crm small business

CustomerBase home at Graphicalic

10 Questions to Ask When Evaluating a Data Quality Solution (ITtoolbox CRM) - Selecting a data quality application can be a complex endeavor. There are many issues to consider that can directly impact the success or failure of data quality deployment within your enterprise. This white paper provides a list of 10 key questions to ask vendors of data quality solutions. The answers to those questions are provided in this white paper to help you determine which data quality product will best meet your needs.

Are you in a (Customer) Relationship? (ITtoolbox CRM) - There is a view, although not widely held, that the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) concept evolved from the Total Quality Management (TQM) philosophy. TQM in its broadest sense is all about empowering people to take control of the quality of the goods and services they produce. TQM says that businesses don't buy from businesses; businesses buy from people, and it is the people that make a difference with their attitudes to quality.

Customer Relationship Management in a Canadian Government Context (SAND Technology) - As governments at all levels push to modernize their IT infrastructures with the aim of providing better service to the public, a key trend is the growing application of the tools and techniques of Customer Relationship Management in a way similar to that employed by the best commercial organizations.

CustomerBase home at Graphicalic

ITIL's Best Practices Using Mercury Interactive's Topaz (ITtoolbox CRM) - This paper outlines steps for managing the quality of IT service delivery. ITIL shows a "systematic approach" used for planning, developing, delivering, and supporting IT-based services.

The Big Giant Mortgage Company and the Big Giant CRM (Touchtone Corporation) - Studies have shown that the need for security in the choice of a CRM solution, is similar to a child's need for a security blanket - there is no well-founded need for the blanket nor for the Big Giant CRM - except that it makes the owner "feel" better and not so vulnerable.

Understanding the Power of Life Stage as the Basis for Consumer Segmentation (ITtoolbox CRM) - Written by a pioneer in the creation and application of consumer segmentation, this paper explains life stages as a tool for understanding consumer behavior, the academic underpinnings of this approach and the historical context in which current American generations grew up. The integration of modern psychology, demography, computer technology, consumer science, statistics and sociology are required to appreciate where we are today with this approach. I will piece these disciplines together to explain this next important evolutionary step in consumer segmentation.

CustomerBase home at Graphicalic

Peer Publishing

I-CRM for the IT Teams (ITtoolbox CRM) - As the information technology teams move further and further into the work of the organization their responsibilities and old craft-based ways of working are being questioned. There is a need for something different such as Internal Customer Relationship Management (I-CRM) to provide a means of overcoming the problems that this new process driven world has spawned. This paper explores some of the issues surrounding the introduction of process driven, certification measured ways of working and suggests that there are ways of making it work that is both humane and practical.

MIS Project: Internet Technology and Customer Relationship Management (ITtoolbox CRM) - This paper will examine that effect through a review of the CRM market, how the Internet technology integrates with CRM, a framework for how companies and integrate this type of solution into their business, and a view of some key the organizational impacts. This paper will also discuss a specific example of how CRM and The Internet have impacted the call center, and a brief view of how competition among firms is changing.

New Reality IT: How Less Can Be More (ITtoolbox CRM) - The "new reality" for IT includes these key points: Asset-based IT is increasingly not an option. It's now about services and access; Corporations must continue to reduce IT risk and the costs associated with excess capacity; They must be able to quickly scale their IT infrastructure up or down; We're witnessing a distinct movement toward outsourcing to managed service providers; We're moving to the "utilitization" of IT. Businesses will expect it to "just be there."

Organizing for CRM (an excerpt from the book, Mid Market CRM: Customer Relationship Excellence for Mid Sized Enterprises) (ITtoolbox CRM) - In this book chapter, topics covered include the various customer management structures, and key account management (KAM) in particular. The book is the result of capturing the learning and experience the co-authors have gained from working with many organizations around the world and across many industries plus an added ingredient of academic rigor thrown in. For more information on this text, please contact the author.

Seize the customer - The age of enlightened CRM has dawned . . . (ITtoolbox CRM) - CRM has finally emerged from the dark ages. Once a technology that was never going to be able to deliver on the promises it made to its early customers, or overcome the inability of individual departments to communicate with each other, CRM has arisen to an awakened need for enlightened and personalised customer interaction. Russell Loarridge of Firstwave Technologies argues that the age of true end-to-end Customer Relationship Management has finally dawned.

CustomerBase home at Graphicalic

Academic Articles

Review of "E-Business Readiness: A Customer-Focused Framework" (ITtoolbox CRM) - This paper reviews the book "E-Business Readiness: A Customer-Focused Framework" by James Craig and Dawn Jutla.

The Way Forward to a Successful Customer Relationship Management (Brunel University) - The tremendous growth in size, complexity and value of the organisation's information resources brings about an urgent need for a data quality and integration model that will provide a consensus definition, a common measure and a set of tools for evaluating any Customer Relationship Management (CRM) project.

Industry Articles

A Strategic Approach to CRM: The Customer Portfolio (Intelligent Enterprise Magazine) - Often, the promise of CRM has not been delivered due to 'nonstrategic' initiatives. But it is in the context of smart markets that CRM should be viewed.

