1. JAIPUR NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
[ASSIGNMENT]
SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:
MRS. MENKA SAROLIA MS. CHARU SHARMA
FACULTY, JNU MBA IV-B

2. CRM: A BRIEF
INTRODUCTION
Till recently, most marketers focused on traditional modes of marketing to segment and acquire few
customers from its target segments, using the tools and techniques developed for mass marketing in
the in the industrial era, as a way to engender growth. In the present competitive era, this is proving
to be highly ineffective. Today, there is a different approach to business that involves relationship
marketing, customer retention and cross-selling, leading to customer extension, which is a far cry
from the traditional segmentation model. The relative and marked emergence of CRM as a business
strategy has radically transformed the way organisations operates. There has been a shift in business
focus from transactional to relationship marketing where the customer is at the centre of all the
business activity and organisations are now desperately trying to restructure their processes around
the needs of their strategically significant customers. The critical driver of such a seismic shift
towards customer orientation is the realisation that customers are a business asset when managed
effectively can derive continuous and sustainable economic value for an organisation over their
lifetime.
The dynamics of the business ecosystem have changed the way in which companies do business
both in relationship management and the streamlining of their operations. Relationship marketing is
emerging as the core marketing activity for business operating in fiercely competitive environments.
On an average, businesses spend six times more to acquire new customers than to keep them.
Therefore, many firms are now paying more attention to their relationships with existing customers
to retain them and increase their share of customer’s purchases. The practice of relationship
marketing also has the potential to improve marketing productivity through improved marketing
efficiencies and effectiveness.
Retaining and developing customers has long been a critical success factor for businesses. In that
sense, Customer Relationship Management is not new, previously falling under the guise of
customer satisfaction. Worldwide, service organisations have been pioneers in developing customer
retention strategies. Banks have relationship managers for select customers, airlines have frequent
flyer programs to reward loyal customers, credit card companies offer redeemable bonus points for
increased card usage, telecom service operators provide customised services to their heavy users,
and hotels have customised services for their regular guests. It is, however, with the rapid rise of
new entrants into the market place and increased competition that companies in other sectors have
recognised the business potential within a captured base.
BENEFITS OF CRM
The benefits of customer relationship management are considered abound. It allows organisations
not only to retain customers, but enables more effective marketing, creates intelligent opportunities
for cross selling and opens up the possibility of rapid introduction of new brands and products. To be
able to deliver these benefits, organisations must be able to customise their product offering,

3. optimise price, integrate products and services and deliver the service as promised and demanded
by the customer base.
Keeping the customer happy is obviously one way of ensuring that they stay with the organisation.
However, by maintaining an overall relationship with the customer, companies are able to unlock
the potential of their customer base and maximise the contribution to their business. Whilst the
value of customer relationship management has been identified by organisations, the full
implications and benefits are yet to be. Those responsible for delivery are the most informed about
these strategic benefits yet the transformation is a long-drawn-out process.
The strategic benefits of customer relationship management allow companies to reduce the cost of
customer acquisition and give established players the ability to react like a new market entrant, the
very people they are battling against. Ironically these are increased and the potential of customers
can be capitalised through cross-selling of other products and services. It is important to understand
the key benefits of CRM for most companies. These benefits generally fall into three categories: cost
savings, revenue enhancements and strategic impact. Based on successful CRM implementations,
the following benefits seem reasonable:
Increased sales revenues- increased sales results from spending more time with customers, which
results from spending less time chasing, needed information (i.e., productivity improvement).
Increased win rates- win rates improve since company can withdraw from unlikely or bad deals
earlier on in the sales process.
Increased margins- increased margins resulting from knowing customers better, providing a value-
sell, and discounting prices.
Improved customer satisfaction ratings- this increase occurs since customers find the company to be
more responsive and better in touch with their specific needs.
Decreased general sales and marketing administrative costs- this decrease occurs since the company
has specified its target segment customers, it knows their needs better, and thus it is not wasting
money and time, for example, on mailing information to all customers in all existing and potential
target segments.
FUTURE TRENDS IN CRM
It is not suddenly that the business manager have realized that the customer is supreme or the need
to render personalized service. However, it was not possible to address the preference of a massive
group of widely dispersed individuals. Neither the tools nor the technology were available. The
smart business managers did the next best thing, which was to conduct a market research and
classify the market into broad segments with different preferences. The product managers would
(and still do) then position their products catering broadly to these segments.
The information systems have evolved tremendously over the last three decades and so have the
communication systems, as shown in Figure 2. While ERP, the management mantra of the nineties,

