Definition of Knowledge Management

There are several different, and sometimes quite confusing statements that
claim to be a definition of Knowledge Management' and there are different
perspectives on what Knowledge Management is. For example:

▪ KM is about systems and technologies

▪ KM is about people and learning organisations

▪ KM is about processes, methods and techniques

▪ KM is about managing knowledge assets

▪ KM is a holistic initiative across the entire organisation

▪ KM is not a discipline, as such, and should be an integral part of every

knowledge workers daily responsibilities

What is most important, is for you to have your own definition of Knowledge
Management; what KM is to you and your organisation. What is even more
important is that you and your colleagues have a 'common shared
understanding' of what KM means for you all.

"Knowledge Management is the discipline of

enabling individuals, teams and entire
organisations to collectively and systematically
create, share and apply knowledge, to better
achieve their objectives.
1. Strategize

Senior agency managers and chief knowledge officers should conduct a methodical review and knowledge audit to
see where they want to go with knowledge management, knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer.

Developing a comprehensive strategy for knowledge management was the first task Susan Camarena tackled as
chief knowledge officer at the Federal Transit Administration, an agency that is part of the Transportation Department.

2. Capture Expertise

At FTA, Camarena instituted the concept of templates to collect information about employee expertise using Microsoft
SharePoint’s collaborative platform. Additionally, Camarena introduced the idea of an after-action review, which she
learned while in the Army. It is a review of an activity, conference, important document or other event to determine
what occurred and what steps can be taken to improve the activity or task. FTA employees are seeing the benefits of
taking an introspective look at their activiti

3. Go Public

Agencies interacting with the public shouldn’t assume that if they put information on a Web page, people will find it
naturally. “You got to think about where citizens and businesses are interacting on the Internet and push data to
those different locations,” said David McClure, associate administrator of the General Services Administration's Office
of Citizen Services and Communications.

People are pulling information from lots of sources, such as Web sites, blogs, Facebook communities and YouTube,
so agencies need to understand how and where people are interacting with government, McClure said.

4. Learn Social Media

Agencies need to understand how social organizations are being created in the Web environment, McClure said.
Who are they? What are they doing? What are they interested in? How do they intersect with agency programs and
responsibilities?

“You have to understand that community to understand where and how to communicate and extract data from them.
It’s a very different ballgame from what we had in the past,” McClure said. “We’re allowing citizens to really interact
with us much more dynamically and in real time.”

5. Know Your Mining Tools

Data warehouse tools and dashboards are a foundational part of knowledge management. Agencies have used
repositories and dashboards to respond to crises and publish alerts as they occur, McClure said.

The next step is a knowledge repository that gives agencies a more informed view of what is happening in terms of
service delivery and customer satisfaction. That requires moving toward predictive modeling, he said.

Enterprise search also will be an important technology if agencies want to capitalize on knowledge management
analytics derived from the information mining, McClure said

6. Collect Knowledge

Although federal knowledge management has matured, agency executives still need to be educated about it, Barquin
said. There also has to be more outreach so that agencies can learn from one another. The Federal KM Working
Group site has been revitalized to address that need, and Web 2.0 ventures such as GovLoop also have contributed,
he said.
Relationship Marketing
The main difference between RM and CRM is that the first does not
acknowledge the use of technology, where the latter uses Information
Technology (IT) in implementing RM strategies.[3]

Relationship marketing is not about having a "buddy-buddy"

relationship with your customers.  Customers do not want that. 
Relationship Marketing uses the event-driven tactics of customer
retention marketing, but treats marketing as a process over
timerather than single unconnected events.  By molding the
marketing message and tactics to the LifeCycle of the customer,
the Relationship Marketing approach achieves very high customer
satisfaction and is highly profitable.

The relationship marketing process is usually defined as a series

of stages, and there are many different names given to these
stages, depending on the marketing perspective and the type of
business.  For example, working from the relationship beginning
to the end:

Interaction > Communication > Valuation > Termination

Awareness > Comparison > Transaction > Reinforcement > Advocacy

Suspect > Prospect > Customer > Partner > Advocate > Former Customer

Using the relationship marketing approach, you customize

programs for individual consumer groups and the stage of the
process they are going through as opposed to some forms of
database marketing where everybody would get virtually the
same promotions, with perhaps a change in offer.  The stage in
the customer LifeCycle determines the marketing approach used
with the customer.  

A simple example of this would be sending new customers a

"Welcome Kit," which might have an incentive to make a second
purchase.  If 60 days pass and the customer has not made a
second purchase, you would follow up with an e-mailed discount. 
You are using customer behavior over time (the customer
LifeCycle) totrigger the marketing approach

Benefits of relationship marketing

1. Loyal customers will recommend your business to others, thus expanding your
business for you.
2. Loyal customers are willing to try some of your new products, because they
trust you.
3. Customers will be willing to pay more for your services/products if there are
adjustments in pricing because they are loyal to you and trust your
services/products.
4. Loyal customers will tell you about problems with your products/services
enabling to improve your products/services.
5. The ultimate benefit will be an increase sales, market share and dominance.
 5 Steps to Relationship Marketing Success!

1. Change your Perspective from "Here’s what I do" to "What do you need?"
The cornerstone of successful relationships is to discover precisely what your clients
need and want.

Your clients say they need a Website. But what they mean is they need to increase
sales revenue. You can develop the right kind of site to do that, but only if you
understand your client’s basic needs. You find those out by asking questions: lots and
lots of questions!

2. Recognize your Vulnerability

In the midst of a project, you might be in touch with your client several times a week.
But it’s the time between projects that is crucial to relationship-building. Once the work
is done, you drop out of that enviable top-of-mind awareness position. Over time, your
client isn’t as likely to think of you as their first port of call for a solution to their
problem. This is when you’re most vulnerable to replacement by a competitor.

3. Keep in touch
It’s such a simple concept, but keeping in touch often sinks to the bottom of the ‘to do’
list. The single easiest way to keep in touch is to publish an email newsletter. Ask
clients to subscribe and insert a subscription box on your site to capture email
addresses of prospects who like the look of what you’re doing.

The secret to a good newsletter is to avoid blatant self-promotion, and instead offer
valuable information to your subscribers. With their permission, you have the
opportunity to drop into their email boxes every month with news, tips, case-studies,
FAQs, and other relevant info that subtly promotes your services, reinforces your
brand, educates your clients, and builds trust.

4. Position Yourself as an Expert

So many Web designer sites are elegant portfolios, and while they look great, they
don’t say anything.

Words matter. Prospective clients are looking for more than thumbnail images of sites
you’ve built. Your job is to tell them how you can meet their needs. Your Website is the
perfect place to start, but the focus must be on the client, not on you.

Include white papers on design issues, special reports, case-studies, and links to other
resources that will educate your clients on the inner workings of design. Be careful to
avoid jargon, overly technical concepts and acronyms. If you’re publishing an email
newsletter, use it to introduce this new content and bring subscribers back to your site.
When you are perceived as an expert, you become attractive to prospects who use the
Web to research. They see you as someone who has answers to their questions, and
who can help solve their problems. Not only that, the added site content should also
improve your search engine rankings.

5. Grow to Meet Client Needs

Websites are hardly stand-alone entities that need an occasional tweak. For most
businesses, they’re but one tool amidst many that are used to build brand, inease
revenues or minimize costs. And by offering more tools that help your clients reach
their goals, you become more valuable. Build affiliations or strategic relationships with
copywriters, photographers, search engine marketers, and other specialists whose
talents will benefit your clients.

Top 10 Factors for CRM Implementation

Failure
1. Customer-centric strategy (measuring customer satisfaction, customer 
attrition, voice of the customer programs, etc.) 

2. Training/coaching of front line people. 

3. Setting measurable goals. 

4. Change management. 

CRM Strategy Errors

The right leadership is not in place

A business leader needs to be in charge of the CRM effort, not IT. Successful
CRM is a major business initiative, not a technology initiative.

CRM Strategy not clear

Your CRM strategy and vision need to define what customers experience at each
touchpoint, and how will they be handled at each touchpoint. The vision needs
to be clear to everyone. A major pitfall occurs when your business constituents
have differing expectations of CRM's benefits. Sharing a common vision is key.
The CRM strategy is different from the business strategy
CRM is sometimes seen as a lower level automation step or patch, rather than a
top level re-thinking of how customers are served. Your CRM strategy and
business strategy need complete alignment.

