While organisations frequently have a wealth of information about their customers, it is often impossible for them to see the full picture. Often the data they have resides in many different places. When data is fragmented this way, organisations can’t use the data rationally and draw the full benefits.
Enter the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. This enables organisations to connect the dots between channels, departments, systems and locations whilst following customer journeys. CRM is the largest and fastest growing enterprise software category today - it makes up almost 25% of the entire enterprise software revenue market.
A CRM system supports different groups of staff, from frontline sales and customer service staff to pricing strategists and data architects in the back office. Originally, these systems were designed for marketing, sales and customer service functions, but many have evolved into platforms that can be used to build solutions for managing correspondence, managing registration services and many other functions. CRM can be further augmented with machine learning, chatbots and AI powered automated workflows to help maximise value.
Structuring the company’s data in the right way is hugely significant. However, organisations are often apprehensive about making wholesale changes to their existing data. Frequently, the feeling is that the current setup works reasonably well and that change involves a risk. But digitalisation is a challenge that companies need to deal with, not shy away from, to be successful in the coming years.
Sometimes, a cultural change is needed within the organisation. Staff need to become involved, motivated and truly empowered. When employees make the right decisions, supported by knowledge in the organisation that has been made available through correctly structured data, the company gets the best value from its workers.
NTT DATA UK has helped many organisations make this journey successfully.
A large number of these projects have been in the public sector. Dealing with the general public, these organisations have the largest customer base of all. As government departments strive to do more with less resources, efficiency savings are high on the agenda. This is driving the automation of manual processes and replacement of outdated legacy systems.
One of the major solutions used in the public sector is Microsoft Dynamics 365. The solution offers out-of-the-box features that make it an excellent choice for government departments looking to automate processes, improve data quality and provide better management reporting. Following implementation of a first project, many government departments have seen that Microsoft Azure is a secure, reliable, scalable and cost-effective solution. This has provided confidence to deploy more cloud-based services.
A CRM system can also help collect data for future decision making. At the insurance market Lloyd’s of London, feeding big data into accurate modelling tools helps insurers charge the right amount for premiums and make them more competitive. With more confidence around correct pricing, brokers can shift their focus to relationship management, resulting in satisfied customers.
Collection of operational data is another feature of CRM. A major automotive manufacturer, based in Woking, Surrey, requires a robust network across its globally distributed support and analysis locations, including its headquarters. This network is critical to support the transmission of data in real-time from the cars on the race track to the company’s technology and engineering teams. NTT DATA UK provides the company with cloud services from which it enables these functions.
By supporting operations as diverse as the public sector and motor racing, it is clear CRM has something to offer all types of organisations.
With empowered employees backed by the entirety of customer data, organisations can then start implementing an intelligent customer experience, to help push the business forward.