4. offered the means to optimize resource planning at the enterprise level encompassing every area of
the enterprise on a real time basis, there was still no means of connecting to the customer. The
customer had just too many locations.
The commercial penetration of Internet into the homes changed everything. It provided the means
to take the integrated enterprises information system to the customer's living room. He could buy,
sell or bank sitting there, while uniquely identifying himself.
This has led to the evolution of CRM, which uses the Net to integrate the customer contract points
directly with the enterprise. It provides the means to interact with every customer individually
(thereby interacting with million or even billions of customers). The interactions over a period of
time create a history that is available to the field sales/support personnel at the touch of a button.
DOING BUSINESS IN THE CRM ERA
CRM has revolutionized the way the business is transacted. Customization and personalization have
been radically redefined. There was a time when companies could do business by making a range of
products, and the customers could choose from the available product range. Now the customer
demands 'Merawala .............' And the companies have to gear themselves to deliver the 'Mera wala'
products to the customers.
CRM is the great enabler that makes it possible to achieve this level of customization in a cost
effective manner. Right from highly focused marketing to the transaction and after sales support,
CRM provides a cost effective, easily accessible and cost effective interface.
By enabling direct customer interaction, CRM has changed every sphere of activity. Products must
have modular designs that can be easily customized. Even warehouses are changing from being just
storehouses to those having the facility for 'Assemble to Order'. Customization increases the product
variety multi-fold since it may not be either economical or feasible to store a huge variety. Intelligent
warehouse, as they are popularly known stock the knocked down modules and assemble them on
the receipt of order.
If fuel efficiency was the selling proposition for automobiles in the seventies, sportiness in the
eighties and safety in the nineties, customization is the selling proposition of the new millennium.
The e-sales concept is increasingly becoming significant in volumes for most American and European
manufacturers. The interactive e-Store front of the manufacturer permits the customer to configure

5. his own automobile in respect of the kind of upholstery, music system, accessories, etc., that he
prefers.
The customer preferences which were captured through the earlier interaction automatically create
work orders and the customized product is delivered. Even though the product is highly customized,
there is hardly any additional cost involved. More companies are focusing their growth strategies
around direct sales through the Net.
MOST AFFECTED INDUSTRIES
Travel and transportation industry has been almost revolutionized by CRM. For them, CRM makes
the difference between being in business or out of it. Financial services, insurance, investment
banking, education and utilities are the other large scale adopters of CRM in the services sector.
The concept of retailing has been redefined with CRM Product industries are using it for marketing
as well as after sales support. Increasing number of product manufacturers are able to retail directly,
thanks to CRM.
WHY SHOULD YOU ADOPT CRM?
CEOs are realizing those who are not able to come up with effective CRM strategies risk being edged
out of business. Customer is the king and the business strategies must be built for ensuring customer
loyalty. It costs six times more to create a new customer than to retain an old one.
Increased sales revenues
o Sales reps spend more time on productive calls and less on chasing information and
dry calls.
o Ability to penetrate and support wider geographical area.
o Sales transactions 24hours, 7 days a week.
Increased responsiveness
Ability to respond to changing customer preferences in real time. Reduced leftover stocks,
reduced business risk and zero budget planning.
Increased win rates
o Ability to concentrate resources on likely customers.

6. o Availability of customer preference data.
Increased margins
o Improved value-sell and reduced price-sell.
o Opportunity for cross-sell and up sell.
Reduced cost
o Improved customer satisfaction ratings.
o Personalized customer service.
o 24x7 service support.
o Customized products.
o Improved information availability.
Decreased costs
o Decreased low value work for sales reps.
o No duplication of effort due to shared schema.
o Focused campaigns reduce wastage of resources.
o Reduced communication costs.
CURRENT TRENDS IN CRM
As CRM matures, distinct trends are emerging:
Hosted solution: enterprises are increasingly showing interest in buying a hosted solution
from the ASPs.
This trend is likely to increase as the enterprises would prefer to concentrate on their core
businesses and let the ASPs provide updated solutions.
Integrated solution: there is an increasing trend to integrate the CRM activities with the
supply chain, manufacturing and B2B market-places. This trend is likely to increase.
Evolution of marketing and branding services: internet marketing and branding is a different
paradigm with a different set of rules. With the convergence of marketing and CRM,
professionals providing specialized services are fast emerging.
Data warehouses: even as enterprises rush to warehouse their own data captured at
interaction points, data has become a commodity. It can be bought, sold, shared and leased.
There are companies whose only business is trading in data transactions.

