MNG93211 Managing Information Systems

The customer relationship management can be defined as a concept which helps an organisation in maintain a central information system about the customers of the organisation. It covers all the things that are relate to the sales, marketing, finance, service and other vital sectors that an organisation is responsible for maintaining about its customers. The CRM software not only helps the organization in properly maintaining the details of the customers but also helps the organisation in maintaining proper security and safety of information’s (Anshari et al. 2015). The Customer relationship management software that is been discussed here is the Oracle CRM which is one of the most used and most advanced software that has ever been developed. Oracle be0ing one of the most leading technology product based organisation have a huge experience in making some of the most advanced software in the market. Hence it can be well understood that the CRM software that is made by the organisation is one of the mast secured advance software in the field. One of the major features that this software is having are Social CRM, Customer data integration, Quote and order capture, Partner relationship management, Business Intelligence applications, Price Management CRM., gadgets and eBilling Integration (Badwan et al. 2017). These are some of the salient features that are present in the Oracle CRM.

This paper focuses on how the TELSTRA organisation can implement this software for the purpose of the day to day use, how it can better impellent the software as that the customers and the employees of the organisation gets a better use the software (Chang, Wong and Fang, 2014). The paper also focuses on the features of the Oracle CRM how the use of the software can help the organisation to enhance the features and relationship with the current customers and attract more customers in future.

CRM software

The CRM software that is used by the Telstra is one of the most advanced and most used software in the world. With the use of this software the organisation is able to do a lot of tasks from one centralised system. There are many regular day to day work that the organisation can do only by using this one software (Chen and Popovich 2013).  As of the Service department of the software, the CRM software help in reading and sending Emails that are related to the customers and the staff of the organisation. Other than this the quarries related to the service conversation can be easily solved with the proper use of the software. The software is able to register complains from the customers and resolving them. All these can be done using a single channel and the employees just have to properly know the use of the software (Christopher, Payne and Ballantyne 2013). AS of the sales department the software is very useful in maintaining the proper database of the names and the addresses of the customers may be it for the customers using the mobile service of the organisation or the internet connections. Other than this the software can help in accessing new projects and delivery system of the sales. The major use of the software comes from the marketing department of the organisation as some of the major things that are related to the marketing department like the telephone conversation with the new customers. Letters in the format of the emails can also send using the software. Creating To do lists is one of the other major feature that the organisation marketing team can use (Garrido-Moreno 2015). Creating a sales forecast report is one of the other major feature of the software that can help the marketing team while using the CRM software of the Oracle. Other than this the use of this software is also very helpful for the Finance department of the organisation. With the use of the software the finance team can not only just track the financial matters of the customers but also of the employees of the organisation.

This software is one of the major tool for the employees of the finance department as it can use the feature of the auto calculating, auto generation of the bills in a calendar year. Keeping records of the salary paid to the employees, keeping track of spends and income have never been easier without using the CRM software (Goetsch and Davis 2014). Thus making all the aspect of an organisation bringing in one single place. This makes it easier for the management of the organisation for better keeping up with every minute details of the organisation. One of the other major feature of this software is that not all the features are open for all the departments (Zou  et al. 2014). That is the things that are done by the marketing team cannot be seen or over raided by the sales team. Thus making it one of the most secured way of preventing misuse of the information by the employees of the organisation. Other than this the databases can be merged with online features thus reducing the chances of the data loss. Keeping the data in the online servers that are made especially for the task is also helps in keeping the details about the organisation and the customers in a secured manner away from the hackers. Also it becomes easier for the workers of the organisation to find out information in a simple manner, reducing the use hard copies (Hassan et al 2015). Making the use of the CRM a regular option for the employees of the organisation can help the organisation in the increasing the sales and services thus retaining the older customers and the make way for increasing more number of customers. Every employee of the organisation must understand the use of the CRM software is not a option but the most important software to be used in the office.

The organisation can use the formula of the RMF of the Recency, Frequency and Monetary values. These factor defines and tracks the records of the number of times a customer is buying plans from the organisation, the frequency of the plans that are brought from the organisation and the how much the customer is spending on each purchase (Kaul 2017).  Other than this some of the other benefits that the organisation can have 24X7 support to the customers help the customers to reset things via email services.

