Key Concepts of IS/IT

The study is based on improving the current business process of selected organization, Macquarie Group by an implementation of CRM system. The current business process of Macquarie Group is such that the sales team handles the customer’s transactions manually. There is a high volume of payment processing in the bank which is done in paper forms. Therefore the challenges that the business faces are a duplication of customer’s data, dropped handoff and error into entering of the data manually. This study is undertaken to propose the company for implementing CRM system into their operations for bringing automation. The bank should use CRM tool to acquire of more customers and improve the relationship between the organization and customer (Khodakarami and Chan 2014). Implementation of CRM system into the bank should help to improve customer retention by customer feedback to provide of conveniences such as ATM in addition to online banking. The banks should use of CRM tools to improve customer loyalty by data collection throughout customer sign up, feedback along with transactions. The CRM solution can speed up the marketing and sales activities and connect the sales team and customers online. The sales team can access to existing customers data and respond to their queries.

This study aims to analyze the current business process of Macquarie Group and measure the effectiveness of implementing of CRM system into the retail banking sector. This study aims to better understand the requirements of the customers which allow assessing of information about buying the history of the customers.

The objectives of this research study are:

• To identify the gap of manual process in the operation process of Macquarie Group
• To suggest of improvement measures to enhance customer relationship in retail banking
• To explain the benefits of implementation of CRM system into business processes of Macquarie Group

Macquarie Group is a financial group which is operating in Sydney, Australia that provides their clients with asset management, capital solutions, finance, along with risk and banking services. The organization aims to deliver of longer-term profitability, shareholder returns and managing of risks for the corporate governance. The mission of Macquarie Group is “To create wealth for our clients”. The vision of the selected organization is “Our products and services will best in the market and consistently exceed the expectations of our clients”. The business process of Macquarie Group consists of accounts opening and payment to optimize cost. The organization provides financial solutions to their clients (Macquarie Group 2016). The organization supports the staff in efforts to provide of financial assistance globally.

Macquarie Group provides of retail banking services to their customers, general public such as loans, checking account balance, mortgages and deposits. In order to build a customer base, the bank is focused on providing accessible services to the client. The internal banking operations of Macquarie Group are opening of new accounts, transfer of money between accounts and assist the customers to manage their deposits (Jeston and Nelis 2014). This particular research study is important to understand the implementation of CRM system for bank productivity and profitability for efficient management of the banking internal and external operations.

IS/IT Competencies for Managers

 The external banking operations of Macquarie Group are those factors which are operating outside of the company (Armstrong et al. 2015). The bank also supports trading and market operations to other countries.

The increase in competition in the banking industry in the years turns to make the banking operations more complex. As most of the banks are performing undifferentiated services with equal prices, therefore the customers are left with many options to go for getting better services from another bank (Barney and Ray 2015). The manual operations of Macquarie Group also provide some gap into their business process which affects the reputation of the bank. In order to improve the business operations of a selected organization, the bankers are come out with a customer-centric strategic decision such as CRM system. This system would provide such a platform to the customers so that the bank can retain of existing customers and expand their customer base by attracting extra customers.

The current operational process of Macquarie Group is a manual transactional process. Wynn et al. (2016) discussed that there is a higher degree of their manual process is costly as well as slow which leads to unpredictable results and higher error rate while entering of the data into transaction database system. Peppard and Ward (2016) stated that the operational process of the bank relies on both human resources along with paper-based. Following are the gaps in the manual process of Macquarie Group:

Duplication of data entry: There is a duplication of data while the employees are entering information into the files. Some of the entered data are redundant as there is no such repetition check into the manual process (Peltonen 2015). Duplication of the data reduces the record keeping process.  

Staff training cost: The manual system puts pressure on people to correctly enter all the details of the customers. With the manual process, the level of services is based on the individuals, and it puts a requirement to provide training to the staffs to ensure that they are followed correct procedures (Peppers and Rogers 2016). Training cost is required to train the employees to handle their respective duty properly.

Reduction of customer services: The queries of a customer are difficult to respond as information is stored in various places (Kale 2014). Therefore, there is a possibility to reduce the customers when there are not satisfied with the business operations of the bank.

Time-consuming and expensive: Reporting as well as checking of the data is robust which is timely and also expensive. It takes more time and effort to keep track the paper documents and secure the information from being stolen. The data are accessed by only one employee at one time (Gummesson 2015). Therefore, this is a time-consuming process which leads the business to become unproductive.

Managing Enterprise IS/IT Operations

Lack of security: The data are stored in filing cabinets. Macquarie Group is not able to prevent the employees from a review of sensitive data into paper-based work. Lack of security of the personal information of customers allows the hackers to abuse of financial information throughout fraud (Akgun et al. 2014). Any unauthorized users are access to the confidential information.

Chang, Wong and Fang (2014) discussed that the IT solutions such an information system could rescue the back office procedures from expense as well as data entry errors. By taking advantage of CRM system, the banks are generating improvement in their productivity as well as customer services by 50 percent.

