CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (CRM)

What is CRM (customer relationship management)?

CRM (customer relationship management) is an information industry term for methodologies,

software, and usually Internet capabilities that help an enterprise manage customer relationships
in an organized way. For example, an enterprise might build a database about its customers that
described relationships in sufficient detail so that management, salespeople, people providing
service, and perhaps the customer directly could access information, match customer needs with
product plans and offerings, remind customers of service requirements, know what other
products a customer had purchased, and so forth.

It is a process or methodology used to learn more about customers' needs and behaviors in order
to develop stronger relationships with them. There are many technological components to CRM,
but thinking about CRM in primarily technological terms is a mistake. The more useful way to
think about CRM is as a process that will help bring together lots of pieces of information about
customers, sales, marketing effectiveness, responsiveness and market trends.

CRM helps businesses use technology and human resources to gain insight into the behavior of
customers and the value of those customers.
 KEY CONCEPTS OF CRM

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a term given to the process of managing your
relationship with your customers...better.

It covers:

 Managing Leads
 Qualifying and Converting Leads
 Managing Opportunities
 Keeping track of Activities
 Management Reporting and Forecasting
 Summary of the Benefits.

HISTORY OF CRM

In the beginning there was PIM, or Personal Information Manager - a limited use, all
purpose electronic diary with basic database functionality, that you could use to start
organizing your names and addresses, and time, amongst other things. These PIM's are
good personal productivity tools, but they tend to fall over when applied in a business
environment with a more demanding requirement.

The PIM slowly morphed into the CMS, or Contact Management System, as a result of its
increasing take on by people in sales and marketing, incorporating a more specific set of
requirements to help them scale the coalface. Contact Managers are fantastic, flexible
productivity tools for most anybody or organization. They are also more robust, with
improved industrial strength database engines that are better able to manage larger volumes
of data.
Contact Management software became SFA, as in Sales Force Automation systems, what
now forms the cornerstone of modern CRM applications. CRM is short for Customer
Relationship Management, which is the industry term for the set of methodologies and
tools that help an enterprise manage customer relationships in an organized way.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is one of those magnificent concepts that swept
the business world in the 1990’s with the promise of forever changing the way businesses
small and large interacted with their customer bases. In the short term, however, it proved to
be an unwieldy process that was better in theory than in practice for a variety of reasons. First
among these was that it was simply so difficult and expensive to track and keep the high
volume of records needed accurately and constantly update them.

In the last several years, however, newer software systems and advanced tracking features
have vastly improved CRM capabilities and the real promise of CRM is becoming a reality.
As the price of newer, more customizable Internet solutions have hit the marketplace;
competition has driven the prices down so that even relatively small businesses are reaping
the benefits of some custom CRM programs.

CHALLENGES FACED DURING CRM

Tools and workflows can be complex, especially for large businesses. Previously these tools
were generally limited to contact management: monitoring and recording interactions and
communications. Software solutions then expanded to embrace deal tracking, territories,
opportunities, and at the sales pipeline itself. Next came the advent of tools for other client-
interface business functions, as described below. These tools have been, and still are, offered
as on-premises software that companies purchase and run on their own IT infrastructure.
Often, implementations are fragmented—isolated initiatives by individual departments to
address their own needs. Systems that start disunited usually stay that way: siloed thinking
and decision processes frequently lead to separate and incompatible systems, and
dysfunctional processes.
CRM CHART

TYPES/VARIATIONS

Sales force automation

Sales force automation (SFA) involves using software to streamline all phases of the sales
process, minimizing the time that sales representatives need to spend on each phase. This allows
sales representatives to pursue more clients in a shorter amount of time than would otherwise be
possible. At the heart of SFA is a contact management system for tracking and recording every
stage in the sales process for each prospective client, from initial contact to final disposition.
Many SFA applications also include insights into opportunities, territories, sales forecasts and
workflow automation, quote generation, and product knowledge. Modules for Web 2.0 e-
commerce and pricing are new, emerging interests in SFA.
Marketing

CRM systems for marketing help the enterprise identify and target potential clients and generate
leads for the sales team. A key marketing capability is tracking and measuring multichannel
campaigns, including email, search, social media, telephone and direct mail. Metrics monitored
include clicks, responses, leads, deals, and revenue. This has been superseded by marketing
automation and Prospect Relationship Management (PRM) solutions which track customer
behavior and nurture them from first contact to sale, often cutting out the active sales process
altogether.

Customer service and support

Recognizing that service is an important factor in attracting and retaining customers,

organizations are increasingly turning to technology to help them improve their clients’
experience while aiming to increase efficiency and minimize costs. Even so, a 2009 study
revealed that only 39% of corporate executives believe their employees have the right tools and
authority to solve client problems.“.e core for these applications has been and still is
comprehensive call center solutions, including such features as intelligent call routing, computer
telephone integration (CTI), and escalation capabilities.

Analytics

Relevant analytics capabilities are often interwoven into applications for sales, marketing, and
service. These features can be complemented and augmented with links to separate, purpose-
built applications for analytics and business intelligence. Sales analytics let companies monitor
and understand client actions and preferences, through sales forecasting and data quality.

Marketing applications generally come with predictive analytics to improve segmentation and

targeting, and features for measuring the effectiveness of online, offline, and search marketing
campaign. Web analytics have evolved significantly from their starting point of merely tracking
mouse clicks on Web sites. By evaluating “buy signals,” marketers can see which prospects are
most likely to transact and also identify those who are bogged down in a sales process and need
assistance. Marketing and finance personnel also use analytics to assess the value of multi-
faceted programs as a whole.

These types of analytics are increasing in popularity as companies demand greater visibility into
the performance of call centers and other service and support channels,  in order to correct
problems before they affect satisfaction levels. Support-focused applications typically include
dashboards similar to those for sales, plus capabilities to measure and analyze response times,
service quality, agent performance, and the frequency of various issues.

Integrated/Collaborative

Departments within enterprises — especially large enterprises — tend to function with little
collaboration. More recently, the development and adoption of these tools and services have
fostered greater fluidity and cooperation among sales, service, and marketing. This finds
expression in the concept of collaborative systems which uses technology to build bridges
between departments. For example, feedback from a technical support center can enlighten
marketers about specific services and product features clients are asking for. Reps, in their turn,
want to be able to pursue these opportunities without the burden of re-entering records and
contact data into a separate SFA system. Owing to these factors, many of the top-rated and most
popular products come as integrated suites.

Small business

For small business, basic client service can be accomplished by a contact manager system: an
integrated solution that lets organizations and individuals efficiently track and record
interactions, including emails, documents, jobs, faxes, scheduling, and more. These tools usually
focus on accounts rather than on individual contacts. They also generally include opportunity
insight for tracking sales pipelines plus added functionality for marketing and service. As with
larger enterprises, small businesses are finding value in online solutions, especially for mobile
and telecommuting workers.
Social media

Social media sites like Twitter, LinkedIn and Face book are amplifying the voice of people in the

marketplace and are having profound and far-reaching effects on the ways in which people buy.
Customers can now research companies online and then ask for recommendations through social
media channels, making their buying decision without contacting the company.

People also use social media to share opinions and experiences on companies, products and
services. As social media is not as widely moderated or censored as mainstream media,
individuals can say anything they want about a company or brand, positive or negative.

Increasingly, companies are looking to gain access to these conversations and take part in the
dialogue. More than a few systems are now integrating to social networking sites. Social media
promoters cite a number of business advantages, such as using online communities as a source of
high-quality leads and a vehicle for crowd sourcing solutions to client-support problems.
Companies can also leverage client stated habits and preferences to personalize and even "hyper-
target" their sales and marketing communications.

Some analysts take the view that business-to-business marketers should proceed cautiously when
weaving social media into their business processes. These observers recommend careful market
research to determine if and where the phenomenon can provide measurable benefits for client
interactions, sales and support. It is stated[that people feel their interactions are peer-to-peer
between them and their contacts, and resent company involvement, sometimes responding with
negatives about that company.

Non-profit and membership-based

Systems for non-profit and membership-based organizations help track constituents and their
involvement in the organization. Capabilities typically include tracking the following: fund-
raising, demographics, membership levels, membership directories, volunteering and
communications with individuals.

Many include tools for identifying potential donors based on previous donations and
participation. In light of the growth of social networking tools, there may be some overlap
between social/community driven tools and non-profit/membership tools.
STRATEGY TO BE FOLLOWED

For larger-scale enterprises, a complete and detailed plan is required to obtain the funding,
resources, and company-wide support that can make the initiative of choosing and implementing
a system successful. Benefits must be defined, risks assessed, and cost quantified in three general
areas:

Processes: Though these systems have many technological components, business processes
lie at its core. It can be seen as a more client-centric way of doing business, enabled by
technology that consolidates and intelligently distributes pertinent information about clients,
sales, marketing effectiveness, responsiveness, and market trends. Therefore, a company
must analyze its business workflows and processes before choosing a technology platform;
some will likely need re-engineering to better serve the overall goal of winning and satisfying
clients. Moreover, planners need to determine the types of client information that are most
relevant, and how best to employ them.

People: For an initiative to be effective, an organization must convince its staff that the new
technology and workflows will benefit employees as well as clients. Senior executives need
to be strong and visible advocates who can clearly state and support the case for change.
Collaboration, teamwork, and two-way communication should be encouraged across
hierarchical boundaries, especially with respect to process improvement.

Technology: In evaluating technology, key factors include alignment with the company’s
business process strategy and goals, including the ability to deliver the right data to the right
employees and sufficient ease of adoption and use. Platform selection is best undertaken by a
carefully chosen group of executives who understand the business processes to be automated
as well as the software issues. Depending upon the size of the company and the breadth of
data, choosing an application can take anywhere from a few weeks to a year or more.
Implementation issues

Increases in revenue, higher rates of client satisfaction, and significant savings in operating costs
are some of the benefits to an enterprise. Proponents emphasize that technology should be
implemented only in the context of careful strategic and operational planning. Implementations
almost invariably fall short when one or more facets of this prescription are ignored:

Poor planning: Initiatives can easily fail when efforts are limited to choosing and deploying
software, without an accompanying rationale, context, and support for the workforce. In
other instances, enterprises simply automate flawed client-facing processes rather than
redesign them according to best practices.

Poor integration: For many companies, integrations are piecemeal initiatives that address a
glaring need: improving a particular client-facing process or two or automating a favored
sales or client support channel. Such “point solutions” offer little or no integration or
alignment with a company’s overall strategy. They offer a less than complete client view and
often lead to unsatisfactory user experiences.

