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Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 2

1.1 Origin of the report ............................................................................................................................ 2

1.2 Objective of the study ........................................................................................................................ 3

1.3 Methodology ..................................................................................................................................... 3

1.4 Limitation of the study ....................................................................................................................... 3

2.0 Findings of the report ........................................................................................................................ 4

2.1 Evaluating CRM software ................................................................................................................... 4

2.2 Criteria for evaluating CRM software ................................................................................................. 4

2.3 Company objectives in CRM system ................................................................................................... 5

2.4 Success factors of CRM system implementation ................................................................................ 6

2.5 Suggested action plan for implementing a CRM system ..................................................................... 9

2.6 Recent CRM related software and their function ............................................................................. 10

3.0 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 14

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1.0 Introduction

According to Wilson (2002) CRM is a concept that enables an organization to tailor specific

products or services to each individual customer according to his or her need. In the most

advanced scenario, CRM may be used to create a personalized, customized, one-to-one

experience that will give the individual customer a sense of being cared for, thus opening up

new marketing opportunities based on the preferences, previous behavior and history of the

customer. Fayerman (2002) said that CRM as a customer-focused business strategy that aims to

increase customer satisfaction and customer loyalty by offering a more responsive and

customized services to each customer

Using information technology in CRM can help your business enhance the way it interacts with

and services customers through multiple channels and divisions. With a CRM suite, you can

deploy company-wide best practices, implementing consistent, effective, and efficient processes

across departments and business units, to ensure a positive end-to-end experience for your

customer.

1.1 Origin of the report

The report entitled “CRM information technology” originated from the partial fulfillment of the

Customer relationship management (MKT-531) course. The main purpose of the preparation of

the report is due to the partial fulfillment of the course of the EMBA Program conducted by the

Faculty of Business Studies, Dhaka University.

During the course, I was under the supervision and guidance of Md. Razib Alam, assistant

Professor, Department of Marketing, Faculty of Business studies, Dhaka University.

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1.2 Objective of the study

Broad objective

To describe CRM information technology

Specific objective

To evaluate CRM software.

To find out the criteria for evaluation of CRM software.

To find out company objectives in CRM system.

To find out success factors of CRM system implementation.

To suggest an action plan for implementing a CRM system.

TO provide a list of recent CRM software and their function.

1.3 Methodology

Data source:

Mainly secondary source were involved to develop this report. Here I have tried to use details

and important information on this report. Secondary information collected from book, internet and

other sources.

1.4 Limitation of the study

The study on “CRM information technology” is a very comprehensive and extensive task.

During the time of preparing this report we have been faced many problem. These are follows:

The time frame fixed for preparing the report was really hard to be met. As a result,

sufficient concentration could not be given which was needed for much better study.

We are very much sorry not provide enough information due to lack of information.

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2.0 Findings of the report

The stunning advances in information technology have been a major force in advancing

customer relationship management into the forefront of corporate strategic thinking during the

late 1990s.CRM software market comes from two directions: the front office and the back office.

2.1 Evaluating CRM software

Before applying CRM software a manager has to read about sales automation, been mailed by

the vendors and heard some of his colleagues, or perhaps competitors, discussing its merits.

Manager has also recognized areas of sales operation that could be improved by the application

of the technology and have considered commitment. He needs to evaluate the software properly.

Customer relationship management currently means different things to different people.

Moreover, the definition of CRM will evolve and change over time.

2.2 Criteria for evaluating CRM software

Nonetheless, CRM software will usually consist of the following 11 components. Initial CRM

system will consist of one or more of these components, and is likely to grow over time to

include additional components from this list and new components will emerge as the CRM

industry matures.

1. Sales: Contact management profiles and history, account management including

activities, order entry, proposal generation.

2. Sales management: Pipeline analysis (forecasting, sales cycle analysis, territory

alignment and assignment, roll-up and drill-down reporting).

