Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is one of those great concepts.
who embraced the business world in the 1990s with the promise to change forever
how small and large enterprises interacted with their customer bases. at
in the short term, however, it turned out to be a cumbersome process that was better in
theories than in practice for a variety of reasons. The first among them was that it
it was just so difficult and expensive to track and maintain large volume
records must be accurately and constantly updated.
In the past few years, however, newer software systems and expanded
tracking features have greatly improved CRM capabilities and
CRM is becoming a reality. Like the price of a new, more customizable Internet
solutions hit the market; competition led to lower prices
that even relatively small businesses are reaping the benefits of some
CRM programs.
At first ...
In the 1980s, a database emerged that was just a trick.
a phrase to define the practice of creating customer service groups for speaking
individually for all clients of the company.
In the case of larger key customers, it was a valuable tool for
communication lines open and tailor service to customer needs. at
in the case of smaller clients, however, he tended to provide repetitive,
information that litters the database and does not give much understanding. As
companies started tracking database information, they realized that bare bones
all that was needed in most cases: what they buy regularly, what they
spend what they do.
Achievements of the 1990s
In the 1990s, companies began to improve customer relationship management.
making it more of a two-way street. Instead of just collecting data for
their own use, they began to return to their customers not only in terms of
The obvious goal is to improve customer service, but in incentives, gifts and
other benefits for customer loyalty.
This was the beginning of the already well-known frequent flyer programs, bonuses.
credit card scores and a variety of other resources that are based on CRM
tracking customer activity and cost structure. CRM is currently used as
a way to increase sales passively, as well as through active improvement
customer service.
True CRM has come of age
Real customer relationship management, since the thought of today's world really began
seriously at the beginning of this century. To the extent that
releasing new, more advanced solutions that were
industries, it really became possible to use information dynamically.
Instead of entering information into a static database for further use,
CRM has become a way of constantly updating the understanding of customer needs and
behavior. Branching of information, subfolders and custom functions
allowing companies to break up information into smaller subsets so that they
can evaluate not only specific statistics, but also information about motivation
and customer reactions.
The internet has provided tremendous benefits to the development of these huge databases.
by ensuring that information is stored on a remote server. Where companies used to have difficulties
By maintaining an intensive amount of information, the Internet has provided new
opportunities and CRM soared when providers began to move towards the Internet
solutions.
With the increase in the turnover of these programs, less rigid relationships have emerged.
between sales, customer service and marketing. CRM allowed to develop
new strategies for more collaboration between these different divisions
through general information and understanding, which leads to an increase in the number of customers
satisfaction from order to the final product.
Today, CRM is still used most often by companies that are very
on two different functions: customer service or technology. Three sectors
business, most importantly to a large extent on CRM - and use it with a big advantage -
financial services, various high-tech corporations and
telecommunications industry.
In particular, the financial services industry tracks client level.
satisfaction and what customers are looking for in terms of change and
personalized features. They also track changes in investment habits and spending.
how the economy is changing. Industry specific software can provide
financial service providers are really impressive feedback in these areas.
Who is in the CRM game?
About 50% of the CRM market is currently divided between the five main players
in the industry: PeopleSoft, Oracle, SAP, Siebel and relative newcomer
Linux-based Telemation, developed by the old standard Database Solutions,
Inc.
The other half of the market is accounted for by many other players, although
Microsoft's new penetration of the CRM market may soon lead to a shift. Either
Microsoft can seize market share remains to be seen. However their
familiarity with the brand can give them an advantage with small businesses, given
first CRM package.
PeopleSoft was founded in the mid-1980s by Ken Morris and Dave.
Duffield as a client-server based personnel management application. In 1998,
PeopleSoft has evolved into a purely PeopleSoft 8 Internet system.
There are no client software to support and supports more than 150 applications.
PeopleSoft 8 is the brainchild of over 2,000 dedicated developers and $ 500
million in research and development.
PeopleSoft exited its original human resources platform in
1990 and now supports everything: from customer service to the supply chain
control. Its user friendly system requires minimal training regarding
inexpensive to deploy. ,
One of the main contributions of PeopleSoft to CRM was their detailed analysis.
a program that identifies and assesses the importance of customers based on numerous
criteria including purchase amount, delivery cost and frequency
provision of services.
In the late 1980s, Oracle built a strong base of high-performance clients,
then broke into national attention in 1990, when, under Tom Sibel
the company resolutely sold a CRM solution for small and medium businesses.
Unfortunately, they could not keep up with the incredible sales that they
gathered and faced with several years of real problems.
Oracle landed on its feet after restructuring and reorienting itself to
customer needs, and by the mid-1990s the company was once again a leader in CRM
technologies. They are still one of the leaders in the enterprise.
market with data management system Oracle Customer.
Telemation CRM solution is flexible and convenient, with
toolkit that allows you to easily change the parameters and settings. System
also provides a fast learning environment that newbies will appreciate. this
the uniqueness lies in the fact that although it is compatible with Windows, it was designed as
Linux Will Linux be the wave of the future? We do not know, but if it is
there is, Telemation ahead of the game.
Last few years ...
In 2002, Oracle released its Global CRM in a 90-day package, which promised
fast implementation of CRM through the offices of the company. Offered with package
a fee was set up for customization and training services for basic business needs. ,
Also in 2002 (star year for CRM) myAPAP in SAP America began to use
“Middleware” that could connect SAP systems to external and
front and rear office systems for a single operation that links partners,
employees, processes and technologies in a closed loop.
Siebel
consistently bases its activities primarily on enterprises of enterprise size wishing
invest millions in CRM systems that worked for them for $ 2.1 USD
billion in 2001 However, in 2002 and 2003, revenues declined as slightly lower
CRM companies have joined as service providers (Application Service Providers). These
companies, including UpShot, NetSuite and SalesNet, have offered CRM-style to the company
tracking and managing data without the high cost of traditional CRM launch.
In October 2003, Siebel launched CRM OnDemand in collaboration with IBM.
Their entry into a hosted monthly niche CRM solution hit the market with
storm force. For some of the monthly ASPs, it was a call to arms, for others it was
Siebel sign, increasing confusion regarding brand identity and increasing losses
market share. In Siebel's brilliant endeavor, UpShot acquired several months
later to launch them and smooth out their transition to the ASP market. it
was a successful step.
Now with Microsoft in the game, it's too soon to say
what the results will be, but it seems likely that they can get some share
small businesses that tend to buy based on habit and ease of use. ASP will
continue to grow in popularity, especially in medium-sized enterprises, therefore
companies like NetSuite, SalesNet and Siebel, OnDemand will thrive. CRM on
the web has already come of age!
This article on “CRM History” was reprinted with
resolution.
Copyright © 2004-2005 Evaluseek Publishing.
