1.

Clamoring for ways to snare new customers and squeeze more revenues from the ones they
have, financial institutions are seeking CRM solutions that build enterprise-wide front-office
sales systems.

Customer relationship management (CRM) vendors have responded with an array of solutions
aimed at converting the information stored in data warehouses into sales ammunition that can be
used across all channels, including wireless and the Web. At the same time, these solutions
capture and automate the myriad business rules and workflow processes that exist in
organizations. Finally, they deliver decision support analytics for customer segmentation and
profitability measurement.

These technology offerings run the gamut from those geared to an industry segment (banking,
investment, insurance), to out-of-the-box (semi-customizable) products, on up to multichannel
solutions aimed at the largest institutions.

At the high-end of the CRM market, vendors like Siebel Systems, Onyx, PeopleSoft,
YOUcentric and others deliver the multichannel, multiproduct, customizable solutions. Such
vendors are likely to prevail over more narrowly focused or industry-specific vendors, at least in
larger organizations. "These vendors can provide highly tailored, global CRM solutions at high-
end institutions," said Stephen Ross, an analyst at Meridien Research.

Some manufacturers have also found success offering niche items focused on improving a
specific aspect of CRM. Vendors that specialize in campaign management technology aimed at
the financial services industry include BroadVision, Clarify, E.piphany, FirePond, FrontRange,
Informatica, Kana Communications, netDecide and NuEDGE, among others.

Whether geared toward the needs of large corporations or specific operational requirements,
CRM systems remain a popular buy at financial institutions. Total spending by the 500 largest
financial institutions on front-office sales technology will hit $485 million in 2004, up from $281
million this year, according to Meridien Research (see chart below).

One reason analysts predict CRM spending will remain strong despite the current economic
slowdown is because consolidation has created a need to adopt customer-centric business models
cutting across multiple products and channels.

Ultimately, the goal is to provide better information to call center and branch personnel, field
sales agents and others who deal directly with customers, as well as those responsible for
customer profitability. The foundation of such solutions is a customer data model that allows a
unified view of the customer across all organizational units. That's been the vision behind most
CRM spending since the early 1990s, when enterprise data warehouses first appeared on the
scene.
But that vision is improving. A new trend, "marketing automation," is aimed at aligning the data
model aspect of CRM with cross-selling or campaign management. Marketing automation,
according to Meridien, is a combination of customer, message and product to improve a firm's
revenue, cost and profits. In order to achieve this, the technology should focus on profitable
customers and target them with personal offers through a channel that's likely to get a successful
response.

For large financial firms brimming with customers, offices and products, integration is also
crucial to any CRM effort. Such firms, said Paris Deletraz, president of Mathias Client
Management Software, should use technology to create a "virtual client service team
environment," in which the various channels are brought together, enabling the firm to "look at
the opportunities, decide what products are going to help increase the share of wallet and which
product they're going to cross-sell."

BANKING ON INTEGRATION

In the banking industry, Northern Trust has built just such a front-office CRM application around
YOUcentric's JSales, which the Chicago-based institution installed in early 1999.

Northern Trust has consolidated customer data from 35-40 legacy systems into a centralized
Sybase repository. JSales, which is accessible to 3,000 employees, is integrated with the
repository to provide client cross-referencing (to improve customer relationships) and target
marketing.

Northern Trust is enjoying other benefits from its CRM investment, according to Meridien.
Concurrent usage in the range of 10% to 15% has resulted in improved operating efficiencies and
productivity. Relationship managers have a complete view of clients and their associations
(family, friends, etc.) that they can use to create cross-selling and up-selling opportunities.

WALL STREET

Despite having to wrestle with a tightening economy and market volatility, cross-selling
technology has become an integral component of CRM strategy on Wall Street.

"The evolution began with very little integration across multiple channels, stale customer data
and rudimentary segmentation and modeling and has progressed to real-time enterprise customer
interaction," said a recent Meridien report.

Especially in the retail brokerage area, the technology focus is shifting from simply
understanding who the clients are to much more robust CRM, said Dennis Ceru, an analyst at
TowerGroup. "We're starting to see a resurgence of interest in the retail brokerage space that is
taking a look at CRM more the way that banking did and less as simple contact management
software."

CRM tools help brokers understand customers' behaviors and goals, and provide automated
triggers and alerts for investment opportunities, noted Tom Richards, research director for CRM
at Meridien. "There are new sets of tools starting to be developed to help brokers become more
productive and to help consumers become more self-directed."