Banking on CRM (destinationCRM.com) - Financial institutions work smarter with customer analytics.

Building a Data Warehouse to Handle Customer Relationship Management (DataWarehouse.com) - The foundation for CRM processing is the data warehouse. It contains the integrated, historical, granular data that can be analyzed to determine where customers live, their age, what they’re purchasing and more.

Cost effective CRM solutions needn’t be a puzzle (CRM Magazine) - Companies usually spend months and even years in planning to implement an IT solution. Is this required? Can one get up and running faster and cheaper?

CRM at No Charge (DM Review) - The "CRM at No Charge" strategy is one way to obtain a robust CRM capability focusing on the top line while creating operational efficiencies targeting the bottom line.

CRM Cannot Stand Alone (DestinationCRM) - There are two aspects of CRM that need to be considered: functional processes and technology solutions.

Customer Managed Relationships (eCustomerServiceWorld.com) - The author argues that business must put mass customisation on the agenda and finally make that nirvana a reality in order to create customer value in the 21st century.

Customers on the Line (Intelligent Enterprise) - At Expedia, managing customer interaction intelligently is an ongoing process.

Delivering high-quality data (Application Development Trends) - The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI) estimates that data-quality problems cost U.S. businesses more than $600 billion each year. But new strategic initiatives, such as CRM, business intelligence and supply-chain management are sounding a wake-up call to top executives. Many are learning the hard way that data-quality problems can sabotage the best laid strategies and expose errors to a much broader, and critical, external audience.

Five Benefits of Moving Pricing Into Your CRM Application (DestinationCRM) - Hint: It's about the bottom line.

Get With the Program (DestinationCRM) - Companies that ignore the culture change required for any CRM initiative to succeed do so at their peril. Here's how culture relationship management facilitates CRM.

CustomerBase home at Graphicalic

Let's share -- extending CRM with collaborative technology (Application Development Trends) - Extending the concept of customer to include the entire value chain -- channel partners, suppliers, dealers and influencers -- can create a solid consortium that benefits all.

Real Time or Right Time? Explaining the Real-Time Enterprise (CRMGuru.com) - The author takes readers down the real-time enterprise (RTE) path as she explores promises and problems in real-time CRM. Includes a five-point checklist to see how your company is doing.

Review of Stanley Brown’s “Customer Relationship Management” (SLC Insider) - This article reviews Stanley Brown's latest book on CRM.

Selling CRM In An Uncertain Economy (Business Solutions Magazine) - End users may be scaling back when it comes to the scope of CRM (customer relationship management) implementations, but VARs can still realize significant revenue from integration, training, and consultation.

Stripping Down CRM to Pint-Size Simplicity (CRMGuru.com) - Over the past decade, companies have spent untold millions on the promise of CRM—that a single, shared view of the customer offers value to the organization, including field support. Yet acceptance of CRM systems by the frontline in the field—the sales representatives—can prove to be a considerable challenge. Low sales representative compliance compromises data quality; and a CRM system with incomplete data is of minimal use.

Striving For IM 'Presence' in Enterprise Apps (CIO Update) - There is a movement afoot in the software world to take the main benefit of instant messaging -- being able to see if someone is available online and then messaging them -- and incorporate it into software applications used by enterprises.

Tap Into The Power Of Knowledge Collaboration (Customer Interaction Solutions) - To take full advantage of their intangible assets, companies are increasingly seeking out knowledge collaboration solutions that combine customer knowledge and widespread innovation in products and markets with sustained improvement of core capabilities and associated business processes, leading to the ultimate competitive advantage.

The ABCs of Global CRM (DestinationCRM) - CRM is making it as easy for international companies to share information among offices scattered across the globe as it is for them to share it with coworkers down the hall. The secret to mastering this in your company is to follow these 10 essential guidelines.

CustomerBase home at Graphicalic

The CRM-ready Data Warehouse: Overall Approach to Data Quality ROI, Part 1 (DM Review) - This article is excerpted from the white paper, "The Overall Approach to Data Quality ROI."

The Five Deadly Sins of Unused Software (Darwin Magazine) - Companies spend too much money on software to see it turn into "shelfware." Here are five ways to make sure that you use all the software you buy-and that you don't buy what you can't use.

The Quest for Clean Data (BtoBonline.com) - The necessity for clean, current data has always been a priority, but a confluence of events has pushed this sliver of the direct and database world into the spotlight.

The Secrets to Successful CRM (Oracle Profit Magazine) - It's a question as old as time: What's the secret to a successful relationship? Is it fate? Chemistry? Or does it all boil down to the basics: trust, understanding, and reliability? Experience tells us that the latter is true, and not just in your relationships with other people. These principles, evaluated by this group of authors, also apply to your relationships with your customers.

Up Close: Craig Conway (DestinationCRM) - PeopleSoft Chief Executive and President Craig Conway holds a one-on-one interview with DestinationCRM magazine Editor-in-Chief Elliot Markowitz.

We're All In This Together (Darwin Magazine) - Who is deciding what technology to buy and deploy? We all are.

CustomerBase home at Graphicalic

Books

Customer Relationship Management (Express Exec) (Capstone Ltd) - No further information is available at this time. Paperback: (May 2002)