Emerging Trends in Customer Relationship Management
Emerging Trends in Customer Relationship Management
CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
13.3 Keywords
13.4 Review Questions
13.5 Further Readings
Objectives
Introduction
CRM is, probably, one of the least clearly defined business acronyms, as there is no single
definition for it. It is probably easier to say what CRM is not. Unfortunately, CRM has also
become a misnomer for a range of solutions from vendors, each providing its own spin on the
idea. CRM is variously misunderstood as a fancy sales strategy. It is none of these. CRM is a
simple philosophy that places the customer at the heart of a business organizations processes,
activities and culture to improve his satisfaction of service and, in turn, maximize the profits for
the organization.
A successful CRM strategy aims at understanding the needs of the customer and integrating
them with the organizations strategy, people, and technology and business process. Therefore,
one of the best ways of launching a CRM initiative is to start with what the organization is doing
now and working out what should be done to improve its interface with its customers. Then
while this may sound quite straightforward, for large organisations it can be a mammoth task
unless a gradual step-by-step process is adopted. It does not happen simply by buying the
software and installing it. For CRM to be truly effective, it requires a well-thought-out initiative
involving strategy, people, technology, and processes. Above all, it requires the realisation that
the CRM philosophy of doing business should be adopted incrementally with an iterative
approach to learn at every stage of development.
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Customer relationship management is an integral part of the overall business strategy. Customer Notes
relationship management is a complex process because it raises the host of challenging business
issues that lie at the interface of all over the business. Thus, in this era of increased competition,
in order to proper, it has now become imperative for the industry to focus on developing long-
term relationships with their customers. CRM impacts that business path is a continuing source
of debate in the world of corporate management.
It is not suddenly that the business managers have realized that the customer is supreme or the
need to render personalized service. However, it was not possible to address the preferences of
a massive group of widely dispersed individuals. Neither the tools nor the technology were
available. The smart business managers did the next best thing, which was to conduct a market
research and classify the market into broad segments with different preferences. The product
managers would (and still do) then position their products catering broadly to these segments.
The information systems have evolved tremendously over the last three decades and so have
the communication systems. While ERP, the management mantra of the nineties, offered the
means to optimize resource planning at the enterprise level encompassing every area of the
enterprise on a real time basis, there was still no means of connecting to the customer. The
customer had just too many locations.
The commercial penetration of Internet into the homes changed everything. It provided the
means to take the integrated enterprise information system to the customer’s living room. He
could buy, sell or bank sitting there, while uniquely identifying himself.
This has led to the evolution of CRM, which uses the Net to integrate the customer contact points
directly with the enterprise. It provides the means to interact with every customer individually
(thereby interacting with million or even billions of customers). The interactions over a period
of time create a history that is available to the field sales/support personnel at the touch of a
button.
CRM has revolutionized the way the business is transacted. Customization and personalization
have been radically redefined. There was a time when companies could do business by making
a range of products, and the customers could choose from the available product range. Now the
customer demands ‘Merawala ………’. And the companies have to gear themselves to deliver
the ‘Merawala’ products to the customers.
CRM is the great enabler that makes it possible to achieve this level of customization in a cost
effective manner. Right from highly focused marketing to the transaction and after sales support,
CRM provides a cost effective, easily accessible and cost effective interface.
By enabling direct customer interaction, CRM has changed every sphere of activity. Products
must have modular designs that can be easily customized. Even warehouses are changing from
being just storehouses to those having the facility for ‘Assemble to Order’. Customization
increases the product variety multifold since it may not be either economical or feasible to store
a huge variety. Intelligent warehouses, as they are popularly known stock the knocked down
modules and assemble them on the receipt of order.
Example: If fuel efficiency was the selling proposition for automobiles in the seventies,
sportiness in the eighties and safety in the nineties, customization is the selling proposition of
the new millennium. The e-sales concept is increasingly becoming significant in volumes for
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Notes most American and European manufacturers. The interactive e-Store front of the manufacturer
permits the customer to configure his own automobile in respect of the kind of upholstery,
music system, accessories, etc. that he prefers.
The customer preferences which were captured through the earlier interaction automatically
create work orders and the customized product is delivered. Even though the product is highly
customized, there is hardly any additional cost involved. More companies are focusing their
growth strategies around direct sales through the Net.
Travel and transportation industry has been almost revolutionized by CRM. For them, CRM
makes the difference between being in business or out of it. Financial services, insurance,
investment banking, education and utilities are the other large scale adopters of CRM in the
services sector.
The concept of retailing has been redefined with CRM. Product industries are using it for
marketing as well as after sales support. Increasing number of product manufacturers are able to
retail directly, thanks to CRM.
CEOs are realizing those who are not able to come up with effective CRM strategies risk being
edged out of business. Customer is the king and the business strategies must be built for ensuring
customer loyalty. It costs six times more to create a new customer than to retain an old one.
