CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

MCA SEM 4 As per Mumbai University Syllabus Prepared by www.missionmca.com For private circulation only

INDEX

Chapter 1 2 3 4 5 6

Name Introduction to CRM Sales Force Automation Enterprise Marketing Automation (EMA) Call Centers Implementing CRM ASP (Application Service Provider)

Page No 02 15 27 34 40 51

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Chapter 1: Introduction to CRM 1) What is a customer? A customer is defined as someone who pays for goods or services. a. Retaining customer loyalty has been a sales principle since the beginning of time. b. To all to that, we have to look at the changing nature of the customer to understand CRM. c. Customer is King has been the mantra since the 1940s, its content has changed fundamentally over the past decade. d. Customer can be hence defined as , Your paying client Your employee Your supplier/vendor Your partner e. Now the historic customer has become your contemporary customer. Historic Customer: the Individual or group that you paid for your goods and services. Contemporary Customer: The individual or group with whom you exchange value. 4 types of customers: Paying Client They give money to the company & company gives them products and/or services. Employee Company gives them a paycheck and benefits and bonuses and they give (hopefully) productive work in return to the company. Supplier/Vendor They give products and/or services to the company & company give them money. Partner They give lead, sales, added value services to the company & company give them the same and/or percentages of a sale they help make. CUSTOMER: IN A NUTSHELL 1) Youre a company. You have paying clients. They give you money. You give them products and/or services. Thats Customer #1 CRM MISSION MCA 2

2) You have employees. You give then a paycheck and benefits and bonuses and they give you productive work in return. Thats Customer #2 3) You have suppliers. They give you products and services. You give them money. Customer #3 4) You have channel partners. They give you leads, services, sales. You give them the same percent of a sale that you make. Customer #4 5) The individual or group with whom you exchange value is contemporary customer.

2) How do we define CRM? CRM: Customer Relationship Management 1. CRM is a business strategy to select and manage customers to optimize long-term value 2. CRM requires a customer-centre business philosophy and culture to support effective marketing, sales and service processes. 3. CRM applications (SFA, customer service and support, marketing automation) can enable customer relationship management, provided that an enterprise has the right leadership, strategy and culture. 4. CRM technology provides a systematic way of managing customer relationships. 5. CRM is an enterprise transformation that places the customer at the center of all activities. CRM is a process or methodology used to learn more about customers needs & behavior in order to develop stronger relationship with them.

Definition of CRM given by different authors:

Craig Conway Every time a customer approaches your business, they arrive with an expectation. It may be a service need or a new product interest, but in every case, they have an expectation that accompanies their interest in your business. What happens next will form an experience that shapes their behavior. A good experience may increase their loyalty and tendency to purchase again. A poor experience may transfer their business to your competitor. The ability to recognize this process and to actively manage it forms the basis for Customer Relationship Management, or CRM. The ability to ensure that the enterprise will act with unity of purpose to ensure experiences that exceed every expectation is a monumental task. Customers interacting

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with employees, employees collaborating with suppliersevery interaction is an opportunity to manage a relationship.

Scott Fletcher CRM is an enterprise-wide mindset, mantra, and set of business processes and policies that are designed to acquire, retain, and service customers. Broadly speaking, CRM includes the customer facing business processes of marketing, sales, and customer service. Advances in technology serve as the primary catalyst to the CRM bonanza. The rise of the Internet as a means to transact business, increasing and affordable bandwidth, and advances in computing power are all driving CRM. These technology advances greatly empower customers and position them to more easily access information on products, services, and competitors.

Brent Frei CRM is a comprehensive set of processes and technologies for managing the relationships with potential and current customers and business partners across marketing, sales, and service regardless of the communication channel. The goal of CRM is to optimize customer and partner satisfaction, revenue, and business efficiency by building the strongest possible relationships at an organizational level.

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Business objectives: outlining two- to five-year strategic goals should be clearly defined. These can include revenue, market share, and margin goals. These should then drive the next level of business fundamentals: program initiatives.

Program initiatives: are typically one to one and a half years in scope. They are the nearterm game plans intended to move the company another step toward the long-term objectives of the company. These initiatives are then associated with specific measurements that will be the clear indications of successful forward progress.

Departmental plans: are the processes and behavior that form the fabric of everyday work within the organization. Examples include deploying an automated email response system, enabling customer self-help on a website, or streamlining the call center processes to answer customer inquiries in shorter time frames. There are often dozens of major processes within a department and many that cross departments. The three layers of business operations are then supported by technology.

Technology: is used to automate and enable some or all of the business processes and initiatives. Organizations use either many separate best-of-breed solutions or larger, integrated platform solutions to achieve the goals of technology-enabled business. The CRM MISSION MCA 5

technology strategy is generally a reflection of the coordination, or lack thereof, of the organization.

Ronni T. Marshak Every companys game plan includes what I call the G-SPOT. (See Figure 1-2.) This stands for Goals, Strategies, Plans, Objectives, and Tactics. Heres how it breaks down for CRM:

Goals: Every business has clearly defined goals. At the most basic level, these include things like profitability, worldwide recognition, and high stockholder value.

Strategies: To achieve your goals, you establish strategies, such as designing innovative products, focusing on international markets, and establishing long-term relationships with customers.

Plans: Executing strategies require plans. For example, to design innovative products you might implement a plan of hiring top product engineers; to focus internationally you might develop a public relations plan that targets worldwide press; and to establish customer relationships you might determine to measure customer satisfaction and behavior and to invest in technology to support customer interactions.

Objectives: These are the measurable goals of each plan, such as maintaining a 60 percent customer retention rate or lowering product return rates to less than 20 percent.

Tactics: Tactics are how you achieve the objectives that are part of the plans to implement the strategies to achieve the goals (whew!). For example, you might establish

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24/7 call center or create a data warehouse that consolidates all customer

information.

Objectives of CRM:

To create a consistent customer experience Your relationship with customer should be thought of as an ongoing conversation without end.

Collective consciousness expected Customers talking to Accounts receivables person, sales person, call from telemarketing person, direct marketing, returning to web site.

Advantages of CRM: Provide better customer service Make call centers more efficient Cross sell products more effectively Help sales staff close deals faster Simplify marketing and sales processes Discover new customers Increase customer revenues

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3) CRM Technology There are 3 types of CRM technologies operational, analytical and collaborative Operational CRM is the customer facing applications of CRM as SFA, EMA and front office suites. The analytic segment included data marts or data warehouses that are used by applications that apply algorithms to dissect the data and present it in a form that is useful to the user. The collaborative CRM reaches across customer touch points, all the different communication means that a customer might interact with, such as email, phone call, fax, website pages etc. it includes application such as PRM software.

CRM Technology CRM is disciplined business strategy. CRM technology is the driver of the strategy. Technology, in the form of networked collaboration, communication, knowledge management and automated electronic processes can enable different groups within the company to work seamlessly as one unit to fulfill the CRM vision. The accepted definition of CRM technology is generally accepted to apply to "front office" processes. CRM technology mandates that all interactions between the customer and the company are recorded and stored in a central information database, which can be shared with anyone in the company who contributes to processing the customer's transaction. CRM technology fulfils the vision of CRM are through the streamlining of processes and the acquisition of information to form knowledge about the customer. Types of CRM Technology Operational CRM Analytical CRM Collaborative CRM

Operational CRM: CRM MISSION MCA 8

Operational CRM is the customer-facing applications of CRMthe aforementioned sales force automation, enterprise marketing automation, and front-office suites that encompass all of this simultaneously. Operational CRM is the ERP-like segment of CRM. Business Functions like customer service, order management, invoice/billing, sales are all part of operational CRM. One fact of operational CRM is the possibility of integrating with the HR functions and financial functions of ERP applications. With this integration, endto-end functionality from lead management to order tracking can be implemented. Analytical CRM The analytic segment includes data marts or data warehouses such as customer repositories that are used by applications that apply algorithms to dissect the data and present it in a form that is useful to the user. Analytical CRM is the capture, storage, extraction, processing, interpretation, and reporting of customer data to a user. Companies have developed applications that can capture the customer data from multiple sources and store it in a data warehouse and then use algorithms to interpret the data as needed. The value of the application is not just in the algorithm and storage, but also in the ability to individually personalize the response using the data.

