MBA 650 Chapter 8 & 9 | Page 6

and they achieve this advantage by accessing information and track customer interactions throughout the organization regardless of where, when, or how the interaction occurs.

The primary components of a CRM are: Operational CRM – Systems for automating the fundamental business process (marketing and sales support) for interacting with the customer, Analytical CRM – Systems for analyzing customer behavior and perceptions (e.g. quality, price, and overall satisfaction) in order to provide business intelligence, and Collaborative CRM – Systems for providing effective and efficient communication with the customer from the entire organization.

11. Describe the enterprise-wide changes necessary for realizing a successful CRM strategy.

The enterprise-wide changes necessary for realizing a successful CRM strategy include the following: Policy and Business Process Changes – Organizational policies and procedures need to reflect a customer-focused culture, Customer Service Changes – Key metrics for managing the business need to reflect customer-focused measures for quality and satisfaction as well as process changes to enhance the customer experience, Employee Training Changes – Employees from all areas (marketing, sales, and support) must have a consistent focus that values customer service and satisfaction, and Data Collection, Analysis, and Sharing Changes – All aspects of the customer experience (prospecting, sales, support, and so on) must be tracked, analyzed, and shared to optimize the benefits of the CRM.

12. Contrast operational and analytical CRM.

Operational CRM enables direct interaction with customer; in contrast, analytical CRM provides the analysis necessary to more effectively manage the sales, service, and marketing activities. Whereas analytical CRM aids in the development of a company’s CRM strategy, operational CRM helps in the execution of the CRM strategy; thus, either component alone provides no real benefit for a business.

13. How does analytical CRM help in monitoring social conversations?

Analytical CRM applications such as the Social Networking Accelerator add-on for Microsoft Dynamics CRM help in monitoring and analyzing ongoing conversations on social media sites, helping to spot potential perception issues or to discover trends in customer sentiment.