E- Customer relationship management

ABSTRACT CRM is an enterprise-wide activity and that the new e-channels are just part of the marketing mix, this paper describes how CRM can be enabled by the use of the new electronic and interactive media including the Internet, e-mail, mobile telephony and digital television. These technologies are all included in the broad area of e-technologies which can be used to turn CRM into e-CRM. The paper also looks at some of the challenges and opportunities related to e-CRM, and identifies the key organisational building blocks for effective e-CRM. KEYWORDS: ECRM, Strategies of Ecrm, Implementations.

ECRM
ECRM This concept is derived from E-commerce. It also uses net environment i.e., intranet, extranet and internet. Electronic CRM concerns all forms of managing relationships with customers making use of Information Technology (IT). eCRM is enterprises using IT to integrate internal organization resources and external marketing strategies to understand and fulfill their customers needs. Comparing with traditional CRM, the integrated information for eCRM intraorganizational collaboration can be more efficient to communicate with customers. As the internet is becoming more and more important in business life, many companies consider it as an opportunity to reduce customer-service costs, tighten customer relationships and most important, further personalize marketing messages and enable mass customization. ECRM is being adopted by companies because it increases customer loyalty and customer retention by improving customer satisfaction, one of the objectives of eCRM. E-loyalty results in long-term profits for online retailers because they incur less costs of recruiting new customers, plus they have an increase in customer retention. Together with the creation of Sales Force Automation (SFA), where electronic methods were used to gather data and analyze customer information, the trend of the upcoming Internet can be seen as the foundation of what we know as eCRM today. As we implement eCRM process, there are three steps life cycle:

1. Data Collection: About customers preference information for actively (answer knowledge) and passively (surfing record) ways via website, email, questionnaire. 2. Data Aggregation: Filter and analysis for firms specific needs to fulfill their customers. 3. Customer Interaction: According to customers need, company provide the proper feedback them. We can define eCRM as activities to manage customer relationships by using the Internet, web browsers or other electronic touch points. The challenge hereby is to offer communication and information on the right topic, in the right amount, and at the right time that fits the customers specific needs.

ECRM strategy components

When enterprises integrate their customer information, there are three eCRM strategy components: 1. Operational: Because of sharing information, the processes in business should make customers need as first and seamlessly implement. This avoids multiple times to bother customers and redundant process. 2. Analytical: Analysis helps company maintain a long-term relationship with customers. 3. Collaborative: Due to improved communication technology, different departments in company implement (intraorganizational) or work with business partners (interorganizational) more efficiently by sharing information.

Implementing and integrating ECRM work non-electronic solution

Several CRM software packages exist that can help companies in deploying CRM activities. Besides choosing one of these packages, companies can also choose to design and build their own solutions. In order to implement CRM in an effective way, one needs to consider the following factors:

Create a customer-focused culture in the organization. Adopt customer-based managers to assess satisfaction. Develop an end-to-end process to serve customers. Recommend questions to be asked to help a customer solve a problem. Track all aspects of selling to customers, as well as prospects.

Furthermore, CRM solutions are more effective once they are being implemented in other information systems used by the company. Examples are Transaction Processing System (TPS) to process data real-time, which can then be sent to the sales and finance departments in order to recalculate inventory and financial position quick and accurately. Once this information is transferred back to the CRM software and services it could prevent customers from placing an order in the belief that an item is in stock while it is not.

E- Customer relationship management

Contrast with traditional CRM being implemented under ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) interface communicating in firms and with their customers, eCRM optimizes the customized environment via web browser. This proves beneficial for effective communication not only to enterprises but to external customers and internal departments. Business personalized each of their customer profile unified in entire organization. By "central repository", customer may communicate with different department staff in the corporate via Internet (or phone call). And firms are able to use the marketing analysis for customer more mature services. As each department integrates customers information, they can focus on individual operational duty more efficiently, so that firm may reduce execution cost.

ECRM in B2B market

Traditional B2B customers are usually seeking ways in order to decrease the firms expense. Customizing the specific product and reducing the repeated routine cost products for them can expense least. Due to information technology developing, websites information has been becoming an important medium to reduce collecting cost and time, and it becomes a long-term relationship eventually. At the same time, more complex collaboration can be implemented on networking platform. After businesses collaborate as "supply chain partners", it takes the mutual benefits can give both sides an equal position to increase co-work confidence

ECRM in B2C market

In contrast with B2B, the attitude of B2C individually purchase is decided by the positive experience and online shopping knowledge. Previous research found B2C enjoy the shopping online is quick to transact, convenient to return, save energy to retailer, and fun to browse. Thus, the marketing investigating, customers communicating, and information obtaining are important factors to maintain customer services.

Conclusion
The quality of an eCRM system is as well depending on the process quality and the definition of automatic actions. An eCRM system can only automate processes and functions which were precisely defined up front. Otherwise it can lead e.g. to customer losses and inefficient used advertising budgets. If these great challenges are actively countered, eCRM can become one of the most promising chances to exist in the intensive competitive environment of financial service providers. In the long run eCRM can even be the vital competitive advantage on the way to market leadership.

Refrences
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECRM
http://www.iwi.uni-hannover.de/lv/seminar_ss03/Langner/paper/conclusion.htm