3. Telemarketing/telesales: Call list assembly, auto-dialing, scripting, order taking.

4. Time management: Single user and group calendar/scheduling (this likely to be

Microsoft Outlook), e-mail.

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5. Customer service and support: Incident assignment/escalation/tracking/reporting,

problem management /resolution, order management/promising, warranty/contact

management.

6. Marketing: Campaign management, opportunity management, web-based encyclopedia,

configurator, market segmentation, lead generations/enhancement/tracking.

7. Executive information: Extensive and easy-to-use reporting.

8. ERP integration: Legacy systems, the Web, third-party external information.

9. Data synchronization: Mobile synchronization with multiple field devices, enterprise

synchronization with multiple database/application servers.

10. E-commerce: Manage procurement through EDI link and Web server, and include

business-to-business as well as business-to-consumer application.

11. Field service support: Work orders, dispatching, real-time information transfer to field

personnel via mobile technologies.

2.3 Company objectives in CRM system

It is important to understand the benefit of CRM for most companies. These generally fall into

three categories: cost savings, revenue enhancement, and strategic impact. Based on successful

CRM implementations, the following benefit objectives seem reasonable.

1. Increased sales revenues: An increase of ten percent per annum per rep during the first

three years of the project is reasonable. Increased sales results from spending more time

with customers which results from spending less time running around chasing needed

information ( i.e., productivity improvement);

2. Increased win rates: An increase of five percent per annum during the first three years

of the project is reasonable. Win rates improve since you withdraw from unlikely or bad

deals earlier on in the sales process.

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3. Increased margins: An increase of one percent per deal during the first three years of

the project is reasonable. Increased margins result from knowing your customer better,

providing a value-sell, and discounting price less.

4. Improved customer satisfaction ratings: An increase of three percent per year during

the first three years of the project is reasonable. This increase occurs because customers

find your company to be more responsive and better in touch with their specific needs.

5. Decreased general sales and marketing administrative costs: A decrease of ten

percent per year during the first three years of the project is reasonable. This decrease

occurs since you have specified your target segment customers, you know their needs

better, and thus you are not wasting money and time on, for example, mailing

information to all customers in all existing and potential target segments.

2.4 Success factors of CRM system implementation

To take the advantage of the benefits of a CRM system, a company must undertake a structured

process that ensures the automation venture does not become the automation adventure. There

are ten critical success factors that are essential for the success of any CRM system.

1. Determine the functions to automate: Effective automation at a company starts with

CRM automation audit, which identifies the business functions that need to be automated

and lists the technical features that are required in the automation system. While there are

several different audit methodologies available, the usual approach uses questionnaires,

face-to-face interviews, visits with the sales reps in the field, quantitative matrices and a

final report with recommendations. If the audit is not performed properly, you will most

likely to be unable to implement an effective CRM automation system.

2. Automate what needs automating: Automating an inefficient business process can be a

costly mistake. To ensure that you automate what needs to be automated, your CRM

automation audit should address a ‘wish list’ of how sales people, marketing personnel,

customer support staff and management would like to improve their work process.

Remember that the people doing the job know ways to do it better. Take time to work

with them and you will learn what needs automating.

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3. Gain top management support and commitment: Companies who successfully

automate CRM functions view CRM automation system more as a business tool than as a

technological tool. Keep this in mind as you approach top management for support. Top

management commitment can be secured by demonstrating that:

Automation supports the business strategy ( i.e., automation delivers the

information required to make the key decisions that enable business

strategy to be realized);

Automation measurably impacts upon and improves results (e.g.,

improved with raters, improves margins, higher sales revenues, and higher

customer satisfaction ratings );

Automation significantly reduces costs (e.g., lower general sales costs)

and thereby pays for itself over a specified time period. Document your

case for automation based on business impact.

4. Employ technology smartly: Select information technology and systems that utilize

open architecture, thereby making it easy to enhance and enlarge the system over time.

Look for software applications which are modularized and can be easily integrated into,

or interconnected with, your existing information databases. Ensure that the technology

you select complies with international standards.

