Customer Relationship Management

customer relationship management

veryard projects > business relationship management > customer relationship management

we offer

four elements of crm

issues

consultancy

management briefings and technical education

independent advice on tools and methods

material??

History of interactions with customer.

purpose??

Know your customer, serve and exploit your customer better.

form??

Database

---

Call centre

process??

Behaviour monitoring, pattern-matching

From CRM to SPRM If you are managing the relationship with the customer, do you not expect the customer to manage the relationship with you?

Simplification CRM systems often refuse to acknowledge (and try to flatten) the rich and complex signals received from or about customers.

CRM as customer surveillance - fosters the illusion that the database contains the Whole Truth about customers.

Customer identity New ways of identifying customers - individuals instead of large corporations, individuals as members of friendship circles, and so on. Implications for IT, especially data management.

Pitfalls of Tactical CRM

Customer Identity

veryard projects > customer relationship management > identity

In customer relationship management, considerable effort is devoted to establishing a stable identity for customers – sometimes against the wishes or interests of the customers themselves. As a private customer, I don’t necessarily want a supermarket to record and analyse details of my purchases, and I may only be persuaded to grant access to my identity in return for a discount scheme implemented using a so-called loyalty card. As a car driver, I may want to obtain and compare several different and independent quotes for car insurance – and this need may be frustrated if the insurance industry recognizes me as the same again. Meanwhile, the insurance industry very much does want to recognize me as the same again, because it sees the tactic of hidden identity as a cover for fraud.

Different views on the customer

In a commercial organization, different departments may have different notions as to the identity of the customer. (For example, does a grocer sell a breakfast cereal to children or to their parents? Does an oil company sell petrol to motorists, or to petrol stations? Among other things, how you answer this question affects the number of customers you think you have.)

Customer Identity - Business View versus Data View

Tactical CRM - the Pitfalls

veryard projects > customer relationship management > pitfalls

	CRM as a sales tool. "I see you bought this, would you like this - NO GO AWAY."
	CRM fails to hide the organizational mess that hides behind the call centre.
	Anything not in their script they are unable to handle.
	Call centre rarely seems "empowered". Staff bear the brunt of complaints they can do nothing about.
	Large companies and virtual enterprises have multiple unconnected call centres. (Only adds to the problem rather than solving it.)
	CRM as customer surveillance - fosters the illusion that the database contains the Whole Truth about customers
	Thus instead of promoting better relationships with the customer, CRM becomes a bureaucratic obsession with the content of the customer database.

with thanks to Lawrence Wilkes.

CRM - Internet Links

veryard projects > customer relationship management > links

Managing Change - a rich source of material on Customer Relationship Management: Mass Customization, Call Centres, and other related topics

veryard projects > customer relationship management