Processes not re-designed

CRM is an expensive way to automate inefficient or ineffective processes.

Companies get better results from CRM when they begin by focusing on sales
processes: how do customers need to be approached, convinced, served and
satisfied? Only when these questions are answered should steps be taken to
plan software or process changes.

By managing and measuring the sales processes (‘opportunity management?

and "sales method?in CRM terms) it is possible to take full advantage of CRM's
potential. The steps taken should include:

 Defining and developing new market segments

 Increasing the ability to:
 Cross-sell
 Up-sell
 Retain
 Acquire
 Reactivate
 Experience (Enhancement through better customer interaction
strategies)

Customers not consulted

What do your customers think of your company before, during, and after the
CRM implementation? What are they happy with, and what are their
complaints? How are other suppliers serving them in ways that they like? Too
often, surprisingly enough, the "C" in "CRM" is not consulted in all phases of the
initiative.

Implementation Errors

Inability to link channels

Have you considered ALL customer touchpoints and processes? CRM projects
often have focused on some parts of the customer experience, but ran into
trouble when they were unable to link with or serve well all parts of the
customer experience
People errors

Introducing CRM to hundreds of employees at a time

It's easy to want to do too much, too fast. Get it right first with a small team of
employees chosen to represent a cross-section of your company. Choose an
initial project that can make a dramatic difference, with clear key performance
indicators. Strong pilot results will help you avoid the next pitfall:

Changing the system, but not the people

It's easy to focus too much on the new technologies and processes rather than
focusing first on the people who will use them successfully. You need employee
excitement about doing a better job for customers. You need employee
feedback and overall buy-in. The entire company needs to own "customer-first."
They need to see that the CRM vision you all hold takes them to a better place
than where they are now.

Customer Management Errors

Customers do not experience new benefits

The ultimate test is to be able to demonstrate increased satisfaction among
customers, along with increased customer value to your business. This goal can
inform every choice you make during planning and implementation. But just like
the adage "watch the ball" in sports, it's a fundamental often overlooked.

RM projects fail for a variety of reasons. In the North American market, a

recent study estimates that over half of all CRM implementations fail to
meet their objectives. In the European market, the corresponding
statistic is a horrific seventy to eighty percent. Study the top factors for
failure in order to avoid them.

Not defining clear objectives for the software implementation is a

commonly cited contributing factor associated with failed
implementations. A successful project is one that attains its objectives,
but it is amazing how many business entities undertake a CRM solution
with vague, unidentified, immeasurable goals.

Not attaching measurements to your objectives is a similar contributing

factor. Labeling a project unsuccessful requires some degree of
measurement, and if a company does not calculate pre-implementation
assessments of critical objectives, it becomes impossible to pinpoint the
issues responsible for either success or failure. While it may be a
generally accepted fact that a project is not successful, unless the
business can identify where and why, it is doomed to repeated failures.

A failure to review and define the key performance indicators for the
company is the reason many a project descend into disaster. Evident, but
an amazing number of implementations do not define clear metrics.
Unclear metrics or poor metric quality is an often overlooked factor in the
dividing line judging a system implementation’s failure or success.

Over-customization of the software particularly during an early

implementation phase can spell the demise of a project. While lack of
defined business objectives is a sin of crucial importance, going to the
other extreme, is perhaps the second most common reason Client
Relationship Management solutions are not utilized by users. Do not
attempt to implement every feature inherent in the software. This tactic
guarantees failure. An equally common reason for failure is planning to
customize the selected solution before utilizing it in a test environment.
Even identified, possible holes in software functionality can often be
worked around, thus avoiding customization.

Not incenting your employees to use the system contribution to user

adoption challenges. Possibly the most important single quantitative
gauge of success is the user adoption rate. If only the self-motivated
utilize the system, it is not successful.  Use a combination of rewards and
procedures to spur users’ buy-in, and recognize that this is necessary for
all personnel, including executives.

Insufficient training and support delivered during key periods can berry a
project. User adoption rates drop off for a number of reasons, but two
rank high on the list - lack of training and support prior to and post
implementation. Sometimes this occurs not because the training and
support are absent, but because it is not provided in the appropriate
format.  A remote sales force, for example, may not be able to rely on in-
house personnel for remote support.

Another reason for poor user buy-in is incorrect, incomplete or bogus

data. Marketing cannot direct concerted successful campaigns if prospect
information is inaccurate. The same holds true for both the Sales and
Service divisions, and, indeed, in these lines of business, erroneous
records can bring operations to a complete halt, ensuring dismal failure.
Failure to align the business operations of the divisions utilizing the
system virtually guarantees the project’s outcome. CRM solutions
generally involve three often disparate departments with separate
processes, cultures, and aims. Numerical targets exist for each division
and these can be contradictory. Unless these areas are aligned
harmoniously prior to the project’s initiation, failure is likely.

Not only must operations be aligned across sectors, but they must share
consistent processes where those processes interact with the customer.
Each salesperson must perform the same process to take a lead to client
in the same manner. Consistent, aligned processes cannot be translated
into system workflow unless they are documented and understood.
Undocumented business practices are unreliable and leave large margins
for inefficiency and breakdown.

Not planning for change and delineating a specific method of handling

each out-of-scope incident can doom a project. Besides user adoption
rates, two other important gauges of a successful CRM implementation
are budget and cost overruns. Both of these are simple, quantitative
evaluations easily measured by objective analysis. If a project was
supposed to be completed within six months, but actually took in excess
of a year, users will view it as unsuccessful and become reluctant to
associate with the project. Project duration estimates are exceeded for
numerous reasons; inadequate resources, timely unavailability of
resources, the changing global marketplace, and many others. Exceeding
the budgeted dollar figure for installing and using a CRM system is a
result of many factors, but the primary culprit is creeping project scope.

Types of CRM are:

Analytical CRM - Analytical customer relationship management

may be defined as a decision support system that is targeted to helping
senior executives, marketing, sales and customer support personnel to
better understand and capitalize upon their customer needs, the company's
interactions with the customer, and the customer buying cycle

Collaborative CRM Collaborative CRM is an approach to customer

relationship management (CRM) in which the various departments of a company,
such as sales, technical support, and marketing, share any information they collect
from interactions with customers. For example, customer feedback gathered from a
technical support session could inform marketing staff about products and services
that might be of interest to the customer. The purpose of collaboration is to improve
the quality of customer service, and, as a result, increase customer satisfaction and
loyalty.

Operational CRM
Operational CRM provides automated support to "front office" business
processes (sales, marketing and service). Each interaction with a
customer is generally added to a customer's history, and staff can
retrieve information on customers from the database as necessary.

eCRM 
This concept is derived from E-commerce. It also uses net environment i.e.,
intranet, extranet and internet. Electronic CRM concerns all forms of
managing relationships with customers making use of Information
Technology (IT). eCRM is enterprises using IT to integrate internal
organization resources and external marketing strategies to understand
and fulfill their customers needs. Comparing with traditionalCRM, the
integrated information for eCRM intraorganizational collaboration can be
more efficient to communicate with customers.[1]
Differences between CRM and eCRM
Major differences between CRM and eCRM:[8]
Customer contacts

 CRM – Contact with customer made through the retail store, phone,
and fax.
 eCRM – All of the traditional methods are used in addition to Internet,
email, wireless, and PDA technologies.
System interface

 CRM – Implements the use of ERP systems, emphasis is on the

back-end.
 eCRM – Geared more toward front end, which interacts with the
back-end through use of ERP systems, data warehouses, and data
marts.
System overhead (client computers)

 CRM – The client must download various applications to view the

web-enabled applications. They would have to be rewritten for different
platform.
 eCRM – Does not have these requirements because the client uses
the browser.
Customization and personalization of information

 CRM – Views differ based on the audience, and personalized views

are not available. Individual personalization requires program changes.
 eCRM – Personalized individual views based on purchase history
and preferences. Individual has ability to customize view.
System focus
 CRM – System (created for internal use) designed based on job
function and products. Web applications designed for a single
department or business unit.
 eCRM – System (created for external use) designed based on
customer needs. Web application designed for enterprise-wide use.
System maintenance and modification

 CRM – More time involved in implementation and maintenance is

more expensive because the system exists at different locations and on
various servers.
 eCRM – Reduction in time and cost. Implementation and
maintenance can take place at one location and on one server