Toward a solution: overcoming soloed thinking. Experts advise organizations to recognize

the immense value of integrating their client-facing operations. In this view, internally-
focused, department-centric views should be discarded in favor of reorienting processes
toward information-sharing across marketing, sales, and service. For example, sales
representatives need to know about current issues and relevant marketing promotions before
attempting to cross-sell to a specific client. Marketing staff should be able to leverage client
information from sales and service to better target campaigns and offers. And support agents
require quick and complete access to a client’s sales and service history.
Adoption issues

Historically, the landscape is littered with instances of low adoption rates. In 2003, a Gartner
report estimated that more than $1 billion had been spent on software that was not being used.
More recent research indicates that the problem, while perhaps less severe, is a long way from
being solved. According to CSO Insights, less than 40 percent of 1,275 participating companies
had end-user adoption rates above 90 percent.

In a 2007 survey from the U.K., four-fifths of senior executives reported that their biggest
challenge is getting their staff to use the systems they had installed. Further, 43 percent of
respondents said they use less than half the functionality of their existing system; 72 percent
indicated they would trade functionality for ease of use; 51 percent cited data synchronization as
a major issue; and 67 percent said that finding time to evaluate systems was a major problem.
With expenditures expected to exceed $11 billion in 2010, enterprises need to address and
overcome persistent adoption challenges. Specialists offer these recommendations for boosting
adoptions rates and coaxing users to blend these tools into their daily workflow:

 Choose a system that is easy to use:

All solutions are not created equal. Some vendors offer more user-friendly applications
than others, and simplicity should be as important a decision factor as functionality.

 Choose the right capabilities:

Employees need to know that time invested in learning and usage will yield personal
advantages. If not, they will work around or ignore the system.

 Provide training:

Changing the way people work is no small task, and help is usually a requirement. Even
with today’s more usable systems, many staffers still need assistance with learning and
adoption
  Lead by example:

Showing employees that upper management fully supports the use of a new application
by using the application themselves may increase the likelihood that employees will
adopt the application

CRM in Organization

CRM & Executive Management

Managing the customer relationship enables a business to identify the right customers, target
them with the right offers at the right time, and deliver that information using the right channel;
for instance, via an email campaign, direct mail, phone calls, trade shows, etc. CRM software
enables a business to retain valuable information and then use that information to increase sales,
handle specific customer service issues, and create databases of information that reflects the
specific consumer traits of its public.

Customer Relationship Management requires a central enterprise-wide database that is used by

all members of the organization. The first relationship generally occurs during the sales and
marketing cycle when the "customer" is first a "prospect". During the sales process, all
information gathered about the prospect site and their personnel is recorded in the CRM
database. Once the prospect becomes a customer, sales generally retains the relationship with the
customer. In addition, customer support, professional services, development, and management
play important roles in providing service and maintaining a good relationship with the customer.

Every conversation, visit, or correspondence with a customer should be recorded in this database.
You need to track the individuals at your customer, the products which the customer has
purchased, what has been shipped to the customer, maintenance contracts or service level
agreements as well as all work or support provided to your customer.
According to one industry view, CRM consists of:

Helping an enterprise to enable its marketing departments to identify and target their best
customers, manage marketing campaigns and generate quality leads for the sales team.
Assisting the organization to improve telesales, account, and sales management by optimizing
information shared by multiple employees, and streamlining existing processes (for example,
taking orders using mobile devices)

Allowing the formation of individualized relationships with customers, with the aim of
improving customer satisfaction and maximizing profits; identifying the most profitable
customers and providing them the highest level of service.
Providing employees with the information and processes necessary to know their customers,
understand and identify customer needs and effectively build relationships between the company,
its customer base, and distribution partners.

Evolution of CRM

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is one of those magnificent concepts that swept the
business world in the 1990’s with the promise of forever changing the way businesses small and
large interacted with their customer bases. In the short term, however, it proved to be an
unwieldy process that was better in theory than in practice for a variety of reasons. First among
these was that it was simply so difficult and expensive to track and keep the high volume of
records needed accurately and constantly update them.
In the last several years, however, newer software systems and advanced tracking features have
vastly improved CRM capabilities and the real promise of CRM is becoming a reality. As the
price of newer, more customizable Internet solutions have hit the marketplace; competition has
driven the prices down so that even relatively small businesses are reaping the benefits of some
custom CRM programs.
IN THE BEGINNING

The 1980’s saw the emergence of database marketing, which was simply a catch phrase to define
the practice of setting up customer service groups to speak individually to all of a company’s
customers.
In the case of larger, key clients it was a valuable tool for keeping the lines of communication
open and tailoring service to the clients needs. In the case of smaller clients, however, it tended
to provide repetitive, survey-like information that cluttered databases and didn’t provide much
insight. As companies began tracking database information, they realized that the bare bones
were all that was needed in most cases: what they buy regularly, what they spend, what they do.

ADVANCES IN THE 1990’S

In the 1990’s companies began to improve on Customer Relationship Management by making it

more of a two-way street. Instead of simply gathering data for their own use, they began giving
back to their customers not only in terms of the obvious goal of improved customer service, but
in incentives, gifts and other perks for customer loyalty.
This was the beginning of the now familiar frequent flyer programs, bonus points on credit cards
and a host of other resources that are based on CRM tracking of customer activity and spending
patterns. CRM was now being used as a way to increase sales passively as well as through active
improvement of customer service.

ABOUT CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT - CRM

The generally accepted purpose of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is to enable

organizations to better serve its customers through the introduction of reliable processes and
procedures for interacting with those customers.

In today's competitive business environment, a successful CRM strategy cannot be implemented

by only installing and integrating a software package designed to support CRM processes. A
holistic approach to CRM is vital for an effective and efficient CRM policy. This approach
includes training of employees, a modification of business processes based on customers' needs
and an adoption of relevant IT-systems (including soft- and maybe hardware) and/or usage of IT-
Services that enable the organization or company to follow its CRM strategy. CRM-Services can
even redundant the acquisition of additional hardware or CRM software-licenses.

The term CRM is used to describe either the software or the whole business strategy oriented on
customer needs. The second one is the description which is correct. The main misconception of
CRM is that it is only software, instead of whole business strategy.

Major areas of CRM focus on service automated processes, personal information gathering and
processing, and self-service. It attempts to integrate and automate the various customer serving
processes within a company.

THERE ARE THREE PARTS OF APPLICATION ARCHITECTURE OF CRM:

1. Operational - automation to the basic business processes (marketing, sales, service)

2. Analytical - support to analyse customer behaviour, implements business intelligence
alike technology
3. Co operational - ensures the contact with customers (phone, email, fax, web...)

Operational part of CRM typically involves three general areas of business. They are (according
to Gartner Group) an Enterprise marketing automation (EMA), Sales force automation (SFA)
and a Customer service and support (CSS). The marketing information part provides information
about the business environment, including competitors, industry trends, and macro
environmental variables. The sales force management part automates some of the company's
sales and sales force management functions. It keeps track of customer preferences, buying
habits, and demographics, and also sales staff performance. The customer service part automates
some service requests, complaints, product returns, and information requests.
Integrated CRM software is often also known as "front office solutions." This is because they
deal directly with the customer.
Many call centers use CRM software to store all of their customer's details. When a customer
calls, the system can be used to retrieve and store information relevant to the customer. By
serving the customer quickly and efficiently, and also keeping all information on a customer in
one place, a company aims to make cost savings, and also encourage new customers.

CRM solutions can also be used to allow customers to perform their own service via a variety of
communication channels. For example, you might be able to check your bank balance via your
WAP phone without ever having to talk to a person, saving money for the company, and saving
you time.

IMPORTANCE OF CUSTOMERS

There exists a wide-spread mistaken notion that CRM is some kind of a manifestation of
technology only. Another interesting thing is that even those who have implemented highly
technological installations for their CRM initiatives, quite often can be seen to have forgotten the
basis of this modern concept, i.e., making profitable relationships with their customers. This
significant part is left to the technology alone (Schneider and Bowen, 1999). Such a situation
arises mainly because of the inability or reluctance of the management to accept the importance
of customers and serving them to keep them satisfied and happy, which otherwise may result in
low sales and hence low profits. "One widely accepted marketing rule-of-thumb claims that the
average, unhappy customer tells eight other potential customers about his negative experience."
(Lemon, et al, 2002)
Some decades ago, most of the companies concentrated mainly on higher productivity through
higher levels of efficiency of employees as well as machines, cost-reduction tactics and on
attracting more customers through the classic marketing tactics such as TV advertisements, mass
mailings, bill boards etc. But the sudden growth and expansion of services sector proved that
these would not convert into profits, as was expected. Moreover, the emergence of faster,
cheaper and more efficient systems of communication, transport and information technology has
made the business enterprises realize that the competition is just a mouse click away. These
changed, new environment of business unveiled the importance of keeping the existing
customers loyal so that they would not switch over to the competition, without much thinking.
This led to the increased awareness of companies about the importance of serving the customer
needs with a higher level of quality and in a way which is convenient and beneficial to both the
companies and the customers. (Anton, 2005)
According to Berry (1983) Customers to a business are those people or enterprises which are
benefited by the use of a service or product offered by that particular business, certainly for
something in return, generally a price. When a customer pays a price, he expects some specific
thing with a specific quality and features. If his expectation exceeds what he has been given, it
leads to an unsatisfied customer. If the offer exceeds his expectations for a stipulated price, it
leads to a highly satisfied customer and he is said to be enjoying customer delight.
Today, the customer has more choices to choose from. So it is more likely for any customer to
switch from one company to another in search of better quality or service. But the companies
have found out that creating new demand i.e., finding out new customer is much costlier than
keeping the regular demand, i.e. Existing customers for a regular inflow of cash and hence
profits. "The reports on new customer acquisition costs vary, from as low as three times to as
high as thirteen times of servicing an existing customer." (Berry, 1983)
In a customer’s viewpoint, there is very little reason to switch loyalties often, if things are going
comfortably with the existing vendor and the level of service is good. Switching involves
changes and disruptions in service levels that most regular customers try to avoid. Realizing
these facts in its true sense, many companies have stuck to making long-term profitable
relationships with their prospective customers. (Hart et al, 2002) And this has been proved to be,
in a way, mutually beneficial to both the parties. This has resulted in managing these
relationships as a strategic tool and in the evolution of Customer Relationship Management or
most commonly known as CRM.
FOUR PARAMETERS TO MEASURE CRM SUCCESS

a) CRM's ability to impact corporate strategy:

Without a corporate strategy, giving emphasis to a customer-centric approach, no CRM
initiative can be made fully successful.

b) Successful technology integration:

The technology which has been used across different departments of an enterprise should be
integrated to give a comprehensive and successful CRM application.

c) Enhanced strategic partnerships:

For a good CRM implementation, there should be a co-ordinate effort among the different
partners to the enterprise.

d) Assimilation of CRM related technologies:

Those who are responsible for the CRM activities should thoroughly be conversant with the
technological aspects of that particular technique. Otherwise, misuse or under utilization of these
technologies may take place resulting in partial or full failure of those activities.