Collaborative CRM The collaborative CRM reaches across customer touch points. It is the communication center, the coordination network that provides the neural paths to the customer and his suppliers. It could mean a portal, a partner relationship management (PRM) application, or a customer interaction center (CIC). It could mean communication channels such as the Web or email, voice applications, or snail mail. It could mean channel strategies. In other words, it is any CRM function that provides a point of interaction between the customer and the channel itself.

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This is almost an overlay. It is the communication center, the coordination network, that provides paths to customer and his suppliers. This could mean a portal, a partner relationship management application (PRM) or a customer interaction center (CIC). This could be defined as any CRM function that provides a point of interaction between the customer and channel itself (web, email, voice applications, snail mail or any channel strategies)

CRM Technology Components CRM Engine Front-Office Solutions Enterprise Application Integrations (EAIs) for CRM CRM in the Back Office

CRM Engine This would be the customer data repository. The data mart or data warehouse is where all data on the customer is captured and stored. This could include basic stuff such as name, address, phone number, and birth date. The purpose is a single gathering point for all individual customer information so that a unified customer view can be created throughout all company departments that need to know the data stored in this CRM engine house.

Front-Office Solutions These are the unified applications that run on top of the customer data warehouse (CDW). They could be sales force automation, marketing automation, or service and support and customer interaction applications.

Enterprise Application Integrations (EAIs) for CRM

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These sit between the CRM back office and front office. They also sit between the newly installed CRM system and the beenaround-forever enterprise legacy systems. They also allow CRM-to-CRM communications. They are pieces of code and connectors and bridges that as a body are called EAIs, formerly known as middleware. EAIs provide the messaging services and data mapping services that allow one system to communicate with disparate other systems, regardless of formatting.

CRM in the Back Office Analytical tool are known as Back Office of the CRM. Analytics are becoming increasingly integrated from the beginning with the elements of the CRM. The analytical algorithms are working in background; they have clear and distinct visibility (By which we can see for miles and miles) within the operational applications which are accessing in real time. Embedded analytics are now part of a few of the multifunctional CRM applications.

1) CUSTOMER LIFECYCLE: Customer lifecycle is defined as the process the customer has been undergoing to be with you for many years. This includes the customers purchase history, perhaps how often one has taken advantage of special offers directed at ones customer class. Customer lifecycle is the customers marketing value to you and how much revenue that marketing value could be worth indirectly. With customer lifecycle and customer lifetime value (CLV). We can find out the expected revenue generated from a single customer over a lifetime of that customers relationship. Customer lifecycle helps in determining the value of the customer to a particular company. The life cycle of the customer is the process the customer has been undergoing to be with company for all the years. CRM MISSION MCA 11

This includes the customers purchase history, perhaps how often shes taken advantage of special offers directed at her or her customer class. Depending on what company identify as important to customers return on investment (ROI), it could also include customers marketing value to company and how much revenue that marketing value could be worth indirectly.

To find out what is the expected revenue generated from a single customer over the anticipated lifetime of that customers relationship with company is both the customer life cycle and the customer lifetime value (CLV).

CUSTOMER INTERACTION 1) Customer interaction is a critical component of CRM. 2) Increased customer interaction brings in some value to the CRM technology (without a human being) 3) It is the convenience and the ability of the customers to get something they need without having to rely on a busy human being rather a lazy human being. 4) The early interaction was document fax back. 5) Customer interaction now is more sophisticated, with both service information instantly available to the customer service representative and service without service representatives. Some of the value that technology brings to the table in CRM is through increased customer interaction that doesnt necessarily occur with a human being. It is convenience and the ability of the customers to get something they need without having to rely on a busy human being, or worse, a lazy human being. Customer Interaction is a critical component of CRMespecially the online variety.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CRM AND eCRM: CRM e-CRM CRM encompasses all the steps an e-CRM encompasses all the steps an organization must take to build and organization must take to build and maintain good customer relationships for maintain good relationships for its eits traditional business operations. business operations.

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Users of System Employees as they interact with customers. Principal Media phone Call center applications Model used for Business Traditional Business Model

Users of System Customers as they interact with a company. Principal Media Web Web technology applications Model used for Business e-Model

eCRM Web enabled self service

CRM Client/Server Based. Traditional. It is Company centric. Based on application. Intended department, employee. Customer data was used for history review. response, for corporate individual

application. eCRM is channel; not a separate technology. It is powerful; Flexible Channel that customer could use to interact with companies. Self service knowledge bases, automated email

personalization of web content, online pricing. Ability to interact with business. Improve Customer satisfaction and reduce cost with improve efficiency. product bundling and

FEATURES OF eCRM: eCRM implies capabilities like self service knowledge bases, automated email response, personalization of web content, online product bundling and pricing. eCRM gives Internet users the ability to interact with the business through their preferred communication channel. It also allows business to offset expensive customer service agents with technology.

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eCRM puts much emphasis on the customer satisfaction and reduced cost through improved efficiency. eCRM use customer data for personalization, cross-selling and up-selling. Sales Force Automation(SFA )and Enterprise Marketing Automation(EMA) is integrated in the eCRM.

1) Meet the needs of your mobile customers. 2) Ensure timely delivery of messages. 3) Increase overall consistency of customer communications, improve program results and reduce errors. 4) Create highly targeted campaigns. 5) Monitor campaign activity in real-time. 6) Prompt replies to customer queries. 7) Improve customer service. 8) Improve customer relationships with personalized, relevant communications. 9) Efficiently manage customer interactions across multiple channels (Web, wireless, email). 10) React to customer behaviors, preferences or requests as they change over time. 11) One-to-one customization of outbound communications. 12) Communicate with customers through their preferred channel. 13) Increase response rates by distributing highly targeted messages. 14) Pre-defined message templates save you time by dynamically populating message content. 15) Provide relevant, one-to-one, personalized offers for individual customers.

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Chapter 2: Sales Force Automation 1) Define SFA SFA is Sales Force Automation Sales Force Automation (SFA) is designed to help salespeople acquire and retain customers, reduce administrative time, provide robust account management, and, basically, make salesperson activities something that earns them and their companies money. 1) SFA is an important tool of CRM. 2) SFA is designed to help salespeople acquire and retain customers, reduce administrative time, provide robust account management and basically to make the salesperson activities something that earns them and their companies money.

2) Explain the need of SFA 3) 1. Increased Revenue: a. With SFA, there should be increase in revenue per salesperson and in gross profits per year. b. If you have an increase of 100 percent in sales revenues but your cost of sales has increased means your SFA implementation failed. The main purpose is obviously improvement in bottom line. But only increase in revenue is not sufficient. If you have an increase of 100 percent in sales revenues but your cost of sales has increased, or it came strictly as a result of your increased sales force, your SFA implementation failed. 2. Reduction in cost of sales: a. The salespeople use a lot of time in coordination of their efforts, continuous and repetitive data entry, and often unsuccessful attempts to extract and interpret data without the tools to do so. b. It has been proved that sales time to fulfill administrative functions is almost half of a salespersons activity. c. By reducing the time engaged in these administrative or other non-salesrelated efforts, the cost of sales is reduced. This is one of the most successful results of SFA. In this, we are talking about a reduction in the amount of time that is used by salespeople in coordination of their efforts, continuous and repetitive data entry, and often-unsuccessful attempts to extract and interpret data without the tools to do so.