Identifying the Right Outsourcing Partner

This step is pivotal in the outsourcing experience, and decides the

direction that your project will take. Your development partner and you
will be embarking on a business relationship and your partner’s business
practices will have a direct impact on your project. The repercussions of
making the wrong choice at this nascent stage will be severe. Therefore,
the importance of identifying the right outsourcing partner cannot be
emphasized enough

Check Credentials and Track Records

Useful information about the company’s experience, which include the
kind of customers they have catered to and the number of projects they
have handled are important indications of their capability. It will also help
you decide whether the provider is suited to your project. It is also useful
to ask for profiles of the company’s board of directors and their key
people, to have a better idea of the backgrounds and experience of the
people who run the outsourcing service organization
References
The best way to judge the quality of a service is to see if it has measured
up to customer expectations and standards. Asking for references from
previous customers would give you a more objective idea of the
capabilities of your prospective outsourcing solution provider. References
could also address issues like schedule adherence, trustworthiness, and
responsibility, which cannot be judged by work samples, and are best
resolved by previous customers. These are essential checks while looking
for an outsourcing solution

Understanding Business Objectives

Finding an offshore service provider who understands your business
objectives is integral to the smooth execution of your project. You must
have a business strategy that matches your needs with the needs of your
provider in a realistic manner. For example, you might be looking for a
temporary partnership while your provider might be looking for a long
term one. Once your objectives and strategies are understood by your
partner, it becomes easier to communicate standards, targets, changes
and updates on performance.
Ask For Samples
To get a clearer idea of your partner’s abilities, the best way would be to
ask for samples of their previous work. This would help you make a
realistic appraisal of the quality standards and technical expertise of your
provider. If your project does not fall into the parameters of what your
prospective partner offers, it would be wise to ask for a prototype, to
evaluate whether the company understands the demands of your project
and whether they possess the necessary skills to handle it well.
Risk Mitigation
The sheer distance involved in offshoring your project lessens the amount
of control you have on its development, thereby increasing the risk
involved. Check your outsourcing partner’s payment options and see if
they are progress-based. Also check to see if your outsourcing partner
 has provisions to enable periodic checks on the advancement of the
project, so that you are kept aware of the progress in the development of
your project.

Benefits of CRM
The use of a CRM system will confer several advantages to a company:
[citation needed]

 Quality and efficiency

 Decrease in overall costs
 Decision support
 Enterprise agility
 Customer Attention

Advantage of CRM?
By using CRM methodology, an enterprise can:

 Provide better customer service

 Increase customer revenues
 Discover new customers
 Cross sell/Up Sell products more effectively
 Help sales staff close deals faster
 Make call centers more efficient
 Simplify marketing and sales processes

features of the CRM System:

- Automatic processing of calls
- A multi-user environment

- Minimum 10 MB space needed

- Hourly backup

- High security with encrypting protocols of the data files

- Shared communications and calendar

- Contact management

- Email marketing plus reports

- Customization of the knowledge base

- Local network for sharing of documents etc.

- Tracking of all the information, tasks and support

- The ability of importation of data from other programs like Outlook, Thunderbird,
Act! and more

CRM in the big Manufacturing Sector

What do we think of when we think of the word manufacturing? Huge machinery,
complex processes and factories all engaged in the manufacturing of some product
or the other. True? The answer is yes. But is that all it embodies? Definitely not.
Manufacturing processes involve a whole lot more than merely that. 

Traditionally felt to be an industry that was product centric in nature, it is now slowly
moving towards being customer centric. The reason? It has become imminently
clear that making the customer the heart of the business process is essential.
Relying on their products to increase profitability is no longer the answer. Customer
focus a long forgotten term in the manufacturing industry is now becoming the key
word and the pivotal point in the business process. Manufacturers are fast accepting
the fact that in order to boost sales and increase profits they need to pay more
attention to their customer satisfaction. CRM is the customer strategy that
manufacturers now are choosing as they are finding that consumers require more
and more attention .

Why the necessity to implement CRM? The answer lies in the fact that most
manufacturers are required to compete on several factors. CRM manufacturing
software gives them that extra edge by helping manufacturers identify and target
potential customers. CRM manufacturing software manages to achieve absolute
marketing effectiveness and increased ROI. It's advantage over other strategies is
that they do not capture most customer purchases and provide inaccurate results for
marketing, sales etc. Most other customer strategies do not provide manufacturers
with information on what has been ordered by a customer thus leaving them with a
disadvantage. This leads to an imminent increase in sales. 

From the identification to the ultimate securing of the customer as a lifetime

repurchaser, every aspect of his dealings is monitored and his data is utilized in the
most productive manner thereby contributing to increase in market share. Nuts and
bolts can help success but it's the implementation of CRM that actually drives the
final nail in the wall of profitability.

How does CRM Manufacturing Software help?

It provides the manufacturing industry with a comprehensive 360 degree view of
their customers and customer relations with them. All transactions that have been
entered into will be recorded and the information provided to all concerned
employees. A single holistic view of the customer goes a long way in understanding
him. 

Complexities that normally occur with other software implementations seldom occur
with CRM. Manufacturers find the easy to use, user friendly attributes of CRM
conducive to their success. The upside is that they are able to track the results of
their pricing market promotions and other strategies as well. Over pricing for one can
be avoided. Other benefits include a decrease in distribution costs with an increase
in value. They have a greater control over their customer relationships and are
equipped with better insights into what their customers are really buying. 

Boon to sales? Definitely! The result of implementing manufacturing CRM software

is increased, powerful upselling and cross selling potential. Effective and increased
selling is a natural byproduct. The sales department is benefited as it is enabled to
make its reports with exceeding attention to detail and customer focus. This is
achieved by the customer centricity CRM offers. Manufacturers are enabled to
channel the right products in accordance with customer preferences. This customer
strategy is helping sales dealers to earn commissions far more easily than before. It
also serves vehemently in the reduction of the cost of carrying inventory as well.
Forecasting of sales data can be done more accurately and easily. The accuracy
level is much higher when compared to other customer strategies or even ERP for
instance.

CRM facilitates web functions? It does. Manufacturers availing of the web services
can expect CRM to support them as it encompasses the Web. In addition email
marketing is embodied as well.

CRM Manufacturing Software Benefits are:

 Achieving business stability and success

 Suitability for small and middle-sized manufacturers

 Cost-effectiveness

 Order Management

 Versatile software

 Improving dataflow

 Increase in profit margin

 Optimized use of resources

 Partner Management

 Increase in CRM ROI

  Reducing the business costs

 Customization

 Reducing overhead costs

 Forecasting capabilities

 Aiding upselling and cross selling

 Incentive Management

 Project Tracking

The Drawbacks?
On the pitfall front there is always the danger of increase in costs and the possibility
of failure of the CRM system. In addition manufacturers may not possess the
required resources or time needed to implement CR

Data Mining: What is Data Mining?

Overview
Generally, data mining (sometimes called data or knowledge discovery) is the
process of analyzing data from different perspectives and summarizing it into useful
information - information that can be used to increase revenue, cuts costs, or both.
Data mining software is one of a number of analytical tools for analyzing data. It
allows users to analyze data from many different dimensions or angles, categorize it,
and summarize the relationships identified. Technically, data mining is the process of
finding correlations or patterns among dozens of fields in large relational databases.
Continuous Innovation
Although data mining is a relatively new term, the technology is not. Companies have
used powerful computers to sift through volumes of supermarket scanner data and
analyze market research reports for years. However, continuous innovations in
computer processing power, disk storage, and statistical software are dramatically
increasing the accuracy of analysis while driving down the cost.
Example
For example, one Midwest grocery chain used the data mining capacity
of Oracle software to analyze local buying patterns. They discovered that when men
bought diapers on Thursdays and Saturdays, they also tended to buy beer. Further
analysis showed that these shoppers typically did their weekly grocery shopping on
Saturdays. On Thursdays, however, they only bought a few items. The retailer
concluded that they purchased the beer to have it available for the upcoming
weekend. The grocery chain could use this newly discovered information in various
ways to increase revenue. For example, they could move the beer display closer to
the diaper display. And, they could make sure beer and diapers were sold at full price
on Thursdays. 