7. CRM IN INDIA
Software is to India what oil is to Gulf. It is therefore no surprise that Indian companies, too, are
jumping into the CRM bandwagon to seize a chunk of the global market, both products as well as
services.
With its vast talent pool, India is fast becoming an important development base of major CRM
companies. This trend is likely to increase in the future. Call centres, catering primarily to the
American and European markets are coming up in and around the metros. With the easing of
infrastructure constraints, India is likely to emerge as a significant player in this segment.
Adoption of CRM companies by Indian companies is at an infancy stage. The CRM enabled
companies include Modi Xerox, Tata Telecom, TVS Electronics, HP India, Tata Infotech, Carrier
Refrigeration, Tata Teleservices, Satyam, Infoway, Planet M, and Epicentre Technologies, among
many others.
India even has a CRM Foundation in New Delhi, founded with the purpose of assessing and
improving CRM practices, Founding members include Tata Telecom, Escotel, Modi Xerox, Global
Groupware, AC Nielsen, Carrier Aircon, and Motorola India, among others.
CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS
A CRM solution is not a stand- alone solution that could be implemented in isolation to the
enterprise information system. It marks a shift of focus from product centric planning to customer
centric planning. A prudent CRM strategy is essential for a successful adoption of CRM. Some of the
critical success factors that must be evaluated are:
1. Identify the mission, objectives and goals:
Technology has radically changed the business environment. A detailed business strategy
analysis lays the foundation for engineering an information system for the enterprise that
will fulfill the current and the future needs of the organization.
2. Identify and prioritize what functions need to be automated:
A CRM automation audit shall help create a roadmap to complete automation. There may be
processes that are inefficient and automating them without re-engineering is not a desirable
solution.
3. Gain Top Management support and unequivocal commitment:

8. No CRM strategy can ever succeed unless the top management is totally committed to its
success.
4. Employ technology smartly:
Technological obsolescence is a real threat. A long term vision and prudent planning is a
must. As a thumb rule, look for open architectures, scalability, and integration into existing
systems, reliability, and support, etc. Evaluate options and take and informed decision. Keep
in mind that it may be too expensive to reverse this decision.
5. Involve users early:
Involve the likely users early in the process. They know their needs best and can best help
define the new system, for they are best aware of the old one. It is important to make then
participate in the process and 'own' the solution.
6. Prototype the solution:
Deploy the solution on a smaller scale and test all the functions, instead of jumping to the
'big leap'.
7. Training:
The paramount importance of training cannot be over emphasized. This is one of the single
most prevalent reasons for failures/incomplete success. A smart manager would realize that
training costs more than the combined hardware /software cost over the solution lifecycle.
8. Allocate responsibility:
It is important to ensure maximum uptime and reliability of the system so that the users
may not lose faith. Make on department/person responsible for the CRM system.
9. Cross department management team:
Form a committee with people from sales, marketing and service department apart from the
information systems department to monitor the CRM project.
10. Keep the employees motivated:
Technology usually breeds fear and insecurity. It is desirable to 'sell' to system internally
before implementing it to avoid non co-operation/resistance.
Enterprises manager are more obsessed with the product. However, experience shows that even the
best product fails to meet the desired end goals if the implementation is improper or the training
inadequate. Rushing to implement a CRM system without a prudent evaluation and audit usually
results in failure. The choice of an experienced and able consultancy organization is usually very
critical.

9. THE ROAD AHEAD
Technology has been a major driving factor for CRM and is bringing about radical changes. The
developments in several technological areas are likely to have a major impact on CRM. Some of the
areas are listed below:
1. Biometric sensing: passwords continue to be the least user friendly and the most un-secure
link in the CRM chain.
However, advancement in biometrics will soon make it possible to make a foolproof
recognition through voice, live fingerprint or image. The system would automatically identify
(and not just verify) the user. People Soft has already announced that it is working on voice
recognition.
2. M-Commerce: There has been an enormous advancement in this area. Rapid developments
in the mobile computing and date access devices are likely to be a major growth area for
CRM. The global marketplace is all set to shrink to a palmtop, digital signatures and secured
identification technologies.
3. Integration with B2B market-places: Many argue that online market – places will drive sales
in the coming decades and branding will no longer be important. Even if such a postulation is
far-fetched, there can be little doubt that enterprises will integrate the CRM solutions with
B2B market places.
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
"Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a comprehensive approach which provides seamless
integration of every area of business that touches the customer – namely marketing, sales, customer
service and field support – through the integration of people, process and technology, taking
advantage of the revolutionary impact of the Internet."
According to another definition, CRM is an information industry term for methodologies, software,
and usually Internet capabilities that help an enterprise manages customer relationships in an
organized way. For example, and enterprise might build a database about its customers that
describes relationships in sufficient detail so that management, salespeople, people providing
service, and perhaps the customer directly can access information, match customer needs with

