Complete Picture of True CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

By Shiv Shankar Datta, Head of Information& Communication Technology& Process, FCA India and (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles)

Shiv Shankar Datta, Head of Information& Communication Technology& Process, FCA India

We Mean by CRM?

In raw sense, managing the interaction points with the customer is called the CRM. With technology disruptions both at the general consumer level & corporate level, these interaction points have changed significantly. This is also going to further change in next 6-8 years’ span. Just the way, the managing interaction points 10 years back were different than today, this is going to be different tomorrow. But whatever changes, the basic nature & process of the concept remains same even in CRM front.

Basic Categorization of CRM

The whole CRM can be broken down into two parts:

Prospect Management: Managing much bigger chunk that hasn’t yet bet its money for the company’s product. There is very limited information available for each prospect in this chunk. They are not very reliable. The data bank will be almost 60 percent garbage. This is also perishable data which needs to be acted upon as soon as it gets generated. This data will become waste with time.

specific lot that has bet its money for the product. The company has more accurate information for each customer in this lot. If managed properly, the garbage data here is almost zero. This contact becomes more important with the lifecycle of the product as there are more prospects for selling to the same customers when they’ll look for replacing the product.

Components of CRM:

Various components that fall within core CRM are:

For Prospect Management: Lead & Enquiry Management, Event Management, Campaign Management, and Feedback & Survey Management.

For Customer Management: Complain Management, Roadside or support Management, Knowledge Management, and After Sales Campaign.

Components outside CRM

All the core functions within CRM mentioned make the true CRM application. But we also need to look at the various access points to this core group to bring the true value.

ERP & DMS: The CRM solution should interact with the Enterprise Application & the Dealer/Distributor Application to access the base master data on which the whole CRM machine will operate. This will again feed back to various transactional components to these base applications.

Outside Interaction Solutions: Social Media solutions, emails, SMSs and websites are some of the solutions where the CRM will throw information for the prospects/ customer consumptions. These points may change with time as the media changes.

Overall Picture Presentation: The “Helicopter View” of all the operations should be made available to the Analytics/Dashboard Application for the decision makers within the organization to enable them for the analysis, strategy & course correct – if needed. Any organization planning for the CRM solution product should keep these facts in mind as an isolated application piece cannot reap the complete benefit and soon the organization will be in a handicap situation.

FCA Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (NYSE: FCAU) is an international auto group engaged in industrial activities in the automotive sector. Founded in 2014, the company is located in 40 countries with its headquarters in London, England and has commercial relationships with customers in approximately 150 countries.