Case Study: Successful Implementation of CRM
Case Study: Successful Implementation of CRM
The company has been one of the leading forest-products companies in the world but for the past several years , office products - pens, computers, desks etc., have comprised the largest segment of its annual sales.
One-third of the company's revenue is generated from its online business and because office product customers rely on flawless e-commerce site performance to help reduce their administrative overhead, competition within this sector is strong.
What Prompted The Company To Go For CRM
Of late, the company's application server was failing to meet volume and performance expectations.
The web site was not integrated with customer account information, so clients with questions about order position or account balances flooded the call centers. The customers were demanding and each customer had different needs.
As the company was in B2B business, managers of the contracted company were primarily treated as customers. After a lot of discussion, the management decided to go for CRM to:
Implement electronic report delivery - to eliminate report production costs
Scalability - to manage the growth of users and reports
Ease of use - to respond in a timely and precise manner to all users, both inside and outside of the organisation.
The initiative was started to invest in CRM to strengthen the company's internal processes and also to provide customers with a greater economic value.
Roadmap To Implement CRM
The implementation was planned in a phased manner. During the design phase of the implementation, a cross-functional team was chalked out of business and IT managers.
This was done to ensure that the IT department had a comprehensive understanding of the business strategies and customer's needs. Different sets of requirements were made for different customer profiles.
How each individual client interacted with the organisation was given chief importance. It was concluded that there were primarily three areas where client interaction was most - customer service center, dispatch department and online portal.
This process helped the company to focus on specific technologies that would improve customer service and discard those that weren't right for the company's goals.
Consequently, the company bought individual software applications (instead of a complete end-to-end CRM system) for customer interaction and operation management and integrated them with the existing order-processing technologies.
Putting CRM Into Operation
Once all the building blocks were placed in order, it wasn't a difficult task for the IT department to implement the CRM system.
It was decided to apply the new technology to the two largest customer channels, phone and web and so it was paramount that both remain fully functional.
As the company had a huge client base, most of the production deployment was done over the weekend when there were less number of client calls and when there were less number of people accessing the company's web site.
The data migration was another step which was carved out with utmost importance because it required cleansing of the 2.2 million customer records from multiple disparate databases into a single customer profile database.
Mantra For Successful Implementation of CRM
The company was able to successfully implement CRM because much of its focus was on customer convenience.
It always maintained the sync between the business and IT departments, so as to ensure everyone was on the same page.
Vigilant and correct choice of CRM software was another major step that helped the company to move ahead with a smooth and successful implementation.
In the end, the company was rewarded with increased revenue, customer retention and positive feedback from all sectors - both in-house and out-house.
For more information visit CRM Software - All the general information and resources for everything CRM - Customer Relationship Management. Visit www.crmsoftwarecenter.com. for more articles and info on CRM.
Case Study Successful Implementation of CRM - To learn more about this author, visit Casey Gollan's Website.
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Recently, a company spent $25 million in CRM system's execution.
The company has been one of the leading forest-products companies in the world but for the past several years , office products - pens, computers, desks etc., have comprised the largest segment of its annual sales.
One-third of the company's revenue is generated from its online business and because office product customers rely on flawless e-commerce site performance to help reduce their administrative overhead, competition within this sector is strong.
What Prompted The Company To Go For CRM
Of late, the company's application server was failing to meet volume and performance expectations.
The web site was not integrated with customer account information, so clients with questions about order position or account balances flooded the call centers. The customers were demanding and each customer had different needs.
As the company was in B2B business, managers of the contracted company were primarily treated as customers. After a lot of discussion, the management decided to go for CRM to:
Implement electronic report delivery - to eliminate report production costs
Scalability - to manage the growth of users and reports
Ease of use - to respond in a timely and precise manner to all users, both inside and outside of the organisation.
The initiative was started to invest in CRM to strengthen the company's internal processes and also to provide customers with a greater economic value.
Roadmap To Implement CRM
The implementation was planned in a phased manner. During the design phase of the implementation, a cross-functional team was chalked out of business and IT managers.
This was done to ensure that the IT department had a comprehensive understanding of the business strategies and customer's needs. Different sets of requirements were made for different customer profiles.
How each individual client interacted with the organisation was given chief importance. It was concluded that there were primarily three areas where client interaction was most - customer service center, dispatch department and online portal.
This process helped the company to focus on specific technologies that would improve customer service and discard those that weren't right for the company's goals.
Consequently, the company bought individual software applications (instead of a complete end-to-end CRM system) for customer interaction and operation management and integrated them with the existing order-processing technologies.
Putting CRM Into Operation
Once all the building blocks were placed in order, it wasn't a difficult task for the IT department to implement the CRM system.
It was decided to apply the new technology to the two largest customer channels, phone and web and so it was paramount that both remain fully functional.
As the company had a huge client base, most of the production deployment was done over the weekend when there were less number of client calls and when there were less number of people accessing the company's web site.
The data migration was another step which was carved out with utmost importance because it required cleansing of the 2.2 million customer records from multiple disparate databases into a single customer profile database.
Mantra For Successful Implementation of CRM
The company was able to successfully implement CRM because much of its focus was on customer convenience.
It always maintained the sync between the business and IT departments, so as to ensure everyone was on the same page.
Vigilant and correct choice of CRM software was another major step that helped the company to move ahead with a smooth and successful implementation.
In the end, the company was rewarded with increased revenue, customer retention and positive feedback from all sectors - both in-house and out-house.
For more information visit CRM Software - All the general information and resources for everything CRM - Customer Relationship Management. Visit www.crmsoftwarecenter.com. for more articles and info on CRM.
Case Study Successful Implementation of CRM - To learn more about this author, visit Casey Gollan's Website.
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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