1. Increased Sales Revenues
(a) Sales reps spend more time on productive calls and less on chasing information and
dry calls.
(b) Ability to penetrate and support wider geographical area.
(c) Sales transactions 24 hours, 7 days a week.
2. Increased Responsiveness
(a) Ability to respond to changing customer preferences in real time.
(b) Reduced leftover stocks, reduced business risk and zero budget planning.
3. Increased Win Rates
(a) Ability to concentrate resources on likely customers.
(b) Availability of customer preference data.
4. lncreased Margins
(a) Improved value-sell and reduced price-sell.
(b) Opportunity for cross-sell and up sell.
5. Reduced Cost
(a) Improved customer satisfaction ratings
(b) Personalized customer service.
(c) 24X7 service and support.
(d) Customized products.
(e) Improved information availability.
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Software is to India what oil was to the Gulf. It is therefore no surprise that Indian companies,
too, are jumping into the CRM bandwagon to seize a chunk of the global market, both products
as well as services.
With its vast talent pool, India is fast becoming an important development base of major CRM
companies. This trend is likely to increase in the future. Call centres, catering primarily to the
American and European markets are coming up in and around the metros. With the easing of
infrastructure constraints, India is likely to emerge as a significant player in this segment.
Adoption of CRM by Indian companies is at an infancy stage. The CRM enabled companies
include Modi Xerox, Tata Telecom, TVS Electronics, HP India, Tata Infotech, Carrier Refrigeration,
Tata Teleservices, Satyam Infoway, Planet M, and Epicentre Technologies, among many others.
India even has a CRM Foundation in New Delhi, founded with the purpose of assessing and
improving CRM practices. Founding members include Tata Telecom, Escotel, Modi Xerox, Global
Groupware, AC Nielsen, Carrier Aircon, and Motorola India, among others.
A CRM solution is not a stand-alone solution that could be implemented in isolation to the
enterprise information system. It marks a shift of focus from product centric planning to customer
centric planning. A prudent CRM strategy is essential for a successful adoption of CRM. Some of
the critical success factors that must be evaluated are:
1. Identify the mission, objectives and goals: Technology has radically changed the business
environment. A detailed business strategy analysis lays the foundation for engineering
an information system for the enterprise that will fulfil the current and the future needs of
the organization.
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Notes 2. Identify and prioritize what functions need to be automated: A CRM automation audit
shall help create a roadmap to complete automation. There may be processes that are
inefficient and automating them without re-engineering is not a desirable solution.
3. Gain top management support and unequivocal commitment: No CRM strategy can ever
succeed unless the top management is totally committed to its success.
5. Involve users early: Involve the likely users early in the process. They know their needs
best and can best help define the new system, for they are best aware of the old one. It is
important to make then participate in the process and ‘own’ the solution.
6. Prototype the solution: Deploy the solution on a smaller scale and test all the functions,
instead of jumping to the ‘big leap’.
7. Training: The paramount importance of training cannot be over emphasized. This is one
of the single most prevalent reasons for failures/incomplete success. A smart manager
would realize that training costs more than the combined hardware/software cost over
the solution lifecycle.
9. Cross department management team: Form a committee with people from sales, marketing
and service departments apart from the information systems department to monitor the
CRM project.
10. Keep the employees motivated: Technology usually breeds fear and insecurity. It is desirable
to ‘sell’ to system internally before implementing it to avoid non-co-operation/resistance.
Enterprise managers are more obsessed with the product. However, experience shows that even
the best product fails to meet the desired end goals if the implementation is improper or the
training inadequate. Rushing to implement a CRM system without a prudent evaluation and
audit usually results in failure. The choice of an experienced and able consultancy organization
is usually very critical.
Caselet The Power of E-mail
I
t’s not uncommon to hear the argument, “B2B sales are done in person.” That same
sentiment is often paired with “social is for B2C,” or “email is B2C.” But, at this week’s
Connections 2012 Conference in Indiana, another story is being told by an unlikely
source: Volvo Construction Equipment.
I’m talking excavators, pipelayers, and demolition equipment. The type of equipment
some of us played with as kids, in not-to-scale Tonka Toy versions. But these guys are
moving big equipment, and big money, and they’re doing it with integrated customer
data and email as essential parts to their internet marketing strategy.
Contd...
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Volvo Construction’s products and services are offered in more than 125 countries, and Notes
channelled through proprietary or independent dealerships. The company’s machines are
used for road construction, oil and gas exploration, building demolition, industrial material
handling, and forestry.
So what’s all this have to do with email and data? First, let’s start with a look at the power
of email.
A study by MarketingSherpa found that 75 percent of social media users prefer email as
the method for companies to communicate with them. Whereas social is more easily a
turn-off, turn-on channel that users can selectively engage with, email is far more intimate
and direct. Dave Scott, CEO of MarketFish, put it this way in my interview with him
earlier this year, “In order to make digital marketing effective, you have to drive the right
traffic.”