ANS:- IN THIS ALL OVER CASE IT IS DISCUSSING ABOUT HOW ORGANISATIONS ARE
USING CRM SOFTWARE IN THIS GLOBAL BUSINESS SCENARIO TO COMPETE WITH OTHER
BUSINESS SURVIVAL AND TO GAIN MARKET SOFTWARE. WHETHER IT IS INSURANCE
SECTOR, FINANCIAL SERCICE SECTOR & MANUFACTURING SECTOR, ALL ARE SPENDING
DOLLAR & DOLLAR ON CRM SOFTWARE TO MAKE THE ORGANISATION WORK EASY.
FROM THIS CASE IT IS REVEALED THAT, CRM SOFTWARE IS IN MORE DEMAND IN CALL
CENTRE TODAY. DATABASE IS CREATED TO CONTACT THE CUSTOMER AND CHECK THE
DATA OF CUSTOMER AND TO CALL THEM FOR BEST SERVICE PROVIDING. CRM FRONT
OFFICE OPERATION IS USED IN BANKING PROCESS. IN RETAIL SECTOR ALSO CONTACT
MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE IS USED ON LARGE SCALE. NOW IT’S THE NEED OF EVERY
LARGE ORGANISATION TO UPGRADE ITS CRM TECHNOLOGY BY TAKING HELP FROM
LARGE VENDORS IN CRM SOFTWARE SYSTEM..

2. CRM Lends a Hand to the Banking

industry
Despite the fact that in most banks profits sometimes fail, they seldom pay attention to or adopt
any customer strategy. It has long been the misconception that banks need not pay much
attention to customer focus just because they had customers. Some banks even if they possess
good customer relationships are unable to cross sell as they have not figured out who to target
with what product/service. What happens is that customers are often approached for the wrong
products.

However the new millennium has resulted in banks and financial agencies rethinking their
strategies and goals. They have come to understand the importance of hanging onto the customer
and keeping him happy. The rules that once governed the banking industry have changed. They
have realized that adopting a customer centric strategy is essential and needs to be compulsorily
undertaken. The vast majority of banks now realize they need a customer strategy and are opting
for CRM - Customer Relationship Management.

Banking CRM software serves to increase the market share and boost growth in the banking
industry. What happens in CRM banking solutions is that they change the way the employees
think and mould them into customer conscious people. CRM induces bankers to know that they
are required to maintain good relationships with their customers and should strive to retain them.

They are made to realize that the business process should consist of efforts to discover and
satisfy customer requirements. Since the banking field now boasts of so much of technological
innovations there has been a wide variety of innovations in CRM banking as well. Statistics
show that bankers will spend $7 billion on CRM. The sector will also evidence an increase in
expenditure of 14 percent each year. With such phenomenal statistics it is but a surety that CRM
banking solutions sales will soar in the coming years.
CRM Banking Benefits

CRM Banking Focuses on the Customer

CRM manages to places the customer at the focal point of the organization in order to cater to his
needs, satisfy him and thus maximize the profits of the organization. Banking CRM understands
the needs of the customer and integrates it with people, technology, resources and business
processes. It focuses on the existing data available in the organization and uses it to improve its
relationship with customers. Banking CRM uses information and analytical tools to secure
customer focus. Thus it is completely essential that banks implement CRM in order to secure
this.

Overall Profitability

CRM enables banks to give employee's better training that helps them face customers easily. It
achieves better infrastructure and ultimately contributes to better overall performance. The
byproducts of CRM banking solutions are customer acquisition, retention and profitability.
Banks that don't implement CRM will undoubtedly find themselves with lesser profitability
coupled with a sharp decline in the number of customers.

Satisfied Customers

It is important to make a customer feel as if he / she is the only one - this will go a long way in
satisfying and retaining them. Bankers need a return on investment and it has been proved that
increase in customer satisfaction more than contributes a fair share to ROI. The main value of
CRM banking lies in satisfaction and increased retention of customers.

Centralized Information

CRM banking solutions manage to clearly integrate people, processes and technology. CRM
banking provides banks with a holistic view of all bank transactions and customer information as
well and stores it in a single data warehouse where it can be studied later.

