An integrated framework of change management for social CRM implementation

Abstract

Social Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a new paradigm in e-business environment that enables businesses to collaboratively manage customer expectations via social technologies. It combines the capabilities of social media with traditional CRM software in order that businesses better engage their customers. Implementation of social CRM systems continues to drive changes in organizations; however, the implementation attempts often lead to failure, partially due to the lack of readiness to change or resistance toward change. This study aims at developing a framework to determine change management requirements for successful implementation of social CRM in the organizations. To this end, a comprehensive literature review is done and semi-structured interviews are conducted to develop the initial framework. Best–Worst Method is applied to calculate the weights of each change requirement. Finally, the stage of change management process to which each of the identified sub-factors is related are determined. The proposed framework contains requirements such as ‘content of change’, ‘context of change’, ‘individual’, and ‘process’; for each, a set of sub-factors is defined. It suggests the change management requirements of social CRM implementation based on the sequential stages of Lewin’s model. The proposed framework is presented as a guideline for successful implementation of social CRM.