The data mining process

Data mining is an iterative process that typically involves the following
phases:

Problem definition
A data mining project starts with the understanding of the business
problem. Data mining experts, business experts, and domain experts
work closely together to define the project objectives and the
requirements from a business perspective. The project objective is
then translated into a data mining problem definition.

In the problem definition phase, data mining tools are not yet
required.

Data exploration
Domain experts understand the meaning of the metadata. They
collect, describe, and explore the data. They also identify quality
problems of the data. A frequent exchange with the data mining
experts and the business experts from the problem definition phase is
vital.

In the data exploration phase, traditional data analysis tools, for

example, statistics, are used to explore the data.

Data preparation
Domain experts build the data model for the modeling process. They
collect, cleanse, and format the data because some of the mining
functions accept data only in a certain format. They also create new
derived attributes, for example, an average value.

In the data preparation phase, data is tweaked multiple times in no

prescribed order. Preparing the data for the modeling tool by
selecting tables, records, and attributes, are typical tasks in this
phase. The meaning of the data is not changed.

Modeling
Data mining experts select and apply various mining functions
because you can use different mining functions for the same type of
data mining problem. Some of the mining functions require specific
data types. The data mining experts must assess each model.

In the modeling phase, a frequent exchange with the domain experts

from the data preparation phase is required.

The modeling phase and the evaluation phase are coupled. They can
be repeated several times to change parameters until optimal values
are achieved. When the final modeling phase is completed, a model
of high quality has been built.

Evaluation
Data mining experts evaluate the model. If the model does not satisfy
their expectations, they go back to the modeling phase and rebuild
the model by changing its parameters until optimal values are
achieved. When they are finally satisfied with the model, they can
extract business explanations and evaluate the following questions:
 Does the model achieve the business objective?
 Have all business issues been considered?

At the end of the evaluation phase, the data mining experts decide
how to use the data mining results.

Deployment
 Data mining experts use the mining results by exporting the results
into database tables or into other applications, for example,
spreadsheets.

The Intelligent Miner™ products assist you to follow this

process. You can apply the functions of the Intelligent Miner
products independently, iteratively, or in combination.

The following figure shows the phases of the Cross Industry

Standard Process for data mining (CRISP DM) process model.

Figure 1. The CRISP DM process model

Data Mining Applications

There are a number of applications that data mining has. The first is called market segmentation.
With market segmentation, you will be able to find behaviors that are common among your
customers. You can look for patterns among customers that seem to purchase the same
products at the same time. Another application of data mining is called customer churn.
Customer churn will allow you to estimate which customers are the most likely to stop
purchasing your products or services and go to one of your competitors. In addition to this, a
company can use data mining to find out which purchases are the most likely to be fraudulent. 

For example, by using data mining a retail store may be able to determine which products are
stolen the most. By finding out which products are stolen the most, steps can be taken to protect
those products and detect those who are stealing them. While direct mail marketing is an older
technique that has been used for many years, companies who combine it with data mining can
experience fantastic results.

For example, you can use data mining to find out which customers will respond favorably to a
direct mail marketing strategy. You can also use data mining to determine the effectiveness of
interactive marketing. Some of your customers will be more likely to purchase your products
online than offline, and you must identify them. 

While many businesses use data mining to help increase their profits, many of them don't realize
that it can be used to create new businesses and industries. One industry that can be created by
data mining is the automatic prediction of both behaviors and trends. Imagine for a moment that
you were the owner of a fashion company, and you were able to precisely predict the next big
fashion trend based on the behavior and shopping patterns of your customers? It is easy to see
that you could become very wealthy within a short period of time. You would have an advantage
over your competitors. Instead of simply guessing what the next big trend will be, you will
determine it based on statistics, patterns, and logic. 

Another example of automatic prediction is to use data mining to look at your past marketing
strategies. Which one worked the best? Why did it work the best? Who were the customers that
responded most favorably to it? Data mining will allow you to answer these questions, and once
you have the answers, you will be able to avoid making any mistakes that you made in your
previous marketing campaign.

Data mining can allow you to become better at what you do. It is also a powerful tool for those
who deal with finances. A financial institution such as a bank can predict the number of defaults
that will occur among their customers within a given period of time, and they can also predict
the amount of fraud that will occur as well. 

Another potential application of data mining is the automatic recognition of patterns that were
not previously known. Imagine if you had a tool that could automatically search your database to
look for patterns which are hidden. If you had access to this technology, you would be able to
find relationships that could allow you to make strategic decisions.
 Why organizations lose their
customers

• Price related reasons 

• Product related reasons 
• Service-related reasons 
• Benefit –related reasons 
• Competitor reasons 
• Personal reasons
See below for more information.

CRM Strategy of Banks

Global Banks CRM Strategy Goal

Provide service representatives with
360-degree view of customer Improve customer
Bank of America
relationship for corporate and retail experience, retention
banking
Segment customer base into six
Attain cross-sell revenues,
FleetBoston different groups based on
maximum lifetime value
demographics and banking behavior
Deploy CRM system across branch
Improve customer
BNP Paribas network, integrating with central office,
experience, cross-sell
link multiple customer databases
Integrate call center, branch, and
Improve customer
central office; link 80 banking
Societe Generale experience, support
applications to support unified view of
consistent message
customers

Related Websites

Consulting service
Implementing service

CRM outsourcing service

Training service

top 5 Success Factors For A CRM

Implementation

1. CRM is not a just software

Since CRM plays an important role in corporate strategy, its crucial that you define what it is
you hope to capture and report on within the system.  Be sure to consider the state of your
customer relationship, and consider its effect on all business units and end-users from the
start.
Considerations:
-How will CRM support your corporate strategy?
-Which departments or functional groups need to be involved in system design and who will
use it?
-Which processes will be impacted or require change?
 
2. Making CRM work for your business
When choosing a solution, be sure it includes a flexible architecture and platform
technology. This allows organizations to more cost-effectively tailor the system to their
unique business process and to be adaptable and competitive as needs change. Forward-
thinking organizations use select flexible CRM systems that will enhance their business
agility, not confine them.
Considerations:
-Are your market conditions stable or dynamic? How will you accommodate change and
growth within the system?
-What technology infrastructure is needed to support new systems, new data sources, and
new users?
-Can all important and relevant customer information be collected and combined within this
technology infrastructure?
3. Define the benefits
As part of the CRM implementation process, consider the anticipated ROI; by defining CRM
success metrics up front, companies can help ensure the goals are realized and met.
Executives, business users, IT staff, and the CRM partner must work together to define
these goals and to tie the CRM technology to appropriate business processes and data
requirements.
Considerations:
-Have you established key business metrics? How will you report on them?
-Have you benchmarked current conditions and metrics for future comparison?
-If you choose not to adopt CRM, what might the long-term cost be to your business?
 
4. Total cost of ownership
Total cost of ownership for a CRM system can be hard to predict, due to the uniqueness of
each implementation and the differing levels of complexity among enterprise technology
environments. However, analysts estimate that up to 90 percent of total CRM costs are
associated with customizing, integrating, deploying, supporting, and maintaining a CRM
system.
Companies selecting on premise CRM face the majority of their CRM costs up-front. In
contrast, a hosted CRM delivery model typically requires a smaller up-front investment and
attractive monthly cost, but over a three-year period, may actually have a higher total cost of
ownership than an on-premise solution. In addition, with hosted solutions, your company
does not own the software and may be limited in your ability to customize the system to
your business or industry needs and unique processes.
For additional comparison please download  this white paper from the ERT Group CRM
section. (left column at the bottom)
Considerations:
-Which option, on premise or hosted, make more sense for your company?
-Are you considering costs over a longer period of time?
-Does industry-specific CRM make sense for your company?
 
5. Find a partner
It’s important to assess business objectives, technology strategy, IT budgets, opportunity
costs, customization requirements, and industry-sector requirements before selecting a
CRM solution.  But beyond that, it’s important to ensure that you’re picking a solid partner
you can work with now and in the future, such as ERT Group.  Business and
implementation experience is what will ensure things go smoothly and that nothing is
overlooked during the project.
Considerations:
-What kinds of implementation support can be provided? What kinds of training options are
available?
-Does the partner have industry experience?
-Does the partner have strong references from reputable customer companies?
 
Airline's success depends heavily on its ability to intelligently manage sales,
marketing, and service processes and to draw mutual advantages from
understanding of airline's customers. To help airline maximise the strategic
value of customer centric initiatives, Airline e-CRM model provides a
comprehensive analytical solution, it can contribute toward improving the way
that measure and optimize airline's relationships with customers. Figure 3 best
illustrates Airline e-CRM model using system engineering methodology.