RETURN ON INVESTMENT (ROI) OF CRM

Rigorous financial scrutiny of all Information Technology IT) investments have now become the
rule. This same rule is applicable to the technology used in the CRM also. The failures of some
CRM installations in some of the industries have given way to think about the Return on
Investment (RoI) of CRM. (www.ascenantone.com)
Now there are specific analytical tools which will help organizations to measure their return on
investment of CRM. According to George Varghese, Head (Marketing), SAS India,
"Operational CRM can improve efficiency but it is difficult to calculate RoI. (Mohan Babu,
2003) To calculate RoI, enterprises need to build organizational intelligence, customer
intelligence and supplier intelligence to get a unified 360 degree view of customers, suppliers
and organizations." (Dyche, 2004)
FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED WHILE CALCULATING ROI:-

1. Savings in the form of reduced use of time to manage customers and customer
transactions.
2. Savings in the form of time needed to assemble and consolidate sales forecasts.
3. Additional revenue in terms of increased lead generation.
4. Additional revenue in terms of increased sales due to increased customer loyalty.
(Berry, 1983)

CRM is an integration of contact management, sales automation, marketing automation,

customer service and support, e-commerce, partner and channel management etc. It is not just a
software solution, but also, a set of skills and competencies that will enable a company to
better leverage and profit from each and every customer relationships. When the goal of
cheaper, faster, better service is considered, the results far outweigh the challenges. Several big
organizations have failed to know what the customer really wants and several others, after
knowing, could not really translate these requirements into deliverance. At the same time we are
able to see small shop keepers doing CRM extremely well. Good CRM is all about replicating
the same experience with the use of technology. (Lemon, et al, 2002)

CRM AND TECHNOLOGY

In CRM the important functions are collecting customer data, analyzing them and making
relationships with the prospective customers based on the analyzed information. Among these
three main functions, the first and the last ones are making direct contact with customers, while
analyzing data is not.
The operational CRM deals with those which make customer contacts or otherwise called as
touch points.
Analytical CRM does the job of analyzing the accumulated data from the various touch points
with the aid of business intelligence.

By using the new CRM techniques the companies are trying to provide a consistent but tailored
customer experience across all contact points with the customers.
The Components of Operational CRM:-

1. Customer Service and Support (CSS):

These applications basically automate the support and service functions, including analysis
and also provides workflow engines that facilitate efficient problem and inquiry escalation,
tracking and resolution. They also provide customizable, dynamic scripting capabilities for
the customer service representatives or executives as well as the potential to record customer
responses in a shared storehouse.

Call centers use operational CRM tools; They also integrate with computer telephony
integration capabilities which allows automatic call routing with automatic screen pop-ups
containing all customer and product information to the agent's work stations as the agents are
answering or initiating calls. (Chaudhuri & Shainesh 2001)

Customer service and support is to provide all the information, fulfillment and resolution to the
customer’s requirements, issues and queries aligned with customer expectations and product
promise.

Break down of the definition

Customer Service and Support is to provide all the...

 Information- Information about the product, process, status and other details during and
after the purchase.
 Fulfillment- Repair, maintenance, collection, delivery
 Resolution- to issues, complaints

To

 Customer requirements- installation, demo, configuration, maintenance...

 Issues- complaint, product functioning problems, billing related problems...
 Queries- on delivery status, account status, product features...

Aligned with

 Customer expectations: the service and support should be meeting the expectations in
terms of responsiveness, turnaround time, quality and completeness.
  Product Promise: Assuming that customer expectations may be misplaced, the customer
service should be fulfilling at least the product/sale promise, while bringing the customer
expectation to a right point.

TIP- In an ideal scenario, the product promise and the customer expectations should match.
For example, if the product promise say that you will have 8X5 on call support, the customer
expectations should not be for 24X7. An organization has to ensure that key areas, where
customer expectation and product promise are not aligned (one learns of these areas by
experience), one should make it clear during the sales process. If we miss that step, one can train
the customer service and support to manage customer expectations.

Success Factors and Enablers for Customer Service and Support

Here is the long list of the success factors or enablers for customer service. For some of these
factors, we have created separate pages because of their sheer length.

 Integrity: If the customer cannot trust you, or do not think that you mean what you say;
all your customer service efforts to keep a happy customer will go to waste. Therefore,
even if you have a bad news to the give to the customer, don't sweeten in it to the extent
that it loses its core message and has a risk of mis-interpretation.

 Guide the customer: If a customer comes to you with an issue or a query and you are not
the right person, you need to guide him towards the right place, but without giving a
feeling that you are dropping the ball. A customer would rather be forwarded to the right
person, instead of being given a number which he can call-up.

 Make the promises you can keep: This is linked to the integrity aspect. You do face
situations, when you have to tell an already irate customer that you cannot make a
promise or your timelines are not acceptable to the customer. "Just get him off my back
as of now" is very risky approach.

 Empower frontline customer service staff: This is being covered in detail in a field TIP.
In short, one needs to empower frontline staff to take decisions and do tasks, so that a
customer get immediate gratification and overall organization productivity is enhanced.

 Responsiveness: Too long a queue on the service centre or too long a wait on the
telephone can put the customer off. Organizations which do penny pinching on customer
service staff on not running after wrong savings.

 Knowledge of your world: Customer service staff needs to have a detailed knowledge
about the relevant domains of products and processes.

 Knowledge of customer's world: Enabled by a single customer view and other enabling
methods, a customer service person should know all the relevant and available details of
the customer.
  Knowing the interaction history: Beyond the customer profile, the details and audit trail
of all the interaction customer had with you. This includes

o Mails sent by the customer,

o The telephonic conversation
o Any follow-ups we committed
o The payments done by the customer
o Any billing or due sent by us etc...

 Do more than what customer asks for: This should not be considered as a delight
factors as in today's competitive word, a customer takes good customer service for
granted. Any extra thing (like placing an additional shine on the repaired car), helps him
to stay engaged.

 Supply chain to support: This is again one of those foundation elements. Some
examples of a healthy supply chain is:

o Availability of spare parts and well functioning equipment.

o Systems availability to print duplicate bills and statements
o Logistics to deliver the requested material to the customer
o Manpower to fulfill the customer requests

 Employee Satisfaction: From our point of view, the customer service folks need to be
the most satisfied employees. This is because they are your face to the customer. The dis-
satisfaction of employees has a cascading impact on customer service, especially with the
dis-satisfied customers, who are most prone to attrite.

2. Sales Force Automation (SEA):

These are tools which automate the collection and distribution of all types of sales or sales
related information’s. SEA allow for the design of sales teams based on particularly defined
criteria. Calendar management, activity management, sales reporting and forecasting, lead
distribution and tracking of sales contacts with customers and prospects are some of the
capabilities offered within these solutions.
Sales Force Automation enables businesses to more effectively manage the entire sales cycle,
from lead generation to post-sales service and support. It enables Sales teams to capture and
maintain up-to-date business data that will impact the entire sales process and your company's
bottom line.

Sales Force Automation is a best practices process that uses software to automate the business
tasks of sales while providing sales agents with access to contact details, appointments, sales
opportunities, customer purchase history, order management, territory overview, and much more,
all in real time.

Sales Force Automation provides all members of a sales organization (field sales, inside sales,
telemarketing, call center, managers, and executives) with a detailed view of each customer
relationship, ensuring better overall decision making, greater customer satisfaction, and
increased revenues.

By having all critical customer information in one area, Sales Force Automation facilitates agent
collaboration, thereby increasing productivity and revenues while reducing business costs.

Sales Force Automation provides agents with the tools necessary for success. And by improving
and facilitating sales team communications, companies using Sales Force Automation can
provide the best sales and support environment possible.

The end result of a successful Sales Force Automation implementation can dramatically shorten
the overall sales cycle and increase revenues while increasing staff productivity and improving
customer satisfaction levels.

3. Marketing Automation (MA):

These applications provide the ability to create automated marketing campaigns and track the
results. Generating lists of customers to receive mailings or telemarketing calls, scheduling
automatic or manual follow-up activities and receiving third-party lists for incorporation into the
campaigns are all typical functions. Internet personalization tools are offered here to track
behavior on a web-site and allow tailoring of the contact experience, or generation of specific
cross-selling opportunities based on this behavior. Inbound and outbound e-mail management
capabilities are also becoming popular components of the marketing automation suites. (Key
Note , 2003)

The term "marketing automation" is perhaps one of the most widely used, ill-defined and
ambiguous terms in the marketing and sales technology landscape. Ask 10 different people how
they define marketing automation, and you'll probably get 10 different answers.

Are there marketing automation solutions? Is it a category? Is it a type of technology? Or is it

just a bunch of hooey?

As an analyst, I thought it would be appropriate for me to dispel some of the myths and haziness
that shroud the marketing technology landscape, particularly the use of the term "marketing
automation." In my opinion, much of the uncertainty and ambiguity has stunted growth of
technology that will be critical for every company to embrace in order to maintain a competitive
foothold in the market. The research I have conducted has consistently shown that marketing
automation technology has a direct impact on bottom-line cost reduction and top-line growth.
However, before we tackle that, let's define "marketing automation."

First, a disclaimer: I do not seek to provide a new standard in the market for defining marketing
automation. I wholeheartedly understand that there are other analysts, thought leaders and
product marketing managers who may not agree with all the components of my definition.
However, I believe the definition below will help clarify and provide structure around the
concept of marketing automation and hopefully help conceptualize why automating marketing
activities is of value for every organization.

Engagement Technology

I believe marketing automation is technology; it's technology that helps automate marketing
management and customer engagement. In some cases marketing can be automated with
formalized processes, but excluding technology, this is more marketing optimization and
process. Technology can automate manual, repetitive, mundane tasks in the marketing function
and therefore, in my opinion, exclusively provides the source of marketing automation.
Today, the marketing technology landscape is extremely fragmented, with hundreds of providers
and an eclectic mix of solution offerings ranging from one-solution-fits-all to niche marketing
channel-specific solutions. Technology providers typically automate internal marketing
management processes and/or the execution of customer engagement across one or more
channels. Let's look at the difference between automating marketing management and customer
engagement:

 Marketing Management Automation. This encompasses automation of internal

marketing processes. These might include things like budgeting and planning, workflow
and approvals, the marketing calendar, internal collaboration, digital asset creation and
management, and essentially everything that supports the operational efficiency of the
internal marketing function.