Email is certainly a good way to do that. After all, people rarely switch email addresses,
but they do migrate from one social media channel to another. And a recent study on
word-of-mouth influence by Zuberance shows 57% of brand influencers use email as their
main online recommendation tool.
Volvo uses ExactTarget as its targeted email marketing provider. ExactTarget’s email
solution allows Volvo to power data-driven messages—everything from transactional
email sends and abandoned cart campaigns to dynamic content and live offers. Volvo has
mastered the product, and uses it to deliver monthly newsletters and targeted offers.
The buzzword of the past two years, big data, is more than idle talk. Big data is now
mainstream, moving from the supercomputing environment managed by data engineers,
to enterprise IT applications used by much broader audiences. For digital marketers and
advertisers in particular, the benefits of bringing big data mainstream are unmistakable;
it provides access to a goldmine of untapped, previously unusable information.
Source: [Link]
Technology has been a major driving factor for CRM and is bringing about radical changes. The
developments in several technological areas are likely to have a major impact on CRM. Some of
the areas are listed below:
Biometric Sensing: passwords continue to be the least user friendly and the most unsecure link
in the CRM chain.
Did u know? Advancement in biometrics will soon make it possible to make a foolproof
recognition through voice, live fingerprint or image. The system would automatically
identify (and not just verify) the user. PeopleSoft has already announced that it is working
on voice recognition.
M-commerce: There has been an enormous advancement in this area. Rapid developments in the
mobile computing and data access devices are likely to be a major growth area for CRM. The
global marketplace is all set to shrink to a palmtop, digital signatures and secured identification
technologies.
Integration with B2B Marketplaces: Many argue that online market-places will drive sales in
the coming decades and branding will no longer be important. Even if such a postulation is
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Notes far-fetched, there can be little doubt that enterprises will integrate the CRM solutions with B2B
market places.
The biggest management challenge in the new millennium of liberalisation and globalization
for a business is to serve and maintain good relations with the king-the customer. In the past,
producers took their customers for granted because at that time customers were not demanding
nor had many alternative sources of supply or suppliers. Since he was a passive customer, the
producer dictated terms and had little customer commitment. But today there is a radical
transformation. The changing business environment is characterised by economic liberalisation,
increasing competition, high consumer choice, enlightened and demanding customer, more
emphasis on quality and value of purchase.
Notes All these changes have made today’s producer shift from traditional marketing to
modern marketing. Modern marketing calls for more than developing a product, pricing
it, promoting it and making it accessible to target customers. It demands building trust, a
binding force and value added relationship with the customers to win their hearts. The
new age marketing aims at winning customers for ever, where companies greet the
customers, create products to suit their needs, work hard to develop life time customers
through the principles of customer delight, approval and enthusiasm.
Marketing of banking services means organizing right activities and programmes in rendering
right services to the right people at the right place, at the right time at the right price and with
right communication and promotion. Marketing of banking services embrace the following
unique features
Intangibility: They cannot be seen or possessed physically but can only be experienced.
Inseparability: Their production and consumption occur simultaneously.
Variability: They are highly variable depending on the merit of customers.
Perishability: They cannot be stored.
“Change” is a continuous process and banking industry is no exception to this natural law.
Change in the Indian banking industry is inevitable due to the implementation of the financial
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Unit 13: Emerging Trends in CRM
sector reforms and policies in the country. The main objective of financial sector reforms is to Notes
promote an efficient, competitive and diversified financial system in the country. Indian banking
industry has undergone tremendous transformation after liberalization and globalisation process
initiated from 1991. These changes have forced the Indian banking industry to adjust the product
mix to effect the rapid changes in their process to remain competitive in the globalised
environment.
The entry of more and more foreign banks and new private sector banks, with lean and nimble
footed structure, better technology, market orientation and cost effective measures, have
intensified the competition in the Indian banking industry. Financial Institutions have also
started entering into the domain of banks. In recent years, the share of business of public sector
banks has declined considerably. So there is a compelling need for the Indian banking industry
to modify its marketing strategy to attract the customers and to withstand the stiff competition
from foreign banks and new private sector banks.
Technological Advancement
The advent of technology both in terms of computers and communications has drastically
altered the methodology of banking business. In the banking sector, the technology has opened
new vistas and in turn has brought new possibilities for doing the same work differently and in
a most cost-effective manner. Technology helps to have 24 hours a day banking, all seven days
in a week. Telebanking, Internet banking and E-banking have opened new business potentials
and opportunities which hither to remained unexplored. All these technological advancement
may pave the way for home banking rather than branch banking.
Innovation
Another important force of change in the Indian banking sector is innovation. Banks are
innovative, pro-active now-a-days and offer top class service to customers. They play a dynamic
role not only as a provider of finance but also as a departmental store of finance. As a result of
this, new products like merchant banking, mutual funds, leasing, factoring, forfeiting, corporate
advisory services and venture capital are emerging. These innovative services may augment
revenue with cost effective measures.