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Studies have been done that show that sales time to fulfill administrative functions is almost half of a salespersons activity. By reducing the time engaged in these administrative or other non-sales-related efforts, the cost of sales is reduced. 3. Customer Retention due to company not product or service a. If you customers are happy, they stay with you, even if they are paying a bit more. b. Its not about the money; its about the relationship with the company and often the relationship with particular salespeople within the company. c. SFA allows you to understand the value of a individual customer through customer history and communications with the company. If your customers are happy, they stay with you, even if they are paying a bit more. SFAs benefit is to provide you with a view of the customer that allows that great salesperson or awesome company to understand the value of the individual customer through customer history and communications with the company. 4. Sales Force Increasing Mobility: a. The sales force is now out of the office more often than ever meeting customers, moving through airports etc. b. This is making mobility a competitive issue, requiring effective competitive mobile tools, such as the Internet. c. Most CRM companies have established wireless components for sales. The work of sales force has not remained in the office anymore. They have to move from places to places like, meeting customers, moving through airports, and prospecting for leads on Broadway with their PDAs. This is making mobility a competitive issue, requiring effective competitive mobile tools, such as the Internet and the handhelds. d. 5. Easily Available Customer Information with Single view: a. Multiple departments may have an interest in viewing the status of a customer account or opportunity. For eg. The sales department wants to see the status of opportunities. The accounts department wants to see the state of invoicing and billing for the same accounts. Each of them has the individual view that allows them to see all the data they need to put at the same time. There is a universal view of all data available to all departments at all times.

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Each salesperson wants to manage the customer accounts he owns. Each of them has the individual view that allows them to see all the data they need to-that is, have the permissions to see-but at the same time, there is a universal view of all the data available to all departments at all times. Thus in short the customer information is available to the salesperson or anyone related.

4) Barriers to a Successful SFA 5) The most important thing is Process + Technology = Successful CRM/SFA. Thus, process and technology must go hand in hand. Process and Technology provides organizations with best practices for selling, and the technology and training to effectively automate them. 6) Salespeople have to see technology as a tool to help them. If they dont enter the customer contact information and properly track their sales through the predetermined corporate sales process as Solutions Selling and others suggest, the data that management is using will be inaccurate and essentially useless. Therefore, usability and a short learning curve should be paramount to the software selection process. 7) SFA emerged to allow individuals to not only manage their contacts, but also to allow businesses to manage their accounts. The company, not the individual, owns the relationship. Every person involved must understand the history and future plans for accounts. Online shared history of an account that includes not only all contacts, but also all promises, conversations, negotiations, and meetings are important. 8) Thus the barriers are: a. The technology must be properly selected otherwise the SFA will not work properly.

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b. The history of every account and customer must be maintained properly and shared properly for the success of SFA. If not, it is going to endanger the SFA process. c. d. e. f. g. h. i. j. k. Difficult to work with Sales Force Automated Systems SFAs require additional work inputting data They dehumanize a process that should be personal Requires continuous maintenance Requires information updating Requires system upgrading SFAs are costly They are difficult to integrate with other management information systems. Salespeople grumble for the amount of learning that needs to be done to understand SFA. l. The CRM investment is a loss if the process + technology are not predictable or measurable. m. The data becomes inaccurate and essentially useless if the sales process is not predetermined. n. Software selection process becomes a absurd process when the learning curve is long and usability is ignored.

9) Explain the functionality aspect of SFA a. SFA has the same fundamental features, regardless of the vendor. The difference between vendors are nominal. b. The features provided by SFA are lead management, contact management, account management, opportunity management, sales pipeline management, and an engine for data synchronization. CONTACT MANAGEMENT It covers the basics: Name, address, phone numbers, company, title, business information. Activity related to the individual; attachments related to the individuals; and level of the decision maker. Thus basically it manages the contacts for the organization. Deliver superior customer service with real-time access to relevant customer data. Our contact management tool provides vital information that includes purchases, call personal and

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and escalation history, interactions, multiple contacts, support cases, e-mail and documents sent and received and sales opportunities. Save time finding information Transition contact information quickly when reps leave. Accurate contact records, including notes and histories of conversations, meetings and outcome lead to better customer relations. Better customer intelligence and coordinated sales activities lead to more revenue yield per customer. ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT: This standard feature allows the salesperson or sales manager to handle individual corporate accounts. Each account has multiple links to other information, beyond the corporate name or address, including the contacts by corporation and the proposed opportunities by corporation. Thus it manages the accounts for the organization.

Easily mange and analyze all current and historical account details, enabling your sales team to easily identify and recruit new clients and resell to existing ones. Automatically trigger literature fulfillment, follow-up appointments, call-backs, daily tasks and more, building lasting customer relationships. 1. Shorten ramp-up time for new reps 2. Improve customer satisfaction levels 3. Increase rep productivity 4. Establish collaborative customer management 5. Provide a consistent face to customers 6. Get an end-to-end, 360-degree customer view. OPPORTUNITY MANAGEMENT: The facets that opportunity management covers: Specific opportunity, the company it belongs to, the salesperson or team that is working it. Assignment of revenue credits if there is a sales team, the potential for closing this particular opportunity, the final results of this opportunity. Stage of the sales process this opportunity is in, and the potential closing date.

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Facilitate collaboration across your teams Effectively mange multiple deals simultaneously Track deal progress and milestones Close more deals and increase sales productivity Proactively counter competitive threats Identity bottlenecks and shorten sales cycles Standardize processes and methodologies LEAD MANAGEMENT Lead Management functionality is a subset of Opportunity Management A qualified lead becomes an opportunity Give your sales team real-time access to the latest prospects and marketing campaigns, keeping them in the loop each step of the way. Instantly know where your best leads are coming from and route leads to the appropriate sales rep. Ensure no leads are dropped Standardize lead qualification best Improve responsiveness to prospect inquiries. Optimize lead flow from capture to close Optimize your marketing spend Build different lead management processes for different groups Increase lead conversion rates Standardize lead qualification best practices PIPELINE MANAGEMENT The sales pipeline is a peculiar term for the execution of the established sales process. Each company has its criteria for what constitutes its sales process. If company successfully embeds sales process into SFA application then the company can properly use that application. Maximize the revenue potential of every lead. With a transparent view of all your sales activities, your sales team can generate instant and accurate forecasts based on revenue and customer demand. Now you can effectively communicate and collaborate, transforming prospects into profitable and lasting customers. Sales process sequence is as follows: Prospecting --- Potential lead --- Qualification --- Opportunity---Building Vision --Short List --- Negotiation --- Close: Won or Lost Get a better understanding of future business. Identify trends before they become problems. Ensure your current business is enough to meet your quota. More effectively manage your team, identifying where you can coach reps in selling steps.