 Customer Engagement Automation. This encompasses automation across one or more

marketing channels: email, the Web site, microsites, direct mail, and dozens of marketing
channels. In other words, the technology helps automate the process of engaging with
customers across one or more channels. This might include setting up an email campaign,
sending it out, and tracking performance; or creating a new landing page with a form
capture element; or more importantly, managing communication with a prospect across
multiple channels (email, the Web site, microsites), and tracking their behavior to
identify the relative propensity to purchase.

The line between marketing management and customer engagement is a bit of a gray area, and
technology providers that deliver marketing automation typically automate elements of each.
However, the definition above leaves room for the email marketing vendor that delivers only
basic email campaign capabilities. An automated email marketing solution with basic email
automation would mostly fall under "customer engagement," which technically is marketing
automation. While it can be difficult to see the term "marketing automation" smattered
throughout vendor Web sites and collateral, I think splitting it between marketing management
and customer engagement helps clarify exactly how each technology solution will be of value
depending on the type of activities it automates for the marketing function.
At this point, it's pretty obvious that marketing automation is a category, not necessarily a
uniquely defined technology with a specific set of features that are consistent across all
technology providers. In much the same way as the word "transportation" broadly defines all
types of vehicles, "marketing automation" defines the set of technologies that help automate
internal processes and customer engagement.

Most companies search for technology to address a specific business pain: "need to improve
internal productivity and process"; "need to send more personalized emails"; "need a more
engaging Web site"; etc. As a result, it's critical to understand the different solutions that fall
under marketing automation to invest in the right technology for the organization's resources and
culture.

There's one more undefined capability that the definition of marketing automation must embody.
It's the notion that customer engagement (and, to a certain extent, marketing management)
produces data that must be transformed into actionable insights that allow an organization to
make better decisions over time.

Without a measurement and analytics component, all "automated" technology is of little more
value than a car without a steering wheel. Thus, in order for any customer engagement
component to be valuable, it must return actionable data that can be analyzed and benchmarked
over time to consistently improve performance -- otherwise what's the point of automating in the
first place? Data integration has become the foundation for extracting limitless value from
marketing automation.

Why Invest in Marketing Automation?

The value of marketing automation is that it has the potential to impact the top and bottom lines
of an organization. Marketing management capabilities address operational efficiency,
productivity and cost savings -- the bottom line. Customer engagement helps maximize the
demand for products and services -- the top line. Isn't that what every CMO wants -- some way
to measurably quantify and justify the tangible impact marketing has on the top and bottom line
in one easy-to-use solution? This is the driving force behind adoption of marketing technology.
However, 89 percent of organizations still struggle with automating the marketing function. In
fact, only 23 percent of organizations in an April 2009 study from the Aberdeen
Group,"Marketing Automation: A Strategic Guide for Optimizing End-To-End Marketing
Activities", indicated they used an "integrated marketing platform" that centralized the marketing
management and customer engagement capabilities in one solution. Research consistently
demonstrates that marketing automation has a long way to go before it joins the ranks of CRM,
sales force automation, and ERP (enterprise resource planning) in terms of widespread adoption.

Research from the customer management practice at Aberdeen Group helps define the
measurable value in automating marketing activities. For example, companies that achieve the
highest performance in annual revenue and return on marketing investment (also defined as
"Best-in-Class" based purely on performance), were four times more likely than peers to
automate customer engagement with a marketing automation solution.

Likewise, Best-in-Class were 4.7 times more likely than their peers to use an integrated solution
that automated both marketing management and customer engagement. These trends suggest a
discernible correlation between performance and the use of automated technology in the
marketing function. However, it's important to note, Best-in-Class firms also display a unique set
of organizational capabilities that allow them to extract more value from technology investments.

Despite the noted benefits, challenges abound when it comes to automating marketing activities.
In the April study on marketing automation, 67 percent of the 130 respondents indicated they
primarily relied on multiple siloed niche solutions for automating marketing activities. This is a
huge problem for most organizations. Data silos, multiple interfaces and a general inability to
holistically tie together performance and marketing leave many CMOs frustrated. Therefore, it's
no surprise to see 58 percent of respondents planning on adopting an "integrated marketing
solution" that delivers both marketing management and customer engagement capabilities. Only
time will tell if these trends will actually translate to strategic action and purchase decisions.
For many organizations, the recession is a scary time. It hardly seems the time to make major
purchase decisions about marketing automation technology investments. However, the recession
might be the most forgiving time to work out new processes and add capabilities that automation
will bring to the organization.

Marketing automation will be a critical component for every organization to grow market share
after the recession lifts. Nobody expects stellar performance during a recession, so it's the best
time to toss in a few speed bumps on top of the landslides. Again, companies that achieved the
highest performance in key metrics like revenue, conversion and return on investments are more
likely to use marketing automation technology. These are the organizations that are achieving the
highest performance during the recession and, therefore, will be in a position to sustain a
competitive advantage after the recession is over.

Analytical CRM - How It Functions?

According to Hart et al, (2002) Analytical CRM involves the analysis and interpretation of large
amounts of cross functional data collected from the customer activities occurred at the front-
office. This data is regularly stored in a data warehouse, which is actually a storehouse of
corporate data from various sources intended to facilitate business analysis. The major types of
analysis of data are the following:

1) OLAP: Online Analytical Processing is one of the most popular type of decision-support
analysis, allowing the average business person to explore data online with the aim of
focusing on detailed data at a lower and lower level of the data hierarchy. More often, this
means generating an online report, analyzing the results and submitting a detailed query in order
to understand the result data. OLAP analysis requires the analyst to have a query or hypothesis in
mind for clearly understanding the result.
2) Data mining: Data mining tools identify patterns in data and deliver valuable new
information’s that can increase a company's understanding of itself and its customers. It is
commonly used to help data analysts search for information they don’t yet know to look for,
often involving no hypothesis. The three types of data mining are (Dyche, 2004):

o Prediction: The use of historical data to determine future behaviors. Predictive modeling
generates output that populates a model or structure to represent the results.

o Sequence: Sequential analysis identifies combinations of activities that occur in a

particular order. This is used to determine whether customers are doing things in a
particular order. It can help a business to distill behavior from events captured from
various operational systems around a company to determine patterns.

o Association: Association analysis detects groups of similar items or events. The

association algorithm is often applied to market-basket analysis to help business
understand products which are usually being purchased together. The product affinity
concept is the base, here.

3) Click stream analysis: By analyzing the click streams of an internet user, one can
understand how the user arrived at the site, how long he stayed, what he did during his visit and
when he returned. The whole process is similar to a hidden camera recording the activities of a
shopper in a store. These data are stored either as part of company’s data warehouse or as
separate click stream data store called "data web house: If examined regularly with consistent
metrics, click streams reveal certain patterns of web-user behavior. (Schneider and Bowen, 1999)

4) Rules based personalization analysis: These analytical tools are based on the concept of
personalization. Here the software makes recommendations based on the
personalized/customized website of a customer. Rules based personalization most often involves
rules that have been hard-coded into software. For this reason it is often difficult to maintain and
support.
5) Collaborative filtering: This is otherwise known as 'adaptive personalization.' This gets
smarter as it observes customer behaviors and applies them to new circumstances. Collaborative
filtering uses the behavior of other 'like' visitors as the basis for its recommendations. These tools
are often more complex, and thus more expensive, than rules-based personalization. (Akhtar,
Prashant & Pankaj, 2002)

SOME APPLICATIONS OF TECHNOLOGY IN CRM

1. Call centers: These are organizations which deal directly to the customer interactions.
These are otherwise known as "Customer Care Centre" or "Contact Centre" indicating more
technological sophistication and multichannel support. Call centre technologies entered the
market place to effectively alleviate some of the repeat work and increase efficiencies, allowing
companies to handle escalating call volumes. Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) could
look up similar calls and resolutions while a customer was on the phone, without having to
repeat research. The software tools being used in the call-centers also provide forecasting of
call volumes to ensure adequate call centre staffing. (Lemon, et al, 2002)

2. Web based self-service: The customers themselves, without the help of a live person can
resolve their problems or find out answers to their queries using the web. This model is founded
on the principle of enabling customers, partners and employees to obtain information’s or
conduct transactions directly over the internet, avoiding time-consuming and costly traditional
processes involving multiple verbal or written interactions. It provides control, performance,
convenience and efficiency. (Chaudhuri & Shainesh 2001)

3. Customer satisfaction measurement: Survey mails are the major way for companies to
monitor customer satisfaction. Nowadays, these survey forms are even personalized to specific
customers or customer groups. Responses are input into customer databases and included as part
of individual customer profiles. Such tracking of customer satisfaction over time enables a
company to fine tune how it communicates with its customers according to their preferences.
(Mohan Babu, 2003) Now, the paper based surveys are giving way to electronic surveys.

4. Call-scripting: Automatic scripts generated for customer service representatives, based on an

individual customer's segment and/or customer profile contents. Scripts remove the guess work
from determining how to respond to a customer query or complaint, guiding representatives
through a dialogue with the customer and thus optimizing discrete customer interactions.

5. Cyber agents: This is a kind of an improved or modified form of the concept of self-service.
Cyber agents are 'lifelike representatives' normally depicted on a company’s web site as a real
person. This attempt to pull together the best of both personalization and advanced technology. It
is given a personality and is having facial expressions and volume. Usually a cyber agent
addresses the web visitor with his/her first name. It can draw from the wealth of detailed
information to answer basic FAQs as well as guide a customer to the appropriate screen for a
definite purpose/action. (Raghunath & Shields 2001)

6. Web site: It is the efficient and effective use of worldwide web for providing information to
the customers, by a company who had created that site, in a hassle-free manner. The main
advantage of a web site is its 24 hours accessibility. Usually gathering information from the site
is a simple task and is cost-effective. In the US and in the developed countries web is extensively
used. In the case of monetary transactions, if it is a high involvement activity most of the
customers prefer the offline mode mainly due to their concern over security problems in
monetary transactions, through the net. (Key Note , 2003)
INDUSTRY DEFINITION

Abbey (1999) proposes a hotel industry in a primarily a service sector emphasis in given on the
role played by relationship marketing. You are nothing without our customers understanding that
your organization exists for no other reasons than to meet customer needs and expectations. Its
imperative is to develop proactive methods for understanding what customers like and dislike. If
you believe other wise, just look behind you at the long queue off competitors lined up and
waiting for the opportunities to prove you wrong.

