|
|
|
|
 |
The only publication dedicated to OSS Volume 2, Issue 6 - Nov/ Dec 2005 |  |
|
starts by getting everyone important to the customer experience into one room,” says Driggs. “Often this is the first time the key people from marketing, advertising, sales, and service have talked to each other about what the customer experience should be.” The result often is that customers receive contradictory messages. “Marketing may be promising service,” Driggs says. “But service got a cost-cutting message two years ago and now puts everyone into call-waiting hell.” Making matters worse, enterprises often installed their ERP and CRM applications along those silo lines, so that the corporate Web site, sales force effectiveness, customer relationships, and fulfillment are tracked by different technologies. Instead of a closed loop, customer management is fragmented and much of the investment made in securing customers is wasted when they do not receive the promised experience and take their business elsewhere. Standardization on an enterprise-wide CEM solution is a necessary requirement of successful service delivery. However, by itself it is not sufficient to guarantee success. “People expect too much from these verticalized versions of CRM and ERP products,” says Current Analysis Inc. Senior Analyst Ian Jacobs. Customers expect these products to impose sophisticated processes out of the box, but all they have are templates providing terms commonly used in the particular industry and tools for building custom workflows. The carrier must customize those workflows and business rules based on its unique business strategy. For instance, all companies want to retain customers, but not all customers have equal value. CEM allows management to define how they want to measure customer value, weighing such considerations as current customer spending, anticipated future spending, the potential for word-of-mouth recommendations, etc. Is the customer who spends more today more important than the customer with several children who may become customers for music and video download services in a few years? The answer depends on the carrier's business strategy and will vary from company to company. These questions need to be answered by senior management and the resulting business rules enforced consistently across the enterprise.
© 2005, All information contained herein is the sole property of Pipeline Publishing, LLC. Pipeline Publishing LLC reserves all rights and privileges regarding the use of this information. Any unauthorized use, such as copying, modifying, or reprinting, will be prosecuted under the fullest extent under the governing law. |
 |