CRM Banking Boosts Small Banks

Banking CRM software meets the needs of banks of all sizes in terms of attaining the required
accuracy and understanding of customers. Merely assuming that banks that are considerably
smaller in size have a better customer approach and are able to deal with their customers in a
better manner is wrong. They are just as much in need of CRM aid as the others. Small banks on
account of a limited amount of money have had to realize that a large contribution to profits is
directly the result of good customer service. CRM makes sure that the bank delivers exactly what
the customer expects.
 The main problem the CRM industry now faces is reluctant, hesitant bankers who seldom
opt for CRM implementation. This is because banks feel that the transition to being
customer centric involves a lot of problems and costly. They are of the opinion that
returns hardly ever equal the expected profits and that the entire implementation is
unnecessary and time consuming. In addition to this the number of failed CRM
implementations has also resulted in invoking a feeling of reluctance in banks, making
them hesitate. This needs to be obliterated in order to succeed.
 It is imperative that business policies and processes are put early in place in order that the
best can be got out of the CRM business solution. Doing this at a later stage will result in
untoward complications.
 It is imperative that business policies and processes are put early in place in order that the
best can be got out of the CRM business solution. Doing this at a later stage will result in
untoward complications.
 Training of customer-facing staff is being given more importance now. This not only
equips them to better deal with the customer but CRM learning also empowers the
employee with sufficient knowledge to carry out his job confidently and to the best of his
ability.
 The assimilation and storage of bank customer data is a tedious task. Since this sector
mostly involves numerical data this is highly essential and needs to be undertaken. It
involves a lot of added work and minute attention to detail. There are loads and loads of
data that need to be evaluated. Minute attention to detail is essential so that discrepancies
and errors don't take place. With technology getting more complicated banks need to
attend to minute details to ensure success.
 It is important to test the CRM system before implementation. Aside from minimizing
errors this will go a long way in alleviating problems and difficulties. The new trends in
CRM have seen banks adopting methods like phased CRM implementation - adopting
incremental approaches and getting ample rewards.
 It is not sufficient to merely install CRM software. For CRM to be truly successful it is
imperative that there is a well established strategy. For CRM to be truly effective, it
requires a carefully planned strategy that makes proper use of people and business
processes in order to secure the maximum CRM ROI.
 When adopting CRM it is essential that banks realize that incremental adoption is
essential with a firm commitment to learn at every stage. A well developed CRM strategy
catering to phased implementation should be established and implemented.

 ANS:- THIS ARTICLE IS ALL ABOUT HOW TO ATTRACT CUSTOMER IN

BANKING SYSTEM AND HOW TO INCREASE CUSTOMER BASE BY USING
DIFFERENT CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT TOOLS AND
SOFTWARE TO PROVIDE THE BEST SOUTION TO THE CUSTOMERS IN
BANKS AND RETAIN THEM AS A PERMANENT CUSTOMER. FUTURE OF
BANKING SYSTEM IS BRIGHT IF THEY ARE ADOPTING THE CRM IN ITS
EVERYDAY BUSINESS. CRM ENABLES A BANK TO SEE WHICH CUSTOMER
ARE COSTING THEM AND WHICH ARE BRINGING BENEFITS FOR THEM AND
ALSO PROVIDES WITH REQUIRED ANALYTICAL TOOLS THAT WILL HELP
THEM FOCUS ON IMPORTANCE OF SEGREAGATING THESE TWO AS WELL.
CRM HELP HELPS IN ANALYSING PROFITABILITY OF THE BANKS, GAINING
 NEW CUSTOMERS, RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT & ASSISTING CUSTOMER
RETENTION.

3. Retail and CRM prove Good Partners for

Success!!!!
A look at most industries will show that each of them in turn are doing their own little bit
towards understanding the importance of customer focus. What is the retail industry doing on its
part? What efforts are they making to interact with their customers? Several retailers have
endeavored to add that extra personal touch and several more have not. The need for focusing a
whole lot more on the customer has been acutely felt by them and they have tried to
accommodate it. The past few years has witnessed a strong upsurge in the number of retailers
looking for a lifetime strategy that will cater to their customer requirements. What have they
come up with? Most of them have seen that the need of the moment is a customer strategy that
caters to lifetime responsibilities. As a result they have turned to a customer strategy - CRM
retail software to fulfill those needs.

Let's take a look at some of the ways in which retailers have sought to hang onto their most
valuable customers prior to employing CRM:

 Offering workshops and classes wherein the customer can have a hands on learning
experience
 Offering repeated demonstrations
 Mailbox offerings catered to suit the individual customer
 Offering the chance to try before you buy
 Maintaining the line of communication with the customer
 Encouraging customer feedback and making sure that it is paid attention to
 Providing customers with a chance to share their experiences with other customers
 Treating their customers as friends not as mere customers
 Little unique gifts and customized mailbox offers ensures that their best customers keep
coming back.

All this is magnificent, but the added edge is what is needed. It is the extra touch that has proved
so necessary and that serves as the edge over the competitor. Why should retailers opt for CRM?
What does it offer the retail industry? Probably the most important advantage CRM has over all
other customer strategies is its lifetime approach. CRM is not for a mere single transaction. The
benefits of CRM technology extend over a lifetime and deal with the customer relationship for
that entire period.