CRM is a business strategy to select and manage the most valuable customer relationships. CRM
requires a customer-centric business philosophy and culture to support effective marketing, sales
and service processes. CRM applications can enable effective customer relationship
management, provided that an enterprise has the right leadership, strategy and culture. (Anton,
2005)

In hospitality, each customer relationship has value and should be managed effectively. There is
opportunity for repurchase and recommendation from each past customer. The administration of
the information about this past guest and the effective integration of the information into
frontline guest services programs is the challenge of CRM implementation.

Tactically, where does CRM start? The recommended implementation of customer relationship
management typically looks like (Hart et al, 2002):

Statistically valid customer satisfaction measurement:

From the very top of the organization, there should be a commitment to CRM including
customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction and a desire to have one voice to the customer.
INTEGRATION OF CUSTOMER INFORMATION:

The process of extracting customer data from legacy systems (i.e., the property management
system) and integrating the entire database in the property that contains guest information is
complex and time-consuming. The data sources may include guest history, external guest
profiling systems, restaurant club programs, sales and catering system information and other
data.

1. Customer profiling:
Demographic and Psychographic information can be appended to a large percentage of the
customer database. This is followed by the implementation of effective marketing programs to
attract similar customers to build revenue.

2. Direct marketing:
The utilization of the integrated customer information for direct marketing offers is the goldmine
of any CRM effort. Highly profitable offers can provide business during slow periods. These
offers can be communicated via mail or e-mail.

3. Best customer/extraordinary service:

The Mecca of all is to understand if the most profitable customers are the most satisfied. This
involves very detailed satisfaction analysis, combined with valid financial data about each
customer – all appended to the customer database. It’s uncertain whether anyone is there in the
hospitality industry, but certainly companies are getting very close to understanding the most
profitable customers and most profitable micro-markets. The immediate tactical example of this
is can be found in well utilized sales and catering systems, which integrate the profitability of
groups and meetings. Linking the meeting planner satisfaction to each of these sales and catering
accounts is the first step in making sure that your best customers are most satisfied.
CRM is not a buzzword program, like so many that have gone before. It is the integration of all
the elements that hospitality has focused on forever:

1. Personally recognizing customers;

2. Offering appropriate value and great service to encourage repeat business;

3. Insuring that employee and guest satisfaction continues to improve; and

4. Beating the competition by offering a better product, competing on the service experience
rather than price alone.

Like a dog chasing a truck, once you’ve caught it – what are you going to do with it? This is the
analogy posed by Peter Aeby, general manager of the legendary Brown Palace Hotel in Denver
and the chairman of Preferred Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. Aeby is referring to the mass of
information that major hospitality organizations are now able to collect about customers. How is
it possible to make all this information actionable? And, with an understanding of labor
shortages, high turnover and lack of computer integration, how does a hotel manager tactically
utilize available tools to improve the frontline experience? How does that same manager build
revenues and customer loyalty from this data?

ADVANTAGES

The advantages can be summarized according to the Feature

Marketing

 Make intelligent business decisions with enhanced customer insights

 Increase marketing velocity and speed to market
 Maximize visibility into and control of your entire marketing process
 Drive customer demand
 Increase returns on your marketing investments
Sales

 Grow profitable relationships

 Maintain focus on productive activity
 Eliminate barriers to productivity
 Improve sales efficiency Service
 Transform service into a profitable line of business
 Increase customer loyalty
 Drive revenue
 Reduce costs of customer service and field service
 Decrease service giveaways

Web channel enablement

 Drive revenue and extend market reach

 Increase customer convenience and satisfaction
 Reduce the cost of sales and support
 Build lasting customer loyalty
 Improve sales and service profitability

Running an interaction center

 Increase customer satisfaction

 Improve credibility with your customers
 Increase revenue and productivity
 Manage the customer interaction life cycle

Partner channel management

 Boost revenue through channel collaboration

 Reduce indirect channel support costs
 Increase partner satisfaction and ease of doing business
  Maximize value to your customers by enabling your partners

The types of data CRM projects collect

 Responses to campaigns
 Shipping and fulfillment dates
 Sales and purchase data
 Account information
 Web registration data
 Service and support records
 Demographic data
 Web sales data

Some CRM Disadvantages

Record Loss

Some CRM applications use remote Internet connections to save customer records. Salesforce is
a popular CRM application provided through an Internet connection on the company's domain
.The disadvantage of this type of CRM is that the company does not have control of the data, and
if the remote CRM system has an outage, the company is unable to retrieve records. If the
company chooses a small CRM application that is not stable, it can mean several thousands of
dollars in lost revenue. When using a remote CRM application hosted by another company, use
local backups to avoid record loss.

Overhead

If the company decides on a local CRM application, there are overhead costs associated with
running the software. If the software is proprietary, the company needs to pay software
developers, system administrators and maintenance people to keep the software running. It's also
important to keep backups of the information, which adds an expense to running a personalized
CRM application. There may also be system downtime. Having a local personalized or
proprietary CRM system also requires the owner to do system upgrades and security patches to
ensure the integrity of the system.

Training

If the company is small, training issues may be a small disadvantage. Large corporations need to
roll out training schedules for all their employees. For large-scale CRMs, this can mean hiring
professionals to train employees in groups. Training takes away time for productivity, so it is a
disadvantage for brand-new CRM systems. The CRM training is also different for managers
compared to regular staff, because most CRMs have specialized functions for managers and
executives. These extra functions are also required learning. The training requirements can be as
short as a few hours or can take up to several days.
BRIEF HISTORY:

Faisalabad city, formerly Lyallpur, with a population of over five million, the city is located in
the North East of Pakistan, in a cotton and wheat growing area. The city is known as Manchester
of Pakistan for its rich Textile industry.
Faisalabad Serena Hotel was inaugurated in 1987 by the President of Pakistan General
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. Faisalabad and Quetta Serena hotels have been designed and built
according to the Serena standard, incorporating the local architectural characteristics of the
Region. Islamabad, Swat and Gilgit Serena hotels are located amidst the most scenic areas of
Pakistan and cater mostly to the leisure travelers.

THE COMPANY:

Tourism Promotion Services (Pakistan) Limited was incorporated in Pakistan on 19th March
1969 and is a public limited company (unlisted) registered under the Companies Ordinance,
1984. Serena Group Of Hotels is a part of this company.

The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development S.A., Switzerland (AKFED) holds majority of
the shareholding i.e. 92%, followed by 6% holding by the Industrial Promotion Services
(Pakistan) Limited, another project of AKFED and the remaining 2% by Government of Pakistan
through Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation and Ministry of Tourism, Government of
Pakistan.

The Company owns and manages hotels in Islamabad, Faisalabad, Quetta, Swat, Gilgit and
Hunza. The expansion plan of the company includes development of hotels in northern and the
southern regions of Pakistan. The company is committed to work hand in hand with the
Government of Pakistan in developing tourism in Pakistan.
The Corporate Office and the Hotels are being managed by a team of professionals. They are
committed to provide full support to their associates for delivering the best possible, efficient and
personalized services to their guests.
In addition to Pakistan, over 20 Serena Hotels and Inns are being run professionally in Kenya,
Tanzania, Zanzibar, Mozambique, Uganda, Afghanistan and Tajikistan.
The Faislabad Serena Hotel has 144 rooms all decorated to reflect the vibrant colors of the
Punjabi people and culture of Faislabad. Besides all the living amenities through guest rooms,
the Hotel also provides conference rooms, health club, business centre and the restaurants, which
offer Continental, Chinese Pakistani and Bar-Be-Que cuisine.
LOCATION OF FAISALABAD SERENA HOTEL:
 SERENA MISSION STATEMENT

“Our mission is to create buildings of outstanding ethnic design offering the highest
standards of service and product, providing management and our team members with
an environment which enables all of us to deliver operating standards beyond the level
of our guests’ expectations, resulting in satisfactory returns to our stakeholders.”

Faisalabad Serena Hotel is a place where the genuine care and comfort of the guest is their
mission. They pledge to provide the finest personal services and facilities to their guests who will
always enjoy a warm, relaxed, yet refined ambiance.

Motto at Faisalabad Serena Hotel is “Together we strive to become what we were meant to be”.

 Faisalabad Serena Hotel will reflect the image of trendsetter in service and standard
through professional training and personal development, which will mean genuine
caring approach toward its guests.

 Faisalabad Serena Hotel will continue to be perceived as a hotel that cares for the
development of social and cultural activities in the area where it’s located.

 Faisalabad Serena Hotel in collaboration with appropriate national and international

organization will ensure the widest possible awareness and observance of the initiative
and practice they promote.

 Faisalabad Serena Hotel will regularly arrange training of staff internally and in
national institutions to have professional and motivated staff.
 SERENA VISION STATEMENT

“The Goal of our organization is to meet and exceed guest’s expectations.”

CORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL MISSION STATEMENT

Serena’s corporate environmental mission statement contains the following parts:

 We are committed to developing projects, which pay the highest regard to environmental
concerns in design, planning, construction and operation.
 We will be sensitive towards the monitoring of the interests of the local population
including their traditions, culture and future development.
 We will practice a responsible attitude towards energy conservation; reducing and
recycling waste; control of sewage disposal, air – emission and pollutants; reduce use of
unfriendly products such as Chloro Floro Carbon’s (CFC’s), pesticides and other toxic
substances; reduce noise and visual pollution.
 We will be sensitive to the conservation of environmentally protected or threatened areas,
species and scenic aesthetics and to achieving landscape enhancement where possible,
with indigenous plant material reinforcement.
 We must conserve rather than exploit nature.
FAISALABAD SERENA HOTEL FACILITIES

There are diverse varieties of facilities provided by FSH which includes:-

 144 guest Rooms and Suites

 Complimentary Airport Shuttle Service
 Rent-a-car
 Concierge
 Multilingual staff
 Laundry Shop
 The Executive Floor and Jasmine Floor offer additional facilities for our guests such as a
Private Lounge area, Business Center, Meeting Room and Butler Service.
 Lyallpur Coffee Shop
 Fine-dining Restaurant serving Pakistani, Continental cuisine and Hi Tea with live music.
 Xuelian Restaurant with Chinese, Japanese and Thai specialty Cuisines.
 Jharoka, Café and Ice Cream Parlour.
 The Seasonal Barbeque at the Basant Court featuring traditional provincial food with live
music
 Lobby Lounge serves tea, coffee and light snacks.
 Health Club
 Swimming pool and sun-deck
 Pool Bar
 Tennis Court
 Squash Court
 Gymnasium
 Shopping Arcade
 Baby-sitting, additional beds/cots, children’s meals
 Conference/Events Centre
 24-hour Business Centre
 WI-FI Internet access
 Flat screen TV with a variety of Channels
  24-hour Forex
 Room Service,
 Valet Parking,
 In House Laundry and Dry Cleaning same day service
 24-hour doctor on call
 Power (240V/ 3 pin square- plugs/shaver sockets)
 Special dietary needs available with advance notice
 Faisalabad Serena Hotel pays particular care and attention towards the security and well-
being of hotel guests. There has been an increase in security checks, up-gradation of
equipment, with a revised Crisis Management Plan in place so as to tackle any
unforeseen incident.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Sustainable Development

The CSR Programme at Serena is inspired and derived from His Highness Aga Khan’s vision of
“Holistic development where organizations play an essential role in the provision of social
services”. The CSR Programme at Serena is known as SEED (Serena Environmental and
Educational Development Programme).