To meet the new challenges, banks have to devise novel ways of meeting the customer’s demands.
To help the banking staff to get sufficient exposure to technology, suitable packages relating to
hardware and software applications in relation to their works are to be provided. Further, a
separate marketing wing may be created in every bank to market their banking services. They
must be trained suitably to keep pace with the changing environment. In order to meet the
challenges, the Human Resource Department in banks have to prepare appropriate manpower
plans and strategies.
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(d) None
(d) None
4. …………………… compares price and quality (or value) of a product against competitors.
5. The …………………… has evolved from its early use as a simple performance measurement
framework to a full strategic planning and management system.
7. Customer Equity is the Net Present Value of a customer from the perspective of a supplier.
11. By enabling direct customer interaction, CRM has changed every sphere of activity.
13. ERP offered the means to optimize resource planning at the enterprise level but there was
still no means of connecting to the customer.
!
Caution CRM is not the blood line for any business but an integral part of its business
strategy.
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Unit 13: Emerging Trends in CRM
Notes
Case Study Local Search Engines: Useful or Not?
Name: Dandan Meng
She found the presence of ‘local search engine’ very useful and said that she could search
flight schedules and fares easily by mentioning her desired travel locations and time
preferences.
Dandan has to ‘Log in/Sign in’ only when websites force to do that otherwise she prefers
to use the website without use of ‘Log in/Sign in’ it. For ‘Log in/Sign in’ she has to fill up
the form first time which she does not like because she believes that it is a wastage of time.
Presence of ‘site information’ in the form of ‘introduction page’, ‘site tour’ or ‘site map’ is
immaterial for her because she said she can browse every travel website easily.
She could not found ‘online forums’ on travel websites. She tells her experiences to her
friends in real life. If she will found any ‘online forums’ on travel websites, she will not
communicate with other customers as far as the travel service is good. She said that she
will tell other customers only in case website cheats her or she experienced any bad
experience with the website.
At-purchase eCRM Features
Dandan said that she is getting opportunity from one of the travel website to get some
points on the basis of using ‘loyalty program’ because she is a regular customer of that
airline. She said she will get benefit of free travel on this basis. Dandan mentioned that the
process of buying tickets is quite easy on the internet and that she could buy tickets any
time of the day, but there are some websites where she has to buy tickets three days before
travel. As a whole she preferred buying tickets online rather than from a travel agent.
Dandan said that she could found all the information about services whatever she wants
on the website easily moreover she explained that does not want to download such
information. Dandan said that she could choose whether to sit in economy class or other
class, she could choose insurance as well. She could also choose sometimes how many
bags to book. It is important for her to read ‘purchase terms and conditions’ because some
times she gets useful information from this. Dandan said that she always choose credit
card option while purchasing e-tickets. When websites shows her different other alternatives
while in the process of purchasing tickets according to her selection, she usually chooses
the cheapest one as against her desired selection.
Contd...
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Questions
2. How do you think, has the advancement in CRM helped Dandan in gaining
satisfaction?
Source: [Link]
13.2 Summary
The recent trend of globalisation and liberalization has posed serious problems to domestic
banks.
The entry of new foreign banks and private sector banks with their advanced knowledge
base of automation in the banking operations and aggressive marketing strategies has
pushed public sector banks to a tight corner.
Potential customers have started moving towards foreign banks and private sector banks.
To survive and succeed, banks must identify their marketing areas, develop adequate
resources, convert these resources into healthy and efficient services and distribute them
effectively satisfying the manifold tastes of customers.
The domain of customer relationship management extends into many areas of marketing
and strategic decisions. Its recent prominence is facilitated by the convergence of several
other paradigms of marketing and by corporate initiatives that have developed around
the theme of cooperation and the collaboration of organizational units and their
stakeholders, including customers.
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From the corporate implementation point of view, CRM should not be misunderstood to Notes
simply mean a software solution implementation project. Building relationships with
customers is a fundamental business of every enterprise, and it requires a holistic strategy
and process to make it successful.
13.3 Keywords
Brand Building: The goal in brand building is to carefully manage a company’s name, brands,
slogans and symbols, otherwise known as brand equity.
Call Centres (CCs), or Customer Contact Centres (CCCs): These have long played a critical role
on the customer interaction front.
Customer Equity: It is the Net Present Value of a customer from the perspective of a supplier.
Customer Knowledge: It refers to understanding your customers, their needs, wants and aims is
essential if a business is to align its processes, products and services to build real customer
relationships.
Customer Value Analysis (CVA): CVA compares price and quality (or value) of a product against
competitors.
Enterprise Data: Enterprise Data is information that is entered and used by each staff member in
performing their job, but which is also relevant to others in an organisation or group, such as the
feedback from a customer during a sales call.
Lifetime Customer Value: It is a reflection of the possible future business a company can expect
from a loyal customer.
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Notes 8. What is meant by emerging trends in CRM and what are they?
