With rising business uncertainties and increase in competition, organizations are becoming customer-centric to gain customer loyalty and ensure sustainability. As such, they are increasingly adopting client management systems (CMS) to enhance their relationship with the existing clients and also increase client base (Kumar and Reinartz, 2012). Thus, it is necessary for the organisation that it adopts and implements a suitable CMS based on its staff and information requirements.
The following report presents a feasibility study to identify a suitable CMS product for Major Tech Corporation. The report starts with the discussion of the current trends in CMS along with the risks and issues faced by organisations in implementing it. Further, the feasibility analysis is presented that discusses different aspects including the research methodology used, schedule, available products, marketing approach and strategy, organisational needs and requirements, staff sourcing requirements, technology considerations and description of product. Finally, recommendations are provided regarding the most suitable product for the organisation based on the analysis.
Major Tech is a leading professional test and measurement instrumentation supplying company in Australian electrical industry. The organisation offers a range of testing tools and repair service and SANAS calibration services for the same (MajorTech, 2017). However, being a tech giant, the company’s CMS needs to be updated to suit its needs of expansion.
Before adopting and implementing any new system in the organisation, it is necessary that a feasibility analysis is undertaken to determine the system based on the requirements and resources of the organisation. The success of analysis often depends on the quality of the data and the reliability of research methodology used for the same (Black, 2010).
Hence, to identify suitable CMS software for the company, both primary and secondary research was conducted. Primary research was conducted to identify the requirements of the company with respect to client management system and future plans of the company. On the other hand, secondary data was used to identify the currently available CMS software in the Australian market along with assessing them based on cast, features available, system integration, etc.
Before implementing a plan, it is necessary prepare a timeline or schedule of activities that are required to be conducted. Thus, with regards to CMS implementation, the following steps will be undertaken and their timeline is as follows:
|
Task Name |
Duration |
|
Reviewing Resource Requirement |
2 days |
|
Market Research |
5 days |
|
Product Selection |
1 day |
|
Infrastructure Readiness |
3 days |
|
Process Mapping |
5 days |
|
Data Cleanup |
10 days |
|
User Training |
15 days |
|
Complete Adoption |
2 days |
Currently, Major Teach is using spreadsheet-based system that is proving inefficient for the increasing scale of activities of the organisation. With the changing technological environment and increasing scope of activities, the organisation requires:
In the current business environment, customer loyalty is precious and customer retention is a challenging task. As such, organisations are integrating technologies with their existing CMS to gain insights into their customers so as to customize their market offerings to suit their needs. Thus, CMSs are experiencing a paradigm shift with a promising future for both businesses and customers. The emerging trends in CMS are:
Automation of CMS: With the emergence of new technology every day, CMS vendors are considering the use of technologies like artificial intelligence, virtual reality, cognitive computing, intelligent assistants, etc. to automate the software (Smilansky, 2017). This automation will not only be convenient for the customers, but also for the organisations. Organisations can still use conversational interfaces by blending machine-based interactions with human interactions to retain the humane touch in their services.
Cloud Based CMS: With increase in cloud based services, cloud based CMS is expected to gain momentum in the near future. This will not only be beneficial in terms of cost, but will also eliminate the requirement of on-site resources.
Social CMS: With growing popularity of social media, organisations are trying to harness the new platform for customer marketing. Customer support is the key factor that is expected to tilt the use of CMS towards social media platforms. Thus, with a deepening emphasis on sentiment analysis and social influence, CMS vendors are upgrading their softwares to serve this need (Yakuel, 2017).
Centralized Data: As complexity of business organisations are increasing, their need for single platform that integrates different products across organisational departments is also increasing. In the current scenario, CMS is not just looked as a source of leads generation, rather it is now used to integrate data from sales, marketing and other departments. This centralized data collection and analysis will help the marketers to use CMS as a continuous process in relationship maintenance with the clients (Technopedia, 2017).
Flexibility: As organisations are becoming flexible, it is integrating its work systems with different technology platforms to provide convenience of data access to its employees. As such, the same flexibility and accessibility is required in CMS. Software customization, ease of integration and multichannel publishing are the key features that CMS providers are aiming to achieve to meet the needs of flexible organisations.
Crowdsourcing: As customers are gaining voice on social media platforms, organisations are adopting social listening strategies to benefit from the content, reviews and comments of their customers. Organisations are tapping the content available on these platforms to gain fresh insights, ideas, and solutions to assist their employees in building interactive and innovative relationship with their widening customer base. Thus, CMS will also provide innovative insights into customer expectations apart from its traditional functions (Smilansky, 2017).
When shifting to a new technology, organisations are faced with multiple risks and issues related to managing, learning, integrating and using the new software. These risks and issues relate to:
User Adoption: Implementation of new system is both a risk and an issue as it is often faced with employee resistance. Implementing a new CMS in the company would mean changing current processes, brining automation, new information, new roles and responsibilities along with perceived loss of control (Schaeffer, 2017). These changes cause anxiety to those who are not able to adopt new system.