10. product plan and offerings, remind customers of service requirements, know what other products a
customer had purchased, and so forth.
According to an industry view, CRM has the following utilities:
Helping and enterprise to enable its marketing departments to identify and target their best
customers, manage marketing campaigns with clear goals and objectives, and generate
quality leads for the sales team.
Assisting the organization to improve telesales, account, and sales management by
optimizing information shared by multiple employees, and streamlining existing processes
(for example, taking orders using mobile devices).
Allowing the formation of individualized relationships with customers, with the aim of
improving customer satisfaction and maximizing profits; identifying the most profitable
customers and providing them the highest level of service.
Providing employees with the information and process necessary to know their customers,
understand their needs, and effectively build relationships between the company, its
customer base, and distribution partners.
CRM also refers to solutions and strategies for managing businesses' relationships with customers.
(Hence the term, customer relationship management). With the advent of web retailing, companies
have found it hard to develop relationship with customers since the e-commerce interface is so
impersonal. After all, won't a customer miss the firm handshake and sparkling smile of the
salesperson who just sold him the most expensive computer system in the store? Well, whether or
not he misses the personal experience of the retail store, the goal of CRM is to give a customer that
feeling when he buys products over the Internet. When it comes to CRM, customer service is the
number one priority. Sure, all companies seem to make that claim, but when online businesses
create CRM models, it really is the case.
According to Mike Maoz, Research Director of CRM for the Gartner Group, CRM is a strategy by
which companies optimize profitability through enhanced customer satisfaction. "CRM is a business
strategy, not a technology," says Maoz. "It involves process, technology and people issues. All three
together really captures what CRM is." Notice the words "customer satisfaction." One key
component of this definition is the current trend toward a customer-driven enterprise, in which the
customer owns control of the communication and the interaction process. This new movement will
challenge all three components of CRM – processes, technology and people – as these are currently
geared to "enable people within the organization to interact with customers, rather than enabling

11. customers to interact with us," says Maoz. What this means is that CRM urges organizations to
reinvent the way they work with their customers. It also indicates that the definition of CRM would
continue to evolve and new channels, objectives and tools would continue to shape the future of
CRM as there is an addition in the process, technology and people issues surrounding CRM.
The manner in which a customer deals with an organization has changed dramatically with time.
Initially the organization was small scale, centreed locally and delivered products and services to
customers that were known personally. Customer centricity has returned! Technology has stepped
in to this chasm and CRM, if implemented correctly, has allowed early adopting organizations to
serve customers to a standard previously unattainable and to manage their relationship much more
effectively.
RATIONALE OF CRM
All companies are facing massive challenges in today's highly competitive market and strive to
acquire the maximum possible market share in an overcrowded market. The following are the
threats that compel a company to design implement CRM solutions.
The nature of competition which is now global.
The rate of change is accelerating out of control.
Margins are being eroded.
Customers are more demanding and becoming less loyal.
Customer churn is increasing.
Product life-cycles are shrinking.
Industry barriers are collapsing enabling major brands to enter new markets.
The Internet is transforming the business landscape.
CRITICAL ISSUES IN CRM
Internal focus: For a CRM package to be successful, the design, implementation, and
feedback should be restricted to the needs of a particular organization. Every organization
requires CRM strategy.

12. Function organization design: Every department, function and operation pertaining to a
business should be studied properly and should be provided on the basis of commonalities
so as to combine together alike functions and to achieve integration of processes.
Command and control culture: A proper flow-chart and control mechanism must be set-up
in order to implement and plug-in the loopholes at an appropriate time.
Customer Data: The centre of focus of any CRM solution is customers. The customer data
should be an integral part of the solution and should be secured and reliable enough to
handle the sensitive nature of the data.
CRM TOOLS
Strategic CRM:
A comprehensive implementation that provides seamless coordination between all
customer-facing functions by integrating people, process and technology to maximize
relationships with all customers. Here, we discuss a few terms related to strategic CRM :
i. Business Case: Borrowed from business school terminology to document the
strategy, goals, metrics, and resources needed for CRM implementations.
ii. Customer Knowledge: Companies should strive to develop a complete picture of the
customer by actively gathering, organizing, and analyzing customer data.
iii. Customer Loyalty: Companies strive to create brand-loyalty between their
customers and a particular company or brand.
iv. Customer Retention: The value derived from a particular market segment. CRM
strives to increase sales by retaining valuable consumers and by retaining a secure
customer base to counteract competitor activity.
v. Customer Satisfaction: Are the customer happy? Measurement systems should be
put in place to measure customer satisfaction.
vi. Direction: What companies hope to accomplish by implementing CRM and which
components will be needed at each level to achieve the implementation.
vii. Leadership: A champion in senior management who will advocate for the CRM
implementation in its various stages over a number of years.
viii. Master Plan: The overall guiding methodology and metrics for a CRM
implementation from start to finish.

