Information Systems Increases Revenue Essay

According to a research image completed by CFO Research Services, a Senior Vice President of a large U. S- ground global services firm fixd, The CFO should al shipway wholeow for IT organization to innovate, to experiment, and should derive that there is financial risk associated with innovation. Not each IT investment will flummox an ROI, but allowing IT to be thought leading is imperative in todays evolving applied science landscape. Therefore, technology and IT is aboriginal to imageing relationships with guests thereby increasing taxation for the fellowship.The research project too noned that telephone circuit intelligence, mobility, and cloud computing will be the close important technologies for business oer the next three years. Using technology is difficult in today because it is eternally evolving. According to the research conducted by CFO Research Services, it states that old models based on enterprise silos be giving way to a impudentfound hybri d business technology as IT organizations, finance functions, and business operations alike ac be intimateledge you canistert become wiz without the some opposite.By increasing the integration of foster technology to its fullest potential a well-disposed club can accurately and effectively meet the guests ask and operate efficiently, thereby addition revenue. In target for companies to ready relationships with their customers they essentialiness be qualified to amass the customers assert. According to Jean-Pierre Lauzier of Jean-Pierre Lauzier Communications, trust is based on a feeling, in ken or a perception meaning something intangible and is non based on anything rational or logical.Studies constitute shown that 15% of a customers trust in a friendship comes from the familiaritys technical competency, and 85% from the familiaritys human qualities To fortify trust it must be natural and authentic. In order for a party to effectively build trust w ith a customer they have to give the customer feel that they know them and argon sincerely kindle in helping them. One great way for a company to do this is through the use of node Relationship forethought package (CRM). According to Dr.Ruth N Bolton, CRM is a strategic approach refer with creating improved sh arholder value through the development of appropriate relationships with cite customers and customer segments. CRM unites the potential of relationship merchandise strategies and IT development technology to create profit competent, long-term relationships with customers and other key stakeholders. CRM endures enhanced opportunities to use data and information to both understand customers and co-create value with them.This requires a cross-functional integration of processes, population, operations and marketing capabilities that is en opend through information, technology and applications. Therefore it is the CRM system that makes it possible for a company to effe ctively and efficiently communicate with any number of customers so that each customer feels unique. At a high level companies interact with their customer in quad ways Strategic Marketing, Pricing and Revenue Optimization, Tactical Marketing, and Customer baffle Management.Successful companies are efficient and effective in all quaternary categories. Customer Relationship Management software make this possible. CRM provide diminutive information close a customers interactions with the company as well as analytical information geared to enable the company to successfully provide tactical marketing and enhance the customer vex. They do this by allowing a company to track and destroy all of the customers interaction with the company so that the company can produce their interaction with the customer based on the customers preceding(prenominal) behavior.According to a Computerworld survey in 1996, companies see CRM systems in order to 1) increase customer retention, 2) respon d to competitive pressures and 3) improve customer service. CRM systems are able to also reduce company costs by cut back employees time spent with customers by eliminating repetitive tasks that might be need if the company did not have a CRM system.For example, when a customer is transferred from one customer service representative to another the CRM system would transfer all customer information and conversation notes so that the employee does not have to bungle time asking all the same questions that the first representative asked earlier cosmos able to attempt to help the customer. However, CRMs primary tenseness is to create higher revenue by helping companies build a larger percentage of hard-core customers through the use of building trust and relationships with their occurrent and future customers.Acquiring new customers is extremely costly for a company. Surveys have shown that it could cost a company six time more(prenominal) than to acquire a new customer than to keep a current customer. Not solo that, but if a company is able to build a loyal customer base those loyal customers are expenditure untold more than their own personal purchase volume. A loyal customer is likely to share their experience with others about companies that they are precise loyal to and have a close relationship with.Therefore, the company is able to acquire repeat sales to the current customer and able to take in new customers without any additional cost required to try to soak up a new sales and customers. In addition, it has also been shown that it is 16 times easier to sell to an existing customer than it is to sell to a new potential customer. Therefore, CRM systems recognize the long-run value in potential and current customers. structure customer relationships also require companies to communicate effectively with customers in a multitude of different methods.In todays environment people are constantly connected and on the go. Companies need to be a ble to meet the customers needs when and how the customer want their needs met. Therefore, it is imperative for companies to offer multiple avenues for customers to communicate with them. Some of those methods include the ways for the older generation a lot(prenominal) as via the telephone and letters know now days as snail mail. However new technology methods are now be required such as through the companys website, e-mail, and affectionate Customer Relationship Management system (SCRM).According to Chris Bucholtz of CRM Outsiders, Social Customer Relationship Management is the reply of businesses to the advent of social media and the eager adoption of the new communications conduct by B2B Business to Business and B2C Business to Customer buyers alike. It creates a new environment for customer conversations, a new opportunity to learn about customers, and a new opportunity to engage, build peer-to-peer relationships and strengthen brand perception. He goes on to state that S CRM is more of a strategy than a process or harvest-tide. It can include many another(prenominal) different technology platforms and tools.CRM is the foundation of SCRM and not a re definement for CRM. A company must have a good CRM in place in order to effectively utilize SCRM. According to Bucholtz, the definition of Social CRM is a philosophy and a business strategy, supported by a technology platform, business rules, workflow, processes and social characteristics, designed to engage the customer in a collaborative conversation in order to provide inversely beneficial value in a trusted and transparent business environment. Its the companys response to the customers self-control of the conversation.This definition simply states that it is about people (customers) interacting with people (businesses) and not people (customers) interacting with machines. Due to new technology and people having unique styles of communication, SCRM is about businesses utilise social media in ord er to best meet the needs of the customers in the best style of communication for each unique customer. Social media comprises of non-homogeneous online technology tools and can include text, audio, video, podcasts, and various social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Google+.Social Media can increase revenue and growth of a company by 60% versus only 8% for companies that do not use social media, according to Daya Baran on PRWeb. com. The article goes on to state that consumers are spending more time and conducting more business online and businesses that have incorporated social media are reaping the benefits as they are gaining visibility with the consumer across the entire online purchase cycle. Social media technologies are fundamentally changing the sales, marketing and operations process.It is redefining the way businesses acquire customers, generate leads, creates competitive differentiation, customer response, brand and manage crisis. Ther efore, Social CRMs aim is to enhance the customers experience and relationship thereby building loyalty with the company. And as we have already discussed, a customers loyalty is worth such(prenominal) more than their customers individual value thus increasing revenue for the company. some other customer relationship building mechanism is Customer Experience Management.The e-zine, Customer Experience commute, states that companies sometime have a hard time beholding what they look like in the customers eyes then companies have to invest in technology tools to inject that accurate outside-in view from customers. In the past, companies spent much effort on ensuring the share holders were golden rather than customers. Now with new social media outlets customers are able to make themselves heard to companies much easier than ever forwards. Take for example the recent backfire that millions of Bank of the States customers showed when Bank of America announced they were going to i mplement a new $5. 0 debit card fee.Never before have we seen customers be able to so quickly pull unneurotic and force big corporations to think twice before acting. Bank of America was in jeopardy of losing over 300,000 customers if they did not listen closely. Another company that needed to listen to their customers was Netflix. Netflix issued a price increase of 60% to subscribers that precious both online streaming of movies and home DVDs. This cause Netflix to lose more than 200,000 subscribers which in turn made Netflix CEO offer a existence apology to customers and eliminate their original plan of separating the two companies.With all this being said, it can be seen how imperative it is to a company to be able to attentively listen to their customers. Without an attentive ear and without a company being wayed on Customer Experience Management, a company will have difficulty growing and increasing revenue. Anna Fiorentino, of Customer Experience Exchange stated that in ord er to develop the best customer experience through CEM systems companies not only need to listen as shown in the Bank of America and Netflix examples, but they must also measure and observe customer conversations and feedback.Through the use of CRM systems a company is able to hit the books customer satisfaction. She stated that Coca Cola, Inc. established a customer recognize system called My Coke Rewards. This system enables Coca Cola, Inc. the ability to not only listen to their customers but to also measure customer satisfaction and hit the sack real time results creating value for its members as well as intragroup and external partners. Kaitlyn Dennihy a strategist at Engauge, the social media agency of record for My Coke Rewards states, Measurement is key.Translating business goals into measurable actions within social has allowed us to track the impact of our communities as well as manage and fall expectations for the social space. Every content piece in social must in clude a call to action for the user that can be measured.My Coke Rewards provides insight into areas such as customer service, product merchandising and exclusivity. ING get hold of, an online-centric bank that is part of Netherlands-based ING, also believes that meeting customer needs is the foundation garment for creating a thriving social media campaign. ING Direct was able to increase their evenue by listening to online consumer conversations with the help of a program called Radian6. Radian6 is a social media observe platform that allows companies the ability to know whats being said about their brands, industries and competitors online, but to also help them measure, analyze and report on their social CRM efforts. There are many tools on the market now that provide business the ability to obtain statistical information on company website visitors, Google analytics for summarizing search trends, as well as the ability to summarize searches for tweets cognise as text mining .Radian6 tells companies such as ING Direct who is saying what and whether customers are communicating through a news site or intercommunicate and what percentage of influence the customer will have on the company based on web traffic. Gloria Chik, social media lead at ING Direct stated, If we get a client complaint, its been fantastic to get a full profile of that person. Companies should be prudent in privacy issues when use confidential client financial information, making sure to look at each client complaint or compliment individually.No weigh what method companies use to track return on investment on Customer Relationship Management, one thing is certain, business must focus on providing excellent customer satisfaction and when faced with unsatisfied customers they must listen. Without satisfied customers a company will have a much more difficult and sometimes impossible climb toward growth and increase revenue. In todays technologically advance world business must constan tly be evolving in order to meet the customers needs.No longer are businesses able to simply dictate what customers will pay for a product or service. With the todays generation companies must be quick in building strong lasting relationships with their customers. Business should look at their customers relationships like a unification. Just as in a marriage a couple must communicate and listen to each other so should a business communicate and listen to their customers. When a company does this they will be able to reap the rewards by having increased revenue and growth.In order to reap these rewards companies must effectively utilize a CRM system and also incorporate SCRM as well as a myriad of other platforms such as mobile apps, mobile websites, QR Codes and much more. By utilizing technology business are able to develop stronger customer relationships by knowing the customer better. Research Comments When I started this research project I struggled at first trying to find eno ugh information on the subject I had chosen. However, once I got started and finally demonstrable an outline and thought process as to what I was going to tittle-tattle about, I was able to find all kinds of information.Some of the websites listed below were show during the research phase but not necessarily used. Some of the websites were not used because I found the information redundant and others had to be eliminated payable to the need for limiting material so that it did not go over the stated maximum for the paper.