| New software not always needed for CRM, KPMG says |
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An effective Customer Relationship Management (CRM) strategy will improve customer knowledge, staff efficiency, cross selling opportunities and ultimately company profitability, according to Enda Doyle, head of CRM at KPMG Consulting.
Speaking at a KPMG Consulting seminar on the strategic implications of CRM for financial services companies, he said that, in a nutshell, CRM seeks to maximise the value of every customer interaction.
He said that 50 per cent of the time a successful CRM solution could be engineered by utilising the tools that were already available to a company but were not being used correctly. A typical CRM solution, Doyle said, has a multitude of components but can be subdivided into four service lines: contact management, customer support, relationship marketing and sales force automation.
CRM must be approached with the intention of yielding benefits, Doyle maintained, and initiatives like integrating multiple delivery channels and leveraging customer information across the organisation, must be actively pursued.
He cited a KPMG survey of 252 companies in the United Kingdom that found that inadequate project management and lack of communication were the most common reasons for CRM project failure.
However, the KPMG consultant was also quick to highlight the benefits of a successful CRM strategy, quoting an Insight Technologies survey which revealed increases in revenue, falls in the cost of sales and a rise in customer satisfaction ratings.
Doyle said the task now was to transform a company’s CRM strategy into an eCRM one, resulting in an easier interaction process with customers and greater loyalty. |
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| Article appeared in the June 2000 issue.
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