Customer Relationship Management

by Anshul Tiwari

We are living in an age where there is not only an abundance of information but also a massive flow of this information at an unprecedented rate. In this highly competitive and information rich world, the consumer is more aware than ever before. Steps have been taken both by the governments and NGOs in different countries to ensure that the consumer does not get exploited. A number of consumer awareness programs and campaigns have been taken up in earnest and every effort is made to make people aware of their rights and responsibilities.

Continue reading "Customer Complaints and the Role of CRM" »

Posted by guest at 09:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There is always scope for improving customer service but somehow most companies seem unwilling to change their processes or systems to provide better service to their customers.

For example, whenever you dial a call center, the first thing you would hear is the IVR menu. The options in this IVR menu could change from time to time. This forces the customer to listen to all the menu options each time, making him spend more time and money on the call. This can be resolved by adopting the thumb rule of implementing an IVR menu with not more that 4-5 option. The other option is to permanently fix the IVR menu options. Neither solution is ideally suited to business needs. So, what is the real solution?

Sometimes I really wonder what matters most to the customer; is it cost of a product/service or the actual service element associated with it?

Consider this scenario – you go to a shop; you see that nobody is there to serve you; you wait for a few seconds/minutes and then call for someone. When someone appears,  you ask for something and you do not get a proper response. Instead, the person just ignores you and goes to another customer just like that or with a curt response.

Or look at this scenario – you go to a shop and shopkeeper is on phone. The other sales men are busy and don’t make it a priority to serve you as a customer. You ask for something and even after waiting patiently you don’t get any response/service from anyone.

Continue reading "Mantra for Growing Business" »

Posted by Suhas Pralhad Moharir at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I recently called customer service of a leading telephone company for updating my billing address. I was surprised to receive response that I will need to go to the nearest office of the telephone company and fill out a change of address form. At another instance, I called the same company to change my call plan. Again, the agent expressed his/her inability to help me out, I was asked to submit another application – and, I was also required to provide my photographs and various other documentation, which I had already submitted when I enrolled with the company.

Continue reading "More power to the call center agent" »

Posted by Arun George at 03:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Busy day at Azune Solutions in Bangalore...

@impcust: @custsvc_azune: your prior solution did not work and i do not have enuff space to explain will send mail
@custsvc_azune: we value your mail and will respond back

Meanwhile in NY...

"The biggest question on our minds right now, here at the Corp HQ of Azune is the need to arrive at a strategy for our CRM offering with Social media in tow, the 'trend' of the year. We really wonder what we are doing with all the tweets/comments/bookmarks/Q&A aggregations!"

Continue reading "Let's get it straight - Social Media and Social CRM aren't twins!" »

Posted by Venkataraman Ramanathan at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Cloud Computing is no longer an innovative idea to be hyped about and then shelved! It’s a big a reality and next generation industry giants are likely be guided by who wins in the cloud. Couple of years back when it was a privilege to be in the cloud has turned out to be a necessity now. Driven by reduced TCO for application conceptualization to build to maintenance, improved agility and QoS is aligning the industry to move into Cloud. On top it transforms your company into Opex based IT spend from Capex model. Recession hit almost at the right time to give it the push it needed for this shift.

Continue reading "Doesn't Cloud movement make your MDM investment a must?" »

Posted by Prabir Majumder at 05:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The most important element of CRM is “Relationship”, and surprisingly, it takes the backseat too often. Is it not important that we invest time in our customers, we partner with them in times of need and we lend a helping hand to them in changing dynamics ?

Continue reading "Relationship in the context of CRM" »

Posted by Ravi Agarwal at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

The year 2009 has been quite an eventful one, and would be remembered for a long time for the action packed days..we’ve seen it all the … Government bailouts, companies being bought or dissolved, CEOs getting sacked etc etc..inthe middle of it this there has been something that has seen a tremendous growth - A beast called Social Media, digital consumer today has fuelled the engines of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other similar portals so much so that if you were to look at the following stats you would agree there is that there is something that is happening around us that neither the end customer nor the companies around can afford to ignore.

