Monday, March 26, 2001		Article

Web version of public-relations officer
By Sumesh Raizada

CUSTOMER is God, Customer is always right, Customer is the most important guest in our premises — These are some of the phrases that have been in use since the advent of business. Earlier, the market used to be small and limited to a few manufacturers and customers, but as it expanded beyond geographical boundaries, sellers as well as buyers increased several folds. The free market has led to cutthroat competition among the manufacturers who are trying to capture as much market share as possible.

Almost all major companies, whether in telecommunication, banking, credit card, finance or IT, have realised the importance of customer and are therefore trying to retain their loyalty. Organisations are now, just not only selling product or services, but also expanding their operations to understand their customer’s demographic profile, buying behaviour and preferences in order to build long-lasting relationship. The advancement in the field of Information Technology has provided various tools for the companies to interact with their existing or potential customers, either through phone, e-mail, chat or Web sites. As a result, CRM or Customer Relationship Management is now gaining vast popularity in almost every industry. CRM is already a developed concept in the Western countries like the USA, Canada and is growing at fast pace in India also, mainly due to multinationals and qualified manpower.

The CRM is basically an IT-supported management tools that helps in different functional areas of business like marketing, manufacturing and after-sales service. It develops strategies and supporting tools for serving the existing or potential customers in order to expand customer base. This is done with the help of software and methodologies, specific to different industries. Organisations implement CRM in their operations mainly to build long-term profitable relationship with their customers. This is done by providing them quick assistance and information whenever desired and also by giving personal attention. CRM tools assist in giving detailed information related to company’s product, mode of payment, distribution network and after-sale services, all through single point of contact. They keep close track of their customers and try to maintain regular contact with them, in order to get maximum information relevant to the business. This data bank help in keeping the customers regularly updated on the company’s new products and services, specific to their needs. This may be done through e-mail, telephone, fax, display counters, etc.

Once the customer’s requirement and buying behaviour are known, companies are able to plan strategies related to manufacturing or marketing. As a result, costs incurred in inventory, advertising and distribution of products get considerably reduced. CRM help companies in building and maintaining detailed database of their customers over a period of time. Hence, whenever customer’s preferences or requirement gets changed, the manufacturers are able to quickly adopt themselves with the changed environment and deliver product to suit the specific requirements.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) helps in maintaining an information bank of customer. These are collected through previous interaction with the customer at the time of sale or customer queries, market surveys and make their future contact quick and cordial. In short, CRM focus more on retaining existing customers rather than acquiring new customers as cost involved is much less.

Broadly techniques involved in CRM are data warehousing, data mining and online analytical processing (OLAP). While data warehousing involves collection and storing of information related to buyer, data mining and OLAP involves specialised software to segregate and analyse those information to suit specific business requirement. The decision making tools are used for distributing the analysed customer information to company’s executives at different locations and helps them in interacting with their customers effectively. These communication tools are mostly Web based.

In India, CRM is being implemented by multinationals and IT companies. GE, Air Infotech and British Airways have made huge investment in their CRM operations at various locations. Others, which are utilising CRM successfully, are cellular phone companies, Internet service providers, ATM banks, credit card companies and computer manufacturers. Several leading firms in the USA and European countries are now operating here through back office CRM operations.

As per a recent study, the CRM will be among the top IT careers within next two years. As a result several companies providing CRM consultancy and software development have come up in India. Many leading US firms have also established their base in India, either directly or through their collaborators. Some of the firms that provide CRM solutions in India are IBM, Wipro, HP, Siemens, Nortel and SAS. Leading vendors for CRM products worldwide are Lucent Technologies, Siebel Corporation, IBM, Clarify Inc. Besides companies like SAP and Oracle also provide CRM tools and solutions. Cambridge Technology Partners, e-Capital Solutions are working on different CRM projects in India. Some other CRM consultants that are providing professional services include Andersen Consulting, Ernst & Young, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Deloitte Consulting.

In India, jobs exist in different categories. One can work as CRM developer, CRM system administrator or as a CRM consultant. CRM developers are required to develop and implement CRM applications. Consultants or Architects are those who interact with the client firms in implementation of CRM packages. These are experienced in related projects and should possess high written and communication skills. They must also have good leadership abilities. Besides, they should also be adept in e-commerce applications. All these positions require technical skills and candidates must preferably be an engineer in computer science or an MCA. They should also be proficient in Windows, Unix, Java, C++, Visual Basic and other programming skills. These professionals must also be qualified and trained in specific CRM products like Siebel or Vantive and database packages like Oracle or Peoplesoft, depending upon their application in specific industry. They should also possess expertise in telecommunication tools, Internet protocols, etc. With experience of few years, they may work as team leader or program manager.

Those interested in CRM careers can also work in relatively less or non-technical jobs such as product manager, customer support executive or a public relation officer. These manage front office operation for CRM packages and interact directly with the customers. They should be proficient in written and verbal communication skills and desirably be adept in basic computer skills. These professionals can simply be graduates in science, arts or commerce or MBA in marketing and finance.

Though there is no separate degree for CRM courses, there are computer training institutes that offer certified courses in CRM application and packages. These are mainly NIIT and Aptech. Several CRM vendors have developed in-house training facilities for their employees as well for outsiders. These are Oracle, SAS, etc. Most of the CRM courses provide exposure to financial aspects, front office management, manufacturing, sales, distribution and specific CRM products like Siebel, Talisma. Students going in for a course must join institute depending upon their aptitude, qualification and curriculum offered in the courses. The fees may range from Rs.20, 000/- to Rs.50, 000/- depending upon the type of course being pursued.

Career opportunities are endless for CRM professionals in India. They work in different functional areas for implementation or in software companies for developing client specific CRM packages. Since CRM requires professionals from various area like marketing, services, manufacturing, programming, etc, working executives from other industries also have a vast scope in this growing IT field. Countries like the USA, UK and Canada are spending heavily on CRM and therefore opportunity exists in India to offer trained and qualified CRM professionals. Salary earned by CRM professionals in USA may vary from $ 50,000 to 1,00,000 per annum depending upon the industry and functional area, while in India it may vary from Rs.1 lakh to 3 lakh per annum.