Airline e-CRM model also:

 Provides an understanding of customer behavior and enables airlines to

measure results of marketing and merchandising changes.
 Supports more effective promotions through integration of data between
marketing and merchandising users.
 Provides a single view of customers across the enterprise and across
contact points.
 Gives airlines the ability to respond more dynamically and quickly to
market demands.

Significance derived from airline-CRM implementation will allow for new e-

business model, based on the wide availability of information and its direct
distribution to end-customers.

 Directly connect airlines and passengers.

 Support fully digital information exchange between airlines and
customers, reduced cost of a customer contact.
 Suppress time and place limits.
 Support interactivity and therefore can dynamically adapt to customer
behaviour.
 To be able to satisfy customers' need, build customer confidence and
retention.
 Can be updated in real-time, therefore always up-to-date.
 Enhance airlines competitive advantages over its rivals.
 Profitable and sustainable revenue growth

use of crm in hospitals

Why is this essential? It springs from the eternal truth that the more you know your
patients, the better you can respond to their current needs and predict what their
future needs may be as well. The Health Care sector is now opting for Customer
Relationship Management (CRM) in its daily application. CRM Health Care consists
of a wide array of software products that help healthcare organizations to maintain
excellent relationships with their clients. CRM enables the health care industry to get
essential customer information and use it as efficiently as possible. CRM thus
enables the health care sector to improve patient health, increase patient loyalty and
patient retention and add new services as well. The CRM Health Care Services
include strategic planning, communication services, consulting services, CRM for
physicians, Campaign management, Database construction, predictive
segmentation, and communications strategies.

 CRM Aids Customer Service

CRM provides the organization with the chance to acquire and retain
customer relationships. It serves to convert almost every customer interaction
into a health management opportunity. Its diverse functionality enables
employers, customers and employees to access common information.
Millions of patients or customers are being contacted daily through phone, e-
mail, fax, and face-to-face interactions. All these increase the need for an
affective and well-coordinated customer approach.
 CRM Healthcare supports the call centre by providing customer service
representatives with essential customer information. This helps the health
care sector to access critical information and deliver value to customers. CRM
solutions succeed in transforming healthcare organizations into customer-
centric efficient providers of health care. The healthcare industry has realized
the importance of quality of service. CRM industry leaders now offer customer
relationship management solutions to help healthcare organizations deal with
customer service issues while delivering excellent health services.
 In addition CRM helps Health Care organizations plan and carry out sales and
medical management campaigns. Health care CRM software increases the
efficiency of call centers. It also assists the initiatives of medical management
and facilitates the collation of information regarding physicians, hospitals and
supplementary medical providers. In addition to this it maintains secure and
comprehensive information regarding physician profiles that can be used by
both the sales and marketing department.

In addition CRM helps Health Care organizations plan and carry out sales and
medical management campaigns. Health care CRM software increases the
efficiency of call centers. It also assists the initiatives of medical management and
facilitates the collation of information regarding physicians, hospitals and
supplementary medical providers. In addition to this it maintains secure and
comprehensive information regarding physician profiles that can be used by both the
sales and marketing department.

ERP Vendors

VENDORS are the people who have developed the ERP packages. They are the people
who have invested huge amounts of time and effort in research and development, to
create the packaged solutions. If one studies the history of ERP packages and finds out
how each package evolved, then it soon becomes evident that every ERP package grew
out of the experience or opportunity of a group of people working in a specific business
who created systems that could deal with certain business segments.

Now with the ERP marketplace become crowded with more and more players entering
the market and the competition increasing, today's ERP packages have features and
functiona

ERP vendors spend crores of rupees in research and come up with innovations that make the
packages more efficient, flexible and easy to implement and use. Also, with the evolution of new
technologies the vendors have to constantly upgrade their products to use the best and latest
advancements in technology.

► SAP www.sap.com

► Oracle www.oracle.com

► PeopleSoft www.peoplesoft.com

► invensys www.invensys.com

► ABB Automation www.abb.com/automation

► i2 www.i2.com

► SSA Global Technologies www.ssagt.com

► Intentia International www.intentia.com

► Epicor www.epicor.com

► Lawson Software www.lawson.com

► QAD www.qad.com

► IFS www.ifsab.com

► Mapics www.mapics.com

► Mincom www.mincom.com

► American Software www.amsoftware.c

1) Answer your phone.

Get call forwarding. Or an answering service. Hire staff if you need to. But make
sure that someone is picking up the phone when someone calls your business.
(Notice I say "someone". People who call want to talk to a live person, not a fake
"recorded robot".) For more on answering the phone, see Phone Answering Tips to
Win Business.

2) Don't make promises unless you will keep them.

Not plan to keep them. Will keep them. Reliability is one of the keys to any good
relationship, and good customer service is no exception. If you say, “Your new
bedroom furniture will be delivered on Tuesday”, make sure it is delivered on
Tuesday. Otherwise, don't say it. The same rule applies to client appointments,
deadlines, etc.. Think before you give any promise - because nothing annoys
customers more than a broken one.

3) Listen to your customers.

Is there anything more exasperating than telling someone what you want or what
your problem is and then discovering that that person hasn't been paying attention
and needs to have it explained again? From a customer's point of view, I doubt it.
Can the sales pitches and the product babble. Let your customer talk and show him
that you are listening by making the appropriate responses, such as suggesting how
to solve the problem.

4) Deal with complaints.

No one likes hearing complaints, and many of us have developed a reflex shrug,
saying, "You can't please all the people all the time". Maybe not, but if you give
the complaint your attention, you may be able to please this one person this one
time - and position your business to reap the benefits of good customer service.

5) Be helpful - even if there's no immediate profit in it.

The other day I popped into a local watch shop because I had lost the small piece
that clips the pieces of my watch band together. When I explained the problem, the
proprietor said that he thought he might have one lying around. He found it,
attached it to my watch band – and charged me nothing! Where do you think I'll go
when I need a new watch band or even a new watch? And how many people do
you think I've told this story to?

6) Train your staff (if you have any) to be always helpful, courteous, and
knowledgeable.

Do it yourself or hire someone to train them. Talk to them about good customer
service and what it is (and isn't) regularly. Most importantly, give every member of
your staff enough information and power to make those small customer-pleasing
decisions, so he never has to say, "I don't know, but so-and-so will be back at..."

7) Take the extra step.

For instance, if someone walks into your store and asks you to help them find
something, don't just say, "It's in Aisle 3". Lead the customer to the item. Better
yet, wait and see if he has questions about it, or further needs. Whatever the extra
step may be, if you want to provide good customer service, take it. They may not
say so to you, but people notice when people make an extra effort and will tell
other people.

8) Throw in something extra.

Whether it's a coupon for a future discount, additional information on how to use
the product, or a genuine smile, people love to get more than they thought they
were getting. And don’t think that a gesture has to be large to be effective. The
local art framer that we use attaches a package of picture hangers to every picture
he frames. A small thing, but so appreciated.

If you apply these eight simple rules consistently, your business will become
known for its good customer service. And the best part? The irony of good
customer service is that over time it will bring in more new customers than
promotions and price slashing ever did!

Computer telephony integration, also called computer–telephone

integration or CTI, is an common name for any technology that allows interactions on
a telephone and a computer to be integrated or coordinated. As contact channels have
expanded from voice to include email, web, and fax, the definition of CTI has expanded to
include the integration of all customer contact channels (voice, email, web, fax, etc.) with
computer systems.

Common functions
Common functions that can be implemented using a CTI:

 Call information display (caller's number (ANI), number dialed (DNIS), and Screen
population on answer, with or without using calling line data
 Automatic dialing and computer controlled dialing (fast dial, preview, and predictive dial.)
 Phone control. (answer, hang up, hold, conference, etc.)
 Coordinated phone and data transfers between two parties (i.e. pass on the Screen
pop with the call)
 Call center phone control. (logging on; after-call work notification)
 Advanced functions such as call routing, reporting functions, automation of desktop
activities, and multi-channel blending of phone, e-mail, and web requests
 Agent state control (for example, after-call work for a set duration, then automatic
change to the ready state)
 Call control for Quality Monitoring/call recording software.
Forms of CTI
There are two forms of CTI.
First-party call control
First party call control operates as if there is a direct connection between the user's
computer and the phone set. An example of this would be a modem card in a desktop
computer, or a phone plugged directly into the computer. the computer can control all
the functions of the phone, normally at the computer user's direction. First party call
control is the easiest to implement but is not suited to large scale applications such
as call centers.