Implementing CRM

Implementing the customer relationship management software properly is one of the most important thing to be done so that there are less chances of any error in the systems. A common misbelieve among many of the organisation is that the process of the implementation of the software is a liability of the technician of the CRM organisation, but there are lots of things that are to be done by the management of the organisation (Khodakarami and Chan 2014). In order to successfully implement the CRM software is one of the most important thing to be done by the organisation. The organisation is not a tactic but a strategy that is implemented by the organisation (Wilson, Daniel and McDonald 2012). The CRM also helps in the process. Before the process of the implementation of the CRM software the organisation needs to properly take a note on why the organisation needs the CRM software. Other than this this selecting the best Vendor for the CRM software is one of the other most important thing that is to be done. While in this the selected software is the Oracle CRM which is one of the most valued CRM system in the world. The CRM software can be merged with the ERP software that is the Enterprise resource planning software (Krishnan et al. 2014). The work of the ERP system is to create a centralised database for the organisation where each and every details about the organisation can be found. With the implication of the CRM software and the ERP software the organisation can have a huge advancement in the field of the business.

Some of the major steps that is needed to be followed for the process of implementing the Customer relationship management software.

• Anchorage in the higher management:    In order to make use of the CRM software the top management of the Telstra must understand the importance of the CRM software (Wynn et al. 2016). The management must understand the areas where there is need to implement the CRM software.
• Setting Up the project manager: In order to properly implement CRM plan the organisation must set up a project manager that can go thought the proper steps of implementing the software and hence take a proper guide of the works that is been done.
• Setting up the Super User: Every CRM software needs one super user who can access all the information from the different levels of the software (Malthouse et al. 2013). In the case of the Telstra the management must be the super user for the system so that it can have full access to all the department like the sales, finance and others.
• Creating proper formulas for the organisation benefits: Knowing the proper formulas for the benefit for the calculation is one of the most important thing is to be done. Because it can help in benchmarks to the success of customer strategy and validates the importance of the system (Navimipour and Soltani  2016).  It is can also help in the process of identifying the areas where the CRM implementation is a must need.
• Training the Employees: In order to better use of the software there needs to give proper training on how to use software and how it can help the organisation in earning more and more profits to the organisation.
• Developing the budget plan: This is one of the other major thing that has to be properly done and make sure that this plans are done accruing to the top management.

Even after the proper implementation of the CRM is done, there is a need of proper maintenance of the software so that software that is working goes on smoothly.

SWOT Analysis:

SWOT or the Strength Weakness Opportunity and Threats are best way for any organisation to understand the position in the market. In this case there the strength of the organisation is the name itself of the organisation, people trusts the organisation by the name. While the weakness of the organisation is not using any of the customer management software, while the opportunity of the organisation is implementing the CRM software developed by the oracle for the betterment of the organisation. This can help the organisation in standing better position than the other organisations. While the biggest threat of the organisation is not properly implementing the CRM software. Any lags in the process of the implementing the CRM can affect is loss of huge sums of money.

SDLC

• SDLC is defined as the system development life cycle, it defines the application developing stages of a project. In this case there are chances that CRM software must be properly developed and proper steps of implementing the software must be made. The different phases of the system development that must be followed by the organisation are
• Requirement gathering and analysis.
• Implementation or coding.

 In order to make the CRM a successful software for the organisation there needs to be taken proper care that all the steps of the work. It is the work of the project manager to keep a trace of the work and how the project is been carried out.

CRM with ERP

Both the Customer relationship management software and the Enterprise Resource Planning systems work somewhat in terms of the working in an enter price (Trainor et al. 2014). The merging up of the both the software can be very much helpful for the Telstra as it can boost up the productivity of the organization. Some of the major advantages that the organisation can get if these two software are implemented together are:

• 360 degree sight of customer. One of the major benefit of CRM and ERP amalgamation is that it provides a broad view of the customer (Orenga-Roglá and Chalmeta 2016). From prospect, to sales and support, to finance and accounting, together these systems provide complete visibility into your customers’ needs, buying habits, order history, preferences, account standing.
• Better Access to complicated Information: A CRM and ERP software integration gives a complete access to critical information about the customers to the employees (Padilla-Meléndez and Garrido-Moreno 2014). This not only helps the employees to access the information in real time but also saves the time doing a particular work. Other than this it also satisfies the customer as the problems gets solved in a very small amount of time.
• Streamlining the Business processes:  It becomes a lot easier with the help of the integrated software to enhance the productivity of the organisation and to properly follow the business rules.
• Helps to solve data redundancy problems: The use of the integrated software help in the process of the reducing the data redundancy that is duplicity of the data (Rahimi and Kozak 2017). IF a data is stored more than one time then it may cause huge problems for the person searching for the information and hence the use of this can reduce the error to near about zero present.
• Maintaining centralised account systems: Both the ERP and CRM have a detailed data about clients and the employees such as order history, contacts, shipping details and others.  The integration will permit to see a full view of all data of both the systems in a single place, rather than having to access different databases and match up data. This not only helps to saves time by lessening amount of data entry but also helps in reducing the chance of human error.

