Implementation Of Customer Relationship Management In Accounting And Finance Association Of Australia And New Zealand

Defining Customer Relationship Management

The foremost determination of the paper is to focus on the implementation of the Customer Relationship Management in the business environment of Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand for managing their business relationships with the potential customers and the customers (AFAANZ 2019). This business and non-profit organization is defined as the type of accounting industry having their clients in both Australia and New Zealand. Managing the huge client base is a real challenge for this business organization. The incorporation of the CRM will be very much beneficial for the organization to deal with their clients.

Customer Relationship Management is defined as the type of business strategy which are adopted by most of the global business organizations. The profitability of the business can be maintained effectively with the help of this business strategy (Kumar and Reinartz 2018, pp.471-431).

Business relationships can be maintained with the help of Customer Relationship Management. Management of the information associated with them can be purposefully done with the help of this business strategy. There are different categories of CRM such as the operational CRM, Collaborative CRM and Analytical CPM (González-Benito, Venturini and González-Benito 2017, pp.421-441).

The paper will be using the 7 step SDLC model to help Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand (AFAANZ) to incorporate a new CRM system in their working environment. The implementation of the new system will help this organization to meet their organizational objectives.

Considered as one of the most reputed non-profit accounting organization AFAANZ was established in the year 2002 by the Accounting Associaation of Australia and New Zealand and the Australian Association of University Teachers in accounting. This business organizations provides good deal of support to the academic interests of the people.  The users of this accounting organizations enjoy different categories of benefits. The users of this business organization can even earn scholarships (Cambra-Fierro et al. 2017, pp.316-333).

New Research teams are being produced every year from this accounting organization from both New Zealand and from Australia. The annual conference of this business organizations occurs in the month of July where press and media statements are released by the management team stating about the performance of different kinds of stakeholders associated with this accounting organization (Dalla Pozza, Goetz and Sahut 2018, pp.391-403).

Last year the annual conference was held in the city of Auckland, New Zealand. Management of the consumers of this business organizations is very much important as it helps in increasing the business reach of this organization. The entire profitability of the business depends upon the customer experience. Membership discounts and free packages are given to the new consumers so that the prime internal stakeholder of the organization can maintain long term relation with their clients who are staying far away from their home branches (Rapp and Ogilvie 2015, pp.91-103).

Types of CRM

Interaction with the customers is very much essential for this business organization. The prime target of this accounting organization is customer retention and the integration of the CRM can significantly help in the growth and progress of the organizations (Pedron et al. 2016, pp.526-545). The details of each of the customers are managed by this business organizations and it could be done in a better way with the help of the CRM.

Every business organizations needs to have a competitive advantage over the other business organizations so that they can stay and grow in this competitive market (Rigo et al. 2016, pp.45-60).

This accounting industry will be analysed with the help of specific tools such as the SWOT. The SWOT analysis will be very much useful for the readers to understand about the threats, opportunities, weakness and strengths of this finance and accounting organization (Al-Azzam, and Khasawneh 2017, pp.526-545).

The strengths and weakness of the organizations can be improved with the help of this analysis.

Strength	Weakness
1 One of the main strengths of this organization is to tackle adverse business conditions such as inflation in a professional manner. 2 The co-sponsors and the external stakeholders of the organization such as the subsidiary organizations provides huge support to this accounting organizational during the crisis hours.	1 The threats coming from the rival accounting organizations in Australia are the most significant threats faced by this business organization. 2 The cost involved with the equipment’s used in the working environment of this industry is one of the prime weaknesses associated with this organization.
Opportunities	Threats
1 The wide range of service provided by the management team of this organization to the clients of this organization over the years provides huge opportunity of growth for this organization even if there are constant threats coming from the rival organizations and market competitors. 2 Flexible working hours for the employees of the organization is very much important for the organization to retain the employees of the organization.	1 The main threat of this organization is the changing laws and regulations of Australia. The complexities in the income tax returns are the other considerable threats of this organization. 2. The other threat faced by the management team of this organization is the management of the needs and requirements of the customers.

Table 1: SWOT Analysis of AFAANZ

(Source: AFAANZ 2019)

The competitiveness of this industry can be analysed with the help of the following table which us based on Porter’s five forces.

Forces	Analysis
Threat of substitutes	This business organization have a great threat coming from the substitute products and services.
Threat of new entrants	The threat from the new entrants is huge challenge for this industry.
Competitive rivalry	This organization faces competitive rivalry from the other rival organizations.
Bargaining power of suppliers	The bargain power of the suppliers had no effect on the progress of the organization.
Bargaining power of customers	The power of the customers is important for this business and the it needs the incorporation of CRM to enhance the profit percentage.

