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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.

Developing a Customer Relationship

CRM boils down to developing relationships with your customers. This means that when your customers interface with your company they hear the following message,

“We know you. We remember you. From our understanding of who you are, we are working to exceed your individual expectations.” Types of Customer Relations Management Strategies

As you develop these relationships with your customers there are two different approaches to learning who they are:

1. Customer Value-Based
Identify your customers based on their value to your company and customize their treatment based on that knowledge.

Usually this approach involves identifying the customers that either (a) have the most actual value to your company over their lifetime or (b) have the most potential value to your company over their lifetime (i.e. they are currently highly valued customers of one of your competitors).

For example, you could identify the top 5% of your customers and work to develop relationships with them to treat them better and encourage their loyalty to your company. You could offer them membership into a club of your most valued customers which both has benefits for them, and also requires them to give you some additional information about them that you can use to develop an individual relationship with them.

2. Customer Needs-Based
Identify your customers based on their needs and work to meet those needs.

This may involve allowing a customer to customize or tailor a product to meet their needs and then remembering that customization in the future to make their interactions with you easier and more enjoyable.

It means that when your customers interact with your company, they will hear the message, “Do you want the usual?” Each time you do business with them you will do better at quickly delivering them a product that meets their needs and that they will not need to re-specify what they want each time.

In an ideal world your company will be the most successful if you employ both of these strategies. However, your first step will be to identify which of these two strategies best fits your current customers and your company’s current abilities.

Does the majority of your business revenue come from a minority of your customers? You may want to start with a values-based strategy. Do the majority of your customers have different needs and desires? You may want to start with a needs-based strategy.

Visit dotNet Framework Solutions for more information.

This is a valuable question that all SMB’s should evaluate.

Recently as I was speaking to a group of SMB executives and I was surprised to find none viewed their operations or companies as an enterprise!

I will address the question of “How can “small” small businesses most effectively map their business processes when they are in rapid growth mode?”

Let’s evaluate this question in a top-down fashion. We all know that growth, especially rapid growth is a great problem to have. The hidden factor that we should seek is sustainable growth. Before we can begin to map processes to align them with growth there must be a top-level plan in place to ‘capture’ processes to map.

Most SMB’s seek niche markets to present there goods and services. Most SMB’s top management has various experiences of management. The issue at hand is a great many of them do not have the where for all to take their vision and formulate it into a living plan that becomes tangible. Hence, in reference to the latter part of your question one can have rapid growth by a niche that the markets demands and disorganized processes support that niche which may drive rapid growth. This provides a false being of security because accounting displays great numbers.

How can we throttle back that growth and capture processes to guide that growth? Here are a couple of ideas.

· Capture the vision and strategy

· Implement an Enterprise Architecture plan of the captured vision and strategy

Now we are on the path of architecting the business with a proven Enterprise Architecture (EA) methodology – and yes a SMB is an enterprise – we can allow the governance of the EA plan to consume the operations to which we can encapsulate the processes. Now that we have encapsulated the processes we introduce a BPM methodology that is best suited for the EA plan established.

Let’s review what we have accomplished to this point.

· We have taken the vision and strategy and created a EA plan – the house Blueprint

· This has tamed our rapid [uncontrolled] growth – we’re not pouring the foundation and framing our house simultaneously

· With the EA plan in place we can now organize and drive our processes through our BPM methodology – we call in our plumbers, electrician, mason’s in a manner that controls workflow and the building of our house.

Let’s view our BPM methodology in a slightly more detail view since this is the primary strength of your question.

A good BPM implementation will provide continues feedback to top management to suggest a change is needed in the implementation of BPM solution itself. This is ensured by the ‘future view’ of the EA plan. To take it a step further the BPM should be integrated with a CRM methodology to become closer to a closed-loop business strategy.

The BPM should identify processes that have little value and processes that may present greater value if redefined.

As for a training tool, I would caution the use of BPM as such. I would use the BPM model as a ‘what-is’ view, not as a ‘how-to’ view. The reason being is that the BPM should create the training process itself.

In summary a well-defined EA plan will lead to an organized BPM implementation that will encompass a CRM solution that will drive sustainable growth for a SMB.

Contact dotNet Framework Solutions for your EA consultation

How can a vendor bring innovations in to the product with open source development model?

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) programs are an essential part of any business operation. An effective CRM program will increase the company’s revenue by enabling its marketing department to focus on the customer through a variety of means - finding new customers, building customer loyalty through increased customer satisfaction, and growing business from existing customers. The end result of an effective CRM program is increased revenue, a loyal customer base, and lowered costs.

It’s not easy, nor is it cheap, to start up a CRM program. However, the benefits your company will reap from an effective program are far-reaching and include:

Better relations with your existing customers

Increased customer satisfaction should be the goal of any company. It results in increased sales through cross-selling other products to already-satisfied customers, as well as through recommendations to other potential customers.

Improved customer communication

Effective communication with your customers is essential in creating customer loyalty and satisfaction. A customer relationship program will help to improve communication with your existing customers so you can better meet their needs.

More effective marketing strategies

A customer relationship management program will help to better identify what marketing strategies are successful for the company and what strategies need to be revamped. In addition, the improved communication allows for marketing targeted to the customer’s specific needs.

New products and services

By developing better relationships with your currents customers and learning what their needs are, you can provide new products and services that meet their needs, ultimately increasing revenue.

Cost-effectiveness

You company will enjoy an increase in value with your current products as well as a reduced cost of supporting and meeting the needs of your customers through a customer relationship management program.

Reputation

Through a CRM program, customers and potential customers will see your commitment to customer satisfaction, thereby enhancing your reputation.

Access to more customers

Once you feel like your customer service efforts are up to speed and you know your customers and their needs, you can begin to expand your market. A better relationship with your customers allows you to identify prospective customers.

Contact dotNet Framework Solutions for your CRM consultation.