Types of CRM

There are two types of the operational CRM and the Analytical CRM.  The operational CRM supports the traditional transactional processing of the day to day front office operations and dealing directly with the customers of the organisation (Saarijärvi, Karjaluoto and Kuusela 2013). While the Analytical CRM helps to support the back office operations which includes the working processes of the employees and solving problems that are not directly linked with the customers. The front office or the operational CRM consist of the sector like the sales, marketing and customer services while the analytical part covers the collaborative CRM systems, the data ware housing and data mining among others.

Disadvantages of using the CRM system:

Although the Customer relationship management software has some of the best known efficiency systems, but in certain cases it lags and may create huge problems for the organisation in the regular work (Soltani and Navimipour 2016). This problems may occur at time but can be easily overcome with proper follow-up with the problems. Some of the major problems and how it can be solved are:

• Record Loss: This is one of the most important disadvantage that many of the organisation face using the CRM software but it can be easily solved with the use of the ERP system.
• Training: The use of the CRM software are somewhat difficult for the employees. In order to solve the problem, the organisation must provide proper training to the employees for the better use of that technology.
• The CRM software needs a continuous maintenance, thus increasing the cost of the program (Stein, Smith and Lancioni 2013). This problem can only be solved with the proper maintenance of the system in regular intervals thus reducing the problems of the system.
• One of the other major problem is to properly implement other management tools with the CRM system. Proper implementation processes must be used for better amalgamation of the software.

Alternates of the CRM

Although the customer relationship management software’s are one of a kind software, if the model does not work properly for the system then there can be used different other bunches of software that can be helpful for the organisation. One of the software that can be used instead of the CRM is the Capsule or the High-rise or the Insightly. Although the working of these software are not similar to the CRMs but these software can integrate lots of other small software which can help the organisation in proper customer analysis.

Conclusion

Thus concluding the topic it can be said that the customer relationship management software is one of the must use software for the present organisation for the purpose of increasing the number of the customers. In case of the Telstra also the using the CRM is one of the must use as the main work of the organisation depends on the customer satisfaction level. Also as it is a technology related organization there may be numerous problems that are related to the customers and those problems are to be solved at a small interval of time, thus using the CRM is very much beneficial for the organisation. Thus making some of the changes in the working process of the organisation make huge differences in the sales and the profits of the organisation. The ERP system implementation is also one of the must do thing as it can help to solve the disadvantages of CRM system.

References

Ahimbisibwe, A., Cavana, R.Y. and Daellenbach, U., 2015. A contingency fit model of critical success factors for software development projects: A comparison of agile and traditional plan-based methodologies. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 28(1), pp.7-33.

Anshari M, Alas Y, Yunus N, Sabtu NI, Hamid MH. Social customer relationship management and student empowerment in online learning systems. International Journal of Electronic Customer Relationship Management. 2015;9(2-3):104-21.

Badwan, J.J., Al Shobaki, M.J., Naser, S.S.A. and Amuna, Y.M.A., 2017. Adopting technology for customer relationship management in higher educational institutions. International Journal of Engineering and Information Systems (IJEAIS), 1(1), pp.20-28.

Chang, H.H., Wong, K.H. and Fang, P.W., 2014. The effects of customer relationship management relational information processes on customer-based performance. Decision Support Systems, 66, pp.146-159.

Chen, I.J. and Popovich, K., 2013. Understanding customer relationship management (CRM) People, process and technology. Business process management journal, 9(5), pp.672-688.

Choudhury, M.M. and Harrigan, P., 2014. CRM to social CRM: the integration of new technologies into customer relationship management. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 22(2), pp.149-176.

Christopher, M., Payne, A. and Ballantyne, D., 2013. Relationship marketing. Routledge.

Garrido-Moreno, A., Lockett, N. and Garcia-Morales, V., 2015. Exploring the role of knowledge management practices in fostering customer relationship management as a catalyst of marketing innovation. Baltic Journal of Management, 10(4), pp.393-412.

Goetsch, D.L. and Davis, S.B., 2014. Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson.

Hargreaves, I., Roth, D., Karim, M.R., Nayebi, M. and Ruhe, G., 2018. Effective Customer Relationship Management at ATB Financial: A Case Study on Industry-Academia Collaboration in Data Analytics. In Highlighting the Importance of Big Data Management and Analysis for Various Applications (pp. 45-59). Springer, Cham.

Hassan, R.S., Nawaz, A., Lashari, M.N. and Zafar, F., 2015. Effect of customer relationship management on customer satisfaction. Procedia economics and finance, 23, pp.563-567.

Kaul, D., 2017. Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Customer Satisfaction and Customer Lifetime Value in Retail. Review of Professional Management, 15(2), pp.55-60.

Kerzner, H. and Kerzner, H.R., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

Khodakarami, F. and Chan, Y.E., 2014. Exploring the role of customer relationship management (CRM) systems in customer knowledge creation. Information & Management, 51(1), pp.27-42.