13. ix. Metrics or Measurement: Benchmarks set by a company to measure the success or
failure of a project or a web site.
x. People: The most difficult component of CRM to get right. Users who do not
understand the CRM implementation, or have not been properly trained can
substantially harm a CRM implementation. People will be the ultimate judges of the
success of the CRM implementation.
xi. Process: An automated system. It is important to review all customer management
systems prior to automating their processes, as inappropriate processing will only
speed up a flawed system.
xii. Return on Investment (ROI): A calculation of how much money well be saved or
earned as the result of an investment in a CRM solution, ROI calculations should be
used in developing a business case for a given proposal; factors in investments of
both time and capital should be included while calculating ROI.
xiii. Strategy: Investigating, implementing, measuring, and maintaining the CRM solution
should all be factored into the company’s overall business strategy.
xiv. Success: How can one measure the ROI of a CRM implementation? Pre-determined
metrics for a CRM project must include measurements of increased profit, deceased
spending, and increased market share etc.
xv. Technology: Web-based applications, portal offering, agent technology, n-tiered
architectures, and other emerging technologies impact new business functionality.
xvi. Top Management: Business intelligence includes extensive reporting to senior
managers on the success and internal adoption of the CRM implementation. It is
essential to keep senior managers informed and involved in the fight to sustain the
CRM implementation across the enterprise.
xvii. Trends: New and noteworthy direction affecting employees, process, and
technology issues.
xviii. Vision: A broad and comprehensive game plan for company’s future that takes into
account both the business goals of a company and the technology projects needed
to support a company’s long range planning.
Technology and Implementation:
One knows that the company needs a CRM software package, but how does one implement
it and what technology will you need? When properly implemented, CRM breaks through
the traditional boundaries separating sales, marketing, service, IT and other functional areas,

14. An overall, flexible enterprise architecture plan is required to enable seamless integration of
CRM systems, as well as the alignment of “e” and traditional channels into hybrid technology
systems.
i. Enterprise Architecture and Applications: The plans, methods, and tools aimed at
consolidating and coordinating computer application across an enterprise. An
enterprise (or company) typically has existing legacy application and databases that
stay in use while adding or migrating new applications using internet, e-commerce,
intranet, and other new technologies.
ii. CRM-induced culture change: After companies implement a Customer Relationship
Management system, they often feel the effects of what is called CRM-induced
culture change resulting from the influence of CRM on behavior patterns across an
organization.
iii. Migration management: Successfully migrating the use of one operating
environment to another operating environment.
iv. Knowledge-based utilization : An expert knowledge management system containing
a collection of facts and rules needed for problem solving
v. Application Service Providers: (ASPs) are outsourcing specialists for software
application that offer enterprises access to applications and related services over the
Internet. This is an alternative model to loading software in personal computers or
on enterprise servers. Designed to minimize the headache of buying, installing,
managing, and maintaining the software.
vi. Connectivity: Internet Service Providers (ISPs) that offer businesses connections to
the Internet.
vii. Application Service: Three-tier integration application tying together graphical user
interface (GUI) servers, application (business logic) servers, and the database.
viii. System Integrators: Integrates an organization’s old “legacy” systems, or connects
them to new net markets. Also known as EAI (Enterprise Application
Integration)Providers, integration architects, and data integrators.
ix. Back-end Integration: Application integration with IT back-end chains –inventory
management, accounting, shipping, etc.
x. Planning and investigating: Just getting started? The first stage involves research,
business case writing, metrics setting, etc. This section contains articles and research
papers regarding vendor’s solutions and the methodology.

