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The “Enterprise” is an entity that is formed to serve a purpose of value to society via visions, goals, and strategies. Let us review a few forms of an Enterprise. 

•  Federal, state and local government agencies
•  Non-profit organizations
•  Business companies 

All of the above-mentioned enterprises share something in common; they all have internal components that govern and guide operations. These components [must] be constantly improved to maintain and enhance the life of an “Enterprise.” 

The three “primary” components that govern and guide operations of the Enterprise are: 

• Enterprise Architecture Plan (EAP)
• Enterprise\Business Process Management (EPM or BPM)
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) 

Enterprise Architecture Plan 

The Enterprise Architecture Plan (EAP) is derived from the vision, goals, and strategies of its creators. The EAP will present the five W’s and the How of Enterprise Architecture. The following are the five W’s and the How. 

• The What of the Enterprise (Data)
• The Where of the Enterprise (Network)
• The Who of the Enterprise (Organization)
• The When of the Enterprise (Schedule)
• The Why  of the Enterprise (Strategy)
• The How  of the Enterprise (Function) 

Enterprise Architectural Principles 

The specifics of enterprise architectural principles will depend on the vertical market the Enterprise is in, the long-term strategy of the Enterprise (to-be), and the short-term imperative goals of the Enterprise (as-is). The following is by no means an exhaustive list of specifics to the architectural principles. This short list is the core elements of the architectural principles. 

The EAP should encompass some, of if not all, of these enterprise architectural principles: 

1. 1. Organization-enabling
2. 2. Value-enabling
3. 3. Brand-name advancing
4. 4. Market-share expanding
5. 5. Processes-simplifying
6. 6. Processes-minimizing
7. 7. Optimized-continually
8. 8. Customer-centric
9. 8. Scalable
10. 10. Reconfigurable 

These principles along with the five W’s and the How will lay the foundation to the construction of the Enterprise. 

Enterprise\Business Process Management

The flow of tasks, objectives, events, and transactions through the Enterprise is governed, managed, and implemented by processes. Theses processes have to be governed and management in a way that all tasks, objectives, events, and transactions flow efficiently within and outside of the Enterprise to accomplish the set goals and strategies. 

Process management in its simplest form is defined as tasks and or events that receive stimulus inputs that in turn produces a predetermined outputs (even in the case of exceptions). 

This is accomplished by and through human and technology process interactions. 

Let us use the case of an admittance or discharge to the hospital from the emergency room. 

One may feel ill enough to go to the emergency care at the local hospital. Once the person enters the doors of the ER and the receptionist greets the person, two essential processes are initiated into action. 

They are: 

• Collect information about the illness (human-centric)
• Collect information about the patient (human-centric) 

The collected information is then pushed to a database (technology-centric) for use by other processes associated to the emergency protocol. Based upon the illness or symptoms of the patient, the next [technology-centric] process will determine which doctor to summon to the assigned examination room (human-centric and or technology-centric). The doctor will then interact with the patient to determine, which course of action to take which will lead to an admittance process or discharge process. Now this is a very short and simple snapshot of actions taken for someone who may visit the emergency room but I trust you have the gist of have these processes interact for this given case. 

Therefore, you can see how Enterprise\Business Process Management is the heart of the Enterprise functionality. Processes MUST be well defined and optimized to provide best performance for an organization. This in turn will grant the enterprise agility and increase successfulness of the desired goals and strategies. 

Customer Relationship Management 

As the BPM provides functionality to the Enterprise, the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) methodology provides life to the Enterprise. Most enterprises operate in a product service-centric manner, which means they created product(s) and or service(s) without the thought of the customer in conducting business. 

A product service-centric enterprise is destined to demise for lack of customer integration. Here is a great quote that all members of Top management should hang on the wall:         

“Businesses are not paid to reform customers. They are paid to satisfy customers.” 

-Peter Drucker 

A CRM solution allows the enterprise to transform into a “customer-centric” entity. CRM in its general definition is; processes and methodologies which an enterprise uses to communicate, track, and organize its interactions with its current and prospective customers. 

A well-implemented CRM solution will provide a ROI of increased customer loyalty and continuous growth of new customers. 

In Summary 

We have learned that the Enterprise is an entity that is formed to serve a purpose via visions, goals, and strategies. An Enterprise Architecture Plan (EAP) is then created from theses visions, goals, and strategies. The EAP will capture and present the What, Where, Who, When, Why, and How of the Enterprise. 

Processes within an Enterprise are controlled through Enterprise\Business Process Management methodologies.  Processes are all tasks, objectives, events, and transactions that flow within and outside of the Enterprise. Process management in its simplest form is defined as tasks and events that receive stimulus inputs that in turn produces a predetermined outputs (even in the case of exceptions). 

The Customer Relationship Management methodology is the bridge that connects the Enterprise to the customer and the customer to the Enterprise. A CRM solution allows the Enterprise to transform into a “customer-centric” entity. CRM in its general definition is; processes and methodologies an Enterprise uses to communicate, track, and organize its interactions with its current and prospective customers.  

Contact dotNet Framework Solutions for an evaluation of your enterprise! 

What does CRM mean to your company?
The team of dotNet Framework Solutions believes that a Customer Relations Management (CRM) strategy should provoke the thought within an enterprise as a mindset as opposed to the implementation of a technology solution. Executive management should focus on fostering the philosophy of defining the customer as related to the business and increasing customer loyalty which in turn will increase profits.

The enterprise should introduce technology as a support to the customer relations strategy and not the driving force of managing that relationship. Let’s review CRM as a part of the enterprise vision. The vision document should encompass the following three components in relationship to a customer centric strategy: Culture, Business Processes, and Technology.