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Quote generation It is a simple tool that generates quotes for customers. Order tracking This feature tracks the status of the invoice and the product delivery. Sales quota management It allows the sales manager to see how the individual sales person is doing relative to their quotas within some defined time segment. Commission management This tool calculates the commission for salespeople. Territory management Here in short it means a new person takes over an existing territory or a territory can be redistricted and redivided among existing salespeople geographically. Sales Forecasting SFA programs have adequate sales forecasting tools as sophisticated spreadsheet like tools for forecast fundamentals. Sales forecasts are good guesses in spite there are algorithms of the program Other SFA Applications Incentive compensation system This particular feature allows vice-presidents of sales to design compensation plans and to track them. Competitive information system This is often tied into multiple sources so that the salesperson could do the research online and internally to find what is needed. Telesales campaign management This feature helps inside sales manager design tele-marketing campaigns. Sales assistant

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This feature helps the beginners to learn the sales process of the company they work for. Expense reporting This feature ties expense reporting into both accounting and CRM systems. It integrates back and front office functionality. Learning management system/content delivery tool It provides a means for newer employees to understand the sales process and experienced employees to request and receives appropriate sales information and tools ranging from brochures to competitive information. Marketing encyclopedia It is a centralized repository for all the marketing materials so all salespeople have access to appropriate materials for their customers.

Partner management capabilities It helps to manage the partners and track the sales brought by them.

Integration with service, marketing, and Internet applications Little pieces of code called Application programming interfaces are used to integrate with either third party systems or their own back office systems.

Custom sales process and methodologies Some methodologies are developed for the organization for the sales purpose.

Other SFA features/functions Software distribution to mobile users This is more of an infrastructural feature that makes simplified distribution of code to multiple users inn multiple locations much easier for system administrators. Quote pricing engine

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This is the feature that draws from customer records, product catalogues, need assessment, and customized product configurations and generates a quote to customer. Smartscripts These are customizable scripts for telesales to maintain some sort of monolithic sales organization integrity. eBriefings It allows the creation and deployment of specific discussions according to defined workflow. Voice recognition Right now it means not much more than making calendar entries of varying sorts and getting your current customer data via interactive voice recognition (IVR).

10) Explain the technological aspect of SFA 11) SFA becomes powerful not only with the functionality aspect but with the combination of the functionality and the flexibility of the technology. 12) Two aspects of SFA functionality and technology make SFA useful to both the professional and mangers. 13) It allows them to analyze data, embed best practices for future sales people and do it with a desktop a. SFA is powerful because of the combination of the functionality and the flexibility of the technology. b. It allows them (functionality and technology) to analyze data, stay on top of opportunities, embed best practices for future salespeople and do it with a desktop. c. The most significant technologies is the data synchronization. DATA SYNCHRONIZATION

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Data synchronization is the process of updating information among unconnected computers such as laptop, mobile, or desktop.

Salespeople in the field maintain a subset of master database and update their local data while others work on same data simultaneously.

Synchronization allows corporate managers and sales teams to share information created by field salespeople.

Data Synchronization Process o Data synchronization takes network infrastructure bandwidth. o Data synchronization process involves following steps Step 1. Remote databases are created for mobile salespeople and branch offices. Each database is a relevant subset of the corporate database. Step 2. The synchronization system tracks changes pertinent to the particular salesperson to both the remote databases and the host database. Step 3. Remote salespeople can connect to the home office using low bandwidth modems or wide area network(WAN) connections. Salespeople who are at desk can connect via their local area network(LAN). Step 4. During the connections, log files are exchanged that contain new information to be updated in the respective databases. Step 5. After the connection is completed, new data is applied to each database so that each database has up-to-date information.

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Data Synchronization is the process of updating information among unconnected computers. Synchronization also allows corporate managers and sales team to share information created by field salespeople. For SFA, data synchronization is a essential piece of technology. Data synchronization takes up a fair amount of network infrastructure bandwidth. It actively involves a lot of what comprises the corporate information system. Remote databases are created for mobile salespeople and branch offices. Each database is a relevant subset of the corporate database. Flexibility and Performance A synchronization currently small. Some synchronization systems perform fine in small test environments Some systems are impractical in real-world situations for large groups. High-performance synchronization requires powerful database

system

should

support

large-scale

field

implementation with hundreds of users; even remote sales force is

capabilities and performance currently available only in databases such as Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle. A synchronization system should be capable of supporting largescale field implementations. Some synchronization systems perform fine in small test environments but become impractical in real-world situations High-performance synchronization requires powerful database capabilities and performance. The synchronization engine must be database independent to allow different database systems to reside on remote and host systems. For eg. The remote system may use Borland InterBase, but the host system might be Oracle.

o o o o o

Reporting Tools Lack of or poor reporting can lead to bad strategic or tactical decisions, redundant work efforts, and missed opportunities.

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Good reporting tools as part of the technology of SFA (and CRM) are essential.

Many of the reporting tools embedded in SFA applications are third party tools.

The most popular is Seagates Crystal Reports. Reporting is the creation of customized onscreen or printed views that provide the viewer/reader with information specifically in the form they want and with the content they want.

o Good reporting tools as part of the technology of SFA are essential. o Many of the reporting tools embedded in SFA applications are third party tools. o Reporting is the creation of customized onscreen or prinked views that provide the viewer/reader with information specifically in the form they want and with the content they want. Eg: Crystal Reports has a strong report-processing engine that is newly Web optimized. Even more interesting in Crystal Reports 8.0 is the use of Dynamic HTML (DHTML) so the reports can be seen on your screen in real time. o The report engine supports all the major relational and flat-file databases.

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Chapter 3: Enterprise Marketing Automation (EMA) EMA: Enterprise Marketing Automation 1. EMA is one of the important components of e-CRM. 2. EMA is the technology of end-to-end marketing. 3. Its core component is Campaign Management.

1. 2.

What are the components of EMA? EMA is a component of end to end marketing Its core component is campaign management. The end-toend organization and execution of a marketing thrust. 3. Most e-marketing toolsets provide the following: Customer Intelligence Extraction and analyses of the intelligence Campaign definition and planning based on that data analysis. Campaign launch Campaign monitoring tools that handle lead generation Response management Workflow so that there is uniform customer view across the enterprise. 4. Refinements are related to the individual customer when used in the near real-time environment of EMA.

Write a short note on Marketing Campaigns? Marketing Campaigns:Opt-in Opt-out: Opting-In means when you fill out an online form, often at the bottom of the form there are checkboxes that ask you whether you would like to receive further information or an email update on the product. Opting-out means the checkbox is already checked and you have to uncheck it to opt out of the newsletter update for further information. In general opting in means, you allowed the company you are interacting with, to send a solicitation that they expect to take interest in opt. Opt-in e-marketing has a functions: Intelligence and engagement. Opt-in is often contrasted to opt-out email as the more favorable choice.

Short Note on Campaign Planning and Management 1. E-Marketings great strength is campaign management 2. Campaign management is the creation of personalized marketing efforts that not only engage the customer but also engage the entire enterprise.

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The campaign management features of the technology are end-to-end. They plan and monitor all activity including:1. Identification of the project 2. Generation of the lead 3. Prospect and customer information capture 4. Lead qualification 5. Distribution of leads to appropriate segments. 6. Campaign planning 7. Campaign execution 8. Response management 9. Refinement 10. Channel management 4. EMA uses the Internet to capture, extract and analyze information about each customer and each market segment. 5. It then gives you the design tools to plan, execute monitor and refine your marketing campaigns to the level of the individual within the market segment. 6. EMA workflow allows all parties to see exactly what they are permitted to see in all marketing campaigns as they evolve. Campaign planning and Management

3.

E-marketings great strength is Campaign management the creation of personalized marketing efforts that not only engage the customer or prospect, but also engage the entire enterprise in the effort and provide a single view of the activity to any department or segment of the company.

