Page 256 - DMGT308_CUSTOMER_RELATIONSHIP_MANAGEMENT

Unit 10: Delivering Customer Offer

reviewed domains such as Electronic CRM (Pan and Lee, 2003); Romano Jr. and Fjermestad, Notes
2002), CRM implementation risks (Corner & Hinton, 2002) and Relationship Marketing (Ryals
and Knox, 2001). The results have contributed to a better understanding of the CRM systems
field.
After reviewing the existing research literature in the area, we share with the above authors that
CRM projects involve a complex combination of many business and technological factors. This
situation calls for the formulation of adequate strategies for the adoption and implementation
of CRM systems within a company (Bull, 2003). Developing a CRM system life-cycle can
contribute to the better comprehension around this type of enterprise system.

CRM System Life-Cycle Definition

We have included not only the general phases of the life-cycle, but also detailed stages within
each phase identifying the particularities that make the CRM systems different to other types of
information systems. In the next paragraphs we describe our proposal.

1. Adoption Phase: The adoption phase is the beginning of the whole project, since it is the
one in which executives and other management sponsors, as well as project team managers,
question the need of a new CRM system for the company. They analyze the critical business
challenges and goals; defining how this decision can improve the company’s activities
and its organizational strategy.

In this phase of the project the people involved define the CRM system requirements,
estimate benefits and costs, and try to foresee the impact at the organizational level of
such an adoption and the subsequent phases.
Within this phase, the following stages are included:
(a) Analysis of the enterprise needs and requirements for adopting a CRM system: This
implies to make a throughout analysis and justified statement of why the company
needs a CRM system.
(b) Analysis of the expected costs of, and benefits from, the CRM system implementation:
The managers should make an analysis describing what they expect to obtain with
the implementation of the system, such as customer profitability and retention, and
at what costs.
(c) Feasibility analysis of the CRM system implementation: The project team elaborates
a report of how feasible it is to introduce a CRM system in the organization, including
tentative impacts in work processes in marketing and sales departments, and human
resources.
2. Acquisition Phase: In this phase the evaluation and selection of the CRM product that best
fits the requirements of the organization is carried out; aiming at the minimization of the
need of customization. The project team may require the advice of a consulting company
in order to evaluate and select the most suitable software for the CRM needs of the
enterprise, analyzing factors such as price, training and maintenance services. Once the
selection is made, a contractual agreement is defined between the enterprise and the
product vendor.
While often the same consulting company takes charge of the implementation project,
this does not need to be the general case. Some enterprises prefer to separate the evaluation
and selection of the implementation consulting company from that of the acquisition
consulting company.

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