Feasibility study: This study is performed by the bank to analyze whether the project is possible under certain circumstances. An economic feasibility study is done on the research work to analyze if the CRM system will implement underestimated budget (Choudhury and Harrigan 2014). This study is conducted the cost-benefit analysis for the CRM implementation which shows that there should be a benefit in the project with the return of investment of 3.2%.

Josiassen, Assaf and Cvelbar (2014) stated that CRM system is important for Macquarie Group as it improves the profits throughout longer-term relationships with the customers. The banking group invested in information technology to assist of better management of interactions with the customers. Fagerstrom, Aksnes and Arntzen (2016) argued that the customers are aware of similar products into the market and due to access of that information from the internet, it can quickly know about a review of the products into the market.  

Improved productivity: CRM enables the financial institutions to provide the employees with better training which help them to face their customer’s queries. It achieves of better IT infrastructure and contributes to the overall performance of Macquarie Group. The byproducts of the banking CRM are an acquisition, customer satisfaction and productivity (Eichorn 2017). CRM helps to enhance the productivity of the customers and employees.

An increase of the share of wallet: CRM is becoming more important for the bank as the conditions of a market are getting harder. There is an increase in a competition, as the customers are demanding more and there is a shortening of a life cycle of products as well as services. Banking CRM is permitted of the financial institutions to leverage the information from the database to achieve the customer retention and sale of new products to the existing customers (Bukhari and Kazi 2016). Macquarie Group implements CRM to make better relationships with the customers, loyal customers and substantial payback, increase revenue and reduction of cost.

Consolidation of customer information: The information of customers is stored into product-centric silos such as the separate database to savings accounts and credit card customers with the use of CRM system to store information into customer-centric manner (Dalir et al. 2017). CRM is integrated of different channels to deliver the host of services to the customers while aiding the functions of a bank.

Outsourcing Options and Challenges

Removal of operational efficiency: CRM helps into the formulation of a strategy for eliminating the operational inefficiencies. CRM supports of various channels to interact the customers such as telephone, email, wireless devices and fax, ATM and face-to-face contacts with the personnel of bank (Techakriengkrai, Techatassanasoontorn and Tan 2015).

Figure 1: CRM model for retail bank

(Source: Dalir et al. 2017, pp-18)

Gibson, Wallace and Sturgill (2015) stated that system analysis phase is a key significant component of the CRM implementation. The objective of this research study is to implement of CRM system into Macquarie Group. Complete system analysis is done for the current implementation to identify and overcome with a type of system deficiencies. The researcher does a complete analysis of the design of business modules, structure of a database in addition to user interfaces. A successful CRM implementation requires accessing the data which are required to streamline towards customer interaction (Williams and Buttle 2014). At first, the researcher does an in-depth analysis of the business processes of Macquarie Group across all their internal and external functions. It is required to gather input from the functional groups, and then conduct of extensive workshops to understand the requirements. There is an analysis of the customer base along with behavioural patterns are done to improve the business decisions (de Salas et al. 2017). The researcher analyzes the business requirements and suggests some strategy to fulfil the needs of the client to better integrate of the business process related to banking and finance. The CRM team matches the expectations with the functionalities of product to provide with higher customization operational in addition to reporting regulations.

System design of CRM system consists of an actual design of CRM system works. It includes details of the system such as customer field names, types of data, picklist values. It also includes workflow rules, maps for data migration (Khosravi 2016). Design of the CRM system consists of three categories such as:

Collaborative: All the communications among the sales team and customers are being recorded and processed into the collaborative section of CRM software. There should be any medium of communication such as by telephone, by email and in person (Reid and Catterall 2015). Then the system can determine the like, dislike, buying patter, behaviors of the customer.

 Analytical: It results in selling to the customer based on their buying habits from the history and imparting of information relevant to the customer base segments. It also analyzes the changes in the market demand and changes into customer’s demand (Abubakar, Sahadev and Rashid 2014). The gathered data are analyzed using graphs and diagrams.

Importance of CRM System for Macquarie Group

Operational: It deals with the automation of business processes of Macquarie Group includes of customer service, industry trends, information related to customer account and data on the competitors (Eichorn 2017). The data are gathered, and it is stored in the database system of the organization. Detailed information about the customers is stored into the CRM system.  

The current business process of Macquarie Group is manual which uses traditional CRM to improve their customer’s interactions process. Therefore, the management of the organization proposes to implement a CRM system into the banking sector to develop their organizational productivity (Akgun et al. 2014). The system is developed for gathering the customer data, warehouse the data and delivery for easy to use the data. CRM system collects customer’s data and uses to develop strategies for increasing the organization’s revenue. The system will collect customer’s data from various sources such as manual entities, social media and other communication modes. Automated data aggregation stores the data into the repository so that the system users can access the data (Wynn et al. 2016). Finally, CRM system takes the data and available it on customer’s demand. The system is customized and developed based on customer’s support and sales.