The campaign mgmt features of the technology are end-to end. They plan & monitor all activity, including:

Identification of the prospect Generation of the lead Customer information capture Distribution of leads to appropriate segments Campaign planning Campaign execution Response management Refinement

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Channel management

Business Analytical tools

EMA tools are distinguished from traditional marketing tools by their ability to capture, extract and analyze customer information from multiple and often platform-independent sources and realize the results through the web.

Good analytical tools/software can reduce the cost of customer acquisition via targeted and segmented results.

These tools are scalable, so they can be sift through millions of customer transactions of varying sorts.

These tools are clear and distinct with reporting tools that is provided with the information.

They have to be fast, because they are dealing with many transactions from multiple sources in the course of Internet time.

The EMA analysis provides in depth profiling information on customer preferences, buying behavior, revenue, profitability and purchasing frequency.

7.

EMA tools have the ability to capture, extract and analyze customer information from platform independent sources. 8. Good analytic software cannot only reduce the cost of customer acquisition, but also identify those customers who are potentially going to take their business to your competitors.

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These tools are scalable. BATs have to be rich so that they can provide measurements and customization at the matrix to get the measurements. 11. BATs have to be clear and distinct with reporting tools that provide you with the information you need to utilize the data it creates in a readable, understandable format. 12. They also have to be fast, since they are dealing with millions of transactions from multiple sources in the course of Internet time. ANALYTICS APPLICATION: Analyze bookings, billings and backlog information. Leverage data from other CRM and SFA applications to improve sales forecasts. Evaluate e-commerce purchasing patterns and website effectiveness. Monitor the effectiveness of your customer service agents and systems. Analyze your customer base for a clear understanding of customer preferences. Develop customer segments based on profitability and lifetime customer value. Measure the effectiveness of indirect channel partners and programs.

9. 10.

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What are the EMA engine components? EMA engine components are a transitional mix of traditional marketing processes and contemporary delivery media. This leads to new processes. . PROMOTIONS: Web-integrated marketing provides the same marketing goodies that consumers have always been interested in: promotions, sweepstakes, contests, cross selling of products, up-selling of products, discount coupons etc. The calculation is that they will gain long term customer value through repeat customers. The loyal customer base due to other things will stay loyal despite price increases later on. They are also advocates of permission marketing and marketing etools to monitor their sales deals. EVENTS: Various vendors have developed robust EMA event-mgmt tools capturing customer information through event registration and online interaction 1) The vendors have developed robust EMA event-management tools for capturing customer information through event registration and online interaction 2) The web is the preferred e-marketing delivery mechanism. 3) Registration for seminars, exhibitions and so on is possible via the Internet. 4) Also, the newsletter is sent in plain text format each week to your email address after you have given permission to do so by signing up on any website. 5) One other valuable feature that is built into these e-marketing programs is the ability to unsubscribe from the newsletter if you choose to. Registration and lead management features provide by most of the EMA vendors are as follows: a. Registration page with opt-in b. Unsubscribe capabilities c. User-control profile management d. Lead follow-up from tradeshows and similar venues e. Campaigns on tradeshow floor f. User group registration and follow-up LOYALTY & RETENTION PROGRAMS: 1. Customer loyalty is difficult to retain. One cant buy customer loyalty. 2. Customers are constantly bombarded by the next great deal. 3. EMA applications build in those small, personalized touches that engender loyalty and retain customers for the business mantra Here Today. Gone Tomorrow 4. The flagship product of e-marketing vendor has templates for the following:

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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Birthday greetings Holiday and special occasion reminders Delivery of gift ideas Welcome programs Points based programs Win-back programs for inactive customers.

PARTNER & CHANNEL MANAGEMENT: Partner relationship management (PRM) are embedded into many EMA applications. PRM includes features that incorporate targeted, joint

marketing programs to promote both business and partners. PRM are embedded into many EMA applications. These include features that incorporate targeted point, joint marketing programs to promote both your business and your partners Some features are: 1. Cross-sell of a companys complementary products 2. Joint promotions with partners or affiliates 3. Promotion of new versions or upgrades of a companys products. 4. RESPONSE MANAGEMENT How does your e-marketing suite handle response management so we can analyze the data? The complete response management features include banner ads, direct mail, print ads, email, web site link, surveys, event registration results, internet registration, and online survey results. Response management is the whole process is response gathering, analysis and refinement of the response. The response gathering was completed after campaign was completed.

o Using the internet as a tool that works in real time, what is now called Closedloop feedback that is integrated into the emarketing.

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o Closedloop feedback is the nucleus of the Internet based response management. Response management features include banner ads, direct mal, print ads, email, website links, surveys, event registration results, internet registration and online survey results. Traditional response management is tedious, even with the use of computers. The time it takes for response gathering, analysis and refinement is lengthy and costly and often unsuccessful. In TRM you have to gather responses from multiple sources manually and enter then into databases and then comes the analysis after which we have to work through plans to revamp the next campaign. This is where EMA shines Closed-Loop feedback has been integrated into the e-marketing toolbox. Closed-loop feedback is the nucleus of Internet based response management This is response management in real time. With response management in real time the return on investment hers is almost obvious: o Information gathering, extraction and analysis time is dramatically reduced. o Refinements to the campaign can be done in midstream. o Automated tasks free up labor time for other marketing tasks.

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Chapter 4: Call Centers Explain the functionality of call centers. Customer interaction center (CIC), also known as the customer contact center or multimedia call center. CIC sophistication lets you call in on your phone and walk through a website that will handle the most common problems easily, with online information at the ready. The functionality is deep, the technology is complex, and the results are strong. This is collaborative activity is one aspect of what makes this a CRM application. The customer directly interacts with the company through a customer service representative and variety of communications channels, and both use tools that make the interactions valuable. The customer could be interacting with the website through self-service application. If a human being isnt involved directly as a customer service representative, there are virtual service representatives. Now that all but the most difficult and complex problems can be automated, customer satisfaction has been improving dramatically. o o o Call centers means interaction with the customer The customer directly interacts with the company through a customer service representative and a variety of communications channels, and both the parties use tools that makes the interaction applications.

THE FUNCTIONALITY Consider one example of typical call you might make to computer company technical service representative. A lot of functionality is involved in this call. There is call routing, assignment management, call tracking, entitlement processing, workflow, problem resolution, etc. There are activities that are going on without the knowledge of the customer, such as logging and monitoring. 1. There is call routing, assignment management, queue management, call tracking, entitlement processing, workflow, problem resolution, performance measurement and service management. 2. There are activities that are going on without the knowledge of the customer, such as logging and monitoring. 3. There is also an audit trail that is keeping track of all the information through a log.

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THE FLOW 1. You dial the computer companys number 2. You press several buttons on the telephone that gets you through menu options. 3. You wait for a customer service rep while music plays. 4. If you havent punched in an ID of some sort prior to this on your phone, you are asked for an ID. 5. The representative, reading off a screen that outlines, you entire history with the company, including the recent calls or email inquiries you made, the level of difficulty of your problem and the success or failure of the results. 6. Once you have spoken with the rep, the rep enters the information, checks several results that show up on a screen, and if one of them resolves the problem, marks it off. If none of them resolve the problem, you are sent to a new level to undergo a higher level of customer service.

