Better Customer Service

Customer relationship management is a strategy that helps an organisation to set effective relationship and interaction with the potential customers. The main purpose of this system is to enhance the scope of profitability for the business organisation by establishing strategic connection with the customers. In this regard, there are different departments of an organisation that can follow the CRM mechanism such as the marketing, sales, service and support. As a result of that it is helpful for the organisation to identify and target potential customers and set continuous connection with them so that the company can learn different needs and requirements of its customers.

Customer relationship management is considered to be one of the major strategic measures that facilitate an equal opportunity for organisations to sustain in the competitive market. In this regard, the first benefit of using CRM as a business strategy can be viewed as the better customer service (Choudhury & Harrigan, 2014). As the customer response and feedback is highly important for an organisation to solidify its business capitalisation therefore, the CRM mechanism helps the organisation to understand the motive and behaviour of each customer. For an instance, Argos follows a detailed customer relationship management in its retailing practice. As a result of that the customers feel satisfied by the services that Argos provides and the organisation get the opportunity to create value for its customers.

Moreover, increase the customer revenues are also identified as a significant concept for rapid development of a business organisation (Harrigan, Soutar, Choudhury & Lowe, 2015). For an instance, Argos intends to attract more customers through the channels of CRM system. In this regard, offers and rebate are an instrumental strategy that helps the customer to get attracted. Therefore, Argos practices promotional offers, money-off vouchers and other privileges to the customers. As a result of that in the financial year of 2016 the company witnessed 38% increase in the number of customers due to the effective use of CRM strategies.

In addition to this, Josiassen, Assaf and Cvelbar (2014) argued that the role of the customer relationship management is to foster an effective mechanism for the discovery of new customers. In other words, it can be stated that the role of CRM is to identify new customers and manage the organisational marketing strategy based on the new customer identification. For an instance, putting emphasis on the value of customers helps Argos to bring more customers into the fold of potential new target customers. In this context, the organisation sets a user-friendly portal where the customers can get variety of products. Moreover, demographic analysis is also incorporated into the organisational framework that enables the organisation to offer seasonal products and quality services.

Increase in Customer Revenues

Furthermore, introducing the effective cross and up selling of products is also referred as one of the major aspect of customer relationship management (Rahimi, 2014). Therefore, Argos provides large variety of products to its potential customers and stores the data of customers purchasing. Therefore, in future the same customer can get similar types of products easily which connotes the principle of cross selling. Besides this, Argos also offers exclusive products to its premier clients in order to retain a strong customer base.

For a better CRM practice, it is important for the organisation to identify the stakeholders before making CRM strategies. In this context, it can be noted that there are three elements or principles that create the CRM strategy effective and relevant enough with the given scenario. For an instance, relationship marketing, customer orientation and the database marketing (Cambra-Fierro, Centeno, Olavarria & Vazquez-Carrasco, 2015). The magnanimity of the CRM strategy pushes the respective organisation to incorporate different stakeholders into the mechanism. For an instance, in case of the CRM at C. Fun Parks, it can be stated that the role of the concept is to include a number of CRM techniques and facilities so that it will bring efficacy into the framework of the organisation. However, before establishing the CRM strategy it is essential for the organisation to discuss the strategy with different stakeholders. In this context, Theodore Brook argued about a franchise concept where the franchise is responsible to take important decisions. Moreover, the customers are also considered to be a part of the stakeholders who indirectly influence the CRM. In addition to this, the IT department and the other employees of the organisation are also play pivotal part in order to implement the strategy perfectly.

The customer relationship management is not only a practice but the concept is also changed its shape with the technological advancement. As per the research of Shakuntala, Sobha Rani and Reddy (2019) it can be stated that the communication plays a pivotal part in today’s business world. In this regard, the role o technology is also essential in order to make the system effective. Integrating the Information technology with CRM boosts the objective of the organisations intensely as IT helps the CRM strategy to connect with the customers directly and understand the needs of the customers through feedbacks. Implementing the database system and online services have become part and parcel of the corporate organisations so that it creates more effectiveness of the corporate firms to ensure the satisfaction of the customers rather than conducting surveys and analysis.