This Programme underpins a broad CSR response in the areas of Culture, Environment,
Governance and Society. This programme follows the concept of an organization being a social
enterprise where the business needs are synergized with the social outcomes. Serena encourages
open and transparent business practices that are based on ethical values and respect for its
employees, communities and the environment.

The social, developmental and operational activities of Serena are designed in such a manner that
these activities deliver sustainable value to the society at large, as well as to shareholders. At
Serena corporate social responsibility goes far beyond the old concepts of philanthropy of the
past which was just donating money to good causes at the end of the financial year - and is
instead an all year round responsibility that Serena accepts for the environment around it, for the
best working practices, for the engagement in the local communities and for the recognition that
brand names depend not only on quality, price and uniqueness but on how, cumulatively, Serena
interacts with companies’ workforce, community and environment. Now we are moving towards
a challenging feature of our corporate responsibility, where at Serena the results are judged not
just by the input but by the outcomes: the change we bring along in this world in which we live
through our foot prints, and the contribution we make to reduce the sufferings around us.

THE ECO-VIEW AT FSH

SERENA’S OBJECTIVES OVER NEXT FIVE YEARS:-

In general the main purpose of setting the objectives is to state that what is to be accomplished in
future within the specific period of time. The main reason for setting-up the long term objectives
is to set a target or challenge to work for that and to some extent impress the shareholders and
other stakeholders.
F ive Y ears O bjectives:
When we talk about Islamabad Serena hotel their next five years objectives include the
following:
1. T o I ncrease P rofitability:
Faisalabad Serena hotel has planned to increase their earnings by 15% annually and to reach at
least 40% increase over the next five years.
2. T o I ncrease M arket S hare:
Serena hotel has an objective over the next five years to increase their market share from Internet
sources and through alliances with airlines and to give more attractive packages to their
customers.
3. D elivering S hareholder V alue:
They are being committed to be growing company. Their success will result in investment
returns that are consistently among the best hotel industry. Their primary business objective is to
maximize current returns to the shareholders by increasing cash flow available to pay
distributions and provide long-term total returns to shareholders.
4. B eing t he B est:
Faisalabad Serena hotel has an objective to become an innovative leader in the hotel industry and
to continuously improve their products and services. They will seek from their supplier highest
quality of product and services at the best value.

5. W orking T ogether a s C olleagues:

They emphasize on sharing responsibility, accountability and recognition through a climate of
teamwork, because this thing will ultimately help to improve their overall efficiency, as the
employees will be motivated.

6. P roviding a C limate o f E nthusiasm:

They are committed to every one at Serena hotel by providing a caring and motivating, and
rewarding environment. As an industry leader, they have an objective over the next five years to
bringing out the best people though effective training and meaning full carrier and personal
development and by encouraging individuality and initiative.

7. C ontribute T o N ational G rowth:

Tourism is a sector of Pakistan's economy that has significant potential and a country can
increase the foreign earnings with the help of tourism. Operating under the “Serena” brand name,
Tourism Promotion Services owns and manages fifteen hotels in East Africa and Asia. Besides
earning foreign exchange and increasing employment and manpower development, tourism can
contribute to national growth in more qualitative ways. So now their main objective over the next
five years is to satisfy the wants and needs of tourism businesses and hotels as well as consumers
in the 21st century.
8. M aintain H igh S tandards:
Now they have an objective to keep the same high standards regarding the quality of their goods
and services and to make improvements in those areas where they are lacking behind.
9. T o C reate A n A lliances:
Increase business from Internet sources and through partnerships. So in order to capture or
increase the market share now the objective of the Serena hotel is to create an alliance with
airlines so that all the staff and passenger stay in Serena hotel, which will definitely brings a
huge amount of revenues on regular basis.

SERENA CORPORATE MANAGEMENT PHILOSOPHY

SERENA HOTEL
_________________
OUR TEAM
OUR PRODUCT
 OUR GUEST
OUR OWNER

DEPARTMENTS IN FAISALABAD SERENA HOTEL

At FSH there are seven major departments and each department has its own style of working and
at the same time it is connected with the rest of the network. These departments are as follows:-
1) Accounts department
2) Sales and marketing department
3) House keeping
4) Human resource department
5) F&B department
6) Production
7) Engineering
8) IT department
1. ACCOUNTS DEPARTMENT:

This department is considered as the backbone of the hotel operations. It looks into all the
matters related with the finance and cost control. The department is headed by Financial
Controller. He has the full authority and control over the department and his decisions in this
regard are final with the approval of General Manager. This department is responsible
 To support other operational departments.
 To maximize hotel profitability.
 To be accurate in bookkeeping system. It should ensure effective Management
Information System and implementation of controls & procedures.

The underlying areas of functioning for the accounts department are:

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2. SALES AND MARKETING DEPARTMENT:
This department plays a vital role in attracting customers and runs promotional campaigns.
3. HOUSE KEEPING:

This department is responsible for establishing and maintaining high standards of cleanliness, for
both our external customers (Guests) and internal customers (employees).The scope of the house
keeping responsibilities and duties involve the following activities :-

1. Housekeeping control desk

2. Front of the house
3. Back of the house

4. HUMAN RESOURCE DEPARTMENT:

4.Minibar
5.Laundry
6.Uniform
7.Linen
8.Flower Room
9.Pest control 10.Lost&Found
Human Resource Department is one of the most important parts of the Faisalabad Serena Hotel
back of the house management team. It serves to handle all the matters regarding attracting,
retaining and compensating the employees. It overlooks all the matters that help to develop
smooth employment relations all over the Hotel to achieve maximum output from the employees.
It functions like a bridge in between the workers and management. There is Human Resource
Manager who manages the whole department and its functioning along with the assistant HR-
Manager and HR-Officer
The sub departments or sections HR-Dept looks into are as follows:
 Time Office
 Staff Cafeteria Satoon
5. F&B DEPARTMENT:
The word F&B stands for Food and Beverages. This department is headed by F&B director. The
main duties assigned are:-
 Provision of quality food to the guests
 Serving and related matters
 Maintenance of food items
6. PRODUCTION:
The Food & Beverages department when comprised of the production division involves the
kitchen having the specialized production area and wide range of cooking equipment that helps
for cooking of different types of meals. The key objectives of F & B ( Kitchen) is to enhance the
dining experience of the guests and to create the cuisine which is beyond customer expectations
by providing modern creative yet authentic food and maintaining high hygiene standards
. It starts from the purchase of food items and ends with the production. Following are the sub
departments comes under the Kitchen
 Butchery
 Garde Mangér
 Patisserie
 Banquets
 Coffee Shop And Room Service
 Pakistani, Thai, Chinese
 Staff Canteen
  Kitchen Stewarding

7. ENGINEERING:
The Engineering department is responsible for the maintenance of various mechanical sections of
the organization and operational readiness of all engineering services. It also strives to achieve
declining routine complaints and minimum down time on machineries and equipment. It includes
the following systems under its supervision :-

Plants/Equipments on Board/Location
1. Power Generation / Distribution
2. Heating / Air-conditioning System
3. Hot water system
4. Elevators
5. Sewage Treatment system
6. Water Treatment system

Fire and Safety

1. Water Ring main system
2. Smoke and Heat detectors
3. Fire Alarm Panel
4. Fire Fighting Extinguishers

Horticulture

Responsible for maintaining landscaping and indoor and outdoor plants.

8. IT DEPARTMENT:
The Information Technology Department is responsible to design such technologies for the Hotel
that will work efficiently along with the cost control. Following are the technologies that are
used in Faisalabad Serena Hotel:

 FOH( Front of the House): Fox Pro DOS(2.6)

 BOH ( Back of the House):Accounts & Purchase MIS Plan

 ACT Technology for Sales & Banqueting: Oracle(8)

 Online Guest Comments: Data base periodically

 2 Domains: way of communication

 2 work groups : Experiences of guests through C-Net # Technology almost 300

computers are connected

 FTB: Fire Transfer Protocol

 75 Personal Computers connected with in the offices

 Digital Exchange 4400 BA & BX made by Alcatel

 Digital Computerized Exchange

 Self-Developed Software: EI(Exchange Interface)

 Working on Prestige Club Management System

 Multimedia and sound system controls in the Events

PRODUCT OFFERING
Faisalabad Serena Hotel offers a wide variety of products in packages:
Serena Suites (Floor 1) Serena Vacation Package
Serena Executive Floor (Floor 1) Serena Summer Package
Serena Jasmine Floor (Floor 1) Serena Wedding Package
CONFERENCE PACKAGES OF SERENA
Serena Conference (A)
 Well appointed rooms

 Buffet breakfast

 Buffet lunch (2 main courses )

 Buffet dinner (3 main courses)

 2 tea breaks with cookies / snacks

 Meeting room with available audiovisual aids

 Up-gradation of rooms to Jasmine Floor

 Spouse stay free (room only)

 Free use of internet / email in business center

 Airport pickup and drop

 Group photograph

 Newspaper in every room

 Baggage service

 Welcome drink on arrival

 Free use of recreational facilities

 Multimedia on nominal charges

Minimum size 25 and above Room Nights

Single Room Rs. 7,000 + Tax

Double Room Rs. 8,500 + Tax
Triple Room Rs. 9,500 + Tax
Serena Conference (B)
 Well appointed rooms

 Buffet breakfast

 Buffet lunch (2 main courses )

 Buffet dinner (3 main courses)

 2 tea breaks with cookies / snacks

 Meeting room with available audiovisual aids

 Up-gradation of rooms to Jasmine Floor

 Airport pickup and drop

 Group photograph

 Newspaper in every room

 Baggage service

 Welcome drink on arrival

 Free use of recreational facilities

 Multimedia on nominal charges

Minimum size 50 and above room nights

Single Room Rs. 7,000 + Tax

Double Room Rs. 8,500 + Tax
Triple Room Rs. 9,500 + Tax
Serena Conference (C)
 Well appointed rooms

 Buffet breakfast

 Buffet lunch (2 main courses )

 Buffet dinner (3 main courses)