Khodakarami, F. and Chan, Y.E., 2014. Exploring the role of customer relationship management (CRM) systems in customer knowledge creation. Information & Management, 51(1), pp.27-42.

Krishnan, V., Groza, M.D., Groza, M.P., Peterson, R.M. and Fredericks, E.L.I.S.A., 2014. Linking customer relationship management (CRM) processes to sales performance: The role of CRM technology effectiveness. The Marketing Management Journal, 24(2), pp.162-171.

Kumar, V. and Reinartz, W., 2018. Customer relationship management: Concept, strategy, and tools. Springer.

Kumar, V. and Reinartz, W., 2018. Customer relationship management: Concept, strategy, and tools. Springer.

Luthra, S., Garg, D. and Haleem, A., 2016. The impacts of critical success factors for implementing green supply chain management towards sustainability: an empirical investigation of Indian automobile industry. Journal of Cleaner Production, 121, pp.142-158.

Malthouse, E.C., Haenlein, M., Skiera, B., Wege, E. and Zhang, M., 2013. Managing customer relationships in the social media era: Introducing the social CRM house. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 27(4), pp.270-280.

Muther, A., 2012. Customer relationship management: Electronic customer care in the new economy. Springer.

Navimipour, N.J. and Soltani, Z., 2016. The impact of cost, technology acceptance and employees' satisfaction on the effectiveness of the electronic customer relationship management systems. Computers in Human Behavior, 55, pp.1052-1066.

Nguyen, B. and Mutum, D.S., 2012. A review of customer relationship management: successes, advances, pitfalls and futures. Business Process Management Journal, 18(3), pp.400-419.

Nyadzayo, M.W. and Khajehzadeh, S., 2016. The antecedents of customer loyalty: A moderated mediation model of customer relationship management quality and brand image. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 30, pp.262-270.

Orenga-Roglá, S. and Chalmeta, R., 2016. Social customer relationship management: taking advantage of Web 2.0 and Big Data technologies. SpringerPlus, 5(1), p.1462.

Padilla-Meléndez, A. and Garrido-Moreno, A., 2014. Customer relationship management in hotels: examining critical success factors. Current Issues in Tourism, 17(5), pp.387-396.

Padilla-Meléndez, A. and Garrido-Moreno, A., 2014. Customer relationship management in hotels: examining critical success factors. Current Issues in Tourism, 17(5), pp.387-396.

Rahimi, R. and Kozak, M., 2017. Impact of customer relationship management on customer satisfaction: The case of a budget hotel chain. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 34(1), pp.40-51.

Rhodes, J., Lok, P., Loh, W. and Cheng, V., 2016. Critical success factors in relationship management for services outsourcing. Service Business, 10(1), pp.59-86.

Saarijärvi, H., Karjaluoto, H. and Kuusela, H., 2013. Customer relationship management: the evolving role of customer data. Marketing intelligence & planning, 31(6), pp.584-600.

Soltani, Z. and Navimipour, N.J., 2016. Customer relationship management mechanisms: A systematic review of the state of the art literature and recommendations for future research. Computers in Human Behavior, 61, pp.667-688.

Soltani, Z. and Navimipour, N.J., 2016. Customer relationship management mechanisms: A systematic review of the state of the art literature and recommendations for future research. Computers in Human Behavior, 61, pp.667-688.

Stein, A.D., Smith, M.F. and Lancioni, R.A., 2013. The development and diffusion of customer relationship management (CRM) intelligence in business-to-business environments. Industrial Marketing Management, 42(6), pp.855-861.

Trainor, K.J., Andzulis, J.M., Rapp, A. and Agnihotri, R., 2014. Social media technology usage and customer relationship performance: A capabilities-based examination of social CRM. Journal of Business Research, 67(6), pp.1201-1208.

Wang, Z. and Kim, H.G., 2017. Can social media marketing improve customer relationship capabilities and firm performance? Dynamic capability perspective. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 39, pp.15-26.

Wilson, H., Daniel, E. and McDonald, M., 2012. Factors for success in customer relationship management (CRM) systems. Journal of marketing management, 18(1-2), pp.193-219.

Wynn, M., Turner, P., Banik, A. and Duckworth, G., 2016. The impact of customer relationship management systems in small business enterprises. Strategic Change, 25(6), pp.659-674.

Zeynep Ata, U. and Toker, A., 2012. The effect of customer relationship management adoption in business-to-business markets. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 27(6), pp.497-507

Zou, W., Kumaraswamy, M., Chung, J. and Wong, J., 2014. Identifying the critical success factors for relationship management in PPP projects. International Journal of Project Management, 32(2), pp.265-274.