For firms conducting business between the field and regions or headquarters, or across

regions, select software applications that are network compatible and that permit easy

data synchronization between information held on field computer and information held

on regional or headquarter computers. To accommodate future changes, be sure the

technology you select can easily be customized as well as modified. In other words, let

the technology help you to grow. As an example, Mobil first implemented a standard

computing environment on a worldwide basis and then implemented specific CRM

automation software applications.

5. Secure user ownership: Get users involved early to make sure that your CRM

automation system addresses their needs. A large information technology manufacturer

automated their sales force using the recommendations of a corporate headquarter sales

and marketing automation task force. Unfortunately users were not sufficiently

represented on this task force and ended up revolting against the system which they felt

was yet another ‘big brother’ idea. Users have a vested interest in making ‘their’ system

work in practice. Don’t be afraid to hand over ‘ownership’ of the system to the users.

6. Prototype the system: Prototyping your CRM automation system facilitates the phasing

in of new technology, allow experimentation on a smaller and less costly scale, test the

system’s functionality, highlights required changes in organizational procedure and most

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importantly, demonstrate that automation objectives can by met. Emerging rapid

prototyping software development tools reinforce the importance of ‘testing before you

leap’.

7. Train users: Training includes, for example: demonstrating to users how to access and

utilize needed information, ensuring that users are provide with understandable user

documentation and that this documentation is frequently updated, offering online

tutorials, which can be customized for each user, providing a telephone helpline to

support your user, and training the ‘trainers’ to ensure that new users can quickly be up

and running on the system.

8. Motivate personnel: CRM automation succeeds when users are motivated by the

system’s ability to help them obtain their objectives, and when users understand the

strategic importance of CRM automation from improved user productivity to the impact

on the company’s bottom-line. Trends come and go within an organization and it is

critical that you determine ways to maintain individual motivation and commitment

towards the CRM automation system. Show users their importance and their impact. This

may mean launching an internal marketing campaign including an intranet site for sales

and marketing automation effort.

9. Administer the system: One person/department must be held responsible for overseeing

the welfare of the CRM automation system. This person/department includes an

information ‘gate keeper’ who is responsible for ensuring the information is timely,

relevant, easy to access and is positively impacting on users’ decision-making needs.

It is a strong demotivator to be out in the field and use your sales and marketing

automation system only to find out-of date or incorrect data. Be disciplined and pay

careful attention to information and systems details.

10. Keep management committed: Set up a committee that includes senior staff and users

as well as the information system department. This committee should brief senior

management quarterly on the status of the CRM automation project.

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2.5 Suggested action plan for implementing a CRM system

Providing automated support for the customer relationship management (CRM) functions of

your business can be an expensive decision not just in terms of software and consultancy costs,

but also in the time and commitment needed from your staff. It will affect the working practices

of the customer-facing employee in your organization- the very people you rely upon to get new

and repeat business. To implement CRM successfully you will need solid support from the

management team. With this support you can review the board business processes you need, the

role of CRM automation in the whole scheme and the objectives you expect to achieve when

your system is operational. Objectives might include:

Increasing new customer business

Decreasing customer losses

Reducing the elapsed time for the sales cycle

Improving-lead qualification

Introducing new channels to market

By putting these objectives in order of priority and quantifying them where possible, you will

have the road map for your system selection activities.

Company need to know what they need and their priorities. Such as –

Decide which CRM features they need.

Decide what they don’t need.

Define constrains.

Define priorities.

Make a system shortlist:

There is no single tool for CRM- but there is a best tool for you. Having gone through the

process above company should be able to produce a list of vendors who have a tool that suits

your requirements.

What to look for in CRM software for the front office:

Relationship management

Sales, marketing and service

Productivity

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Universal access

Customization and integration

Selecting the vendors:

Vendors have different strength and weakness in meeting the requirements of CRM software for

the front office. There are not many vendors that provide consistency and the full range of

access. To assess consistency, look at the extent to which the core customer-facing functions of

sales, marketing and customer services are provide on a consistent technology platform using the

same data model. To assess universal access, look at the extent to which the products support

different channels and how well these are supported.

