CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

CASE STUDY – SERVICE MANAGEMENT

Submitted by:

AAKANKSHA JAIN

Enroll no. 09BS0000006

 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE CASE

Voltas sells room air-conditioners and had a complicated and manual process for
recording its service transactions with its customers. The Company intended to stress
on its service management because it was contributing 6% to the bottom line. In Mumbai,
its demand for service contract was around 35,000 and was growing at a fast pace.
Limitations and problems with the manual system encouraged them to adopt a customer
relationship management (CRM) system and therefore created a completely
computerized service management system. Despite few programming glitches, the
system proved to be a success.

WHY I EMPHASISE ON CRM FOR SERVICE MANAGEMENT

Would you like to know about related items that might make your purchase more useful? Do you
want the right product delivered on time? Do you want to be billed correctly? Would you like to
get discounts because you're a frequent buyer? What happens if it doesn't work? Would it be
nice to know how to reach a real person who can handle any problem on the first call, or find a
Web site so that you can take care of it yourself? If so, then you had better buy from someone
with a true CRM system."

Rapidly-changing business environment is driving the need for vendors to retain their best
customers and build competitive advantage through customer loyalty. It is 5-10 times cheaper to
retain customer than to acquire new ones and escalated efforts towards retaining and nurturing
relations need to be made. B2B and B2C enterprises work towards creating a strategically
beneficial business relationship with its customers via multiple channels, understanding and
responding to needs with a range of products and services. Business customer is increasingly
looking at higher service levels, reduced costs and immense value-addition, these being
integrated with processes and systems.

PROBLEMS WITH THE SERVICE MANAGEMENT AT VOLTAS

1. All activities were manual. As a result the process was time consuming, and slow.
2. There was data entry at multiple points, leading to a repetitive process.
3. Due to multiple data entry points, there was lack of authenticity of data and disputes on
information on warranty claims.
4. Productivity of service staff was low and there was lack of accountability. It was difficult
to determine how much work was done by the service staff.
5. Division of Mumbai into 12 offices and a central office led to wastage of valuable time in
manual exchange of data.
6. The card system did not give information regarding the call history and complaints
placed by the customer
SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE CRM SYSTEM

Considering the above problems faced by VOLTAS, I would suggest CRM software by SAP
called SAP CRM. SAP CRM reduces service costs while enhancing customer satisfaction by
increasing efficiency and delivering consistent high-quality service.

 Sales and marketing for service

o Generate and process service contract quotations, and service orders.

o Conduct solution-based selling.

 Service contract management

o Manage service contracts, automatically verify entitlement, manage service-level

agreements, and alert agents when a customer's contract is about to expire.
o Support a variety of service contracts, including standard parts and usage-based
contracts.

 Customer service and support

o Provide online access information on service histories, contracts and service

entitlements, service levels, installed base, and warranties through an easy-to-
use interactive website portal.

 Return and depot repair

o Automate the entire return and depot repair process, including creating the return
materials authorization (RMA), billing and delivery of repaired products to
customers, and issuing and tracking units as necessary.

 Field service management

o Organize, plan, and dispatch service resources to meet service demands using
Gantt charts, geo-maps, or a powerful optimization engine.

 Warranty and claim management

o Manage the entire warranty and claims process, from return merchandise
authorization (RMA) to receipt and inspection.
o Coordinate with third-party logistics providers to ensure timely customer credits.

 Installation and maintenance

o Track customers' installed base of products and their configuration with graphical
hierarchical representation.
o Predict impact of new product installation for fast and accurate service.
o Minimize downtime with planned maintenance service.

 Parts logistics and finance

o Manage parts inventory and parts procurement with native integration to SAP
ERP logistics capabilities.
 o Streamline invoicing, revenue recognition, and cost allocation with native
integration to SAP ERP financial capabilities.

 Service analytics

o Identify problems and trends, and take corrective action if needed.

