CRM – Customer Relationship Management  Features

Getting to know your customers

What is CRM?

CRM – Customer Relationship Management is a system for coordinating the business strategies, organisational structure and culture of companies with customer information and IT in order to satisfy customer needs at every contact and thus achieve business advantages and profit.

A business strategy in which the customer is the focus of attention can provide an answer to the interesting question that many companies can’t really answer: How many customers do we actually have and which of them are truly profitable? Companies know how many contracts they have concluded or how many business transactions take place in a day, and what their market share is in comparison with their competitors, but they don’t know how many individual customers they actually have, how many products particular customers buy or how easy or difficult it is for the customers to obtain answers to their inquiries or how they communicate with the company in general. The fact is that the majority of companies don’t know when and why they lose their customers.

What the introduction of CRM brings to your work environment

A company must change its frame of mind, culture and organisational structure in order for all its departments to work in harmony, to make customers the focus of attention and to build customer relations that in the long term yield profit for the company. In the past a lack of suitable IT tools hindered the realisation of such ideas, but today modern technology makes it possible to attain ambitious business goals. Benefits for the company:

• greater transparency of operations
• structured customer information
• automation and control of sales and marketing processes
• monitoring and forecasting of customer activities

The CRM strategy

Setting up a successful CRM system in a company demands a vision covering the entire scope of operations starting at the highest organisational level. When we define the guidelines for future cooperation with customers, we need a strategy for achieving our goals. The CRM strategy takes into account the financial objectives and business strategy of the company and represents an upgrade of its marketing strategy. It determines how the company will create profitable relations with its customers and gain their loyalty. The strategic goals must be measurable by CRM metrics. The main focus of attention is not the product itself, but meeting your customers' needs and thus building their satisfaction and loyalty. This is the only way to ensure sustainable competitive advantages and long-term success in the market.

However, the mere introduction of CRM technology does not make a company customer-oriented. The company also needs to change its frame of mind, culture, behaviour and organisational structure. In introducing a comprehensive CRM system, SRC offers support from a qualified team of business administration experts, rich experience and its own proven methodology.

CRM architecture Operational CRM is the automation of horizontally integrated business processes that include direct access to customers, cross-sales, marketing and customer support through multi-layered communication channels.

Analytical CRM enables thorough insight into customer needs and expectations, understanding their behaviour, forecasting behavioural patterns, segmentation, profitability analysis and other customer-related and product-related analyses.

Collaborative CRM supports collaboration and communication with customers, partners and suppliers with the possibility of personalisation.