2.6 Recent CRM related software and their function

In this part I have provided some recent and most used CRM software and their function.

1. Sales Force:

The TopTenREVIEWS Gold Award winner for customer relationship management is

Sales force. Overall we were thrilled with the options, the features and the tools that we

were able to utilize with Sales force. This CRM software is definitely deserving of the

praise that it has received from various users and companies. We highly recommend

Sales force to small and large businesses in need of a CRM system. Sales force has the

tools for company to become more efficient and to strengthen your customer

relationships, increasing sales and revenue.

Features:

Sales force Chatter is unique feature that provides real-time alerts and

collaboration between manager and his coworkers.

Each user within your company is set up with a user profile, and employees have

the opportunity to view another colleague’s profile and learn their job

responsibilities and strengths.

Status updates are another feature unique to Salesforce.com CRM software.

In addition to receiving real-time alerts regarding your own account activity, you

will receive real-time alerts regarding account activity for every user connected to

your network.

2. Oncontact:

Oncontact has received the TopTenREVIEWS Silver Award for CRM software. This

CRM software doesn’t have quite the amount of unique features our top choice provides;

however, it provides more options and tools than all the other CRM systems.

Features:

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Oncontact will provide with a split-window view makes it possible for you to pull

up a company or customer and view their name, status and contact information on

the top of the screen and view the in-depth details on the bottom.

It assists employees in making them more efficient by having more information

viewable in a single window.

3. Sage ACT:

Sage ACT is the winner of the TopTenREVIEWS Bronze Award in CRM software. Most

users quickly feel confident as they open the application and can immediately began

utilizing its features and tools.

Features:

Sage ACT! Will allow you to integrate your email with the application, so you

can open and manage all of your messages from within the CRM software.

Keeping track of your meetings, phone calls and daily activities is all an important

aspect of managing and keeping customer relationships strong.

Sage ACT! also provides the ability for you to make a running to-do list so that

you can jot something down as soon as it comes to mind, and never worry about

losing it.

4. AIMcrm:

Applications of AIMcrm excels in terms of Sales & Marketing tools and has more

options than many of the other applications. It mainly assists the sales & marketing

department.

Features:

AIMcrm can track campaigns and route incoming phone calls to the appropriate

department and person.

AIMcrm has the ability to merge with email clients so that you can access

your customer information and emails within the same application.

This CRM software also allows calendar integration, so when you schedule a

meeting, phone call or any other appointment, it will block out the meeting

time on your calendar.

The CRM software also analyzes your campaigns to see how many people are

inquiring about a certain campaign and which campaign brings in the most

revenue.

5. Prophet:

Avidian Prophet CRM software is a customer relationship management option that

works closely with Microsoft Outlook. It is easy to use and has a large amount of

features and tools.

Features:

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Prophet customer relationship management software offers email and calendar

integration. With this feature you can check your email and schedule

appointments on your calendar all in one convenient location.

Prophet also has an area where users can create a daily to-do list or schedule to

make sure that they stay organized and efficient.

Prophet CRM software offers a web-hosted solution as well as on on-premise

solution. The hosted solution is beneficial because it can be accessed via a mobile

phone with internet access.

You also receive real-time alerts when a new message is received in your account.

The Sales & Marketing tools are simple to take advantage of, and you have the

ability to customize every detail according to your specifications

6. FieldOne:

With solid support, robust functionality and tons of time-saving features, FieldOne is a

viable choice for service companies of all sizes.

Features:

Synchronize a company's process, from the initial client call to service to

invoicing and payments.

FieldOne handles both the daily operations of a business, like scheduling

technicians or keeping track of inventory.

It's suitable for dozens of industries, including HVAC, agriculture, construction,

maintenance, property management, pest control and utilities.