Third-party call control

Third-party call control is more difficult to implement and often requires a
dedicated telephony server to interface between the telephone network and the
computer network. Third party call control works by sending commands from a user's
computer to a telephony server, which in turn controls the phone centrally. Specifically,
the user's computer has no direct connection to the phone set, which is actually
controlled by an external device. Information about a phone call can be displayed on the
corresponding computer workstation's screen while instructions to control the phone can
be sent from the computer to the telephone network. Any computer in the network has
the potential to control any phone in the telephone system

ARE THE BENEFITS?

The benefits of Computer Telephony Integration
can include:
Improved customer service
• Receiving customer details on screen at the
same moment you receive the incoming call
means you are able to give a better, more
immediate response to the customer.
• Automatically seeing key details about that
customer, such as notes from previous
conversations or order history, means staff can
offer a more personalised service.
• Automatic call distribution (ACD) automatically
answers calls with a voice menu, and uses
caller responses to route incoming calls to
staff with the most appropriate knowledge.
Reduced costs
• You can use alternative carriers (such as
Onetel, NTL, or many other phone companies)
and/or the internet for your phone and data
traffic.
• Optimisation with voice, fax, and data all
sharing a single network, fewer telephone
lines are required, reducing costs still further.
Greater efficiency
• Dialling out automatically with a single mouse
click from a computer saves time and is more
accurate. As many as 10% of calls are
misdialled, so if you make a lot of outgoing
phone calls, the cumulative time lost to wrong
numbers can be substantial.
• Staff can handle more calls in a given period
of time. Automatic customer identification can
cut at least 20 seconds off each call. This
adds up to a saving of five hours if you make
over 1,000 calls.
• Logging calls, both inbound and outbound,
and recording them if necessary, allows you to
monitor the effectiveness of your operating

Customer retention
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Customer Retention is the activity that a selling organisation undertakes in order to reduce customer
defections. Successful customer retention starts with the first contact an organisation has with a customer and
continues throughout the entire lifetime of a relationship. A company’s ability to attract and retain new
customers, is not only related to its product or services, but strongly related to the way it services its existing
customers and the reputation it creates within and across the marketplace.

Customer retention is more than giving the customer what they expect, it’s about exceeding their expectations
so that they become loyal advocates for your brand. Creating customer loyalty puts ‘customer value rather than
maximizing profits and shareholder value at the center of business strategy’ [1]. The key differentiator in a
competitive environment is more often than not the delivery of a consistently high standard of customer service.

The current scenario in the insurance industry is a complex and competitive environment tinged with little stability.
The major hassle the industry faces is obtaining clients. This is due to the fact that the big fish in the insurance
industry dominate the sector. It has become increasingly difficult for this particular sector to gain profits while
curtailing costs. Acquisitions, mergers, have all contributed to the difficulty insurance agents and other professionals
from this industry face.

Long considered a job only restricted to insurance companies, selling insurance policies has now become an option
for banks as well. This has resulted in a lot of increased as well as unwelcome competition. Customers tend to lose
out as they are not buying from the right provider. In addition to this the Internet has increased the pressure for
insurance companies in capturing the market. All this has succeeded in making the insurance world more
complicated.
What is required is a comprehensive database of information about customers who hold your insurance policies. The
answer? Choosing a customer centric strategy can go a long way in achieving this. CRM - Customer Relationship
Management holds the key. CRM helps insurance companies to ensure that the customer is understood better.

Right now insurers can achieve excellent policy administration; good billing systems etc but fall short on the customer
front. However this alone is insufficient to survive on. Insurers have now realized that CRM is essential if they want to
deliver high quality services since it satisfies current customers and gains new ones. This is because policies get sold
only if relationships are built. CRM solves these problems with its user-friendly, web-based CRM tools that increase
sales opportunities

Keep the customers you have

More than Customer Retention

partner with an industry leader

Why Opt for CRM Insurance Software?

 Insurance CRM decreases the time required to make product changes

 A holistic integrated customer view

 Targeted marketing

 Customer retention

 Increased growth

 Increased policy sales

 Increased insurance market share

 CRM Insurance integrates marketing with other operations

 Efficient distribution channels are secured

 CRM provides the chance to reduce operating expenses

 It provides for more affective and efficient communication

 It improves the response time

 It increases customers satisfaction

 Insurance application queries/ claim status queries can be answered sooner

 It reduces the time that is normally taken for printing

 Policy mailing time is reduced

 It decreases overall costs

 Aids the call centre activities

 Insurance CRM guarantees lead management

Objectives of call centre
* Call Centers not only can keep existing clients satisifed, but they are also capable to generate new clients for
company. 

* The major benefit is that clients can speak to a person directly at first time without any hold. Since everyone
hates having to be placed on hold or told to call back. Satisfaction of clients greatly increase because of call centers
services.

* There are many copanies all who do the business with clients all around the world. Many Call Center
representatives are multilingual. They may be able to help new foreign clients. It is also possible to have a 24-
hour Call Center service to support clients that are from different regions of the world and in different time zones.
So another benefit of having a Call Center Service for business is that they could increase the number and type of
clients.

* Call centers have range of relevant equipment so they are able to provide the required equipment to their call
center operater thus cost will reduce by this way.

* Make the most out of your investment and get a nice return by investing in your time wisely. Call Center services
will hopefully free up more for you to focus on the work you like and take more time for marketing and advertising,
to improve sales and projects. 

* Call centers representative are capable to answer the calls professionaly by their intelligence and they can
provide required information to callers easily. 

* Call Centers can provide the status and all data of calls such as percentage of hang-ups on answering machines
is significantly greater than a live answering service. And they also record all the calls as well. 

* Some companies managed Call Center services based on the Cisco solution. CISCO provide great features to call
centers and they can trace more and more data by using CISCO. IP-based customer interaction networks are
enabling companies to measurably improve response ti

Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/call-center-importance-in-current-time-
765185.html#ixzz1L4xOxnFZ 
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

Feature of call centre

Highly trained customer service

Support for Multiple Communications Channels

Call center CRM improves convenience by enabling customers to interact with call center agents in the manner they
most prefer - phone, email, Web chat, or voice over IP (VoIP)/voice chat.

Desktop Integration

Many applications reside on an agent's desktop - inventory, sales, accounting, marketing, help desk, and others.
Call center CRM software tightly integrates these various systems, giving agents a single, consolidated view of all
the information they need to take sales orders, handle responses to promotions and special offers, address billing
issues, track shipments, report problems, and more.

Reporting and Analytics

Supervisors and team leaders need to obtain complete, 360-degree visibility into all activities in order to effectively
manage performance. With call center CRM software, they can track and analyze call statistics and other key
metrics, so they can identify critical service trends, implement needed process enhancements, and maximize agent
productivity.

Sound Telecom provides world-class 24 x 7 call center support in

three primary areas: Inbound Service Center, Outbound
Telemarketing and Web Contact and Support. Leverage Sound
Telecom’s extensive call center consulting experience to develop
an affordable, customized call center features and solution to
meet your call center support challenges. Our clients experience
direct and immediate improvement in sales and service
performance. Your callers will experience professional, consistent
customer service every time they interact with you

Computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM)
is the manufacturing approach of usingcomputers to control the entire production process.[1][2] This integration
allows individual processes to exchange information with each other and initiate actions. Through the
integration of computers, manufacturing can be faster and less error-prone, although the main advantage is the
ability to create automated manufacturing processes. Typically CIM relies on closed-loop control processes,
based on real-time input from sensors. It is also known as flexible design and manufacturing

skills in CIM
 Programming to communicate instructions to machines
 Creating a logical, step-by-step procedure
 Communicating ideas, designs, and procedures to others
 Working collaboratively with others
 Using technology in manufacturing processes, from beginning to end
 Using technology to aid communication 

What is Channel Management anyway?