New Customer Discovery

In this regard, Chung, Hsu, Tsai, Huang and Tsai (2012) opined that the role of CRM is not only focusing on the communication with the customers but the suppliers and other stakeholders are also considered to be the dependant variables that foster the efficacy of the Customer Relationship management. Therefore, there are some objectives that the IT based technology has imbibed in order to ensure the effectiveness of the CRM technology. Such as emphasising on the service and quality of services of the products, financial accountability, loyalty and value management and solidify the integrity of the entire framework through a transparent connectivity. Therefore, marketing, sales and the service and support, every corner of the organisational aspects are incorporated into the framework of IT driven CRM. Besides this, it is essential for the IT based CRM framework is to deliver a better power and control within the marketing system. The purpose of such mechanism is to facilitate better understanding of the customer behaviour and plan the marketing strategy on the basis of the marketing analysis (Trainor, Andzulis, Rapp & Agnihotri, 2014).

The theoretical concept of the incorporation of information technology in CRM is associated with some key elements. For an instance, the major function of IT is to store data related to customers or buyers details. It is also known as the data presentation section where all kinds of data related to the customers such as their preferences, history of purchasing, filtration and personal favourites are stored. Moreover, the product details and various segments of the product are also encapsulated into the framework in order to provide more user-friendly atmosphere for the new and old users (Cambra-Fierro, Centeno, Olavarria & Vazquez-Carrasco, 2017).

In addition to this, analysis and report is also a major part of the IT driven CRM technology. The purpose of this mechanism is to deal with the collected data that are automatically stored in the system (Jaber & Simkin, 2017). As a matter of fact, an essential part of this section is to cancel out the random data and cache data so that the database can store relevant data in a extensive manner. In association to this, it can be stated that role of the analysis and report section is also focused on the process of constructing a report. Based on that report, the organisation can understand the efficacy of its model and the behaviour and priorities of the customers.

Cross-selling of Products

Furthermore, another segment of the technology is associated with storing the operational sources or the internal activities of the organisation. It means the internal business activities of the organisation are incorporated into the system that delivers better communication within the workplace. In this regard, it is essential for the organisation to emphasis on a strong communication which will build up better organisational performance. Moreover, the role of the IT driven CRM mechanism is to deliver effective measure among different departments of the organisation and based on this the CEO and the top management will look forward to establish strong network of communication (Oogarah-Hanuman & Naicker, 2016).

Besides this, the IT driven analytical CRM mechanism is also associated with data integration. It performs in such a way where the departmental heads or the operational managers can integrate the performance of the employees and the satisfaction rates of the customers. The purpose behind such integration is to provide more authentic and relevant data to the organisation so that the corporate firm can generate objectives and strategies based on the performance of the employees and the satisfaction rate of the customers. The significance of such activity can be identified in terms of customer oriented business practice so that the organisation can maximise its customers effectively.

Finally, the IT driven CRM technology looks forward to the application of collecting feedback information. In response to this, the data driven CRM technology has a great deal of impact on different objectives of the corporate firm. For an instance, putting emphasis on the sustainable development is considered to be one of the major aspects for the data driven technology (Oogarah-Hanuman & Naicker, 2016). It is further associated with the practice of cost reduction and integration into the process of communication. The dynamic information system is entirely intertwined with the strategic advantage of the organisation and therefore, the organisation will strengthen its business and solidify the market capitalisation.

In this regard, there are several factors that are responsible to make the IT driven technology a success. For an instance, at first the simplicity of the framework is important in order to increase the efficiency of the CRM mechanism (Payne, 2019). In this regard, it can be stated that the role of the simplicity in the CRM mechanism will help the management to understand the activity and the processing that will deliver efficacy into the effective customer relationship management. As a matter of fact, it is significant to know that the IT driven CRM process should be simple so that it will help the management to analyse the effectiveness and drawbacks of the existing framework.