 2 tea breaks with cookies / snacks

 Meeting room with available audiovisual aids

 Up-gradation of rooms to Jasmine Floor

 Airport pickup and drop

 Group photograph

 Newspaper in every room

 Baggage service

 Welcome drink on arrival

 Free use of recreational facilities

 Multimedia on nominal charges

Minimum size 100 and above room nights

Single Room Rs. 6,500 + Tax

Double Room Rs. 7,500 + TaxTriple Room Rs. 8,500 + Tax
 Special Theme dinners can be arranged on additional charges
Optional Activities At Faisalabad Serena Hotel

A- Theme Dinner
 Mughlai Dinner
 Punjabi Dinner
 Balochi Dinner
 Jungle Night
 Mexican Theme Night

B- Excursions
 Excursion to River Chenab, visit of historic “Havelly”
 Kalar Kahar
 Shopping Trip
 Khewra Salt Mines
 Gutwala Park

C- Sports
 Floodlight Cricket Match
 Basant Mela
 Swimming Competition
Structural Dimensions of Faisalabad Serena Hotel

1. Formalization:
There is a formalized system of the departmentalization at FSH. The company is divided into
formalized departments. These are
1. Front Office
2. Room division
3. House Keeping
4. Engineering
5. Purchase
6. Stewarding
7. Food & Beverages(Kitchen)
8. Food & Beverages(Service)
9. Food & Beverages(Banqueting)
10. Prestige Club
11. Public Relations
12. Sales & Marketing
13. Human Resource Department
14. Accounts
15. Information Technology

2. Specialization:
All departments have been assigned a specialized division of labor. They are responsible for
performing their respective tasks and duties when working together. They share their duties but
they are responsible on their own.
3. Hierarchy of Authority:
Top –Bottom Approach:
The hierarchal structure practicing in FSH is Top-Bottom approach. Final authority lies in
General Manager or Director Operations that is delegated to the lower level of management.
  General Manager/Director Operations
 Head of the Department
 Asst. Head of the department
 Section Head
 Supervisor

4. Centralization:
Being the multinational company it is working under standard operational procedures. Such
procedures pre determine the set of activities the individual departments can perform. The
General Manager controls the department in the way that no department could involve into such
activities that is out of their SOPs. The basic concept of centralization in FSH is to control the
activities of the departments in a favorable manner.

5. Professionalism:
In multinational company, the expectations of the clients regarding services are very high in
order to meet and exceed the expectations of the clients; the companies require a professional
work force in order to achieve optimum results.
In Faisalabad Serena Hotel the company hires and trains their workforce to make them highly
professional ion their respective fields to get the maximum satisfaction from the guests and high
profits.
Personnel Ratio:
The details of personnel ratio of the Faisalabad Manning process is given below:
DEPARTMENT Total %Age

ACCOUNTS 15 4.53%
PERMIT ROOM 3 0.91%
Total 18 5.44%
HOUSEKEEPING 29 8.76%
LAUNDRY 17 5.14%
Total 46 13.90%
F&B ADMIN. 13 3.93%
F&B SERVICE 45 13.60%
F&B BANQUET 16 4.83%
F&B STEWARDING 22 6.65%
F&B KITCHEN 54 16.31%
Total 150 45.32%
HUMAN RESOURCE 7 2.11%
SECURITY 2 0.60%
STAFF CAFETERIA 5 1.51%
STAFF LOCKERS 2 0.60%
Total 16 4.83%
SALES & MARKETING 4 1.21%
SPORTS & REC. 7 2.11%
Total 11 3.32%
FRONT OFFICE 35 10.57%
T&T 6 1.81%
PURCHASE 4 1.21%
A&G 4 1.21%
ENGINEERING 39 11.78%
PUBLIC RELATIONS 1 0.30%
PRESTIGE CLUB 1 0.30%
Total 90 27.19%
G.TOTAL: 331 100.00%

ORGANIZATIONAL HIERARCHY OF FAISALABAD SERENA HOTEL

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ORGANIZATIONAL HIERARCHY OF NEEDS FOR FSH

Faisalabad Serena Hotel has developed and positioned itself in the society as a highly esteemed
place and to maintain its position it follows a hierarchy of needs which increases the
organization’s financial stability from step to step as the organization increases and maintains its
path towards excellence.
THE FIRST STEP
In CRM is for the internal customer that is to create awareness among them towards the concept,
advantages and disadvantages of the function. Then equip them by training in their own requisite
functions & scope of CRM within that function. At Serena, they are trained to learn more about
the guest and his background so that when he talks to the guest, he can strike a conversation that
is of some interest to the guest. That may not be necessarily related to his stay at the hotel but
these informal conversations with the guest can help build an excellent rapport with the guest
which will lead the guest to know the employee by the name. In future interactions, it is possible
that the guest may only wish that most of his work done through that employee. This is also a
form of customized and personalized selling within the hotel.

Serena does not have a separate training for CRM. Any time when they have a special
promotional scheme for a particular property, the marketing team (which has formulated the
promotional scheme) puts together the details of the scheme, clearly marks out what is the
customer expecting from the property and also if these are some special arrangements to be made
for it. This team briefs the General Manager of the property about the customer expectation. The
General Manager then decides the path of trickling down to that information, who should know
& how much to know. In Serena Hotel, they use a phrase to explain this percolation which is
“Nice to know and needs to know” which essentially means that it is nice to know for all
employees of a particular property about the running of the promotional scheme at their property
but not all need to know about every aspect of the scheme as it may not be relevant to their scope
of work but they do need to know the tier points of the scheme relating to their scope of work.

THE SECOND STEP

In CRM process is to integrate the information which is received through touch points. From a
marketing point of view, it is important to get the desired input back from touch points in such a
way that all the bits and pieces picked up by different touch points can be organized and used as
valuable information by various other touch point to offer the right product to the right customer
and that too at the right time. All this is done by creating a data base.

ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN WITH RESPECT TO CRM

DATA CAPTURE VEHICLES
Serena has identified 5 such vehicles (from marketing point of view) which are also the touch
points for the hotel in the process of managing its Customer Relationship. These vehicles are:-
Field selling
Loyalty Programs
Distribution Points
Web
Call Centers

FIELD SELLING
When a sales group or a marketing executive of the hotel makes a sales call to a corporate, then it
is called Field Selling. Field Selling includes Prospecting which means searching and seeking for
new customers. Current Accounts are one of the best sources to uncover new business that is
within these current accounts, as they harbor many sources of untapped business potential. They
also provide Leads and referrals. Leads are potential customers with whom no contact has yet
been made and learning of potential customers from current customers is called Referral. Field
selling is considered the most important vehicle for the CRM function as the initiative is on the
part of the hotel to contact the prospective guest. Since the representative of the hotel meets the
customer personally, he is able to strike a chord instantly and has a fair chance of representing
the hotel. The difference between the customer and consumer is apparent at this stage as, the
person who uses the hotel is a consumer (guest) and the person who helps him make this choice
is the customer (link), this link, in most cases, is the administration personnel who are
responsible for making reservations. So with the help of field selling, the executive is able to
make a direct contact with the ‘link’, the administration person and is able to take the feedback
on a continuous basis and helps to customize the offering. The main objective of this is to
maintain ‘one to one’ contact with the customer on a regular basis and also to maintain
reasonable visibility so that whenever there is a requirement, the hotel is the most obvious
alternative for the customer to consider.

CRM in Hotel Industry

LOYALTY PROGRAMS
Second vehicle for CRM identified by Serena Hotel are the Loyalty Programs. These programs
are designed to reward the loyal guests of the hotel. Every time a guest checks in the hotel at his
every touch point or interface with the hotel, every time he spends on a service provided by the
hotel (use of Room, Restaurant, Laundry, Telephones etc.), the transaction is recorded at each
individual point and is added to the final bill presented to the guest at the end of the stay. There
are certain points attached to the number of rupees spent by the guest. Therefore higher the
amount of the bill, the higher will be the number of points attained by the guest. These points are
credited to the account of each guest with the help of technology. These are called Loyalty
points. These accounts having the loyalty points are unique to every guest. Therefore, whenever
after the first time that guest checks into the hotels, the guest history also affects the loyalty
points. The higher the number of points, more loyal is the guest. The points can be redeemed by
the guest for either free stays at the hotel or free gifts as listed by the hotel or free meals
depending upon the number of points accumulated.

The objective of having a loyalty programme is not only to make the guest feel rewarded for his
stay but also providing a chance to the guest to reduce them at the hotel, they essentially “gross
self” the other services which would be used & paid by the guest. In case he redeemed (for
example) his points for a free stay, he would spend on the supporting services like laundry,
telephones, restaurants etc. and the revenue generated from these could be earned by the hotel.
Therefore, instead of loss of revenue by providing free stay, they actually gain the revenue as
well as certain customers for life with the help of the loyalty. The Loyalty Program is called
welcome avail which is for the consumer. They have another loyalty programme for the link.
The administration personnel, who is called welcome link, is motivated to provide more business
to the hotel. Therefore, the more the number of bookings the links gives to the hotel, the more
number of points are credited to his accounts which are again redeemable at the hotel either by
way of free stay or gifts. This is seen as an important way to keep the source of business
motivated towards a long term relationship.

DISTRIBUTION POINTS/ CENTRAL RESERVATION SYSTEM

A customer can simply make a call at the reservation centre to make a booking with the hotel. It
sounds simple but it could get complex in case he does not receive the expected or the desired
response. Therefore, Serena Hotel sees this distribution point as an opportunity to establish CRM
as the respondents at the reservation centre could turn a prospective customer into a ‘sale’ or
could let go off the opportunity to do so by not

CRM IN HOTEL INDUSTRY

Being polite enough or not giving out the information as desired by the guest. The information
regarding all guest reservations is managed through computer software, therefore, when a
customer make calls to query about a reservation, all his hotel usage history pops up in the
system which gives a chance to the executive at the reservations to instantly recognize the
customer and address him by his name. This moment of truth is experienced by the customer
with a feeling of recognition and feels it as good service at the first touch point itself. The input
or instruction received from the customer at the stage is recorded in the reservation system for
further reference by the hotel operations. Therefore the wheel does not get reinvented every time
a standard instruction is to be followed. This leads to removal of an irritant and that ultimately
leads to a satisfied customer willing to return.

