidly expanding. Foremost, global telecom market

Transformations brought about by successive indian ruling regimes over the last 10 years have been successful in changing the nature of telecommunications in the country significantly

 The cellular segment has developed more than ten times since 2001 to reach a peak of around 60 million subscibers by the middle of 2005
While GSM technology continues to rule, CDMA has rapidly captured 23 % of the market

There is a possibility of e-commerce expanding by 150 % to 5,500 crore in thr current financial year.

 Delhi and Mumbai contributed 20 and 24% of the wholw e-shopper populace in the year 20062007
88% of online purchasers in india are males, with 86% having no less than a bachelor's degree

Electronics devices, clothing and railways, flight and movie tickets were the most shopped things
Goods expected to acheive popularity involve jewellery, books, clothing, gift items, music, movies and hotel reservations

The top ecommerce product categories in USA* are:

# Clothing & clothing accessories
# Drugs, Health & Beauty Aids

# Computer Hardware
# Books & magazines # Electronic Appliances # Furniture & home furnishings # Toys & Hobbies. Etc

websites in terms of visitors:

* eBay: 7th
* Amazon: 9th * Wal-Mart: 22nd * Target: 26th

TRENDS,DESIGN,AND CONSTRUCTION OF E-BUSINESS

Requirments for e-Business

Improved custumer service Origin of new business oppertunities Enhanced speed and currency of a product Product cost saving

Prerequisites for e-Business procedure

A commercial website like www.futurebazaar.com

Product or services you want to sell through the respective website Shopping carts or purchase order forms Current credit card account that will be accepted on epayment An online payment gateway,if you plan to process credit cards in real time,over the internet Asecure socket layer (SSL)which secure the gateway

Functions of e-Business
.E-advertising :

A companies website contains its profile and all the information on its products and services It displays banners that can be clicked

E-business portials like www.yahoo.com

Newsgroups also provide publicity

E-catalogues:

Packaging

Product attribute and characteristics

Availability Payment modes cost

E-publishing

Online reading/browsing
Online search

Customised information services

E-banking

Bill payment
Electronic cheque writing

Record keeping
Tracking of bank account , credit cards

Shopping services

Services provided by independent businesses who send their representatives to the stores to do comparison shopping for specific products.Ashopping service is hired on contrct to compare compititive prices or prices for the same item in compititive stores,depending on the requist and needs for the client.
Shopping services that are offered to cable Tv subscribers where consumers can buy products (usually at adiscount )that are displayed on a special shopping services channel Shopping services are offered to subscribers of personal information services for home computer use For eg,a company provides online information subscrIbers.Among the many services offered by this company is one called products ,guids etc .from which consumers can shop and select purchases right from their own computer terminals.

Information Services
Information service is also known as information systems. For many organizations information systems are accounatble for IT and Management Information Systems

Enterprise Collaboration System(ECS)

Transaction Process System(TPS) Decision Support System(DSS) Executive Support System(ESS) Management Information System(MIS)

TYPES OF E-BUSINESS

Business- to- consumer(B2C),through the Internet

Business- to -business(B2B),through the Internet Business-within-business,through Intranets

Types of e-Commerce

Business to Business (B2B)

Business to Consumer(B2C)

Business-to-consumer,through the Internet

Consumer to consumer(C2C) Peer to peer(P2P) Mobile commerce(m-Commerce)

Portal

Horizontal vs vertical portal

Personal portals

Regional Web portals

Government web portals Corporate Web portals Hosted Web portals Domain-specific portals Sports portals

Electronic retailer(E-tailer)

Advantages of e-Tailing Disadvantages of e-Tailing

Content Provider Data Model

ID Numbers Label Name Type

100

AB apartment

Ajay

TYPE_HOME

200

Delhi office

Raj

TYPE_MOBILE

300

Ashirwad

kapil

TYPE_HOME

Transaction broker
Making Integration simple

Adopting to your business systems

Faultless data transfer Reducing your e-business costs Market creator Service provider Automated Teller Machine Cerdit cards/Debit cards

E-banking

Applications in B2C

Payment of bills Fund transfer Credit cards Railway pass Investment through Internet banking

Recharging prepaid phone

Shopping Advantages of internet banking E-trading E-auction

B2B Models

E-distributor
B2B Service provider: industrial marketing, fulfilment & procurement e.g. online purchase

Benefits of B2B

Supply chain management

Electronic procurement system

JIT delivery

C2C Model

Online auction
Universities

Peer-to-peer Model
CPU resources

Benefits
Users have the autority to control their own shared resources It is easy to install and configure

Drawbacks
Network security is applied to one computer at a time Every time a computer in the network is accessed, performance suffers Backup is performed on each machine separately to protect shared resources No centralized set-up to locate, manage, or control access to data

Inexpensive to purchase and operate

Ideal for small businesses of ten users or fewer

All you need to set up this network is an operating system and a few cables

No need for full- time network administrator

Organizational Framework and Implementation

E-commerce application

Supply chain management

Online banking
Procurement and purchasing Online marketing and advertisement Home shopping

Common business services infrastructure/security/ authentication/electronic payment

Public policy Legal and privacy issues

The messaging and information distribution infrastructure( e-mail)

Multimedia content and network publishing infrastructure

Technical standards For E-documents , multimedia and network Protocols

The information superhighway infrastructure (telecommunication, cable TV, wireless network,internet

E-Business Applications

Client- server Architecture

Application Logic

Application Logic

Presentation logic

Multimedia Logic

Online Information service

I- Way Component

Network Access component Hubs Routers

Local access Component Telephone Based Cable-based

Global Access Component

Long distance network Satellite

Set-top-boxes

Wireless based
Computer based