Channel Management. Yet another sales and marketing phrase that is thrown around like everyone knows what it
means. But so few companies really comprehend channel management in a way that really helps them. It’s really
no wonder. Sales channels (being the conduits by which we distribute our products to the end-user) come in many
shapes—from direct, to the web, to the traditional retail environment. And, we’re just doing whatever we can to
get any business from any of them! But is that the most efficient and effective approach?
That’s where Channel Management comes in. Channel management, as a process by which a company creates
formalized programs for selling and servicing customers within a specific channel, can really impact your business—
and in a positive way! To get started, first segment your channels by like characteristics (their needs, buying
patterns, success factors, etc.) and then customize a channel management program that includes:

1. Goals. Define the specific goals you have for each channel segment. Consider your goals for the channel
as a whole as well as individual accounts. And, remember to consider your goals for both acquisition and
retention.
2. Policies. Construct well-defined polices for administering the accounts within this channel. Be sure to
keep the unique characteristics of each segment in mind when defining policies for account set up, order
management, product fulfillment, etc.
3. Products. Identify which products in your offering are most suited for each segment and create
appropriate messaging. Also, determine where your upsell opportunities lie.

Difference between CRM and eCRM:

 CRM uses phone, fax and retail store for contacting customers while eCRM uses
wireless, PDA technology, internet and email.
 CRM requires the client to definitely download different applications for viewing Web-
Enabled applications while eCRM does not have such requirements.
 The personalized views of CRM are not available while the personalized views of eCRM
are related to purchase preferences and history.
 The design of CRM system is related to job products and functions while the design of
eCRM system is related to customer needs.
 The maintenance of CRM is very expensive while the maintenance of eCRM is less
expensive and requires only less time.

Who are erp vendors?

VENDORS are the people who have developed the ERP packages. They are the people who have invested
huge amounts of time and effort in research and development, to create the packaged solutions. If one
studies the history of ERP packages and finds out how each package evolved, then it soon becomes
evident that every ERP package grew out of the experience or opportunity of a group of people working in
a specific business who created systems that could deal with certain business segments.

Now with the ERP marketplace become crowded with more and more players entering the market and the
competition increasing, today's ERP packages have features and functionality to cater to the needs of
businesses in almost all sectors.

ERP vendors spend crores of rupees in research and come up with innovations that make the packages
more efficient, flexible and easy to implement and use. Also, with the evolution of new technologies the
vendors have to constantly upgrade their products to use the best and latest advancements in technology.

Choosing the right software vendor goes beyond evaluating software functionality. There has been a
gradual movement among a handful of the largest software vendors to take a one-size-fits-all posture.
Some vendors believe functionality ratings are no longer important since all software systems are
beginning to look alike. While appearances may tend to support this theory, reality paints a different
picture.
Merely having a particular function does not guarantee that users will be able to capably work with it. If
two vendors offer a function required in a specific industry segment, and one specializes in deploying it in
that segment while the other does not, the difference can be dramatic. The one-size-fits-all garment may
fit everybody, but the question is does it look good to everyone?

Vendor selection is not a popularity contest and bigger does not always mean better. While the financial
stability, ensured longevity and broad spectrum of offerings provided by the top vendors are good reasons
for selecting them, size is not without its downside. Size breeds bureaucracy and bureaucracy hamper
personal attention and agility.

While small vendors that are not quite household names may carry increased risks in the area of long-
term longevity, they may actually provide a better solution if they specialize in your industry segment
rather than covering a broad spectrum of industries.

You have the greatest leverage with your vendor once you have made the decision to buy their software
but have not yet issued the purchase order. Waiting for the end of their quarter can help you get the best
price.

Also view the financial stability of your future relationship as important - you will receive positive support
from your vendor as long as it is profitable for them to do so. The relationship is a balancing act. Interest
your vendors to get the job done right, on-time and within budget, but watch out for penalties that may
increase project pressure and sour the relationship.

It is important to remember that the vendor, as long as they provide working software and capable
personnel, really as very little responsibility for your overall success. Responsibility for success of failure
lies within the four walls of your business, and if you import failure in the form of a third-party, it's still
your responsibility.

Needs for CRM

The change from the profit orientation of a business to customer centric unit has lead to the surge
of CRM inculcation in the modern business scenario. Gone are those days when a business was
just a hub of wealth creation. These days it is impossible for a business to survive, without being
focused upon the needs and expectations of the customers.

The quick and easy access to the database of prospective customers brings along efficiency in the
business processes. A simple framework upon which CRM products bring a vital value addition
is given beneath.
Shown above is the integration of different business processes which fit in with their own
weighed importance to a business cycle, at the end they all submerge to the marketing database
as shown in the figure to help in the follow-up of prospective customers for long term.

Advantage of CRM?

By using CRM methodology, an enterprise can:

 Provide better customer service

 Increase customer revenues
 Discover new customers
 Cross sell/Up Sell products more effectively
 Help sales staff close deals faster
 Make call centers more efficient
 Simplify marketing and sales processes

The Types of data, CRM software collects

 Responses to campaigns
 Sales and purchase data
 Account information
 Web registration data
 Service and support records
 Demographic data

Three levels of customer service model

Back in the early days of HR Bartender, I wrote a post about how Customer Service is the New
Marketing. And I still believe it. The way an organization interacts with its current, potential and
past customers is critical. The businesses I’ve worked for in the past had huge competitive sets;
meaning customers had lots of selection. A key differentiator was our customer service.
But what I have noticed since I wrote that initial post, is customer service is starting to take on a
tiered approach. What I’m seeing are three tiers in customer service and here’s how they take
shape:

The first level and most transactional is what I’d call plain old customer service. A company
offers a product/service and customer needs that product/service. Transaction happens. Money
changes hands. No major snafus occur.

The next level is customer engagement. BTW – I believe this level is

being driven by the popularity of social media. Customers can follow
and interact with their favorite companies. Companies can engage. It’s
not about buying the product or service…at least not right away. It’s
about building a relationship and loyalty so when a customer is ready to
buy, they will immediately purchase from the company they’ve been
engaged with all that time.

The third level is customer intimacy. This is the term used by CEOs in the IBM study I shared
with you a few weeks ago. It’s a place where companies are close enough to their customers that
they can begin to anticipate a customer need and respond accordingly.

Obviously, these levels of customer interaction are predicated upon each other. No one is going
to engage with a company that can’t get basic customer service right. And no one is going to
share with a company their needs if they’re not engaged with them. This is your standard
Maslow’s hierarchy-type pyramid with customer service on the bottom and customer intimacy at
the top.

From a business perspective, lots of companies get customer service right. But few get
engagement and even less will recognize the value of customer intimacy. Obviously, companies
who do focus on building greater relationships with their customers will see the return in the
forms of profitability and market share (as long as they do it right).

Here’s the real question: Who will own the responsibility for developing the customer service
strategy in your company? What I’ve traditionally seen is marketing shares with people what the
customer wants, then operations hires for it and human resources trains employees. Yes, we’ve
all heard the statement that customer service is everyone’s responsibility. And I agree, everyone
needs to participate. But really, who will own it, communicate it and drive the plan?

It seems to me the only way this will work is if there is a clear strategy and standards where the
customer is concerned. Along with having people at every level support the strategy. And a
definite department who will be held accountable

channel management
Marketing
process of identifying, reaching, and satisfying customers the organization of the ways in which
companies reach and satisfy their customers. Channel management involves more than just
distribution, and has been described as management of how and where a product is used and of
how the customer and the product interact. Channel management covers processes for
identifying key customers, communicating with them, and continuing to create value after the
first contact.

What is Collateral Management?

At a high level, collateral management is the function responsible for reducing credit risk in
unsecured financial transactions. Collateral has been used for hundreds of years to provide
security against the possibility of payment default by the opposing party (or parties) in a trade. In
our modern banking industry collateral is used most prevalently as bilateral insurance in over the
counter (OTC) financial transactions. However, collateral management has evolved rapidly in
the last 15-20 years with increasing use of new technologies, competitive pressures in the
institutional finance industry, and heightened counterparty risk from the wide use of derivatives,
securitization of asset pools, and leverage. As a result, collateral management now encompasses
multiple complex and interrelated functions, including repos, tri-party / multilateral collateral,
collateral outsourcing, collateral arbitrage, collateral tax treatment, cross-border
collateralization, credit risk, counterparty credit limits, and enhanced legal protections using
ISDA collateral agreements.

