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Unit 7: Electronic-CRM

customer service, reduce cycle time, get more results from limited resources, and actually sell Notes
things. In its simplest terms electronic commerce is the process of two or more parties making
business transactions via computer and some type of network e.g. a direct connection or the
Internet.
This includes business-to-business transactions, online retail, and the digitalization of the financial
industry. Some experts and leading Net Entrepreneurs even argue that electronic commerce
includes all the steps that occur in any business cycle, such as placing ads, completing invoices,
and providing customer support. The term “e-Commerce”, often used interchangeably with
IBM’s coined term “e-Business,” covers a lot of ground and refers to all these areas.

7.1 e-CRM

E-Commerce actually began in the 1970s when larger corporations started creating private
networks to share information with business partners and suppliers. This process, called
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), transmitted standardized data that streamlined the procurement
process between businesses, so that paperwork and human intervention were nearly eliminated.
EDI is still in place, and is so effective at reducing costs and improving efficiency that an estimated
95 per cent of Fortune 1,000 companies use it.
Today, electronic commerce increasingly refers to business conducted over the Internet. EDI, for
example, is being brought to the Internet and allowing companies to save money by eliminating
the old system’s expensive private networks and by expanding reach to include more businesses
on the supply chain. Other business-to-business transactions are simply moving to the web
without using the standardized forms required by EDI.

More recently, brand names like Barnes and Noble, the Gap, and Wal-Mart and Indian companies
like BPB publications and rediff on the net have set up shops on the Net, and many experts
believe that these and other brand names will be able to establish long-lasting presence on the
Web. Today, all a person needs is a computer, a browser, and Internet access, and he or she can
buy flowers, airline tickets, and even a car.

Did u know? The past 3 years have seen a rise in the number of companies’ embracing
e-CRM technologies and the Internet in India. Most e-CRM sites have been targeted towards
the NRIs with gift delivery services, books, audio and videocassettes etc. Major Indian
portal sites have also shifted towards e-commerce instead of depending on advertising
revenue.
The web communities built around these portal sites with content have been effectively targeted
to sell everything from event and movie tickets the grocery and computers.

Indian businesses trying to get into e-Commerce maybe frustrated, since in India RBI does allow
credit card information to be taken over the Internet without a legally binding signature. The
Indian government now recognizes digital signature for customer verification over the Internet.

Definition of e-CRM

CRM is a fundamental facet of an organization, encompassing the philosophy and mission of
organized business that is engaged with a well-knit customer-focused knowledge base and
pervasive communications. It is more than software or process, and equal to a culture of gaining
and keeping value customers, delivering the immitigable benefits. E-CRM can contribute
incontrovertibly to an organizational transformation into a real time enterprise for customers,
while harnessing the power of technology in a rapidly changing competitive landscape.

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