E-MailDoing It Their Way: A CRM Primer
As Y2K infrastructure build-up and retooling efforts wind down, corporate America is focusing on the development of software applications that will enhance its service offerings. E-business and customer relationship management (CRM) initiatives are the two main areas of such growth. The media have cultivated the e-business sound bite but have been slow to publicize CRM. The reality is that e-business and CRM are inexorably connected. Whereas e-business strategies open up new channels of contact with existing and prospective customers, CRM provides ongoing interaction with those prospects and customers. It could be argued that a solid CRM foundation is a more critical strategy, impacting all customer contact channels. A company's CRM technology must allow a customer to select his or her preferred communication channels without limiting the relationship to those channels. That, of course, means that a unified CRM strategy -- across all contact media (voice, fax, e-mail, chat, etc.) -- is a requirement. Despite the fact that most customer support managers would like to provide customer support solely via "e-channels," the reality is that the vast majority of customers still want the safety net of being able to speak with real customer support representatives. Most experts believe that as customers experience satisfactory results via the "e-channels" support mechanisms, they will migrate to those channels.
Cutter Consortium clients, please log in:
If you would like further information about how to become a client, please contact us at +1 781 648 8700 or sales@cutter.com.