Customer Relationship Management Objectives Research Articles

LINKING SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT PRACTICES TO CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT OBJECTIVES: A PROPOSED FRAMEWORK

This research proposes a framework linking supply chain management (SCM) practices to customer relationship management (CRM) objectives through better organizational performance. First, critical review was conducted to identify the relationship between SCM practices and organizational performance. Then, a systematic review of published research work on CRM objectives for last two decades was conducted with the purpose of identifying key variables for CRM objectives and their impact on SCM practices through managing organizational performance. The review revealed a set of main variables for CRM objectives (customer satisfaction and customer loyalty). Upon which, a theoretical framework has been developed linking SCM practices to CRM objectives through enhancing organizational performance. This work brings together the concepts of SCM practices and organizational performance. It also provides a comprehensive review on CRM objectives over a time span (2000–2019) in order to develop the framework between SCM practices and CRM objectives through better organizational performance. The proposed framework can help practitioners to understand SCM practices that can lead to better CRM and hence better organizational performance.

Generating Marketing Outcomes through Internet of Things (IoT) Technologies

This paper highlights the effectiveness of data stored from the operational use of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies for generating marketing-related outcomes, such as business intelligence for product development, product support, and customer relationship management (CRM), by exploring this research domain under the lens of the well-established means–ends theory. This study conducted a multidisciplinary literature review to develop the conceptual framework. Moreover, a smart refrigerator was chosen as an example to demonstrate how the analysis of data stored from the operational use of IoT devices can help generate marketing outcomes such as new product development, customer support, and CRM. The study articulates that IoT technology helps in furthering the objectives of CRM along with other strategies of business growth and success. Using a practical example backed by a sound theoretical framework, this study will not only help practitioners to empirically test this significant yet under-explored topic but will also help elucidate that, by embedding IoT devices in their products, business managers can ensure business longevity. Furthermore, it explains how the IoT can provide support to improve communication ties between the product manufacturer and consumer through product support and CRM strategies.

CUSTOMER PROFILING AND SEGMENTATION IN RETAIL BANKS USING DATA MINING TECHNIQUES

The objective of achieving profitability is one of the main targets of any banking sector for longer sustainable existence. The customer satisfaction index determines the longevity in relation of customer-bank and thereby provides the idea of devising new policies and strategies for healthy connection of customers with the bank. Offering the services and products to the customer based on his choice and needs requires understanding the customer. The customer data available in the bank can provide the deep insights to the bank for designing the customized service and products. Deriving useful information from customer data using data mining techniques is of paramount importance in these days. Leveraging existing granular customer data can help banks gain deep actionable customer insights useful to understand the customers and to reveal and unlock opportunities for increasing profitability .customer segmentation and profiling are vital in achieving two main objectives of CRM(Customer Relationship Management)i.e.; customer retention and customer development. The main aims of customer profiling and segmentation include expanding customer base, design of tailor made products, micro targeting of sales, aligning right channels for right products, increasing effectiveness of cross selling and up-selling, enhanced customer experience by focused customer relationship, prioritizing relationship with high value customers, effectively managing cost with low value customers based on the profiling and segmentation of customers. In this paper we are using data mining techniques i.e. Naive Bayes classification algorithm for customer profiling and BIRCH clustering algorithm for customer segmentation

Success factors in a CRM strategy: technology is not all

Organisations today need to create, maintain and reinforce relationships with customers. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) seems to have helped firms to better understand their relationships. However, past studies have looked at technology and customer orientations (COs) as key factors. This paper aims to analyse the simultaneous effect of Market Orientation (MO) (rather than CO), Knowledge Management (KM) and other organisational factors in order to explain how to implement a successful CRM. Findings suggest that MO and KM may influence CRM success. Data also suggest that particular organisational factors such as employees, leadership and specific know-how may be key factors in determining the success of CRM. For efficiency resource management, this paper recommends to focus not as much in technology, but on programmes for selection, training and motivation of employees which may enhance CRM objectives. Companies may also pursue a higher customer value by putting in place and reinforcing KM schemes in specific know-hows about CRM.

