Business Process Models and CRM
At the onset, online shopping was regarded as a gimmick, and few companies saw the advantages of doing business in the online medium. Even when the "dot-com revolution" occurred and many companies sprung up, the traditional brick-and-mortar retail establishment was dismissive of the medium. It wasn't until online competition began to make a dent in their revenues that they paid attention at all, and many are still scrambling to catch up.
What Is CRM?
The historical business model revolved around a single merchant, in a single establishment, who personally interfaced with his customers and ensured the business was serving their needs.
As companies grew, the task of dealing with customers was assigned to a specialized position (customer service representative) and, ironically, this critical position became a low-level job, subordinated to various levels of management - and the job of dealing with the customer was designed and directed from a corporate office, by employees who had no contact with customers at all.
Add to this the desire to achieve economies of scale by creating standardized products and standardized services, and it became virtually impossible for customers to get any personal attention at all.
Where CRM persisted, it was on the part of small, local companies or boutique firms who specialized in providing individual attention and customized service to the few customers who could afford it. In effect, receiving this level of service became a luxury.
In the new economy of online business, customers are even being made to self-service: Web sites provide a wealth of product information for those who are willing to dig for it. While it is possible for customers to personalize products (from computers and cars to custom clothing), it requires an effort of their part to learn about the product, identify the features of interest to them, and assemble a product that suits their needs, all without direct assistance.
The Internet enables a customer to gather information from a single physical location. However, they do so from a plethora of sources - unlike the old method, by which a customer entered a physical location and was "informed" by a salesman, who controlled the information the customer receives. The customer can even find information that a retailer would rather hide from them (such as the wholesale price of an item).
The Internet also enables a customer to consider the offerings of a world of vendors without much inconvenience to himself. Retailers no longer have the advantage of a location over their competitors - so you're no longer the only store in town, or in driving distance: you must compete with companies the world over.
Also, the Internet is an egocentric medium: the customer is in control, and he expects to be served. If he doesn't feel your site is serving his needs, he's a few clicks from another site that does.
Therefore, CRM is essential to retaining your customers in the new medium. Companies that ignore it will lose market share to others who "get" it, and put it into practice.
CRM: Internal and External Considerations
The relationship in CRM refers to the balance of the customer's desire for autonomy and the business's desire for process control, which seems like a contradiction. Certain internal and external components of business process must be considered (and adapted).
First, the customer must always be at the center of the organizational process. In the old-economy approach, the customer's needs came last - as the relationship between the two did not exist until the moment the customer receives the product. Even then the relationship was brief and formal, occurring in an instant, and often market the end of the process.
Not only does the customer relationship begin before the formal "sale" or delivery of the product, it continues after it. This includes more extensive after-the-sale support, as well as maintaining the relationship with the customer to capture the next sale.
Second, you must realize that eBusiness moves very fast: a customer who is made to wait for information or service will be lost to a competitor who fills that void in a very short amount of time. Now more than ever before, the customer is empowered, and inclined, to abort the process and walk away.
In sum, the customer is no longer a third party who can be manipulated and controlled to the liking of the business. The customer is in a crucial role, and must be served to maintain their engagement through the entire process.
Initial CRM Considerations
Ultimately, CRM is a philosophy that drives the business operations toward making customer experience a priority - it is not a specific technical or procedural solution for achieving that state (you don't "install" a CRM system and declare the job finished). However, your existing infrastructure may be a help or a hindrance to the task.
Disintegrated information systems can be an obstacle, especially when they prevent access to information - e.g., to get information of a certain kind, a customer is forced through specific channels and specific procedures.
Disconnected business units are another obstacle. One example is the telephone gantlet customers must run, being transferred from one department to the next, in search of someone who can help them, because the original operator does not have access to the information they need.
Disempowered employees are also an obstacle: compelling an employee to apply rigid procedures when dealing with a customer is, in effect, applying those same procedures to the customer rather than serving his needs. Denying an employee access to information is denying the same information from the customers they serve. Denying an employee the ability to make a decision is closing off options for the customer. Typically, front-line employees are disempowered, and the customer must ask to speak to a manager, and perhaps another level of manager, to get the service they need.
On the Web, enabling the customer to achieve complete self-service is the mark of a well-designed site. If they have to phone for help, or abandon the channel to achieve their goals, the site has failed, and some percentage of customers will turn to a more helpful competitor than struggle to obtain service from you.
Preparing for Technical Implementation
Insofar as a technical implementation is concerned, there are a number of things that bear early consideration:
Your Web interface will need to recognize customers as individuals, and serve them information accordingly. It can be as simple as greeting a customer by name as they enter the site at first, then later graduate to providing them information about their previous orders, and later graduate to using customer-specific data in your back-end systems to tailor the Web site experience to the needs of each customer.
You will need to prepare a database that provides complete product information: everything that is known about your product line (not just a brief item description) will need to be available, ad you will need to be able to associate other data with a specific product (such as, what other products were also purchased by a person who bought that item, the demographic or psychographic profile of likely buyers, etc.)
Integrate external sources of information where possible. Items such as product reviews, customer success stories, etc. may exist on other sites, and would be valuable to assimilate.
Ensure online ordering and billing is both possible and effective. Online ordering is generally simple enough, but the ability to access shipping information, account history, and other data is often more difficult. These items are valuable to CRM logic tha can be implemented later.
Seek to provide follow-on support after the sale to ensure that customers have a positive experience not only with the transaction to purchase the item, but their experience of ownership (satisfaction after the sale). Doing so keeps the product and your company at the top of the customer's mind for future purchasing.
This list is not meant to be comprehensive - there are many other things a site can do to foster and improve relationships with customers, but it demonstrates that there are a number of tasks, which can be achieved incrementally.