Table 2: Porter’s five forces model AFAANZ

(Source: AFAANZ 2019)

The two different categories of internal and external environmental analysis help in understanding the exact requirement of this organization which is the installation of the CRM. This business organization faces serious threats from the substituted products and service provided by the other rival organizations (Srivastava, Chandra and Srivastava 2019. pp.526-545).

The organization have their clients all over Australia and New Zealand, since the needs and requirements of the consumers are keeping on changing the incorporation of the CRM will surely help this organisation to have a bright future in the coming years. There are demand of this business organization is also high as it have a high market reputation among the other accounting organizations in the area.

Identification of the Problem and Opportunity for IS/IT

The business targets of the organization depend entirely on the role of the consumers of this industry. Management of the issues which are faced by the consumers of this organization are very much essential for the growth and productivity of the organization. This business organization has their clients all over the world but has the citizenship of both New Zealand and Australia (Law et al. 2018, pp.1686-1704).

There are clients from diverse cultures which are needed to be managed effectively as the business depends entirely on its performance of the services provided by this organizations. The incorporation of the new customer relationship management systems will be very much beneficial fir this organization to deal will all the issues and challenges faced by the clients of the organizations. The growth and progress of this business instructions can be significantly boosted with the help of the new CRM.

7 step SDLC model for implementation

.  The installation of the new and advanced CRM will be also helping this organization to enhance their existing business practices. The sales and marketing of this business organizations is also an important business aspect of this organization which can be improved by the presence of the CRM (Rahimi and Gunlu 2016, pp.89-112).Tracking of the services provided by this organization can be done in a professional way with the help of the new CRM.

Justification of the Chosen System 

The new system which will be integrated into this accounting organization will be hugely beneficial considering its business relations with their customers. The most striking features of the new advanced CRM are contact management, customer opportunity management, management of the leads, management of the sales and marketing strategies adopted by this business organization, automation of the sales force and forecasting of the sales (Lipiäinen 2015, pp.2-19).

These wide ranges of services provided by the new CRM will help this business organization to manage their business relation with all its associated stakeholders such as the clients as well as the strategy analysts (Girchenko, Ovsiannikova and Girchenko 2017, pp.251-261).

Understanding the needs and requirements of the consumers of this industry.	Development of attractive offer for the organization so that it can increase its business reach in a matter of years.
Sales and Marketing strategies which will be useful to acquire the clients of the organization.	Retaining the existing customers of the business as well as creating new base for the clients.

Table 3: Aim from the CRM

(Source: Created by the author)

All these business aspects can be maintained with the help of the operational CRM which is planning to be implemented in the working environment of AFAANZ. The potential customers of this accounting organization can be also managed with the help of the operational CRM. The business processes of this organization such as the service, marketing and sales can be also managed with the help of the operational CRM (John 2017, pp.39-47).

The information of the customers can be also managed effectively with the application of the operational CRM. Like every other business organizations this business organization also have a great supporting team which faces numerous critical environments which can be easily managed with the advanced specifications of the operational CRM.

The operational areas which can affected with the help of the new operational CRM are as followings:

• Scheduling of the projects.
• Tracking the performance of the employees.
• Cross team collaboration.
• Automated communication with the clients of this organization and sorting of the leads that are constantly being generated

The prioritization of the risks is also considered in the operational CRM. Thus, the incorporation of the new operational CRM will provide this organization a competitive advantage of the other organizations.

Alternative solutions such as the incorporation of artificial intelligence systems can be useful for this business organization as well but there are plenty of limitations with the installation of artificial intelligence as compared with the incorporation of the operational CRM.  However, it can be said that the alternative solution can be useful in long term planning as the AI based systems usually lasts longer than the operational CRM (Reid and Catterall 2015, pp.526-545).

Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand

The decision-making criteria of the operational CRM can be very much beneficial for this organization as it helps to deal with the customer relationship management with in a estimated cost (Almotairi 2016, p.107).

Management of the available resources can be very much useful for this organization to deal with the adverse business conditions such as inflation.

Implementation of a new IS involves the management of both tangible and intangible costs. These kinds costs associated with the IS can be evaluated with the help of the cost benefit analysis (Hasan 2018, pp.84-190).

Tangible Cost	Intangible Cost	Tangible Benefits	Intangible Benefits
System maintenance cost and installation costs are the tangible costs associated with this project.	The training sessions which are needed to be given to the employees of the organization requires huge investments which falls in the category of the intangible costs.	The process costs and the operational of the organization will be significantly reduced.	The customer service quality can be significantly improved with the intangible costs.