Explain the technological implementation of CIC and customer contact centers. The technology for CIC and customer contact centers is complex and involves a mix of telecommunication and other communications channels, such as email, the Internet, faxes, or CRM Software. By adding advanced telecommunications and web-enabled CIC technology, the ante is upped heavily. The technologies are designed to create collaborative environment for the customer contact representatives. It also means a self service. The technology for CIC and customer contact centers is complex and involves a mix of telecommunications and other communications channels, such as email, the Internet, fax, or CRM software. o The bottom-line for any CIC technology is its effectiveness in helping to resolve a customer interaction successfully. ACD 1. ACD is Automatic Call Distribution 2. This is phone call workflow, which is how a call gets routed based on the defining characteristics of the call. o o

IVR 1. IVR is Interactive Voice Response 2. This is the one that drives you with the menu driven voices that specify which choices you can make by hitting numbers on your telephone pad. 3. Its actual benefit is that it can handle routine transactions without the benefit of a live agent.

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For eg. When you call into a credit card company and get your balance automatically. CTI 1. CTI is Computer Telephony Integration. 2. These are the technology applications and interfaces that allow data integration with telephones. For eg. CTI enabled functionality allows both Internet based information and phonebased information to be gathered and sent to a particular agent or routed to a particular desktop. 3. Call Center Web-enablement is a substantial investment.

a. Explain Web Enabling the Call Center Web-enabling the call center is in agreement with the new economics principle that customers want control over their decision making. They dont want to be forced into their vendors rules, nor do they want be railroaded into a decision. Self service becomes a critical psychological component as well as an effective one. Certain concepts for web enabling the call center 4. Though it is a technology being implemented, the customer is the focus. 5. The technology chosen to e-ize the call center is the one that is most appropriate to the business rules of the company. 6. Web- enablement is time consuming, not just for functional and technical implementation, but in the retraining of support personnel, the increased intricacy of the job, and the change in the mindset of the personnel necessary for success. 7. Use the existing tools. Integrate the existing tools with your legacy system. 8. Plan to give higher priority treatment or some other reward to self service Web users. 9. Sometimes a human voice is better than a mouse click. 10. Try to implement software that will capture information well enough to constantly improve your knowledge base. 11. Keep interface simple.

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1. Web enabling the call center is in agreement with the new Economic Principle that customers want control over their decision making. 2. Self-service becomes a critical component as well as an effective one. 3. Nested menus on the phone are irritating. 4. The Webs greatest strength is comfortable self-activity that provides a true measure of control. Web-enabling the Call Center: Concepts 1. Customer is the focus. The customer is calling the center to get answers to issues and questions. 2. Resolution is the central focus of the entire process. 3. The purpose is problem resolution, but the experience has to be pleasant for the customer. 4. The customer needs interactive control over multi-channeled process. 5. The technology chosen to e-ize the call center is the one that is most appropriate to the business to the business rules of the company. 6. Integrate the existing tools with your legacy system.

12. What is automated Intelligent Call Routing? Call Routing is when you call in, you wait a few seconds, and you may or may not speak to someone or carry out something with a touch pad. You are then directed to particular person. Managing this means using call routing that can handle increasing volume, geographical dispersion of the CCRs, multiple channels, and workflow. Typically it would identify who is calling and why they are calling, use the customer database to identify the history, and then find the appropriate party who is available at the time the caller calls. The software should have integrated IVR so that some of the processes can be routed to automatic responses. It should have CTI to capture information and use the database effectively. Its distribution should be multi-channel, which means open architecture. Finally, it should integrate workforce management tools with its call-routing capacity so that the CICs agent capacity and scheduling forecast can be integrated into the use of the call-routing functionality in micro specific ways. a. Intelligent inbound and outbound traffic direction is a central condition of an effective CIC.

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b. c. d. e. f. g.

h.

Call routing gets difficult when email, chat, VOIP, and Web routing get involved. Call routing software can handle increasing volume of CCRs, multiple channels and workflow. The software should have integrated IVR so that some of the processes can be routed to automatic responses. It should have CTI to capture information and use the databases effectively. Its distribution should be multichannel, which means an open architecture. It should be easily scalable, since call volumes will widely vary between companies. Also, it should be able to capture real-time data and use it in conjunction with the historical data. It should integrate workforce management tools with its call routing capacity.

13. What is Logging and Monitoring? Logging and monitoring software provide the granularity needed to do precision scheduling and improve performance management. Good Logging and monitoring software has following features: 1. The means to develop criteria to capture appropriate samples across the entire CIC network. 2. Extensive and very flexible reporting tools. 3. Universal connectivity to ACD Systems. 4. Strong interfacing with the WFM applications. 5. Easy export to other systems. Logging and monitoring software provides the granularity needed to do precision scheduling and improve performance management. The features are: 1. The means to develop criteria to capture appropriate samples across the entire CIC network. 2. Extensive and very flexible reporting tools. 3. Universal connectivity to ACD systems. 4. Strong interfacing with the WFM applications 5. Easy export to other systems. The most comprehensive logging and monitoring tools have two applications: RECORDER: It enables customer contact centers to record and evaluate complete customer interactions through multimedia, phone, email and web interaction.

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ADVISOR: A tool that measures agent or agent group performance. This is a webbased evaluation tool. This application enables contact center management teams to evaluate, measure and manage quality and productivity.

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Chapter 5: IMPLEMENTING CRM Chapter Overview Implementation of the system is not just about installing the system but understanding how the system must conform to the business model and style of the company. It involves commingling of multiple software packages already installed. Implementation could be very complex. Because each company has different process and culture, each company might have different set of implementation issues to solve- technical, functional and cultural. Implementation Statement of Work and change management process should be clear prior to the even starting the installation. Cost of implementing services could cost double to triple of the cost of the software itself Phases involved in Implementation 1. Pre-implementation Pre-implementation phase is nearly an endgame in picking the software. This is the phase where the software selection occurs. The selection criteria should be sharp and with the help of some references you will be able to identify the established vendors. The selection is based upon following criteria: a. Scalability of software b. Toolset flexibility for customization c. Stability of the existing CRM application code d. Compatibility of the CRM application with legacy systems and Internet systems e. Level of technical support available during and after the implementation f. Upgrade support g. Availability of additional modules such as EMA complementary to SFA 2. The Kickoff Meeting: In the phase the implementation partner vendor, consulting firms or a system integrator meets with the customer to figure out the customers needs. The kickoff meeting normally takes one or two days. The responsibilities are assigned to individuals during this kickoff meeting. Project Manager Responsible for all aspects of implementation Implementation leader Also called technical Systems Engineer Primary job is to do

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Cost Control Quality Testing Customer Satisfaction Handles Projects In case of any multiple

leader Usually dedicated to one project His strength of people

coding They are onsite all the times. In implementation technical in of how & function many

Combination

skills & technical skills He preparing work manager assists statement with

linked to do work Important that

changes to Statement of Work customer solution. (SOW) to with obtain

project

software engineer knows corporate tend sales to

processes

function & what is the sales work slow

Project Manager (PM): The project manager is responsible for all aspects of the implementation, including cost control, quality and testing, and customer satisfaction. The project manager works out the details with the customer, if there are changes to be the statement of work. There should be a change management process in place that is approved by both the customer and the implementation services company. Implementation leader: (Technical Head) The Implementation Leader is responsible for technical aspects, directs the system engineers, and is usually dedicated to only one project at a time. He tends to be onsite full time until the end of the project. Strength: combination of people skills and technical knowledge. Assists the project manager in preparing the statement of work. System Engineers: System Engineers role is to do the coding. The system engineers are onsite at all time. In many implementation you have technical and functional expertise necessary for them do their work. CRM implementation is complex. The SE's should know how corporate sales processes tend to function The SE also keeps track of the sales workflow functions. Business analysts: BA are the functional experts. BA provide input on business processes and flow that are enterprise-specific. It is an assigned full time to the project and they can't leave until it is complete. The CRM MISSION MCA 41