15. xi. Implementing and Deployment: After choosing an appropriate solution (s), this
information helps in planning the implementation and deployment strategies.
xii. Change Management: Implementing and deploying a solution does not
automatically ensure ROI. This stage of project management is very critical to the
success of overall CRM game plan.
xiii. Maintaining and Upgrading: The Internet has enabled maintaining and upgrading
CRM applications much easier. But one shouldn’t upgrade every point release-
basically it is here where one learns to identify things worth doing.
Mobile Business for the Enterprise:
Mobile technology and Field Force Automation (FFA) are integral components of any new
CRM implementation. Mobile technology allows field sales, support and service personnel to
access critical customer and company information, send and retrieve data, and interact
witch colleagues and customers. New applications will give birth to innovative customer-
facing sales and service channels. Mobile wireless devices connecting CRM and FFA
application ensure that information is always up-to-date and available to mobile workers.
i. Delivery Technology: Transmission technologies that enable the sending of data to
and from mobile phones, fax machines and/or IP addresses. Examples of data
delivery technologies include Edge (Enhanced Data GSM Environment), GPRS
(General packet Radio Services), and SMS ( Short Message Service ).
ii. Display Technology: Enables your wireless device to show text, graphics and images.
Currently, most display technologies hold less than 100 characters total.
iii. Field Force Automation (FFA): Automating tasks and delivering content to
employees who are in the field visiting customers.
iv. Input Technology and Devices: Operations, programs, and devices that transfer data
to or from mobile devices including voice recognition, touch screen, handwriting
recognition, traditional keyboard , and a mouse.
v. Mobile Commerce: The buying or selling from a mobile device i.e. buying and selling
stocks from your mobile phone.
vi. Mobile Enterprise: Making the Intranet, CRM solution, etc. available to mobile
employees.
vii. Mobile Operating System: An operating system specifically for mobile devices.
viii. Standards: Specifications for a set of communication protocol.

16. ix. Wide Area Network (WAN): A network of connected devices that are geographically
dispersed.
x. WAP and WML: Wireless application protocol and wireless markup language, these
are syntax used to program content for wireless phones using languages that allow
the text portions of Web pages to be presented.
xi. Wireless Application Service Provider: ASP's specifically designed for wireless
devices. WASP's allow customer access to the service from a variety of wireless
devices.
xii. Wireless Devices: Devices that use electromagnetic waves (rather than wires) to
carry a signal.
xiii. XML and Voice XML: otherwise known as Extensible Markup Language. Syntax to
deliver all types of voice content to devices.
Sales & Marketing:
Sales is a multi-channel selling system that relies on a combination of field sales, retail,
partners, call centres and electronic channels. The goal is to make the customer the focus of
sales efforts by integrating customer needs into channel and product strategies via
forecasting, push support, up-selling, personalization;; and by embedding service into
products using networked sensors, microprocessor intelligence and wireless communication.
The five skills of Relationship Management are : positioning, hunting, coaching, leading, and
farming.
i. Enterprise Relationship Management (ERM): Often used interchangeably with CRM,
this term is often used by Enterprise Resource Planning or "ERP" software vendors
such as SAP, Baan, Oracle and People Soft.
ii. E-Sales : Revenue generating functions of an Internet strategy.
iii. Lead Qualification: Automation that pre-qualifies leads according to pre-established
business rules before they are entered into a system.
iv. Operational CRM: The "Operational" components of a CRM Strategy include Sales
Automation, Call Center Automation, Channel Automation, and Proposal
Generation.
v. Partner Relationship Management (PRM): Third party sales channel automation
capabilities such as Lead Distribution, Web based wholesale merchandising

17. (catalogs, product configuration, order management), promotions and discounts,
collaboration and planning, measurement, billing, product returns, etc.
vi. Repeat Business: The ongoing and recurring revenue stream generated by an
existing customer base over time.
vii. Sales Force Automation (SFA): Basic Sales Automation capabilities including Contact,
Account, Opportunity, Activity Management, Proposal Generators, etc.
a. Marketing consists of corporate branding, customer acquisition, customer
retention and customer loyalty programs. Marketing now involves blending
online and off-line media channels, and leveraging Internet - acquired
customer information with marketing automation to drive the B2C and B2B
selling processes. This is the age of the "Customer," going beyond traditional
sales campaigns to identify, profile, and engage in an ongoing interactive
dialogue with customers through your web assets.
viii. Analytical CRM: The analytical components of a CRM strategy include data marts,
decision support tools and customer behaviour modeling, and analytical tools. The
customer data that is captured within the "operational" components of a CRM
system is stored, retrieved and analyzed for performance management and results
measurement.
ix. Customer Profiling and Segmentation: Used to describe all activities and system
capabilities that capture large amounts of customers' information in order to do a
more effective job of "segmenting", or dividing, the customer base. The customer
base is first segmented by the value they represent to an organization, and then by
the needs they may have for specified products / services.
x. E-Marketing Automation: An umbrella term including campaign management,
customer analytics and 'closed loop marketing" that track the effectiveness of
various marketing programs and campaigns.
xi. Lead Qualification: A term used to describe certain marketing and sales automation
capabilities that pre-qualify sales leads as they are entered into a system governed
by pre established business rules defined by the organization.
xii. Personalization: Personalization and Content Management enable you to target and
tailor communications. Personalization includes all aspects of making the customer
interaction a unique and beneficial experience, wherever the interaction takes place.