Table 4: Cost Benefit Analysis of AFAANZ

(Source: AFAANZ 2019)

The implementation of the new operational CRM must involve a professional project plan considering each parameter associated with the project such as the resources, scope and the stakeholders associated with the project (Hefner 2017, pp.384-390).

Time frame of each development should be assigned to the project manager so that the implementation finishes of in time.

This unit of the paper will be focusing on the analysis of the information considering the business requirements of this organization which can be used in the designing phase of this project. Process diagrams will be considered in this unit of the report to understand the system in a better way.

The business requirement of this organization revolves around the ever-changing needs and requirements of the clients of this accounting organization. Understanding the structure of the management and the business processes, being compatible with the existing systems, understand the current and future business trends are most import business requirements of the new operational CRM Barcelo-Valenzuela 2018, pp.526-545).

The supplier and project risk management are the secondary business requirements from the new system so that it can have a positive impact on the customer experience of the company hence result in the growth and progress of the organization.

Developmental phase

The developmental phase of this new CRM will be very much useful for the readers of this document as it will provide details about the data which can be managed with the help of the new CRM.

An IT infrastructure needs to be created for the operation of the new system. Bigger databases are a must for the implementation of the new system along with that there are lots of equipment’s which are needs to be incorporated along with the operational CRM.

Effective training sessions should be based on the trial version of the operational which are available free of cost so that the cost involved with the CRM can be minimised.

SWOT Analysis

The limitations and the benefits of the developmental approaches are as follows:

Option	Benefit	Limitation
Trial version of CRM	Useful to minimise the amount of money required in this project.	Full version cannot be used by concerned stakeholders.
Internal development	Organization will enjoy competitive advantage.	Huge time required for the development procedure.
Service	Greater efficiency in customer engagement	Less control of human resources.

Table 5: Disadvantage and advantage of development approaches

(Source: Hardjono and San 2017, pp. 55-75)

The implementation of the new system must be having professional testing procedures so that the desired results are obtained from them. All the errors, bugs and risks involved in the project should be minimised with the help of a testing plan where each unit of the operational CRM will be examined with the help of the software testers.

All the conditions, performance and the specifications must be regularly tested considering the user interface, backend functionalities and the surrounding environment.

Test Procedure	Deliverable	Result	Response	Solutions
UI Test considering the design of the system	Logic testing	0 % error	N/A	N/A
Simulation test	Logic testing and effectiveness.	1% error	N/A	N/A
Operational test with hypothetical data	Model testing	5% error	Compatibility issue	Upgrade the surrounding environment.
Operation test with live data	Acceptance test	10 % error	Issue in data abstraction	Revise data storage facilities
Desk check walk by concerned stakeholders of the organization	System Documentation	4% error	N/A	N/A

Table 6: Test Plan summary of the project

(Source: Kumar and Reinartz 2018, pp. 77-79)

Detailed documentation, selection of the appropriate implementation plan, providing training to the associated stakeholders of the organization are the most important aspect of the implementation of this project. The implementation plan for this project considers the usage of the new system, administration and system requirements and professional training. There are different categories of implementation method such as the plunge method, parallel method, phased method and pilot method. The selection of the implementation model depends upon the existing systems used in the environment. Phased method can be used in the business environment of this organization as the risk involved in this project implementation is minimum as compared with the other implementations.

Experienced professional is required by this organization so that the desired results are obtained from the proposed software. Week long training is required for the associated stakeholders of the organization. Training plan which can be followed in the training sessions are discussed below.

Activities	Stakeholder	Attendance	Duration
Basic Training	All concerned stakeholders.	Every staff of the organization	1 day
Premium training	CRM vendor	IT staffs	4 days
Training for admins	Management team	Privileged users	2 days

Table 7: Training Plan of the project

(Source: Gholami et al. 2018, p.1237)

Constant evaluation is needed after the training sessions so that a supportive environment can be created with the implementation plan of the new operational CRM in AFAANZ. The changes which can be useful for the effective working of the new system should be also implemented using the same implementation procedure. The errors and the solution are explained in the following table.