CRM in the digital age: implementation of CRM in three contemporary B2B firms

Purpose – The purpose of this study was to contribute to the current discussion on digitization in companies’ marketing from a customer relationship management (CRM) perspective by examining the role and objectives of CRM and the exploitation of social media to serve the objectives of CRM in contemporary business-to-business (B2B) companies. Design/methodology/approach – The data are collected through semi-structured themed interviews with key marketing/sales managers from three B2B firms. Findings – CRM seems to be moving closer to the company’s core activity and becoming everybody’s business to a greater extent than ever before, but its main goal, to enhance customer relationships, will not necessarily change. Understanding the customer is vital and requires different functions to cooperate closely to ensure the firm has the best possible understanding of its customers. Public social media tools played almost no part in CRM, but closed social media systems might have potential in the future. Research limitations/implications – The chosen research approach limits the generalization of the results. Practical implications – It seems likely that firms will benefit from a collaborative working style over the traditional silo approaches. For B2B firms, public social media does not seems to be the most suitable source to serve CRM but private social media channels might have potential in the future. Originality/value – The lack of empirical examination of the change from company ecosystem to customer ecosystem from a CRM perspective, and the lack of research on social media for CRM in the B2B context, determines the purpose of this study. Furthermore, digitization is a rather new and unstructured phenomenon and many companies are still considering how to reconcile to it.

What customer information should companies use for customer relationship management? Practical insights from empirical research

For the past decade, customer relationship management (CRM) has been one of the priorities in marketing research and practice. Hence, many companies have invested heavily in CRM systems that, unfortunately, did not meet their expectations. Because such shortcomings may have resulted from unrealistic expectations as well as inappropriate data input, this study provides insights into what companies may expect from CRM and what data they should use. Across the phases of the CRM process, the authors show which CRM objectives have been considered and which customer data have proven to be applicable in the empirical CRM literature. The results indicate that despite differences with respect to influence, a variety of customer data can be used to analyze CRM objectives throughout the entire customer life cycle. Overall, the study provides researchers with a comprehensive review of the empirical research on CRM and offers practitioners insights on the scope of CRM analyses and the applicability of customer data for CRM.

Left Behind Expectations - How to Prevent CRM Implementations from Failing

Abstract This article discusses performance drivers of CRM projects and is particularly relevant for managers seeking to optimize their companies CRM efforts. Despite the billions of dollars that have been spent on the implementation of customer relationship management (CRM) systems, many of the adopting companies are unhappy with the results. This can be due to two reasons: first, either the CRM projects are poorly implemented and thus do not perform accordingly, or, second, companies expect too much from CRM systems. This research examines how technological and organizational implementations as well as internal support affect the objectives of CRM with regard to initiating, maintaining, and retaining customer relationships. The results indicate that internal support is an important factor for the performance of CRM implementation. Further, it helps to have a clear focus for a CRM system to specifically address diverse functions such as the acquisition, maintenance, and retention of customers and to tailor implementation effort to the needs of the major functions

The Impact of CRM on Customer Retention in Malaysia

The purpose of this research is study of Customer Relationship Management process in customer retention in Malaysia. I describe the objectives of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in customer retention which is very important for the survival of companies in today competitive environment. Satisfying customers and surviving in today's fast moving marketplaces requires: a brain to understand, learn, and analyze customers; a heart to pump and flow out the customer oriented blood throughout the organizational arteries; and hands and feet to deliver the services to the customers. The customer is the one who pays the bills, is the source of revenue, and is the reason for being. The critical role the customer plays is so vital, an entire management philosophy and software category was born - customer relationship management (CRM) - based on the recognition of the value of a customer.