larger CRM packages have enormous specialized functionality best understood by a functional specialist who has background in the area and who also knows the product being implemented. IT staff: IT staff people are the administrators of the system. These people are responsible for maintaining and setting up the network and its software. These people should see that there is no significant downtime or problems during the implementation period. In certain conditions they have undergo greater pressure during the critical period. Integration Expert: The Integration expert guides the integration of the system with other information systems. These people are very specialized. The integration expert has to check the other information systems and on what it is dependent on. Heads of non-technical departments: They provide input and approval on aspects affecting their departments. They can make you or break you. These people makeup a very important group of team members. They can make the implementation succeed if the partner implementation team members understand that they are non-technical, which means patience and explanation are necessary. Requirements Gathering: This phase takes about two to three days. Meetings with the stakshoders, users, other corporate decision makers and IT staff takes place in this phase. This phase requires that all the departments should cooperate, since the CRM implementation is going to affect the interaction of every appropriate department in the company. Marketing, sales, finance, and so on all have direct need to input the teams during the requirements gathering phase. Once the requirements for the front-office practices are gathered, the next step is the identification of the inputs and outputs. This is the way the users will interact with the system. The questions answered in this phase are: 1. Which screens will be needed to input data? 2. How will information be retrieved from the system? 3. How will the customer want to work with the system? 4. How many users most the system accommodate and how they will connect to it (LAN, remote offices, web)? To make the requirements gathering go smoothly, it is important to obtain all information possible about the existing system.

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To get the information, non disclosure agreements (NDA) and other necessary paperwork need to be signed during this phase. NDA states that neither the implementation partner nor the customer will disclose each others information given during the course of the project to anyone outside. Prototyping and Detailed Proposal Generation: 1. The main purpose of the prototype is to develop some of the key functionality for the customer to examine before the rollout. 2. The prototype can clarify the customer needs by visualization. 3. The Prototype can be demonstrated to varying departments, each with their own agendas and ways of viewing data. 4. All the customizations doesnt require prototyping. 5. Once the prototype is done and demonstrated, a formal project proposal that states the deliverables, timelines and final costs is within for the client. This proposal generation. 6. The amount of difficulty in the achievement of the functionality and the issues it brings up are all on the table before a complete implementation to all users is done. 7. The prototype can clarify the customer needs by visualization. 8. The prototype can be demonstrated to varying departments, each with their own agendas and ways of viewing data, and can be worked by the development team, even if the data presentation from department to department is conflicting. CRM Projects are divided into four phases: Phase I : Sales module customizations : It means the product catalogs, the sales process embedding, the account and contact databases, and the sales pipeline management. The product catalogs, the sales process embedding, the account and contact databases and sales management criteria along with other things are developed Phase II : Marketing module customizations : These are no different in technical process from Sales module customizations. They are merely different in what needs to be customized. Process is technically similar to the Sales Module Customizations but related to marketing. Phase III : Integration with external applications : This is an analysis of the existing information technology infrastructure and the network functionality. This work identifies the integration points between the legacy systems, the CRM application, and the possible installation and customization of other new non-CRM applications and systems. This is a analysis of the existing technology infrastructure and network functionality. This phase identifies the integration points between the legacy systems, the CRM application and customization of other nonCRM applications and systems.

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Phase IV : Reporting integration : Reporting is a vital function for the businesses that are scattered the office. The customization of those reports and their generation are critical to corporate success. Reporting becomes important especially when the businesses are scattered across one office. By creating appropriate reports the danger of incorrect decision making is reduced dramatically

Development of Customizations: Once there are appropriate signoffs on the formal and final proposal document, the next phase is development of customizations. The time length varies with five to seven weeks depending on factors such as: The size of the project. The complexity of: The interfaces The workflow The functions The availability of employees/users to work with the team to improve the customizations at a given iteration. Technical problems unrelated to implementation that affect can be resolved by creating independent environment for development, testing and eventually production. Midstream workflow and rules changes for the customization, necessitated by changing corporate business processes. This can be managed, but will affect the timetable and the price. These are few of the many reasons the project can exceed its anticipated timeline of five to seven weeks. Elasticity of application It includes the ease of customized application Assigning task to developers Assigning right person for right job.

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Replicating the customer site It includes development environment & customers site should be identical Preparing Project plan The plan is checklist of tasks assigned to developers and team members. Customer involvement It includes the customer response for the customizations undertaken. Change management If changes are requires a clear change management process has to be in place so that the contractors and the customer can accept the changes. Routinize Finally the data routines are to be written. Writing data routines using CRM toolkit can save days of effort and manual entry. Development of Customization depends upon number of factors such as: 1. The size of the project 2. The complexity of: a. The interfaces b. The workflow c. The functions 3. The availability of employees/users to work with the team to improve the customization at a given iteration. 4. Technical problems unrelated to the implementation that affect it. a. This can be resolved by creating an independent environment for development, testing and eventually production. 5. Midstream workflow and rules changes for the customization necessitated by changing corporate business processes. a. This is something that can be managed but will affect the timetable and the price. 6. The elasticity of the application is very important in the case of creation of the customized application. Power User Beta Test and Data Import: The main purpose is to make sure the basic system works. Major features: It involves finding the systemic discrepancies that crop up when the customizations are moving to completion and the data migration is being prepared. To create testing environment at the site.

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The success or failure and strengths and shortcomings determine what kinds of backup resources, procedural automation is needed. After successfully installing test data import is done as the system has to be a fullscale test run to identify the usability and accuracy of data. Customer involvement is necessary. Finally before rollout a consistency check for everything from look and feel of the screens to is performed. 1. 2. 3. 4. This is a sensitive part of the implementation. In this phase the star users get to play. The experienced users play a vital role in this phase of implementation. The first major step in this 2-5 day process is to create a testing environment at the site. 5. Systems with the most extensive customizations exhibit the fewest problems in beta testing because they have been checked so extensively during development. 6. The IT team focuses on how to implement and support the system. 7. The success or failure, strengths and shortcomings during the beta testing attempt determines the backup resources that are necessary. 8. All this must be done with the full participation of the customer. The customer must verify the integrity of the data transfer. 9. With some implementation methodologies this is the beginning of knowledge transfer, with the customer IT staff performing a beta implementation. 10. What kind of training will be paramount when the time comes for the vendor/consulting Services Company to leave the premises.

Training Training time depends on the number of users and available facilities for training and the duration of the training period is about two to three days. There are four parts to training: Basic training: This is the plain training for users on the application. This training is run by the vendor. There are two ways to run this training, depending on which is the most cost effective. You can either send users abroad or have a trainer come to your facility This training is run by the vendor considering the most cost effective. Example: To send users to Arizona for training includes the cost of training plus the cost of hotel, food, airfare and other incidentals. Customization training:

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This training is conducted by the now-trained employees who have been engaged in the project. It is best done by the internal project team, because of their familiarity with the project. One other plus with the internal staff taking the training is they have had the knowledge during the entire implementation process. It is ordinarily built into the proposals, contracts, and statements of work that are basis for the implementation. This training is done on the employees engaged in the project for making them familiar with the system. The internal project team cost is taken and ordinary labor costs. Documentation: This is the vital part of the process. The vendor has full responsibility to provide documentation on the customized system to see the use is assured. Some companies will recruit the documentation experts in the organization. The vendor or consulting companys implementation team has full responsibility to provide documentation on the customized system. Additional Training: a. Train the trainer: Whoever you send of this course will be the one to train the users on your staff. This is a major time and money saver. b. Integrator Course : This course teaches your IT staff how to make their own customizations to the other vendors who have such a course.