Retailers experience a vast difference when they treat their customers as a partner. This serves to
basically improve the entire supply chain. The wholesaler as well benefits when the retail
industry maintains and sustains a good relationship with the customer. Another factor that
contributed to CRM success in the retail industry is the failure of enterprise resource (ERP)
systems in lending the competitive edge that is needed.

ANS: THIS ARTICLE IS ALL ABOUT HOW RETAIL INDUSTRY IS USING CRM SOFTWARE.
FOR TARGETING NEW CUSTOMER,FOR CAMPAIGN MANAGEMENT,LONG TERM
RELATIONSHIP VALUE,FORCASTING BUDGET AND TO MAKE EFFECTIVE SELLING
PROCESS AND TO PROVIDE BETTER SERVICE TO CUSTOMER. ELECTRONIC CRM IS
USED IN THIS ARTICLE IN REATIL INDUSTRY TO INTERACT WITH CUSTOMER VIA
THE CORPORATE WEBSITE. RIGHT CRM PROCESS ENABLE RETAIL STORE TO
TAKE THEIR CUSTOMER SUCESSFULLY THROUGH THE SALES AND MARKETING
PROCESS. CRM RETAIL SOFTWARE ENCOURAGES GOOD MARKETING THROUGH
THE USAGE OF CRM SOFTWARE.

CRM Invades the Insurance Sector with

4.

Amazing Results
The current scenario in the insurance industry is a complex and competitive environment tinged
with little stability. The major hassle the industry faces is obtaining clients. This is due to the fact
that the big fish in the insurance industry dominate the sector. It has become increasingly
difficult for this particular sector to gain profits while curtailing costs. Acquisitions, mergers,
have all contributed to the difficulty insurance agents and other professionals from this industry
face.

Long considered a job only restricted to insurance companies, selling insurance policies has now
become an option for banks as well. This has resulted in a lot of increased as well as unwelcome
competition. Customers tend to lose out as they are not buying from the right provider. In
addition to this the Internet has increased the pressure for insurance companies in capturing the
market. All this has succeeded in making the insurance world more complicated.

What is required is a comprehensive database of information about customers who hold your
insurance policies. The answer? Choosing a customer centric strategy can go a long way in
achieving this. CRM - Customer Relationship Management holds the key. CRM helps insurance
companies to ensure that the customer is understood better.

Right now insurers can achieve excellent policy administration; good billing systems etc but fall
short on the customer front. However this alone is insufficient to survive on. Insurers have now
realized that CRM is essential if they want to deliver high quality services since it satisfies
current customers and gains new ones. This is because policies get sold only if relationships are
built. CRM solves these problems with its user-friendly, web-based CRM tools that increase
sales opportunities

Insurance CRM Gains

Since most insurance companies are not adequately equipped to help their agents deal with
customer centered problems CRM insurance enables insurance organizations to survive in a
tough economic climate by using the data the insurance company has on the existing customers
and then use it to increase the level of profitability. It manages to enhance your customer
relationships based on customer's unique requirements.

A wealth of customer data is available but insurance companies do not have it readily assessable
nor is it coherent. CRM insurance software creates a holistic view of the customer which helps
eliminate customer irritation experienced due to this, when they need to identify themselves
repeatedly. Insurance CRM assists Customer Service Representatives when they are not able to
properly access customer data. Having ample customer information on hand enables a CSR to be
more confident of dealing with the client. It removes the chance of errors.

ANS: THIS ARTICLE IS ALL ABOUT HOW INSURANCE COMPANIES USING ITS SOFTWARE
TO EXIST IN THE MARKET. BY THIS PROCESS IT ENABLES CUSTOMER TO DO
RESEARCH ON PRODUCTS & HAVE ALL ANSWER TO THEIR QUESTIONS AND
POLIC HOLDER CAN CHECK THEIR CLAIM STATUS ALSO AND CAN CHANGE
THEIR ACCOUNT INFORMATION AS WELL AND CAN SUBMIT COMPLAINTS. BY
INSURANCE SOFTWARE IT HELPS IN CUSTOMER RETENTION AND INCREASED
INSURANCE MARKET SHARE, DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL IS BECOMING EFFICIENT.
MOST IMPORTANT CRM PROVIDES TO REDUCE OPERATING EXPENSES. IT
INCREASES CUSTOMER SATISFACTION. AND IT IMPROVES THE RESPONSE TIME.