18. Business Intelligence:
(BI) is the intersection of the needs of the business and the available information necessary
to make the best business decisions. BI information sources include the internet, the
extranet, the internet, On-Line Transaction Processing systems (OLTP), Operational Data
Stores (ODS), Data Warehouses (DW), Data Marts (DM), Analytical Applications (AA), data
mining applications, statistical analysis applications, predictive modeling applications,
reporting systems, and data islands (isolated sets of data such as spread sheets, desktop
databases, etc.)
i. Analytical processing and Analytics: Using data to produce a research and analysis of
a business case. Analytics are frequently used to support or disapproved
management decisions.
ii. Customer Intelligence Systems: Provides companies with information about the
purchasing preferences of their customers. These systems are used to identify
potential customers and retain existing customers, as well as to determine which
products and services should be promoted to various segments of the customer
population.
iii. Customer scoring: Tools used for the continuous monitoring of account data and
customer behaviour.
iv. Data Cleansing: The process by which "dirty" or corrupt data is removed or
corrected.
v. Data Marts: a specialized smaller version of a data warehouse. A data mart is
typically created by a department to address a business function.
vi. Data Mining: A technique using software tools geared for users who typically do not
know exactly what to search for ; but are looking for particular patterns or trends.
Data mining is the analysis of data for relationships that have not previously been
discovered.
vii. Data Warehouse: A central repository for all or significant parts of the data that have
been collected by an enterprise's various business systems. Data warehouses can be
used as repositories for consistent historical data that can be easily accessed and
manipulated for decision support.
viii. Dimension: A table used in a star scheme to store descriptive, hierarchical and
metric information about an aspect of the business. Examples include product,
customer, geography, and time.

19. ix. DTEAMM (Design, Transformation, Extract, Access, Monitoring and Management): A
transformation engine based, client server computer application that provides for
most aspects of data warehouse and data mart system design, construction,
utilization, monitoring and management.
x. Filtering and House Holding: The process of eliminating data based on selection
criteria and a methodology of consolidating names and addresses.
xi. Information Database: A database containing corporate information for analysis
purposes such as customer phone numbers, credit info, etc.
xii. Legamart: A non-architected repository of data gathered from operational data and
other sources (data mart) that business users rely upon.
xiii. Meta Data: Simply put they are data dictionaries and repositories. Meta data names
and describes data that is modeled, migrated from sources data, captured and
stored in the data warehouse and accessed by users.
xiv. ODS (Operational Data Store): A database designed for queries on transactional
data. ODS's are also commonly used to populate data warehouses and data marts.
Common sources of the data include legacy systems that contain current or near
term data.
xv. OLAP (On-line Analytical Processing): Processing that supports the analysis of
business trends and projections.
xvi. OLTP (On-Line Transaction Processing): Daily business operations such as order
entry.
xvii. OODBs (Object Oriented Data Bases): A database that allows the storage and
retrieval of multiple data types.
xviii. Operational Data: Supports the modeling and creation of data as objects.
xix. Operational System or Database: A term used interchangeably with legacy systems;
Operational Systems are an information or transaction processing system used to
store data that is important to a business on a day-to-day basis, including
administrative, employee, financial and other data.
Customer Contact Center:
The customer contract centre integrates customer touch-points and provides service
through one multi-channel gateway. The customer contract centre, whether it is a help desk,
a call centre, or on-line support via e-mail or chat, is how your customers experience your