Issues	Stakeholder	Solution
Maintaining customer relationship	Human Resource	Professional CRM oriented training
Data handling	System Engineer	Stakeholder training
Security issues of the data	IT team	Risk Management

Table 8: System Maintenance

(Source: Zouaoui, Triki and Ferchichi 2016, pp.142-152)

Project Management

Different categories of project will be managed with the help of the project managers. All the stakeholders associated with the project considering their role in the projects needs to be managed effectively so that the project finishes in time with all the available resources. Priority of each of the stakeholder associated with the project must be clearly defined. The priorities of the project along with their role and the milestones of each phase of the project are described in the below tables.

Stakeholder	Priority	Responsibility
Management team of AFAANZ	High	Cost controlling cost budgeting
IT department of AFAANZ	High	Project scheduling
Customer Service department	Medium	Quality analysis
Consumers	Low	Providing feedback

Porter’s Five Forces Model

Table 9: Stakeholder Responsibility

(Source: Ogilvie and Rapp 2015, (pp. 76-91)

Phase	Time	Authority
Documentation	05.02.2019 to 10.02.2019	Management of the AFAANZ
Design phase	15.02.2019 to 25.02.2019	Design experts and project manager
Developmental phase	25.02.2019 to 25.03.2019	IT experts
Testing phase	26.03.2019 to 28.03.2019	Software testers
Implementation	29.03.2019 to 10.04.2019	Project manager
Training and maintenance	11.04.2019- onwards	IT experts/ Project managers

Table 10: System Maintenance

(Source: Stanimirov, Zhechev and Stanimirova 2017, pp. 50-51)

The proposed change will be hugely beneficial for this organization as it will be in enhancing the business sales of the organization. Acceptance of the change and optimum change strategy are the prime aspects of this project. The role of the positive leaders is inevitable in this project. Management of the assets and the resources are very much essential for the successful completion of the project.

The communication and motivating abilities of the project managers will be playing a vital role in this project.

The need for training sessions for the employees should be also managed by the project managers.

There are numerous risks associated with this project along with their priority and response rates which are described in the following table.

Risk	Impact	Score	Response	Cause
Cost	Schedule delay	10	Backup plan	Management failure
Project scheduling	Schedule delay	8	Select compound talents	Inefficient project manager
Testing failure	Delay in delivery	6	Backup plan	Management failure

Table 10: Risk response strategy

(Source: San-Martín, Jiménez and López-Catalán 2016, pp.18-29)

Conclusion

The above report helps us identify the different categories of risks associated with the installation of a new device in an accounting industry. The importance of maintaining an efficient customer management system in a business unit is possible with the help of the management team and project manager can be also concluded from the paper. The paper also helps us understanding the wide range of CRM which are available in the market; along with that the paper highlights the importance of the internal and external environment analysis to find out the market reputation of the organization considering their internal and external stakeholders. The business opportunities and threats are understood from the SWOT analysis. The role of the external stakeholders along with the impact and analysis can be concluded from this paper well. The paper focus on the software developmental life cycle considering its 7 phases, each phase having its own significance. The positive impacts of CRM in this accounting industry are properly calculated. The project scheduling and feasibility report is documented before the start of the architectural phase which is again followed by the month long developmental phase. The drawback and advantage of the CRM can be also understood from this paper. The complexities associated with the installation of a new system on an accounting organization are described in a detailed manner. The entire training plan, time frame, stakeholder analysis helps in concluding the huge contribution of CRM in this accounting organization.

Benefits of the new CRM

References

Al-Azzam, A. and Khasawneh, R.T., 2017. Social Customer Relationship Management (SCRM): A Strategy for Customer Engagement. In Strategic Uses of Social Media for Improved Customer Retention (pp. 45-58). IGI Global. pp.526-545.

Almotairi, M.A., 2016. CRM Implementation in Saudi Banking Sector. International Business Research, 10(1), p.107.

Anon, 2019. Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand. [online] Afaanz.org. Available at: <https://www.afaanz.org/> [Accessed 21 Jan. 2019].

Bahri-Ammari, N. and Soliman, K.S., 2016. The effect of CRM implementation on pharmaceutical industry’s profitability: The case of Tunisia. Management Research Review, 39(8), pp.854-878.

Barcelo-Valenzuela, M., Hernandez-Rojas, E., Perez-Soltero, A. and Ochoa-Hernández, J.L., 2018. A CRM Strategy for Integrating Customer Knowledge. IUP Journal of Knowledge Management, 16(4). pp.526-545.

Cambra-Fierro, J.J., Centeno, E., Olavarria, A. and Vazquez-Carrasco, R., 2017. Success factors in a CRM strategy: technology is not all. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 25(4), pp.316-333.

Dalla Pozza, I., Goetz, O. and Sahut, J.M., 2018. Implementation effects in the relationship between CRM and its performance. Journal of Business Research, 89, pp.391-403.