Steps to test the CRM system are as follows:

1. Check of the quality of data and conversion
2. Check the system’s functionality
3. Check for reporting and system integration testing for date format, validation of data and sorting order (Jeston, J. and Nelis 2014).
4. User acceptance testing is done such as updating of document’s requirements based on customer’s requirements; test the implementation of a system and functional correctness.
5. Functional testing for access hidden data, transactional processes and connection lost (Peppard, J. and Ward 2016).
6. Performance testing on load speed, peaks hours, utilization of server and response time
7. Security testing ensures secure of confidential data

Following are some of the steps for implementation of CRM system into the business operations of Macquarie Group:

CRM review and selection: Before the implementation of CRM system into the financial operations, the project manager should review the features of the system which should easy to access (Khodakarami and Chan 2014).  

Project management: A proper project management and communication plan is followed to keep the participants informed of the responsibilities and step into the implementation of the proposed system (Wynn et al. 2016).

Contract with vendor and software license: The implementation of CRM system is supported by contract and license which result in minimization of project cost and prevent from delay into the project (Bukhari and Kazi 2016).  

Customization of CRM system: The CRM system requires setting up and preparing before the organization implements the system. Development work should be done which customized the system.

Data migration: Macquarie Group desires to transfer from their manual process to automated process; therefore they are focused on migration strategies to transfer the information from one system to another (Williams and Buttle 2014). Vendor requires a close partnership with the banking organization to understand the groups those are responsible for data migration.

Current Banking Operations of Macquarie Group

Training and support: CRM software offers training to the staffs to handle the implementation work (Chang et al. 2014). Technical training is required to be provided to the staffs so that they can able to handle the implementation of CRM system properly and effectively.

Following are the post-implementation activities for CRM system into Macquarie Group:

1. After the implementation of CRM system into the banking organization, the management team should make sure that the CRM solutions will support the customer’s requirements.
2. Review if the CRM system secures the data with system backup and business continuity program (Josiassen, Assaf and Cvelbar 2014).

• There is an establishment of metrics with baseline, generation of ROT as well as productivity reports on regular basis. It will analyze if the system is working or not work based on client’s expectations.

1. Getting feedback from the CRM stakeholders and collection of feedback data. Suggestion and recommendations are prioritized based on organizational requirements (Carretta, Fiordelisi and Schwizer 2017).
2. Proper training is provided to the staffs those have less knowledge to handle CRM system. It includes a communication plan to interact among the executives and staffs. Training is a recurring program which is initiated with an upgrade of CRM system.
3. Maintenance of good relationships with CRM manufacturer and solution provider to make new advancements in the future (Williams and Buttle 2014).

• Monitor the customer’s data to enhance organizational productivity and profitability

Project management: The project manager reviews the internal processes of Macquarie Group and analyzes the requirement to implement of CRM system. A CRM team is created in the organization to manage the project activities. A sponsor is selected for the project to collect fund and drive the project. Cost-benefit analysis is done to determine if the project work will be benefited or not (Fleming and Koppelman 2016). Return on investment is calculated for this purpose. A timeline is done to estimate the total duration to complete the project. Training is provided to the staffs to handle the new CRM system properly.

Risk management: Lack of understanding of the business process leads to failure of CRM. Therefore, a clear CRM strategy is required to understand the business model of Macquarie Group. Sometimes, there is insecure hardware as well as network platform will be a challenge for CRM implementation. SaaS solutions will mitigate the risk, and the functions are outsourced to the hosting provider. Choosing of wrong CRM provider will end with the failure of implementation of CRM system (Carretta, Fiordelisi and Schwizer 2017). The CRM provider may have lack of expertise and are not able to understand the business model. Right CRM provider is required to be selected for implementation program.

Change management: There is a change in stakeholder’s mind at any point within the project work. The CRM stakeholders can provide new ideas related to CRM implementation. Therefore it may change some of the procedures of implementation. Therefore, before starting to work on the project, the project manager should ensure that the stakeholder should ensure that project aim and objectives. When new regulations are introduced into the business organization, there may be scope change. Therefore, it should be ensured that the business will remain compliant and they are legally permitted for trading.

Conclusion

It is concluded that CRM helps Macquarie Group to identify and retain the profitable customer relationships. The banks are used of technology for developing types of products and services. CRM system allows the bank for performing of segmentation analysis of customer base for the purpose to understand demographics and behaviour. Implementation of CRM provides proactive banks to access of technology which help in improving customer retention by customer feedback to offer conveniences such as ATM along with online banking. CRM adds of unique business value to the banking sector, and the result is increased into bank’s profitability and productivity. The entire success as well as a failure of Macquarie Group is based on customer’s acquisition as well as retention. Technology becomes a key significant requirement of CRM. This particular study is revealed an important stage in CRM to apply lessons learnt from the customer’s information to increase bank’s productivity and behavior of customer relationships. The relationship model identified in this particular study highlights the strategic decisions towards relationship building. On a line of this study, suggestions are provided to improve customer relationship of a selected bank by enhancement of service quality and service delivery.

Cost Benefit Analysis of Implementing CRM System

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