Continue reading "Social Media ... an eventful year for Digital Consumers" »

Posted by Rituparn Prem Dixit at 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Customizability and Simplicity would be the distinguishing characteristics of smart-phone CRM applications.

“Hi,  I’ll take the iPhone”
“ Sir, Why don’t you try our other smart-phones models like…”
“ I’ll take the iPhone”
“..we have a special offers with monthly bill discounts, for these other models…”
“I’ll take the iPhone”
“ …Sir, we have received numerous service complaints with the iPhone and ..”
“I’ll take the iPhone”

Continue reading "Smartphones: The Need for ‘Smarter’ CRM" »

Posted by Sinoi Daniel Mathai ( Daniel ) at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Most CRM initiatives are started with much expectations and enthusiasm and perhaps with much funds allotted as well. But the key success factor is having a systematic approach to identify and assess levers for business value and impact for these implementations.

Continue reading "Assessing the Value of your CRM Initiatives" »

Posted by Khanchana at 08:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In Facing Re-Implementation vs. Upgrade dilemma for your CRM systems?, I tried to set the context on the typical dilemma an enterprise is confronted with when it has to choose between Upgrading vs. Re-Implementing it’s CRM Application and I have taken Siebel as the CRM package for elucidating my thoughts on the same.

Continue reading "Facing Re-Implementation vs. Upgrade dilemma for your CRM systems? - Part 2" »

Posted by Ramkumar JHS at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

The success of a CRM implementation lies in its acceptance for use by the various stakeholders. The stakeholders vary depending on the industry and application in question. Some of the stakeholders commonly involved in CRM are top management, marketing managers, retail sales agents / call center agents / field sales agents, customers using self care applications, dealers and product managers. Each stakeholder has their own set of expectations from the CRM system. Based on my experience in working with some of these stakeholders, I have listed below some of their expectations:

Continue reading "Stakeholder Expectations from a CRM Application" »

Posted by Suhas Kanade at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I am sure a lot of us are already aware; few months ago Oracle released Process Integration Packs (PIP) based on Oracle Fusion Application Integration Architecture (AIA) framework. These PIPs establish pre-built integration between applications via AIA layer and are modeled on the SOA best practices. Through this article I have attempted to analyze the key features of the PIPs as well as the challenges that might surface while implementing.

Continue reading "Oracle PIPs: Redefining Real Time Integration" »

Posted by Anshuman Saxena at 09:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

by Vinod Nag

Stock market investment is always a challenge for anyone, regardless of whether a person is an expert in finance or wants to make an entry into the stock market but does not have any clue about how it works. It is not easy to play a blind game with the market and win. However, to play a wise game, it is important to understand how a company is performing, how are its scrip placed, is it over valued, what is the current market trend, how is this industry sector doing, are there any external influence like change in government rules, market corrections so on and so forth.

Continue reading "Is Predictive Analytics the key to better outcomes and improved customer experience in the stock market?" »

Posted by guest at 08:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

Though CRM is mostly equated with technology and how software applications can be used to increase customer profitability in sales, service and marketing operations, there is no denying the fact that strong personal relationships can far outweigh any competition from super efficient CRM systems and processes.

That is true even more so in today’s world where we expect less and less from corporations which hide behind Interactive Voice Response Systems, Policy Disclaimers and Terms of Agreement and carefully scripted support calls where even the most enthusiastic agent is probably appraised on how quickly he or she can get you off the call (Did you hear the sigh as well when you actually replied ‘yes’ to the question, ‘Is there anything else I can help you with?’).

Continue reading "CRM @ Personal Touch" »

Posted by Anand Bharadwaj at 05:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

We are at a stage, to bid adieu to year 2009. It is now time for us to evaluate the trends in the MDM domain for the year 2010. Ray wang in his blog titled “Master Data Management 2010 - Focus On Outcomes Drives Push For Value” has referred to the need for managing additional data type in MDM.

Continue reading "Enterprise Content management integrated with MDM" »

Posted by Jairaj Asok Kumar at 01:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)