Employee Training: Another issue for the management implementing a new CMS is to train the employees regarding the new features and processes of the software. This often entails huge costs and time thereby delaying the overall implementation and adoption process.
Budget Overflow: Poor estimates of re-engineering costs, unanticipated problems and delay in implementation may lead to scarcity of funds for the organisations. Additionally, managers may deliberately project low investment cost to get the project approved. As a result, organisations have to cut corners with areas like training, change management, new upgrades, etc. to cut costs. This further upsets the implementation process leading to project failure.
Security of Data: CMS involves creating a pool of customer related data that may pertain to their personal information, organisation’s strategies and others. As such, the data is exposed to three types of risks. The data may be at risk due to unauthorized access by cyber criminals or malicious insiders, risk of cyber attach that may lead to lock-out of company’s social media accounts and compliance risks due to violation of data privacy (Deloitte Digital, 2015).
System Integration: When implementing CRM, integration is the key for procuring analytical insight from the data. However, integrating the CRM with existing database and different platforms like website, emails, mobile, etc. may prove challenging for the organisation. Moreover, a failure to integrate the system not only with the data and other interfaces, but also with organisational objectives may produce misleading reports thereby causing further issues for the management.
Continuous change in technology: The speed with which technology is changing and evolving in present context also poses risks for the adoption of CMS. Decision to implement new CMS is a strategic decision involving huge investment (Ford, 2017). However, change in technology may render the system obsolete with a short period of time. Moreover, globalization, increased competition and rapidly changing market conditions are also forcing organisations to change their objectives continuously thereby inducing the need to upgrade the CMS continuously.
Client management System is a business model that helps a firm to manage its interaction with its clients and non-clients through technology that organizes, automates, and synchronizes client related data, marketing, business development and other related aspects (Berkovi, 2016).
The Australian market is brimming with a variety of CMS software with include Insightly CRM, ZOHO CRM, Salesforce Sales Cloud Lightening Professional, Infusionsoft, NetSuite OneWorld, Bitrix 24 CRM, Pipedrive CRM, Base CRM, Apptivo CRM and SAP Digital CRM among others. A review of some of these CMS softwares based on important features is as follows:
|
Features |
Infusion soft |
Salesforce |
NetSuite |
Apptivo |
SAP |
|
Document Library |
× |
Y |
Y |
Y |
× |
|
Role-Based User Access |
× |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
|
Multi Currency Support |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
|
Work Flow Automation |
Y |
Y |
× |
Y |
Y |
|
Integration |
Y |
Y |
× |
Y |
Y |
|
Capture Leads from Websites |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
× |
|
Custom Reports |
Y |
Y |
× |
Y |
Y |
|
E-mail Tracking |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
Y |
|
24-Hr Support |
× |
× |
× |
Y |
Y |
|
User Forums |
Y |
Y |
Y |
× |
Y |
|
Price/user/month |
$199 |
$25 |
– |
$10 |
$23 |
Table 1: Features offered by Major CRM softwares (Source: Rashid, et al., 2016)
Thus, the above table summarizes the functional features provided by different CRM vendors. Based on these features, a suitable vendor can be selected.
Keeping in view the requirements of Major Tech Corporation, Saleforce CRM software would be apt. This is because it offers more features as compared to other options available in the market. Along with multi-currency support and e-mail tracking, Salesforce facilitates high integration across different platforms like websites and user platforms. This is in harmony with the company’s need for integration of client database, social networking and client feedback from user forums. Moreover, the cloud-based document library collects all the information at one place that is easily retrievable anytime and anywhere from phone, tablet or laptop. It also provides workflow automation and generates customized reports thereby streamlining workflow within the company and increasing staff efficiency (Salesforce, 2017).
Before implementing a new CMS in the company, the managers need to consider the pros and cons of the new technology implementation. The implementation of CMS helps in consolidating the different systems and platforms thereby reducing the managing efforts and costs that are used on other systems and interfaces. Further, CMS integrates data from different platforms under one roof. This allows for easier maintenance and access to data for generating management reports (Heller, 2012). Thus, while investing in new CMS, features like security patches, system integration, up gradation and back-up creation must be considered.
Along with benefits, CMS comes with its share of disadvantages that may relate to regular maintenance, system up gradation and creating back-up that increase the cost of the investment. Moreover, employees need to be trained in using the new software (Buttle and Maklan, 2015). Thus, management has to bring in technical experts from the CMS vendor and invest time, cost and efforts into employee training.