Incorporation of Information Technology in CRM

Moreover, focusing on the aims and objectives is also identified as an important aspect for the technology in order to bring strategic advantage while implementing IT oriented CRM technology. As a matter of fact, the objective of the IT driven CRM mechanism is to deal with the organisational perspective and maximise the profitability of the organisation (Akhondzadeh-Noughabi, Amin-Naseri, Albadvi & Saeedi, 2016). As a result of that it will couple with the aims and objectives of the organisation and provide strategic advantage in the process of capitalising the market effectively.

On the other hand, emphasising on the culture change is also identified as a pivotal determinant for influencing Customer Relationship Management. It is resembled with encouraging the staffs to learn and share the new work structure. Moreover, evaluating the information based on customers is also a pertinent aspect on which the organisation should focus on and achieve the purpose of the new CRM technology (Dubihlela & Molise-Khosa, 2014). In this regard, the risk factors and the issues during the process of implementation of the new framework have to be evaluated so that it will bring a pro-active nature of the management.

Inter-departmental integrity is identified as one of the major aspect of the CRM implementation and also considered to be one of the major facets to influence the CRM practices. As effective communication between different departments of the organisation is essential in order to continue the business progress within the organisation, so that it will be associated with integration of the organisation structure and putting more emphasis on the efficacy of the entire CRM project (Vanisree & Priya, 2014). Direct interaction between different departments and make a unitary mission for the benefit of the organisation should be the primary target of the communication. As a result of that the entire process will define the efficacy and importance of the CRM planning.

Managing the IT structure is also coincided with determining the effectiveness of the CRM planning. It can be argued that the primary target of the organisation is to deliver effective measures that will facilitate and enhance the efficiency of the organisation. Henceforth, implementation of an IT based solution seems relevant for the organisation. As a matter of fact, it is pertinent for the organisation to analyse the data warehouse capabilities and software configuration. As a result of that it will generate more proficiency into the internet usage and ensuring the successful implementation of the CRM techniques.

Key Elements of IT-driven CRM

In this regard, there are some specific recommendations that will help the organisation to enhance the efficiency of the CRM mechanism.

• Procuring better interaction between the different departments and sharing data if needed. As the departments have the same goal of developing the organisation towards intense customer orientation therefore sharing the relevant data within the organisational framework is essential for different departments in order to create a strong workplace bonding. In this regard, the role of the IT driven CRM process is very helpful where the departmental data can be stored and all the departments can request to the operational manager to get the access of those information.
• Besides this, it is also important for the IT based CRM technology is to create such a framework to integrate the customer feedbacks with the operational interface. It is essential for the organisation in order to provide a transparent environment so that the employees can understand the behaviour and requirements of the customers. In other words, it can be stated that the purpose of the IT based CRM framework is to highlight the importance of the fata and encourage the employees to focus on the data and understand the significance of the data and generate strategies in order to resolve the issues pro-actively.
• In this regard, it is associated with the practice of establishing a clear feedback form for the customers. The purpose of such measure is to increase the quality of customer satisfaction and ensure the relevance of the CRM mechanism extensively. In response to this, putting an impartial analysis on the customer feedbacks is highly essential for the organisation in order to understand the drawbacks to mitigate. In fact, the strengths of the organisation are also incorporated into the framework with the intention to encourage the employees and define their efficacies to follow the right path of development.

Conclusion

From the above understanding, it can be stated that the role of the CRM in business success is not a new phenomenon but the implementation of technology and transforms CRM into a technological practice. In this regard, the advanced IT technology plays a significant role in order to make the CRM practice more structured and authentic in the context of establishing intense business orientation. Moreover, it is also essential for the organisations to follow different aspects of the IT driven CRM technology so that they can implement it perfectly. The discussion also identifies a number of recommendations in this regard that will generate more effectiveness and advantage into the framework of CRM. Therefore, it can be concluded that the essay is highly pragmatic and relevant enough to understand the dynamics of CRM practice in corporate world.

Reference

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