Customer relationship management in retailing: A content analysis of retail trade journals

The purpose of this research was to increase knowledge and understanding of how retailers use business intelligence and data mining tools to implement customer relationship management (CRM) in retailing. Specific objectives were to (1) identify organization and infrastructure requirements for CRM effectiveness, (2) identify CRM objectives and goals of retail companies, (3) identify data mining tools utilized by retailers to perform CRM functions, and (4) identify CRM strategies used by retail companies. A keyword search within business databases using CRM and CRM identified publications with CRM content. Content analysis was used on articles ( N=149) drawn from Stores, Chain Store Age, Harvard Business Review, and Retail Forward over a 5 year period (2000–2005). Selected articles were stored as text files in QDA Miner, a computerized qualitative analysis tool. Key organization/infrastructure needs emerged focusing on data structure, organizational systems, technology structure, and data accessibility. Retailers goals/objectives and strategies focused on marketing, customer service, understanding customers through data analysis and increasing acquisition and retention through customer loyalty programs. Data mining tools identified supported marketing and customer analysis efforts. Findings provide insight into the challenges retailers face as they implement a more customer-centric business strategy.

The role of attitudinal loyalty in the development of customer relationship management strategy within service firms

To facilitate the management of customer relationships, software manufacturers have developed customer relationship management (CRM) systems. These are enterprise-wide applications that can provide a single view of any customer's interactions with the company by tracking communications from both sides, recording purchases and thus developing an understanding of each customer's preferences. The need to generate behavioural loyalty has been identified as one of the major drivers for implementing CRM systems. There is relatively little research on attitudinal loyalty and CRM, however, with the bulk of the research conducted so far being focused on behavioural loyalty. The emphasis on behavioural loyalty has led to CRM being used to develop behavioural loyalty strategies. Generally speaking these strategies involve creating loyalty programmes, where incentives are offered to generate repeat purchase, or to sell more of the organisation's products and services to existing customers. The purpose of this research is to investigate the objectives and strategies of CRM in the finance industry and to compare these with the CRM objectives and strategies found in other service industries. The authors investigate to what degree the development of attitudinal loyalty is a factor in the creation of CRM strategy. This study is a qualitative study made up of 25 one-hour interviews with marketing and CRM managers. These 25 interviews consist of 11 interviews from the finance industry and 14 interviews from other industries as comparators. The results will be presented and contributions, limitations and suggestions for further research discussed.

Modelling and analysis of e-mail management for improved customer relationship management

Customer contact centres represent a growing industry in which Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications have been developed and used successfully. Customer call centres, a multi-billion dollar industry, are evolving into customer contact centres, which now include channels of communication other than the telephone. E-mail, a popular alternative to the telephone for all types of communication, is becoming a common medium for customer contact. CRM applications currently exist that allow us to implement and monitor e-mail management strategies. For example, incoming e-mail can be automatically routed to specific customer service agents according to predefined routing rules. The routing mechanisms available in the software tools are heuristic, and not based upon any scientific analysis of the performance of different routing policy alternatives. The objective of this paper is to study the impact of routing strategies and prioritisation of incoming e-mail messages on CRM objectives of an organisation. We create a model representative of and consistent with e-mail response centres in industry. The process modelled was corroborated by a domain expert. A comprehensive simulation study is conducted to analyse different routing policies and prioritisation options. The results of the simulation study indicate that specific routing strategies and the use of specific priority schemes by the e-mail agent can result in a significant improvement in the response centre's performance, as indicated by average response times and average resolution times of different categories of e-mail messages. Although call centre operations have been studied extensively, this study shows that performance of contact centres needs further investigation because of the greater flexibility that exists in the assignment and scheduling of e-mail processing tasks.

An Examination of Primary Stakeholders' Opinions in CRM: Convergence and Divergence?

The research described in this article attempts to understand the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) interest groups in the context of Stakeholder Theory. It aims to profile current CRM practices and factors that impact on success from the perspectives of users, i.e. firms deploying CRM, consultants and software vendors offering CRM solutions. The findings from 719 responses to an online survey suggest that users', consultants' and suppliers' views do not converge on issues related to CRM objectives, perceived success, causes of failure, effectiveness of CRM tasks and evaluation. The results of this study provide a platform for future research.