Field and office staff can work anywhere there is Internet access, and FieldOne

has no limit on the number of users that can be logged on at the same time -

locally or remotely.

7. Microsoft Dynamics CRM:

Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a customer relationship management (CRM) solution for

mid-market and enterprise organizations. It offers industry-specific solutions that meet

the needs of various industries, including government, financial services, manufacturing,

healthcare, retail, and education, to name a few.

Features:

Microsoft Dynamics CRM offers strong capabilities in sales force automation,

customer data management, marketing automation, customer service, and

analytics.

It operates on the .NET framework, allowing developers to integrate other

applications using web services technologies.

This increases interaction between front and back office applications, resulting in

an overall boost in productivity.

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The Microsoft Dynamics Marketplace provides a single location for developers to

create and publish their products developed on the .NET and enhance the solution.

8. Chaos Intellect:

Chaos Intellect is one of today’s 10 best customer relationship management software

choices. Customer relationship management software, also known as CRM software, is

fast becoming a must-have in every office, and Chaos Intellect is making its appearance

in a number of those.

Features:

Chaos Intellect offers an excellent feature set with email integration, calendar

options, task lists, mobile access and built-in dialing capabilities.

This contact management software has a very clean interface and provides users

with a clear navigation. There are several different screen options that will allow

you to view a number of features from the application at a single time, which is a

huge benefit to those who need to multitask – and that's almost everyone these

days.

Also shown along the bottom of the application are all tasks you have set and

appointments for the day.

9. SAP CRM:

The latest version of SAP CRM Software is the mySAP CRM. Industry specific solution

and web enabled user interface are the main features of the software and the modules

cover each and every area of sales and marketing including the business users to provide

end to end solution.

Features:

The software offers a central marketing platform which helps in making

intelligent business decisions and provides end-to-end marketing solutions.

Sales planning can be done using various functionalities such as forecasting,

accounts, contacts, quotations, pricing, contracts etc.

One can get improved customer satisfaction as the software has integrated

modules to handle customer service, field service management, warranty, claim

management, maintenance, service analysts, call centers, e-service which can

provide online service immediately to the customer

The software enhances interaction with customers through the interaction centers

which helps in maximizing customer loyalty, increasing revenue and building a

client base. The activities such as telesales, multifunctional shared service, and

online customer interaction are provided under the module.

The feature of business communication enables the company to immediately send

emails, fax, text message etc to the right person who helps in preventing delays

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and all the features are provided without making extra expense on communication

systems.

10. InTouch CRM:

Managing customer data is a critical element of today's business, where information is

the key to the existence of any business today. InTouch CRM helps you maintain records

of each and every customer interaction from the lead stage till their repeat sales.

Importantly, the application helps you retrieve information regarding the client, conduct

targeted marketing activities, and monitor each and every activity through smart reports.

Features:

Conduct targeted email and SMS based campaigns that can be directed at new

prospects to get them into your clientele. The campaign can also be selectively

targeted at a group derived from your existing customer, for goodwill

communication, product upgrades, and even cross selling them some of your

other product.

Gather responses generated through the campaign, and respond immediately to

the same.

Maintain records of each and every interaction for all customers big and small in

the system.

Generate reports that can help management take quick decision about the

effectiveness of marketing efforts, and fine tune it further

3.0 Conclusion

The overall benefits of CRM software include extending the company's value across the firm

through data integration, increasing customer retention and loyalty, and responding effectively to

competition in the marketplace. Finding the right CRM software that matches companies'

strategies and objectives allows management to develop a plan for increasing sales and profits

for the long term.

A CRM solution used by a trained staff with the company's goals in mind will promote shorter

sales cycles, reduce administrative costs, require less time to track down information, improve

reporting and give quicker issue turnaround time, increase sales closing rates and improve

customer retention.

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References

1. www.wikipedia.com

2. www.crmsoftwarereview.com

3. www.smallbizcrm.com

4. www.crmreviews.com

5. www.crmcaffe.com