Strategic CRM

While most businesses today recognize the value of customer relationship management, many of the so called customer relationship management systems in place are nothing more than glorified contact management applications. But if companies hope to obtain maximum value from their investment in CRM systems they need to focus on the strategic role CRM can play in better enabling companies to identify, select, acquire, develop, and retain customers. CRM systems must do more that just help organizations track their customer interactions; they must also help them effectively analyze this information, spot trends and opportunities, and drive actions to profitable outcomes.

Companies need to know the answer to questions such as which their most desirable customers are, which are their most profitable accounts and what activities yield the best results. They then need to be able to effectively enable their sales force with this information in order to keep them focused on the hottest opportunities, the best customers and key accounts. In addition, this information needs to be integrated throughout the organization. Competitiveness is a key word for business success. Manufacturers face the challenge of offering customers high quality products and shorter delivery times while remaining cost-effective. In order to stay ahead of competitors, many enterprises are implementing strategic CRM programs in order to respond quickly to customer demands. Thus, modern enterprises are tending to move from a traditional CRM to an approach integrating other enterprise operational systems. This enables enterprises to improve business intelligence, make better decisions and enhance customer relations. In this paper, the design of a Strategic Customer Relationship Management System (SCRMS) is described which collects, integrates and diagnoses various customer-related data from different operation systems in departments within an enterprise. The proposed system aims to establish a cost-effective strategic CRM solution for achieving total customer satisfaction. It integrates the data warehouse concept with two emerging technologies, Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) and Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), to support in the customer relation strategy.