9. What is meant by LTV and how does it helps in improving companion’s CRM function?
10. How far is CRM successful in giving businesses future and customer loyalty?
1. (b) 2. (c)
3. Brand building 4. CVA
5. Balanced scorecard 6. Lifetime Value
7. True 8. True
9. False 10. True
15. True
Books Alex Berson, Stephen Smith, Kurt Thearling, Building Data Mining Applications,
2004.
CGI Group Inc. White Paper, Building Competitive Advantages through Customer
Relationship Management, January, 2001.
Paul Greenberge, CRM-Essential Customer Strategies for the 21st Century, Tata
McGraw Hill, 2005.
[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
Check/[Link]
[Link]
[Link]
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Unit 14: Sales Force Automation Notes
CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
14.3 Summary
14.4 Keywords
Objectives
Introduction
Any sales team in a company today, has to deal with various constraints. They need to
continuously be in touch with their office, for updates on availability, prices and schemes for the
products they sell. While this external reliance is a bottleneck, even the information obtained is
not always accurate. Sales Force Automation enables a highly mobile sales force to increase
productivity on the field, react faster to customer requirements and access and update sales
related information anytime, anywhere.
SFA is often used interchangeably with CRM; however, CRM does not necessarily imply
automation of sales tasks.
Sales Force Automation (SFA) contains multiple aspects of sales functionality, including sales
activities, opportunity & pipeline management and forecast capabilities. Sales Force Automation
is frequently combined with marketing tools to help facilitate the lead to opportunity (sales)
flow. SFA enables you to analyze the entire sales cycle and successfully manage your sales
pipeline—from first contact to final sale.
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Notes SFA functionality can also help forecast your sales pipeline. Forecasting sales opportunities
enables companies to forecast products or services that will be sold within a specified timeline,
the monetary/unit amount of products or services sold, and the likelihood of selling those
products or services. Forecast management may also be based by employees or territories, they
may compare the adjustments over time so sales managers can see the changes, and the forecast
could be compared to a sales users’ quota.
Sales force automation refers to automating all the actions related to sales of an organization or
business. This is a coordination of applications that chiefly center on scheduling and contact
management. Sales force automation actions are usually incorporated with other systems that
supply the status of orders, inventory and products and other related information and can be a
part of a bigger program of customer relationship management. Abbreviated SFA, a technique
of using software to automate the business tasks of sales, including order processing, contact
management, information sharing, inventory monitoring and control, order tracking, customer
management, sales forecast analysis and employee performance evaluation.
Sales force automation helps by making all business actions pertaining to sales, automatic.
These actions include:
Contact management.
In short, sales force automation can help you to control your entire sales process from head to
toe.
Sales Force Automation (SFA) software is a type of program that automates business tasks such
as inventory control, sales processing, and tracking of customer interactions, as well as analyzing
sales forecasts and performance. Businesses may have a custom version developed specifically
for their needs, or choose from among the increasing number of sales automation software
products, such as Interact Commerce’s ACT! and GoldMine Software’s GoldMine. Sales
automation software is sometimes called sales automation software, and sometimes called
Customer Relations Management (CRM) software.
Nowadays there is a variety of software and solutions available for sales force automation that
can help small, mid size, and large enterprises to meet and surpass their sales targets and
initiatives. All the information provided by such solutions can help businesses to analyze their
sales and pinpoint future trends and courses.
SFA packages typically include a Web-ready database, an e-mail package, and customizable
template s. A three-tiered architecture is typically used to separate the database, server, and
application to reduce programming demands on clients.
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A module-based design is generally used, to allow users to customize the package to suit their Notes
needs.
!
Caution In August 2000, Oracle released a free CRM software package,
[Link] which makes information – such as contacts, schedules, and
performance tracking – available online through the included database program. The
package is designed for medium-to-large enterprises with mobile work forces. All data
and storage are based at an Oracle facility, similar to the Application Service Provider
(ASP) model, which means that data can be accessed from any Internet connection and that
the client doesn’t need special hardware or software. The Oracle package also includes
online staff training.
1. Personalized Software: You can get sales force automation solutions that are customized
according to your specific business. These solutions are completely configurable to meet
your individual business and sales automation needs.
2. Complete Sales Solutions for Executives and Employees: Sales force automation software
can help executives to define and set individual sales goals, share sales and advertising
information, analyze results and reports, and predict future courses.
3. Sales employees can benefit as the solutions make it easy for them to obtain leads, supervise
their databases, set reminders for schedules and appointments, and save numerous notes,
orders, and applications.
4. Swift Launch and Incorporation: Most sales force automation software can easily be
incorporated into your unique sales programs and can be configured according to your
special needs. As a direct consequence of this, your sales team can be fully functional in
weeks rather than months or even years.
5. Provides Control: By using sales force automation software, managers can find out how
their sales team is doing at any given time and also take care of any possible problems
before they get out of hand. Sales representatives can quickly be brought up to date by
providing all the necessary sales information in one common place.