20. organization. Customers leave the customer dontract centre experience with either positive
or negative feelings towards your company.
i. Call Center and Help Desk: The department that handles customer inquiries typically
via telephone, fax, or e-mail.
ii. Customer Interactive Center (ICICI): Help desks and support environments that are
highly interactive. CIC leverages technology, human resources and methodologies to
create raving fans while utilizing Service and Support for outstanding customer
satisfaction.
iii. Customer Retention: Process that identify, prioritize, and improve areas of
performance that have the greatest impact on customer loyalty. Keep as many
customers as possible, keep them satisfied, keep them loyal, and keep them for life.
Measuring their performance over time and against competitors, how they drive
customer feedback through the organization to build lasting customer relationships.
iv. Customer Support: Provides timely, expert support to resolve customer problems
and queries sent by e-mail, phon, fax, or in person.
v. Service system: A sophisticated scripted online help system and / or a knowledge
base of technical notes and previously offered customer solutions, Service is a
Customer Service Center management system that allows customers to find solution
on their own.
vi. Live Support / Service: Customer service representatives who answer customer
questions via the telephone in real time.
vii. On-line Support / Service: On line support from an internal help desk, allows
businesses of any size to dramatically improve customer service by providing
employees access to problem resolution information through Intranets. An external
help desk allows customers to access customer service information through the
Web. Both systems enable companies to resolve problems faster, leading to
improved service and greater overall customer satisfaction.
viii. State - of -the-service technology: An e-Service plan.
E-CRM:
e-CRM is not simply electronic CRM. E-CRM is customer management for e-Businesses that
must confront the complexity of managing sophisticated customers and business partners in

21. a variety of media including: online and offline media, personal contact, and more
automated and electronic forms of communication.
i. E-commerce: Sales and services via the Internet. Sometimes confused with e-
business that is an umbrella term for a total presence on the Web including the e-
commerce (shopping) component.
ii. Channel Automation Software: Modules or platforms that empower the channel, by
enabling the channel to engage in Web-based commerce. These solutions enable
manufacturers to coordinate and manage the sale of products and solutions across
multi-channel sales and distribution channels. As a result, customers are able to
transparently navigate a multi-tired selling process, gaining the value-add of both
manufacturers and channel partners.
iii. Collaborative Commerce Software: Software that aggregates fragmented buyers and
/ or sellers to increase a marker's efficiencies beyond the exchange of goods. C-
commerce moves beyond that level of support to enable multiple enterprises to
work together online within a dynamic trading community.
iv. On-line Storefront: Websites on which companies sell products or services via the
Internet.
v. Multichannel Customer Management: The integration of electronic interactions
including e-mail, self-service, collaboration, Voice-over-IP (VoIP) with voice
interactions in a seamless manner delivering a universal queue for all interactions,
and fronting the interaction engine with a desktop CRM application.
vi. E-service: An umbrella term for services delivered over the internet. Includes e-
commerce transaction services for handling online orders, application hosting by
application service providers (APSs) as well as any processing capability that is
obtainable on the Web.
vii. E-mail Response Management: An application that uses agents to read and respond
to e-mail messages. Includes an e-mail response library containing a series of
standard texts to deal with common issues.
viii. Guided Selling and Buying: Leveraging traditional applications for configuring and
cataloging - with layers of dynamic, customer-friendly capabilities - to guide
customers through the process of selecting a product. Organizations use guided
selection functionality to accomplish multiple objectives, which vary depending on
the nature of the company, customer, and product.

22. ix. Product Configuration: The ability to self-configure a product or service over the
Internet. Complex configuration solutions typically allow product managers to create
business - based rules such as "If package A is chosen, then it should include
components 1, 2 or 3". A salesperson or channel partner would use this consistent
interface to begin a sale but customize it with specific products and pricing
preferences.
x. Order Management: Online order management is much more than simply a solution
for automating the online order-taking process, vendors are extending order
management functionality and tightly integrating with other sell-side functional
areas. The online order management system must not only simplify the process of
taking orders on a Web site and feeding the back-end systems, but also must track
the entire order life cycle. Information housed in the order management system is
incredibly valuable to supply chain partners, customers, and resellers. As a result,
integration - both external and internal - is essential to fully realizing the benefits of
an online order management system.
xi. Electronic Agents: Agent programs search the Internet gathering information you're
interested in and bring (or push it) to your desktop. Also known as "bots" or "push
technology".
xii. Catalog Management: Software applications that normalize product data from
multiple vendors for easy comparison. Includes information about data sets, files,
databases and the devices on which each data set or file is stored.
xiii. Content Management: Refers to the printed word online, including documentation,
information pages and data that describe items offered in online catalogs or
marketplaces.
xiv. E-Customer: Business or consumers who goes through the online customer
transaction process. An E-Customer implementation can be direct to the end-
customer or incorporate distribution channels such as resellers or distributors.
xv. Fulfillment software: Executes tasks such as bill of materials, order management,
shipping management, returns and status tracking.
xvi. Self –service: Customer facing applications that allow customers and partners to
access information, track shipments and solve problems by themselves.