 E-service

o Provide a secure, personalized portal for customer support and service over the
Web.
o Enable customers to troubleshoot their product issues, create service requests,
register products and warranties, and track orders.

HOW SYSTEM WOULD WORK TO ACHIEVE THE IMPROVEMENTS DESIRED

Using the SAP CRM system, all the offices in Mumbai will be connected through web enabled
computer system to facilitate direct communication between the different zones. All entries are
entered through the computer and are collected at a central data repository. This centralized
data collection will remove repetitive entries, reduce human errors and make the process more
efficient. Service contract management, which is a part of the CRM system collects all relevant
data and reduces the need for additional labor force for data entry. Also, data can be viewed by
the service staff depending upon the authority of the viewer, hence maintaining security of
customer information. Once a customer makes a service call or complaint, it is stored in the
data repository, which in turn allocates the calls to be made by the service staff. In this way, the
management also has a record of the calls that have to be made by the service personal.
Service Metrics include cases closed same day, number of cases handled by agent, number of
service calls, average number of service requests by type, average time to resolution, average
number of service calls per day. This decides the responsibility of the staff and better allocation
of work. All the transactions are recorded and stored and can be updated with every new
transaction made. This file also shows the complete data about the customer such as name,
address, warranty details, compressor and machine serial no, date of purchase, contact number
coupled with the details of all the calls made to the service department. Analyses this database
to group customers based on their demographic profile, preferences, behavior patterns and
profitability. It also highlights problem areas such as a reduction in the business from a
particular customer, alerts/reminds operatives of issues such as customers’ birthdays, payment
reminders to enable cross-selling of services to the customer and has rigorous security
mechanisms in place to ensure that such vital information cannot be misused. It will provide
greater cost efficiencies from one repository for customer and product information.
From the customer point of view, the status of their warranty online and can place service
orders on the internet.

BUSINESS PROCESS REENGINEERING AT VOLTAS FOR CRM

Before initiating the CRM system, VOLTAS will require to make structural changes to make the
management and employees ready for the new system. Use the CRM System RFP Template
provided by SAP CRM to define VOLTAS business requirements, before going to look at
solutions. Prioritize requirements into three categories: must have, nice to have, and do not
apply. Then the process of reengineering begins. First, it has to purchase a dedicated server as
it will now have a client-server system. It will require a CRM Administrator to manage the
system internally, or it may prefer to outsource the support function to SAP. Either way, it would
be wise to budget some amount for user support. Also, it will be beneficial to perform a back-
end or ERP integration though it can be expensive initially, but will provide a longer-term
payback from process automation and streamlining. There are many “connectors” that have
been specifically designed to integrate CRM systems with other software packages provided by
SAP. Senior Management Commitment from the top executives will be required and they must
understand that CRM is a complex, long-term initiative. They need to commit to providing the
required budget, resources, and potentially upgrade backend I/T systems. Additionally, senior
management must enforce CRM adoption. Technology should be integrated with core business
areas while automating business processes and aligned with the business strategy. Also ensure
that the Company customize the SAP CRM system to align to their processes & workflows.
While implementing the CRM system, people from across business units should be included in
the BPR team. The CRM team should include people from sales, marketing, customer service,
engineering, quality, and business systems. This cross-pollination of skills and corporate
knowledge proved very beneficial. A steering committee to oversee the project will also be
required and approve the recommendations of CRM team. Lastly, consider rolling out to a pilot
group of users before conducting a wide-sweeping adoption campaign. This will help to develop
“power users” who really understand how to use the system.

CONCLUSION

CRM is not a technology; it is a business strategy that puts customers at the focal point of the
business. People and processes are what will enable technology to streamline and automate
workflows.
Before one commits to CRM, review business goals & objectives, assess preparedness,
consider the return on investment, and analyze current business processes. Once senior
management has agreed to go down the CRM path, understand the marketplace, determine the
requirements, evaluate solutions, and find a consulting partner that can take the business to the
next level.