6. Safeguards Data: All sales force automation systems have built-in security tools that help
to safeguard all your data, statistics, and solutions. Advanced technology in security enables
complete protection of client and company data. Along with this, these systems have data
encryption and user authentication facilities that help to back up the saved data and also
prevent unauthorized use of your sales solutions.
Speedy and hassle free launching of sales teams in the most organized and efficient manner.
Proponents claim that sales force automation systems can improve the productivity of sales
personnel.
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Notes
Examples:
1. Rather than write-out sales orders, reports, activity reports, and/or call sheets, sales people
can fill-in prepared e-forms. This saves time.
2. Rather than printing out reports and taking them to the sales manager, sales people can
use the company intranet to transmit the information. This saves time.
3. Rather than waiting for paper-based product-inventory data, sales-prospect lists, and sales-
support information, they will have access to the information when they need it. This
could be useful in the field when answering prospects’ questions and objections.
The additional tools could help improve sales staff morale if they reduce the amount of record
keeping and/or increase the rate of closing. This could contribute to a virtuous spiral of beneficial
and cumulative effects.
These sales force systems can be used as an effective and efficient training device. They provide
sales staff with product information and sales technique training without them having to waste
time at seminars.
More and better qualified sales leads could be automatically generated by the software.
This technology increases the sales person’s ratio of selling time to non-selling time. Non-
selling time includes activities like report writing, travel time, internal meetings, training,
and seminars.
Sales force automation systems can also affect sales management. Here are some examples:
The sales manager, rather than gathering all the call sheets from various sales people and
tabulating the results, will have the results automatically presented in easy to understand
tables, charts, or graphs. This saves time for the manager.
Activity reports, information requests, orders booked, and other sales information will
be sent to the sales manager more frequently, allowing him/her to respond more directly
with advice, product in-stock verifications, and price discount authorizations. This gives
management more hands-on control of the sales process if they wish to use it.
The sales manager can configure the system so as to automatically analyze the information
using sophisticated statistical techniques, and present the results in a user-friendly way.
This gives the sales manager information that is more useful in:
(a) Providing current and useful sales support materials to their sales staff.
(c) Providing market research data: Industry dynamics, new competitors, new products
from competitors, new promotional campaigns from competitors, macro-
environmental scanning, detecting trends.
(d) Co-ordinate with other parts of the firm, particularly marketing, production, and
finance.
(e) Identifying your most profitable customers, and your problem customers.
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Notes
Did u know? Tracking the productivity of their sales force by combining a number of
performance measures such as: revenue per sales person, revenue per territory, margin by
customer segment, margin by customer, number of calls per day, time spent per contact,
revenue per call, cost per call, entertainment cost per call, ratio of orders to calls, revenue
as a percentage of sales quota, number of new customers per period, number of lost
customers per period, cost of customer acquisition as a percentage of expected lifetime
value of customer, percentage of goods returned, number of customer complaints, and
number of overdue accounts. More complex models like the PAIRS model (by Parasuraman
and Day) and the Call Plan model (by Lodish) can also be used.
It is also claimed to be useful for the marketing manager. It gives the marketing manager
information that is useful in:
Understanding the economic structure of your industry
Identifying segments within your market
Identifying your target market
Identifying your best customers in place
Doing marketing research to develop profiles (demographic, psychographic, and
behavioral) of your core customers
Understanding your competitors and their products
Developing new products
Establishing environmental scanning mechanisms to detect opportunities and threats
Understanding your company’s strengths and weaknesses
Auditing your customers’ experience of your brand in full
Developing marketing strategies for each of your products using the marketing mix
variables of price, product, distribution, and promotion
Coordinating the sales function with other parts of the promotional mix (such as
advertising, sales promotion, public relations, and publicity)
Creating a sustainable competitive advantage
Understanding where you want your brands to be in the future, and providing an empirical
basis for writing marketing plans on a regular basis to help you get there
Providing input into feedback systems to help you monitor and adjust the process
Strategic Advantages
Sales force automation systems can also create competitive advantage. Here are some examples:
As mentioned above, productivity will increase. Sales staff will use their time more efficiently
and more effectively. The sales manager will also become more efficient and more effective.
This increased productivity can create a competitive advantage in three ways: it can reduce costs,
it can increase sales revenue, and it can increase market share.
Field sales staff will send their information more frequently. Typically information will be sent
to management after every sales call (rather than once a week). This provides management with
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Notes current information, information that they will be able to use while it is still valuable. Management
response time will be greatly reduced. The company will become more alert and more agile.
These systems could increase customer satisfaction if they are used with wisdom. If the information
obtained and analyzed with the system is used to create a product that matches or exceeds
customer expectations, and the sales staff uses the system to service customers more expertly
and diligently, then customers should be satisfied with the company. This will provide a
competitive advantage because customer satisfaction leads to increased customer loyalty, reduced
customer acquisition costs, reduced price elasticity of demand, and increased profit margins.