5. CRM in the BPO sector

A typical ITES/BPO service includes a scenario wherein one company hands over part of its
work to another company, making it responsible for the design and implementation of the
business process through the telecom and Internet medium under strict guidelines regarding
requirements and specifications from the outsourcing company. The ITES or BPO industry is a
young and nascent sector in India and has been in existence for a little more than five years.
Despite its recent arrival on the Indian scene, the industry has grown phenomenally and has now
become a very important part of the export-oriented IT software and services environment.
Today, Indian companies are offering a variety of outsourced services ranging from customer
care, transcription, billing services and database marketing, to Web sales/marketing, accounting,
tax processing, transaction document management, telesales / telemarketing, HR hiring and
biotech research. Examples of various interactions include customers calling to check on their
order status, customers calling to check for information on products and services, customers
calling to verify their account status, customers calling to check their reservation status etc.
Handling these multiple functions is a tough task and BPOs face various issues with their end
customers. They are also, facing increasingly stiff competition throughout the world.
Additionally, customers of BPOs are demanding an ever-increasing array of products and
services while still expecting the highest levels of service delivery and support. According to
NASSCOM, the Indian ITES-BPO industry is entering Phase II of evolution (i.e., moving from
potential to performance). Indian ITES-BPO organizations have now started looking beyond
contract fulfillment to identify opportunities for delivering high quality service to end-customers.
They are aligning internal systems to ensure high customer satisfaction. These steps will serve as
the building blocks for future success. BPO's therefore feel the need to manage every single
interaction with their customer and maintain a database of the same. In such a situation the best
option for any Business Process Outsourcer is a Customer Interaction Management Solution
(CIM) A CIM Solution integrates insight and optimizes customer interaction across multiple
channels. The cost of acquiring a new customer is five times the cost of retaining an old one.
And hence it is important that every customer interaction is managed in the best possible way. A
CIM solution is a required component of any customer relationship management strategy as it is
a new hybrid of the traditional CRM technologies that have been adapted to the Internet and the
growing number of personal communication devices. CIM is comprised of parts of the previous
generation of CRM solutions with the addition of Web-based interaction solutions and wireless
device transaction management. For a BPO / ITES set up, solutions of this nature are preferred as
these new communication / interaction channels enable companies to add more customer-facing
touch points to create a 360-degree interaction capability and enhance customer communication
irrespective of what channel is being used. A CIM solution allows a call centre to evolve into a
contact centre which enables interactions through all channels not just phone. A CIM solution
has various benefits and they suit a BPO business with utmost efficiency. Some of the benefits of
a CIM solution are: CIM allows operations managers to monitor and improve productivity of
employees Allows seamless integration. CIM makes the process of customer service agent-
independent, so even if individual agents quit or move onto other projects, the process of
customer service is not disrupted Reduced customer support/marketing costs Higher sales
conversion rate Enhanced flexibility to manage service peaks and troughs, product lifecycles
Homogeneous, clearly defined processes across geographies Greater coverage and number of
interactions with customers In order to manage all interactions seamlessly a BPO / ITES business
needs to deploy a CIM solution that can create a virtual customer service center to manage
customer concerns and queries through multiple channels including voice, e-mail and chat on a
24/7 basis.

ANS:- IN THIS ARTICLE IT’S ALL ABOUT THE BPO SECTOR AND ABOUT ITS CRM
PROCESS,HOW THEY PROVIDE THE SOLUTION TO CUSTOMERS BY USING
DIFFERENT IT TECHNIQUES LIKE CIM TECHNIQUE i.e CIM TECHNIQUE WHICH
INCFREASES THE SALES OF BPO COMPANIES BY ITS FLEXIBILITY PROCESS . IN
THIS CIM TECHNIQUE, CALL CENTRE IS EVOLVING INTO CONTACT CENTRE
TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGER TO IMPROVE ITS PRODUCTIVITY AND EFFICEINCY.
SO, WE CAN SAY CUSTOMER INTERACTION MANAGEMENT PROCESS HELPS IN
MANAGING ITS OLD CUSTOMER IN BEST POSSIBLE WAY BY PROVIDING 24 HRS
HELPLINE SERVICES WITH CHAT, EMAILS AND OTHER MULTIPLE CHANNELS.
Over all I have analyzed that Customer relationship management is one of the most important
tools a company can use to remain viable. But how does a firm go about implementing a new
crm system that will maximize customer-specific information. Customers in today's world desire
companies that go the extra mile. A strong and functional CRM system is a positive step. CRM
is a total company function. From the top of any organization to the bottom, everyone must be on
board.

SUBMITTED BY
RAGHAV SHETTY
BBA (HONS)
Reg no. 10800216