Gholami, H., Zameri Mat Saman, M., Mardani, A., Streimikiene, D., Sharif, S. and Zakuan, N., 2018. Proposed Analytic Framework for Student Relationship Management based on a Systematic Review of CRM Systems Literature. Sustainability, 10(4), p.1237.

Girchenko, T., Ovsiannikova, Y. and Girchenko, L., 2017. CRM System as a Keystone of Successful Business Activity. Knowledge-Economy Society: Management in the Face of Contemporary Challenges and Dilemmas, pp.251-261.

González-Benito, Ó., Venturini, W.T. and González-Benito, J., 2017. CRM technology: implementation project and consulting services as determinants of success. International Journal of Information Technology & Decision Making, 16(02), pp.421-441.

Hardjono, B. and San, L.P., 2017. Customer Relationship Management Implementation and its Implication to Customer Loyalty in Hospitality Industry. Jurnal Dinamika Manajemen, 8(1). pp. 77-78

Hasan, A.A.T., 2018. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Practices of City Bank in Customer Retention Perspective in Bangladesh. Global Journal of Management And Business Research. pp.84-190

Hefner, J.L., Hilligoss, B., Knupp, A., Bournique, J., Sullivan, J., Adkins, E. and Moffatt-Bruce, S.D., 2017. Cultural transformation after implementation of crew resource management: is it really possible?. American Journal of Medical Quality, 32(4), pp.384-390.

Jaber, F. and Simkin, L., 2017. Unpicking antecedents of CRM adoption: a two-stage model. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 25(5-6), pp.475-494.

John, W., 2017. Measuring Organizational Capital in CRM context: An EFA Approach. FIIB Business Review, 6(4), pp.39-47.

Kumar, V. and Reinartz, W., 2018. Customer relationship management: Concept, strategy, and tools. Springer. pp.471-431.

Kumar, V. and Reinartz, W., 2018. Future of CRM. In Customer Relationship Management (pp. 385-404). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Law, R., Fong, D.K.C., Chan, I.C.C. and Fong, L.H.N., 2018. Systematic review of hospitality CRM research. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 30(3), pp.1686-1704.

Lipiäinen, H.S.M., 2015. CRM in the digital age: implementation of CRM in three contemporary B2B firms. Journal of Systems and Information Technology, 17(1), pp.2-19.

Ogilvie, J. and Rapp, A., 2015. CRM and social media. In The Dark Side of CRM (pp. 76-91). Routledge.

Pedron, C.D., Picoto, W.N., Dhillon, G. and Caldeira, M., 2016. Value-focused objectives for CRM system adoption. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 116(3), pp.526-545.

Rahimi, R. and Gunlu, E., 2016. Implementing customer relationship management (CRM) in hotel industry from organizational culture perspective: case of a chain hotel in the UK. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 28(1), pp.89-112.

Rapp, A. and Ogilvie, J., 2015. CRM and social media. The Dark Side of CRM: Customers, Relationships and Management. pp.39-40

Reicher, R. and Szeghegyi, Á., 2015. Factors affecting the selection and implementation of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) process. Acta Polytechnica Hungarica, 12(4), pp.183-200.

Reid, A. and Catterall, M., 2015. Hidden data quality problems in CRM implementation. In Marketing, technology and customer commitment in the new economy (pp. 184-189). Springer, Cham. pp.526-545.

Rigo, G.E., Pedron, C.D., Caldeira, M. and Araújo, C.C.S.D., 2016. CRM adoption in a higher education institution. JISTEM-Journal of Information Systems and Technology Management, 13(1), pp.45-60.

San-Martín, S., Jiménez, N.H. and López-Catalán, B., 2016. The firms benefits of mobile CRM from the relationship marketing approach and the TOE model. Spanish journal of marketing-ESIC, 20(1), pp.18-29.

Srivastava, S.K., Chandra, B. and Srivastava, P., 2019. The Impact of Knowledge Management and Data Mining on CRM in the Service Industry. In Nanoelectronics, Circuits and Communication Systems (pp. 37-52). Springer, Singapore. pp.526-545.

Stanimirov, E.P., Zhechev, V.S. and Stanimirova, M.R., 2017. Strategic Readiness for CRM Process Management: the Case of Business Service Companies in Bulgaria. Inquiry, 2(1).

Zouaoui, F., Triki, A. and Ferchichi, A., 2016. CRM Implementation Process: Application of the Strategic Alignment Model. International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering & Management, 5(3), pp.142-152.