14.1.3 Disadvantages
costly
Notes Sales Force Automation (SFA) application gives businesses the upper hand with
their sales data. Comprehensive and easy to customize, the solution empowers companies
to manage people and processes more effectively, so reps can close more deals. With SFA,
reps spend more time selling and less time on administration.
Loved by the Sales Force: Reps need solutions that make their jobs easier, not more
complicated. SFA gives them fast access to data – on-line, off-line and via mobile devices
– and links easily to popular tools like Microsoft Office and Outlook. The user interface is
simple and intuitive. This is the one SFA solution every sales rep will love and use.
Critical for Sales Managers: Managers need visibility into the activities of their reps and
insight into where they stand with their pipelines. The solution provides powerful
opportunity management, forecasting, reporting, and customization capabilities, so sales
managers can be confident their teams are producing at their full capacity.
Trusted by Executives: Executives need accurate information so they can evaluate their
company’s past performance while looking ahead to the future. They want to answer
critical business questions quickly without sifting through reams of data. With the powerful
analytics and customizable dashboards that SFA provides, executives have the real-time
information they need to be effective.
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5. Activity Management
6. Approvals and Workflow
7. Territory Management
8. Partner Management
9. Analytics and Forecasting
10. Reports and Dashboards
11. Customizable Forecasting
12. Data Quality Management
13. Sales Information
14. Product Catalog
15. Document Management
16. Contract Management
17. Email Templates
18. Asset Management
19. Desktop and Mobile
20. Mobile CRM Solutions
21. Microsoft Outlook Edition
22. Word and Excel Integration
23. Customization and Integration
24. AppExchange Applications
Alerts: Messaging facility allows sales representative to receive from as well as send alerts to
central server.
Personal Information Management: These sets of applications allow sales representatives to
manage information on leaves, travel, expenses and salary from the personal devices.
Self Assessment
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Caselet Infosys Global Sales Force Automation Solution
T
he Infosys Global Sales Force Automation solution increases sales force efficiency
in 116 countries for a large logistics company
The client
A transportation services giant and market leader of the international air express industry.
Challenges
The client operated at a country-level without global processes or an IT road map. Rapid
growth and restructuring led to disconnected customer-facing processes and information
residing in disparate systems. The sales and marketing management team required visibility
into opportunities and potential customers in the global, regional and country segments
to facilitate effective selling. The sales force needed a best-in-class sales force automation
(SFA) and marketing system that would enable implementation of a new global sales and
marketing process and also provide regional language flavors. The client required the
system to be rapidly available to users in all the countries to reap time-to-market benefits.
Our Solution
Infosys helped the client consolidate its global sales and marketing processes, and
developed an IT road map to deliver the best-in-class SFA for the global sales application.
Infosys managed, architected, built, and deployed a single-instance multi-lingual sales
and marketing solution that supported the global processes and had the flexibility to
support local requirements. The global deployment process, in tandem with the
simultaneous release of new versions of the application and Siebel upgrades, was
formulated to facilitate rapid deployment of the application and to deliver maximum
value and product maturity.
The client upgraded the Global SFA solution from Siebel 7.5.3 to Siebel 7.7 to leverage the
enhanced marketing and analytics modules, and also deployed a single-instance sales and
marketing solution globally. The upgrade was considered a stepping stone to other strategic
initiatives within the client’s CRM program.
The solution, currently available to over 8,500 users in 116 countries across all global,
regional and country sales channels (usage maturity), has increased sales force efficiency
through improvements in pipeline management, global cross-selling and up-selling, and
insightful analytics.
Benefits
The CRM initiative helped the client create customer segmentation. Together with
insightful analytics reporting delivered by the initiative, it helped the client gain
approximately 1% increase on a revenue base of Euro 45 billion
Contd...
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Unit : Sales Force Automation
The CRM initiative provided the top management with KPI reporting through Notes
analytics (dashboard reporting, ‘delivers’, etc.) that delivered real-time reports for
immediate visibility and action
The global application, based on harmonized sales processes, allows cross-regional
and cross-channel visibility, relationship sales, global sales, and gives visibility to
critical information across various geographies
Source: [Link]
The SFA gives the sales team the ability to access and manage critical sales information using a
PDA device. Synchronisation provides a simple method of sharing data and merging new and
updated information between offline users and the Mobile Server.
The architecture is segmented into two main sub-systems. They are:
Mobile Server: The Mobile Server is the key sub system of the entire solution. This server
interfaces with Central Server and (Oracle, or any) database at the Mobile Server. It manages
the Sales Representatives PDA and the requests from the PDA. An administrative module
helps in user authentication, transaction monitoring and synchronisation. The server,
based on settings, hosts all the synchronisation logic.
Client Application: The client application is hosted in the Sales Representative’s PDA
device and has the ability to view appointments, create orders, search for customer details
and item details and synchronise with the Mobile Server using GPRS.