Implementing a new CMS in the organisation involves heavy financial investments with regards to hardware, software licensing, installation, documentation and training of employees. Thus, an organisation has to project the overall cost to assess the viability of the technology implementation. These cost projections can be further used for making ROI and NPV projections related to the project. The financial projections (assumed) related to the proposed implementation are as follows:
|
Particulars |
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
Year 3 |
|
Revenue from Purchases |
$770,000 |
$385,000 |
$925,000 |
|
Expenses |
|||
|
Project Costs |
$550,000 |
$0 |
$0 |
|
Product Costs |
$45,500 |
$45,500 |
$45,500 |
|
Total Costs |
$225,000 |
$125,000 |
$25,000 |
|
Net Revenue |
$(50,500) |
$214,500 |
$854,500 |
|
Discount Rate |
10% |
10% |
10% |
|
NPV |
$(45,909) |
$177,262 |
$641,985 |
|
Cumulative NPV |
$(45,909) |
$131,353 |
$773,338 |
Table 2: Feasibility Analysis for CRM
It can be seen that the project will lead to positive returns from the second year of implementation. Thus, it is financially viable for Major Tech to adopt the new CMS.
To sustain the customer base in the current scenario, customer engagement is of critical significance. Thus, it is necessary to engage with customers through different platforms so as to assess their changing needs and improve the products accordingly. As such company needs to integrate its marketing strategy with its CMS to align its goals and create a sales database. Salesforce allows creation and management of campaigns like trade shows, e-mail marketing, search engine marketing, online promotions and print advertising for integrating marketing activities with sales. Further, the software enables identifying and targeting the relevant customers as per the campaign. Finally, effectiveness of campaign can also be assessed with the help of the data generated through the CMS (Kao and Paz, 2016). This further helps in reducing the cost of customer acquisition, generate qualified leads and contribute towards sales generation.
Staff plays an important role in ensuring success of the company. Hence, it is necessary that only those people are recruited whose personal goals align with that of the company’s objectives. While recruiting staff, the approach of ‘recruit for attitude, train for skills’ can be adopted. Recruiters can use psychometric tests or assessment centre to identify employees with right attitude to deliver quality services to their clients. These tests help in identifying the emotional content of employees being placed at front-line roles. Moreover, organisation needs to train, develop and engage employees for procuring better performance and ensure employee retention. This not only helps in reducing employee turnover costs but also ensure that valuable employees are retained for longer time period (Payne, 2012).
CMS trends are bound to change the manner in which businesses deal with their clients. As such, Major Tech needs to move from spreadsheet based CMS to CMS softwares that will allow it to capture the changing trends in its stride and lure more customers to achieve its expansion strategy. To fulfill these objectives, it is recommended that Major Tech should adopt Salesforce as its new CRM software. The features provided by the software are in consonance with the company’s requirements and objectives. Along with being feasible, the software offers sales automation, marketing automation, analytics and other customized features. This will save company time and cost of changing the CRM in future as a result of change in its size and scope of operation.
References
Berkovi, J. (2016). Effective Client management in Professional services: How to Build Successful Client Relationship. London: Routledge.
Black, K. (2010). Business Statistics for Contemporary Decision Making, 6th edn. NY: John Wiley and Sons.
Buttle, F. and Maklan, S. (2015). Customer Relationship Management: Concepts and Technology, 3rd edn. London: Routledge.
Deloitte Digital (2015). Digital CRM. Retrieved from:
https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/de/Documents/technology/DELO_Digital%20CRM%20Studie_v21_ks3.pdf
Ford, C. (2017). How to decide on a Client Relationship Management system, Community Door. Retrieved from:
https://communitydoor.org.au/resource/how-to-decide-on-a-client-relationship-management-system
Heller, K. (2012). 5 Keys to preparing for your CRM system implementation, Nonprofit Technology Network. Retrieved from: https://www.nten.org/article/5-keys-to-preparing-for-your-crm-system-implementation/
Kao, L. and Paz, J. (2016). Salesforce.com for Dummies, 6th edn. NY: John Wiley and Sons.
Kumar, V. and Reinartz, W. (2012). Customer Relationship Management: Concept, Strategy and Tools. London: Springer Science & Business Media.
Major Tech (2017) About Us. Retrieved from: https://www.major-tech.com//website/AboutUs.aspx
Payne, A. (2012). Handbook of CRM: Achieving excellence in customer management. Sydney: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Rashid, F., Mclaughlin, M. and Marvin, R. (2016). The Best CRM Software of 2017, PCMag. Retrieved from:
https://au.pcmag.com/software/36284/guide/the-best-crm-software-of-2017
Salesforce (2017). What is Salesforce?. Retrieved from: https://www.salesforce.com/in/what-is-salesforce/
Schaeffer, C. (2017) Why CRM Fails, CRMSearch. Retrieved from: https://www.crmsearch.com/crm-fail.php
Smilansky, O. (2017). Ten CRM Trends to Watch in 2017, Destination CRM. Retrieved from:
https://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=115513&PageNum=2
Technopedia (2017). Top 6 Trends in Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Retrieved from:
https://www.techopedia.com/2/28333/enterprise/crm/top-6-trends-in-customer-relationship-management-crm
Yakuel, P. (2017). 7 Top CRM Trends for 2017: A Look Ahead, CMS Wire. Retrieved from: https://www.cmswire.com/customer-experience/7-top-crm-trends-for-2017-a-look-ahead/
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download