Credit risk exists in any transaction which is not executed on a strictly cash basis. An example of
credit-risk free transaction would be the outright purchase of a stock or bond on an exchange
with a clearing house. Examples of transactions involving credit risk include over the counter
(OTC) derivative deals (swaps, swaptions, credit default swaps, CDOs) and business-to-business
loans (repos, total return swaps, money market transactions, term loans, notes, etc.). Collateral of
some sort is usually required by the counterparties in these transactions because it mitigates the
risk of payment default. Collateral can be in the form of cash, securities (typically high grade
government bonds or notes, stocks, and increasingly other forms such as MBS or ABS pools,
leases, real estate, art, etc.)

Collateral is typically required to wholly or partially secure derivative transactions between

institutional counterparties such as banks, broker-dealers, hedge funds, and lenders. Although
collateral is also used in consumer and small business lending (for example home loans, car
loans, etc.), the focus of this article is on collaterization of OTC derivative transactions.

CUSTOMER LIFE CYCLE

In customer relationship management (CRM), customer life cycle is a term used to describe the
progression of steps a customer goes through when considering, purchasing, using, and
maintaining loyalty to a product or service. Marketing analysts Jim Sterne and Matt Cutler have
developed a matrix that breaks the customer life cycle into five distinct steps: reach,
acquisition, conversion, retention, and loyalty. In layman's terms, this means getting a potential
customer's attention, teaching them what you have to offer, turning them into a paying
customer, and then keeping them as a loyal customer whose satisfaction with the product or
service urges other customers to join the cycle. The customer life cycle is often depicted by an
ellipse, representing the fact that customer retention truly is a cycle and the goal of effective
CRM is to get the customer to move through the cycle again and again

CRM ARCHITECTURE

CRM Architecture
The Customer relationship management architecture can be broken down into three categories,
and these are operational, collaborative, and analytical. Each plays an important role in Customer
relationship management, and a company that wants to success must understand the importance
of using these three components successfully.

Operational CRM deals with the automation of certain business processes. An example of
business processes that are connected to operational CRM are marketing and sales. When a
connection is made to a customer, the information related to this interaction will be automatically
stored in a database, and the company can pull up specific information on that customer when it
is needed.

Operational CRM can further be broken down into three components. These components are
Enterprise marketing automation, Customer service automation, and Sale force automation. The
Enterprise marketing automation will give the company information about the business climate,
and it will also provide them with crucial data on their competitors, as will as trends within the
industry and other important variables. As the name implies, Enterprise marketing automation
deals with strategies a company can use to strengthen their marketing tactics. Customer service
and support will automate specific processes that are connected to service. An example of this
could be item returns or customer complaints.
Sales force automation will be responsible for automating some of the company's sales tasks. An
example of tasks that SFA would automate are demographics, customer needs, and accounting
management. A number of corporations will use call centers to store data on their customers.
Once the customer makes a call, the customer service representative can provide them with
relevant information. Many companies will also automate processes such as allowing customers
to access their accounts. The next important part of CRM architecture is Analytical CRM. As the
name suggests, Analytical CRM deals with analyzing data that is collected by the company. This
data will be analyzed so that the company can enhance its customer service capabilities.

By enhancing its customer service capability, a company will build a stronger relationship with
its customers. There are a number of common ways that Analytical CRM is used to achieve this.
A number of companies will use the data they've collected and analyzed to cross-sell products to
their customers, as well as retaining customers that may normally switch to another company.
Analytical CRM can also be used to provide important information to customers within a short
period of time. In addition to building stronger relationships with customers, Analytical CRM
can be an important tool for fraud prevention and detection. It can analyze the patterns of sales,
inventory, and profits in order to find any patterns that are not consistent.

Analytical CRM is also important when it comes to both product development and risk
management. It is important to realize that Analytical CRM is an ongoing process. The company
may need to alter its strategies or methods based on the information that is analyzed through this
process. The third important aspect of CRM architecture is Collaborative CRM. Collaborative
CRM is important because it places an emphasis on the interactions that a company will make
with its customers. These interactions could be personal, or they could come through mediums
such as the telephone or the Internet. Collaborative CRM will give companies a powerful form of
communication that will utilize multiple technologies.

It will also be responsible for providing services over the Internet so that the costs of the service
can be reduced. When interactions are made with customers, Collaborative CRM will allow the
company to provide them with useful information. At the highest level, CRM should be an
important part of all interactions that a company makes with its customers.

When this done, a company can become highly successful. The goal of CRM is to find out what
customers need, and to make sure those needs are filled. Once a company is making interactions
with their customers, they can collect and analyze information. This information can be used to
strengthen interactions.

Customer relationship management can also be used to stop problems before they occur. A
number of companies strive to solve problems once they occur, but CRM can be used to stop
potential problems before they occur. Preventing a problems is much easier than solving it.

MAJOR STEPS IN THE CONSUMER BUYING DECISION PROCESS

1. Need/Want/Desire is Recognized

In the first step the consumer has determined that for some reason he/she is not satisfied (i.e.,
consumer’s perceived actual condition) and wants to improve his/her situation (i.e., consumer’s
perceived desired condition). For instance, internal triggers, such as hunger or thirst, may tell the
consumer that food or drink is needed. External factors can also trigger consumer’s needs.
Marketers are particularly good at this through advertising, in-store displays and even the
intentional use of scent (e.g., perfume counters). At this stage the decision-making process may
stall if the consumer is not motivated to continue (see Motivation above). However, if the
consumer does have the internal drive to satisfy the need they will continue to the next step.

2. Search for Information

Assuming consumers are motivated to satisfy his or her need, they will next undertake a search
for information on possible solutions. The sources used to acquire this information may be as
simple as remembering information from past experience (i.e., memory) or the consumer may
expend considerable effort to locate information from outside sources (e.g., Internet search, talk
with others, etc.). How much effort the consumer directs toward searching depends on such
factors as: the importance of satisfying the need, familiarity with available solutions, and the
amount of time available to search. To appeal to consumers who are at the search stage,
marketers should make efforts to ensure consumers can locate information related to their
product. For example, for marketers whose customers rely on the Internet for information
gathering, attaining high rankings in search engines has become a critical marketing objective.

3. Evaluate Options

Consumers’ search efforts may result in a set of options from which a choice can be made. It
should be noted that there may be two levels to this stage. At level one the consumer may create
a set of possible solutions to their needs (i.e., product types) while at level two the consumer may
be evaluating particular products (i.e., brands) within each solution. For example, a consumer
who needs to replace a television has multiple solutions to choose from such as plasma, LCD and
CRT televisions. Within each solution type will be multiple brands from which to choose.
Marketers need to understand how consumers evaluate product options and why some products
are included while others are not. Most importantly, marketers must determine which criteria
consumers are using in their selection of possible options and how each criterion is evaluated.
Returning to the television example, marketing tactics will be most effective when the marketer
can tailor their efforts by knowing what benefits are most important to consumers when selecting
options (e.g., picture quality, brand name, screen size, etc.) and then determine the order of
importance of each benefit.

4. Purchase

In many cases the solution chosen by the consumer is the same as the product whose evaluation
is the highest. However, this may change when it is actually time to make the purchase. The
"intended" purchase may be altered at the time of purchase for many reasons such as: the product
is out-of-stock, a competitor offers an incentive at the point-of-purchase (e.g., store salesperson
mentions a competitor’s offer), the customer lacks the necessary funds (e.g., credit card not
working), or members of the consumer’s reference group take a negative view of the purchase
(e.g., friend is critical of purchase). Marketers whose product is most desirable to the consumer
must make sure that the transaction goes smoothly. For example, Internet retailers have worked
hard to prevent consumers from abandoning online purchase (i.e., online shopping carts) by
streamlining the checkout process. For marketers whose product is not the consumer’s selected
product, last chance marketing efforts may be worth exploring, such as offering incentives to
store personnel to "talk up" their product at the checkout line.

5. After-Purchase Evaluation

Once the consumer has made the purchase they are faced with an evaluation of the decision. If
the product performs below the consumer’s expectation then he/she will re-evaluate satisfaction
with the decision, which at its extreme may result in the consumer returning the product while in
less extreme situations the consumer will retain the purchased item but may take a negative view
of the product. Such evaluations are more likely to occur in cases of expensive or highly
important purchases. To help ease the concerns consumers have with their purchase evaluation,
marketers need to be receptive and even encourage consumer contact. Customer service centers
and follow-up market research are useful tools in helping to address purchasers’ concerns.