·  The culture of the enterprise contributes approximately 70% to the success of customer relations. Success of a CRM methodology requires a change or enhancement to the behavior of the culture within the enterprise.  This is specifically associated with employee’s and management’s mindset toward their customers and this includes behaviors in dealing with potential customers.

· The business processes will contribute approximately 20% to a successful CRM strategy. The value chain processes and the creations thereof are paramount in how the culture of the enterprise relates to the customer throughout the entirety of the purchase to delivery transaction. These same processes are also essential to communications to potential customers.

· The remaining 10% is technology, which actually is the bridge between the culture and business processes. Customer Centricity

According to Bob Thompson (founder of CRMGuru.com), businesses can differentiate themselves in one of three ways: 1) the core product/service offering, 2) the price or total cost of ownership or 3) the total relationship and customer experience. Unfortunately, businesses are learning that simply competing based upon product quality or price is problematic at best. Why? Today companies are constantly introducing new products that have similar quality. The reality is that product quality distinctions are being marginalized by the competition from both within the US market and from global competitors.
This increase in product competitiveness is coupled with the issue that very few organizations have the scale and efficiencies to simply compete on a low-price basis while also maintaining profitability. The reasons for both of these forces are varied but they include global trade, easier access to competitive information via the internet as well as the maturation of certain markets.

If you have ever flown Southwest airlines you have witness a company who is very “customer centric. “ Below is the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI) score for the airline industry.

Click here for score chart 

Southwest serves it customer meticulously though it processes by a culture build on having fun in the work place. The energy of the Southwest culture is then feed back to the customer.

Southwest provides a true example of a “customer centric” enterprise. A portion of Southwest success is contributed to low fares , but through their CRM initiatives they provide a superior service then their competitors and their uncanny ability to understand who their customers are  generates a loyal customer base.

Conclusion
The value of the customer is defined in the behavior and culture of the enterprise. Proper architecture of business processes will enable technology to enhance a superior relation with your customer thus increasing the likelihood of customer loyalty.

CRM is a key element when creating the vision of an enterprise. Top management must truly enable a “customer centric”   environment within the enterprise. If they fail to instantiate a customer centric vision then they increase the chances of failure for the enterprise.

Contact dotNet Framework Solutions for your Customer Relations Management consultation.

 

Customer relationship management (CRM) solutions are becoming common business requirements to drive the enterprise to a customer-centric state of operations. CRM evolved from tools used by sales, marketing, and support teams. Enterprises that have established CRM solutions in place will outperform their competitors.

A critical element to a successfully deployed CRM is the implementation of the chosen methodology.  A well-defined CRM implementation methodology would be encompassed in the Enterprise Architecture (EA) and Business Process Management (BPM) methodologies that the enterprise has chosen to implement. The following are typical steps in a CRM implementation:

· Within the EA blueprint establish the objectives for the CRM

· Align the chosen CRM methodology to the designated BPM processes that address customer relations

· Capture detail customer – pain points – to provide inputs to the enterprise core Future Capabilities Processes for modifications to the CRM

· Identify processes that are specific – pain points – for the customers

· Utilizing the Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) tools make adjustments to the processes that cause the – pain points – which in turn updates the EA and BPM methodologies

For enterprises that have not undertaken an EA, BPM, and CRM renovation, they are reporting that LOB’s (Line of Businesses) operate and depend on many disparate systems. Functionally, individual activities/tasks are completed with relative success. Collectively, the individual activities/tasks cannot make the best use of infrastructures information. This will result in inconsistent or inaccurate interaction with the customers leading to the declined ability of retaining customer loyalty and new business.

A well-implemented CRM solution should provide key inputs to business processes that ensure customer-centric activities/tasks are undertaken. Again, the methodology of the CRM solution cannot be undermined; a CRM solution that is implemented in the correct processes will provide a true collaboration of views of the customer to employ a greater customer-centric operation.

The blueprint of the EA will provide a CRM methodology that will serve several purposes: It manages risk; it will establish thresholds and expectation; and provides status through the BPM solution to the EA for updates to the enterprise.

Reviewing the steps to the CRM implementation as mentioned previously we will define the phases.

Phase 1: Defined in the EA vision and objectives stage we will advise the CRM technologies that supports the architecture. Examples of common customer-centric objectives include:

· Customer information interactions by all LOB’s through the outputs of business processes that provide accurate and timely information

· Effective customer-centric activities/tasks within the business processes

· Shared views of prospects and loyal customers by the sales, marketing and support teams

Phase 2:  Align the chosen CRM methodology to the designated BPM processes that address customer relations

· Indentify stakeholders and their roles that will process customer input and outputs

· In the business planning process prepare a plan on how to change the CRM implementations

· Ensure that the status output of the business processes are routed to the appropriate EA teams for updates to the EA blueprints

Phase 3:  Capture detail customer inputs to provide the enterprise core Future Capabilities Processes

· From the data captured in Phase 2 ensure that the Future Capabilities Processes are capable of updating the BPM solution

· This capture data should be driven by data from the sales, marketing and support teams

Phase 4:  Identify processes that are specific – pain points – for the customers

· Develop an outline best practices for pain points within the CRM business processes

· Establish these processes KPI’s as outputs to the Future Capabilities Processes

· Identify where in the CRM processes that the pain points can be alleviated

Phase 5:  Utilizing the Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) tools make adjustments to the processes that cause the – pain points – which in turn updates the EA and BPM methodologies

· Take all points of Phase 1 through 4 to enhance the enterprise for agility to customer demands

· Update the EA blueprint based on information of KPI’s from Phase 1 to 4

· Update the BPM solution to enhance the overall performance of the enterprise

The CRM methodology will ensure that the customer is heard, understood, and answered throughout the enterprise. This will allow for greater customer-centric operations thus improving customer loyalty and new business.

Contact dotNet Framework Solutions for your CRM consultation.