Source: [Link]
The SFA client has the following features. The sample screen layout for each of the features is
also provided.
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Customer Relationship Management
Source: [Link]
The Sales Representative can also view the list of customers available in the PDA. They can view
the customers based on Customer ID or Customer Name.
Order Management
Source: [Link]
Sales representative can manage inquiries, quotations and sales orders on their device. Basic
functionalities like capturing user requirements, suggesting solutions etc are possible. Viewing
order status is a key feature of this module.
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Unit : Sales Force Automation
Source: [Link]
!
Caution This only facilitates creation and viewing of customer information like contact
information or customer history.
Product Viewing
Source: [Link]
Real time information can be viewed on the handheld device. The information on products can
be viewed categorically or by alphabetical order. Information on product prices, availability,
description and other specifications can be obtained.
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Customer Relationship Management
Source: [Link]
The Sales Representative can enter a Delivery Instruction if required and save the order. If they
choose to Synchronise the order, then it is saved and synchronized with the server, provided
GPRS connectivity is available. There is also an option to clear and exit from the order entry
screen.
Synchronization
This module facilitates in synchronising data on the device with the server using cradle or
wireless synchronisation. Synchronisation has XML components on the server and client side as
well.
Self Assessment
9. The sales representative can enter a …………………… if required and save the order.
10. …………………… manages the sales representatives PDA and the requests from the PDA
11. Sales force automation can help you to control your entire …………………… .
13. Sales force automation systems can also create competitive …………………… for your
business.
14. SFA application gives businesses HELP with their sales …………………… .
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Unit : Sales Force Automation
Notes
Case Study Mobile SFA: Brewery Company
Automating the sales process freed sales staff from tedious paperwork and improved
business analysis accuracy.
Challenges
All sales processes were manual, so sales staff spent a lot of time on paperwork.
It was difficult to monitor sales processes and to obtain real-time data for business
analysis.
The company was looking for a more effective way to manage their sales processes.
The company required up-to-date and accurate information at the point of sale as
well as increased visibility and sales productivity.
Solution
The Mobile Sales Force Automation (SFA) system automated all sales processes and
eliminated paperwork.
Mobile SFA provided real-time data and a range of reports, allowing management
to conduct accurate business analyses.
Mobile SFA is part of a suite of mobile internet applications that support a wide
range of handheld devices capable of accessing data remotely over mobile
telecommunication networks.
NEC provided a total solution that included the management of mobile devices,
software customization, ERP integration, and technical support.
Results
Increase in sales staff productivity with more visits being made per day
Questions
2. How far was SFA responsible for the company’s problem solving situation?
Source: [Link]
14.3 Summary
Sales force automation refers to automating all the actions related to sales of an organization
or business. This is a coordination of applications that chiefly center on scheduling and
contact management.
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Notes Sales force automation actions are usually incorporated with other systems that supply
the status of orders, inventory and products and other related information and can be a
part of a bigger program of customer relationship management.
Sales force automation helps by making all business actions pertaining to sales, automatic.
Nowadays there is a variety of software and solutions available for sales force automation
that can help small, mid-size, and large enterprises to meet and surpass their sales targets
and initiatives.
All the information provided by such solutions can help businesses to analyze their sales
and pinpoint future trends and courses.
You can get sales force automation solutions that are customized according to your specific
business. These solutions are completely configurable to meet your individual business
and sales automation needs.
(b) Manages opportunity and pipeline for products and services to be sold
(d) Sales methodology support including guided sales activities and achievements
(e) Productivity tools to reduce the amount of time spent on administrative tasks, and
increase that spent on deals most likely to close
(g) Provides remote sales staff with instant access to corporate information
14.4 Keywords
Alerts: Messaging facility allows sales representative to receive from as well as send alerts to
central server.
Client Application: The client application is hosted in the Sales Representative’s PDA device and
has the ability to view appointments, create orders, search for customer details and item details
and synchronise with the Mobile Server using GPRS.
Delivery Instructions: The Sales Representative can enter a Delivery Instruction if required and
save the order.
Mobile Server: It is the key sub-system of the entire sales force automation system.
Sales Force Automation (SFA) Software: It is a type of program that automates business tasks
such as inventory control, sales processing, and tracking of customer interactions, as well as
analyzing sales forecasts and performance.
Sales Force Automation: It refers to automating all the actions related to sales of an organization
or business.
Synchronization: This module facilitates in synchronising data on the device with the server
using cradle or wireless synchronisation.
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Unit : Sales Force Automation
5. False 6. True
7. True 8. True
15. Feature
Books Alex Berson, Stephen Smith, Kurt Thearling, Building Data Mining Applications,
2004.
Paul Greenberge, CRM – Essential Customer Strategies for the 21st Century, 2005,
Tata McGraw Hill.
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Notes
[Link]
[Link]
Check/[Link]
[Link]