Rollout and Systems Hand-off: Final Phase as well as Delicate & Huge task Its the time when the production environment has to be installed at the site If any problem occurs: Legacy system has to be shutdown Conversion of data into the format of SalesLogix or PeopleSoft or Siebel databases likes Oracle, MS SQL Server7.0, DB, Interbase Powered up new system Usually occurs on a weekend for minimal disruption After completion of Data Migration tools are thrown away

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Remote user & Satellite office preparation are also significant part of rollout Differs according to different software & methodologies Depends on individual company & scale of project

1. This is the final implementation phase 2. The final phase is both a delicate and huge task. If anything goes wrong it could mean disaster. 3. Normally, the process takes one or two days, and usually occurs on a weekend so there is no or at least, minimal disruption of the actual workweek. 4. If it extends beyond the weekend or can't be done on the weekend, alternate arrangement are planned and executed so that the disruption remains minimal. 5. The other important significant part of the rollout is remote user and satellite office preparation. 6. Each remote user is given a copy of the general database installed on their desktop or laptop. 7. The initial problem is not part of the CRM system, but is rather the interaction between the system and the network. 8. One place that normally has some problems though they are mostly mechanical is that data synchronization with remote users. 9. The synchronization up doesn't always run smoothly in the first few moments of the production environment, but when products have good data synchronization engines, these problems get solved very quickly. Following procedure is followed 1. Remote user gets the copy of general database for customization 2. Guided through the use of system by trained implementation personnel Used to increase overall comfort level

Major Features: This production environment is different from beta environment Developer stays onsite to deal with unexpected problems Data Synchronization is a problem with remote users Can be solved very quickly using data synchronization engines

Ongoing Support, System Optimization, and Follow-up: Its an optional process because:

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Not all companies follow through on support after rollout Small companies have limited ability to provide post-implementation maintenance & support

1. There are a substantial number of companies who opt to not follow through on support after the rollout. 2. One of the disadvantages of small companies doing the implementation is their limited ability to provide post-implementation is their limited ability to provide postimplementation assistance and support. 3. In any case, the level of service needs to be there, and it is wise to arrange for postimplementation support. 4. Incurring cost is better than incurring systemic failure simply because something went wrong you didn't know what you did. 5. The good CRM is to contact the customer to make sure they are happy and functioning. 6. The implementation partner should access whether the customer is getting maximum benefit from the system. 7. Whenever there is update available, work with the implementation partner to ensure that the customization are not overwritten with the update's installation. Importance: Level of service is needed, so its wise to arrange for postimplementation support Incurring cost is better rather than incurring systemic failure Implementation partner has some responsibilities Must be ready to provide customer with rapidly turned-around support on demand Activities that to be performed: Contact customer to make sure they are happy & functioning Occasional onsite assessment is necessary: To carry out new procedures used in system Allows the customer to get maximum benefit from system

Caution to be taken Keep the database compact

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Data importing should be minimized Prepare in advance with more machine power for growth Ensure that customization shouldnt be overwritten with the updates installation

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Chapter 6: ASP (Application Service Provider) Overview Most small to medium businesses could be benefited by the ASPs .ASPs outsource the low-value work allowing the smaller companies to focus on the limited resources on more strategic initiatives to drive the advantage.

Introduction to ASP ASP - Application Service Provider is a company that hosts a software application and rents it out for monthly fees Basic Value Proposition 1. Outsource the headaches and expenses related to managing a business application ,thereby allowing the customers to free up the resources for more strategic initiatives 2. enable its customers to conserve capital by paying a monthly service instead of huge sum upfront.

Most companies cannot afford to implement the levels of redundancy, reliability and security. By using ASP even a small company can get access to leading business applications and often world class information system infrastructure.

ASP: Role and Functions 1. An ASP is a company that hosts a software application and rents it out for a monthly fee. 2. ASP is an entity of the third party that manages and distributes software based services and solutions to customers 3. This is done across a WAN from a central data center. The software based services and solutions are distributed to customers. 4. By using an ASP, even the smallest business can gain access to leading business applications. 5. ASP's are a way for companies to out source some or almost all aspects of their information technology that needs. They may be commercial ventures that cater to customers or not for profit organizations providing service and support to end users.

ASP's are divided into five categories as follows:

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1. Enterprise ASP's : which can deliver high ended business applications 2. Specialist ASP's : Provides applications for a specific/necessity needs. E.g. human resources, website services. 3. Local ASP's : Provides wide variety of application services for smaller businesses with in a local area. 4. Volume Business ASP's: provides small or medium businesses with pre-packaged application service in volume. 5. Vertical Market ASP's: provides support and specific industry such as pharma, healthcare.

Characteristics of ASP's 8 Provide complete application management and support 8 Offer application customization services 8 Create new applications that can be delivered in the ASP model. 8 Bill customers on a monthly pr user or usage charges 8 Manager applications from a central location. 8 Provides a rapid development environment. 8 Offer multiple applications for end users. Advantages: 1. Rapid implementation: ASP's implement the same products on the same platform over and over again. This enables them to become extremely proficient even to the point of being able to automate the most repetitive parts of the process. The ASP's data center, application components can be predeployed and shared among multiple applications to further reduce the human effort and total time required for the implementation. ASPs implement the same products on the same platform over and over again. This makes them extremely proficient at this task. 2. Lower cost of entry and ownership: ASP's rent applications for a monthly fee. This enables their customers to defer the large capital expenditures traditionally required to bring applications on line. ASPs pass additional savings on to customers and still maintain substantial profit margins because they leverage tremendous economies by sharing their resources such as network connectivity, hardware, software, facilities and human resources, they are able to pass additional savings on to customers and still maintain substantial profit margins. This enables the customers to defer the large capital expenditure traditionally required to bring the applications on line

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3. Reduced people headaches: Outsourcing a customers IT department would reduce the requirement of IT people needed to manage the application. Professional IT people are difficult to find out, difficult to recruit, and even more difficult to retain in todays IT job market. The ASP's directly address this business pain point by effectively outsourcing their customer's IT department, or at least the part of the IT department required to manage each respective application. 4. Availability: ASP's online all the time. It is backed by a service level agreement which essentially guarantees that your systems stay up and running or you start getting portions of your money back. Most Asps advertise 24/7/365 uptime for their customers application online all the time, typically backed by service level agreement (SLA). 5. Scalability: The ASP business requires the very high use performance, scalable technologies. Leading ASP's can accommodate the needs of new companies. Due to this all customers small and large get to enjoy the same world-class infrastructure. The very nature of Asp business requires that they are high performance scalable technologies. ASPs are developed with scalability on mind. Disadvantages: 1. Limited choices: ASP's provide a very limited number of brands when it comes to application. They are forced to do this if they are going to be able to produce repeatable, scaleable results. 2. Integration with other applications: a. Since ASP applications are hosted outside the enterprise, integration with other enterprise applications becomes challenging. b. The enterprises core IT function makes integration efforts more complex. Hosting the ASP application outside the enterprise, integration with other enterprise applications become challenging. c. 3. Security:

CRM

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ASP's must go to extreme measures to protect information in a multitenant environment. For all practical data held in ASP is arguably safe than data held in the enterprise because ASPs goes to great extent to ensure security and protect information in a multi-tenant environment. Since the data is located offsite the data is outside the direct sphere of control. 4. Connectivity: If an application is operating within the enterprise, it would take a LAN failure to break connectivity to the application. When using a ASP telecom company and many others variables come in to picture which means customer is 100% at their mercy.

CRM

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