RESEARCH FOCUS  -  CUSTOMER CARE IN TELECOMS

Client Relationship Management

Client Relationship Management (CRM) aims to satisfy the needs of the customer relative to the services provided. Successful CRM is based on a recognition that customers are at the core of the business, and that the success of the organisation depends on effectively managing relationships with its customers. To correctly manage these relationships, the organisation must first know who its customers are, not just as generic groups or segments of customers, but often as individual customers. This can be achieved by obtaining answers to a number of fundamental questions, at an individual or group level, including:

	Does this customer also do business with the competition?
	Is this customer profitable?
	What do they like about this organisation?
	Why do they do business with this organisation?

Successful organisations will create innovative approaches to pricing, packaging and promotions. Within the telecoms industry, initially competition will focus on price and over time will become more service-oriented. For established local providers, the two prime business drivers will be how to increase revenue and retain current customers. 

Emerging enterprises focus on CRM as much as their established counterparts. But their smaller size, limited resources, and rapid growth mean that these businesses are confronted with CRM issues that big companies rarely see. Small and midsize businesses tend to have closer relationships with customers, and they need to maintain that closeness with technology, processes and tools.

Emerging enterprises purchase CRM products because they have to do a better job of reaching out to their customers than the larger companies with which they compete. That means having better sales, better marketing, and better customer service, in short, better relationship management.

Organisations will also examine their customer management strategies to improve relationships. In addition, the established telcos will need to re-examine their own support tools and, those currently available, with a view to using them to improving their CRM strategy. Existing tools and techniques that can be used to improve CRM include:

	Consultative selling,
	Data warehousing & MIS/EIS
	Computer telephony integration.
	Integration with internet and e-mail systems
	Business strategy & objectives

There are a number of proprietary CRM systems and tools available, each of which can be used to support existing relationships and retain new customers. Each of the systems have their own methods of providing services to improve CRM, including:

	Building Customer profiles
	Identify new business opportunities
	Providing higher customer satisfaction and loyalty
	Understanding Customer needs
	Understanding the dynamics of the customer base

When assessing which options are the most CRM packages for the organisation, other aspects should also be taken into consideration. These will include factors such as:

	Life time costs
	Integration with other systems, current and proposed
	Support provided and response times
	System flexibility and evolution capability

Related areas within this Research Focus topic,  include:

  Service      Loyalty    Call Centres   Call Handling   

Additional information is also available on this Research Focus topic, these areas include

  Metrics        Billing    Outsourcing    Systems

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