The Ultimate Benefits of CRM
Data Warehouse and CRM Solutions Must Be Assessed on Their Merits
Apr 15, 2009
A CRM solution must meet objectives established by corporate management, particularly with respect to the projected ROI.
A properly-designed CRM solution, developed in accordance with proven principles and practices and used to meet pre-determined business objectives, based on the organization's corporate culture, and assessed for ROI will more than justify its implementation and the significant investment by a corporation of time, energy and money.
The successes which many organizations have achieved in terms of enhanced customer relations, increased profitability, and more effective methods of doing business, attest to the benefits of CRM, in every major and minor business sector.
Measuring ROI: An On-going Process
The measurement of ROI must be an on-going activity in the management of the data warehouse. Users must participate in gathering information about the business – cost savings, increased revenues, easier processes – any benefit that can be classified as a ‘business benefit.’ What manager would invest $10 million in new manufacturing capacity, and not be required to determine if it was helping to generate new business, and retain existing customers?
In today's business environment, the time and effort required to perform many analysis and reporting functions is costly. A data warehouse, combined with the application of data mining tools, can make all the relevant source data available in a single integrated platform and database, enabling more efficient use of the data, and leading to lower operating costs.
With an understanding of the patterns provided from data in the data warehouse, costs can be reduced, productivity improved, and new business opportunities identified. Like the ‘tools of the trade’ in traditional occupations, the data warehouse is merely a tool of the IT trade, with an enterprise reach, that extends the capability of humans and enhances productivity.
Tangible and Intangible Benefits
Building on the data warehouse and other technologies, such as data mining and database software, it is obvious that there are significant, intangible, job-oriented benefits to be derived from the application of these technologies to customer relationships, not to mention the obvious tangible benefits.
Inside the enterprise, employees achieve a sense of control over their job responsibilities and careers, problems can be recognized before they occur, and energies can be focused on thinking and creating rather than on laborious and tedious information-gathering and processing.
Outside, at customer touchpoints, better customer service results, with subsequent enhancement of three important customer parameters: satisfaction, loyalty, and retention.
Measurable Benefits
While these intangible benefits are important, they are difficult to recognize in the ‘bottom line.’ The business world requires measurable benefits to justify spending on programs such as CRM, so the tangible, sometimes immediate benefits, as well as those that are less tangible and longer-term, need to be presented, described, and justified, in the developmental stages of the CRM solution.
Ultimately, these measurable benefits, as well as the intangibles, will prove the benefits of CRM for organizations just entering this important corporate process, as they have for those organizations that have achieved success in meeting their CRM objectives.
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