WORLD WIDE WEB

The World Wide Web is part of the internet. It is a computerized, interactive, multimedia system
to import and/or access information worldwide. It is used for both personal and business
purposes. But ITC Serena’s focus is on the business side of using the web. In hospitality, there
are several avenues that one can take up to set up a web site to share information and do business
with a potential customer. Since the web gives a convenience and allows the access to
information at any time, it is considered as one of the vehicles for CRM. Though Serena
recognizes the potential of this system and is in the process of evolving a filing automated
system where the reservations can be made by the customers on time and also the confirmation is
received back on a real time basis. Presently they have an information portal which only allows
the customer to request a reservation which has to be checked manually by the hotel reservations
and then only the confirmations are given. This is a touch point of customer relationship because
a speedy and accurate response could win you a customer. And since it is on an individual basis,
it is more personalized and customized because the customer puts in his preferences when
requesting a booking. Therefore, once it is entered in to the hotel’s data base the customer does
not have to repeat his preference as they are automatically suggested by the reservation form on
the net.

HISTORY:
Pakistan Services Limited (“PSL”) was incorporated in 1958 as a Public Limited company and is
quoted on Karachi Stock Exchange since 1964. The primary business of PSL is hospitality. It
initially operated under the management of Inter Continental Hotel; however, when Hashoo
Group acquired PSL in 1985 it changed the name of the Hotels to PEARL CONTINENTAL
Hotels and became the largest and oldest five star hotel chain of Pakistan. In October 1985 all the
Inter Continental hotels in Karachi, Rawalpindi, Peshawar & Lahore became the PEARL
CONTINENTAL Hotels. Another pearl was added to the chain in1992 at Bhurban. PEARL
CONTINENTAL Hotels is the first Pakistani chain which has achieved excellent international
standards of services, quality and product.

INTRODUCTION:
Located in the heart of the business hub and 15 km from the airport, Pearl Continental Hotel
Karachi - is a preferred choice for discerning corporate and leisure travelers. Vibrant and
progressive, it retains the warmth and the spirit of Pakistan, while offering a variety of rooms,
stylish restaurants and contemporary business facilities, establishing itself as an undisputed,
premier business hotel. Whilst not forgetting that Karachi is the city of dreams, an all enveloping
sensory roller-coaster ride which leaves you delighted and inspired at the same time. There is a
lot more to this city than what meets the eye.

VISION:

“We’ll open the doors; you’ll see what’s in store.”

We feel pride in making efforts to position Pakistan in the forefront of the International arena.

MISSION:

“Our mission is to be the hotel recognized as the leader in the industry in any aspect. We are
committed to train and develop all our staff members allowing them to grow in their careers and
provide services and standards which exceed guest expectations.”

The mission statement clearly shows that it aims at becoming world-class leader in the service
industry. It also shows that the management at PEARL CONTINENTAL HOTEL believes in an
exceptional workforce to provide world-class service to their customers.

They want to ensure that not only they satisfy their customers but also delight them.

CRM PROCESS AT THE PERAL CONTINENTAL GROUP OF HOTELS

According to the Pearl continental the terms-Customer Relationship Management and
Relationship Marketing are used interchangeably therefore they do not have a separate CRM
department as the outlining functions of the CRM process are integrated in the Sales and
Marketing operation.

CRM in Hotel Industry

They use a variety of after sales tactics for customer bonding and loyalty. Co-operative and
collaborative relationships with customers seem to be the most prudent way to keep tracks their
changing expectations and appropriately influencing it. The Peral continental has ensured the
above by the various ‘end user’ and ‘booker’ programs such as (Starkov, 2006)

Top – The Peral continental Plus

This is an end-user program with an enrollment fee of Rs.875 only. It is beneficial for guests
who use the services of the hotel. Each time a guest spends, he accumulates points which can be
redeemed for any services of the hotel. By enrolling and rewarding customers with the help of
this program, the hotel ensures that a greater bonding towards long-term customer retention.
They have also tied up with the airlines for interchangeable redemption of points.

Connections – Bookers’ Program

Bookers are an important link in materializing an actual sale therefore they need to be kept
motivated to push the hotel when the reservations are made by a corporate account. Each time a
booker gives as reservation to the hotel he gets credit points for that and which can be redeemed
for gifts or any hotel services.

Food Festivals
The Peral continental conducts various food festivals at its Restaurants. Regularly and sends
invitations to its more profitable Clients.

Tie-Ups

The Peral continental invites top clients like CEO, Managing Directors and key decision makers
of different companies to social evenings specially arranged to further enhance the Customer
relationship management functions.

RECOMMENDATIONS

As such serena is doing a very good job and the only added change we feel that can be
implemented is using the six sigma plan

Six Sigma is usually related to the magic number of 3.4 defects per million opportunities. People
often view Six Sigma as yet another rigorous statistical quality control mechanism.

Pioneered at Motorola in the mid-1980s, Six Sigma was initially targeted to quantify the defects
occurred during manufacturing processes, and to reduce those defects to a very small level.
Motorola claimed to have saved several million dollars. Another very popular success was at GE.
Six Sigma contributed over US $ 300 million to GE's 1997 operating income.

Today Six Sigma is delivering business excellence, higher customer satisfaction, and superior
profits by dramatically improving every process in an enterprise from financial to operational to
production. Six Sigma has become a darling of a wide spectrum of industries, from health care to
insurance to telecommunications to software.

What is Six Sigma?

It is important to recall that every customer always values consistent and predicable services and/or
products with near zero defects. Therefore they experience the variation and not the mean. Mean is their
expectation or our target.
If we can measure process variations that cause defects i.e. unacceptable deviation from the mean or
target, we can work towards systematically managing the variation to eliminate defects.

Six Sigma is a methodology focused on creating breakthrough improvements by managing variation and
reducing defects in processes across the enterprise.

Sigma is a Greek symbol represented by "σ".

Why do we call Six Sigma as Six Sigma and not Four or Five Sigma or Eight Alpha (another Greek
symbol)? Sigma is a statistical term that measures process deviation from process mean or target. Mean is
also referred as average in common language. The figure of six was arrived statistically by looking at the
current average maturity of most business enterprises. We would like to revise this figure to 8 or may be 9
provided the world becomes a more orderly and predictable (even with increasing entropy or chaos) place
to live!

We have a detailed discussion on keywords "breakthrough improvement" and "variation" apart from the
"methodology" in later sections.

Example

Let us take an example to bring a breakthrough improvement in our current understanding of the concept
of Six Sigma. This requires us to have basic knowledge of statistics. We have a detailed discussion on
required statistical concepts later.

Consider a pizza delivery shop that guarantees the order delivery with 30 minutes from the time of
accepting an order. In the event of a delivery time miss, the customer is refunded 100% money. The
management took a target (read mean) of delivering every pizza order within 15 minutes and aligned its
processes to meet this goal.

If we collect data of delivery times over a large number of the delivery made by the pizza shop and make a
frequency distribution graph, we discover that it resembles a "bell shaped curve". A frequency distribution
graph is constructed from the frequency table; a frequency table lists different time intervals (called
classes) like 0 to 2 minute, 2 to 4 minutes, to 14 to 16 minutes to 28 to 30 minutes and the count of the
deliveries made in each interval. The mean is found to be 16 minutes and standard deviation (measure of
deviation or dispersion in data i.e. σ) is found as 2.5 minutes. A graph drawn from the data of over 5000
deliveries made is given below. Note, this not a real graph and is used only for illustration purposes.
This bell shape curved is called "normal distribution" in statistical terms. In real life, a lot of frequency
distributions follow normal distribution, as is the case in the pizza delivery times. Natural variations cause
such a distribution or deviation. One of the characteristics of this distribution is that 68% of area (i.e. the
data points) falls within the area of -1σ and +1σ on either side of the mean. Similarly, 2σ on either side will
cover approximately 95.5% area. 3σ on either side from mean covers almost 99.7% area. A more peaked
curve (e.g. more and more deliveries were made on target) indicates lower variation or more mature and
capable process. Whereas a flatter bell curve indicates higher variation or less mature or capable process.

After this statistical detour let us come back to our pizza example. If the pizza shop delivers 68% of pizza
orders in time, we call it a "One Sigma shop". Similarly, if the pizza shop makes 95.5% deliveries on time,
we call it a "Two Sigma shop". In our example, data suggests that it is almost a "Three Sigma shop".

We should now be able to appreciate why management took a delivery time target of 15
minutes and not 30 minutes. Imagine what would have happened with a 30 minutes
delivery time target!

The "delivery time" is a critical-to-quality parameter from the customer perspective and has a significant
impact on profits. In addition, it is an entry barrier for the competition. Such a parameter is called a CTQ
and its definition in context of our pizza shop is given below:

CTQ Name: Timely Pizza delivery

CTQ Measure: Time in Minutes
CTQ Specification: Delivery with 30 minutes from the order acceptance time

Now we can easily define a defect:

Defect: Delivery that takes longer than 30 minutes
Unit: Order
Opportunity: 1 per order i.e. only "1" defect can occur in "1" order

Technical Note: This discussion on the example did not include 1.5σ process shift during the above
analysis. The concept is discussed later. The Six Sigma conversion graph including a 1.5σ shift in process
is given below:

This graph is on a logarithmic scale. Notice the increasing rate of improvement. For example, 1 sigma to 3
sigma is only 10 times improvement; 3 sigma to 4 sigma is a big 10 times improvement; whereas 5 sigma
to 6 sigma is a whooping 1825 times change. That is why we are talking about breakthrough
improvements in a journey to Six Sigma.

How does Six Sigma work?

The driving force behind any Six Sigma project comes from its primary focus - "bringing breakthrough
improvements in a systematic manner by managing variation and reducing defects". This requires us to
ask tougher questions, raise the bar significantly, and force people to think out of the box and to be
innovative. The objective is to stretch, stretch mentally and not physically. To make this journey
successful there is a methodology(s) to support Six Sigma implementations.

There are 2 potential scenarios - (a) there is already an existing process(s) that is working "reasonably"
well and (b) there is no process at all. A bad process is as good as no process.

Scenario (a) focuses on significant process improvements and requires use of DMAIC:
 1. Define process goals in terms of key critical parameters (i.e. critical to quality or critical to
production) on the basis of customer requirements or Voice Of Customer (VOC)
2. Measure the current process performance in context of goals
3. Analyze the current scenario in terms of causes of variations and defects
4. Improve the process by systematically reducing variation and eliminating defects
5. Control future performance of the process

Scenario (b) focuses on process design using Design For Six Sigma (DFSS) approach. DFSS typically
requires IDOV:

1. Identify process goals in terms of critical parameters, industry & competitor benchmarks, VOC
2. Design involves enumeration of potential solutions and selection of the best
3. Optimize performance by using advanced statistical modeling and simulation techniques and
design refinements
4. Validate that design works in accordance to the process goals

Note, sometimes a DMAIC project may turn into a DFSS project because the process in question requires
complete re-design to bring about the desired degree of improvement. Such a discovery usually occurs
during improvement phase of DMAIC.