Introduction

Customer is King it is what believed by the most of the companies. From past two decades
organizations are trying to focus on customer needs and their satisfaction. The motive of
increasing sales has been shifted to motive of increasing client base by organizations. This
importance towards customers and customer based product development and services led to
the development of Customer Relationship Management.
CRM is designed for businesses to interact with customers by gathering their intelligence and
allowing organizations to provide each customer with customized solution and products (SAP
2016). From a stage of complicated implementations process, CRM has been developed as
simple downloadable and installable software. CRM is provided by many companies like
SAP, Oracle, Microsoft, Salesforce and many other independent software development
organizations.
SAP is offering CRM solutions in many forms based on the size, revenue, type and needs of
the business. SAP Anywhere, a combined e-commerce software package is designed for
small business by SAP. Another product SAP Business by Design completely a cloud based
solution is provided by SAP for medium size companies which integrate many verticals of
business. SAP Business one, Cloud for Customer, CRM service manager are some other
products offered by SAP for various types of business needs (SAP 2016).
CRM is not only software or a product or an application but a technology that gathers
information and requirements of your customers, suppliers, partners employees and investors
to provide solutions that satisfy their needs. Using CRM companies can increase productivity,
manage individual orders; satisfy each and every customer needs. On an overall note using
CRM strategy can increase customer satisfaction and further customer base for an
organization (CRM 2013).
According to Hysi et al (2015), the customer recognition process in CRM includes

Identification (client data)

Collection (customer identity)
Link (necessary department within/ outside company)
Integration (Company information system)
Recognize (returned clients)
Store (data in different databases and protection)
Update (variable customer data)

Analyze (based on clients identity)

Make available (use of data by all departments)
Secure (preserving privacy of customer identification)

Hysi et al (2015) recommends that for sustainable implementation of CRM strategy involves
top management, multifunctional communication and CRM training for employees. Most
importantly the company strategy should fit into the CRM strategy for achieving sustainable
solutions.
Advantages:
1. User friendly interface with visibility of customer accounts, increase in sales and
customer satisfaction
Integra healthcare faced business challenges like not having call cycle planning, customer
compliant handling and managers without visibility of customer accounts. The company
chose best practice Salesforce automation with SAP CRM 7.0 With the rapid deployment of
chosen solution provided the organization with call cycle planning, appointments, tasks,
calendar, contact lead and opportunity management. The user friendly browser enabled qick
solutions for manager and easy access for customers.
The CRM implementation results the company in planning call cycle and assigning tasks to
resolve customer issues by sales representatives and easy access of information by customers.
Team efficiency, sales and customer satisfaction also increased with the full visibility of sales
activities for sales managers (UCX Oxygen 2013).
2. Simple and Streamline process, Planning various activities
Visy is a privately owned and worlds largest cardboard, paper and recycling company based
in Melbourne. CRM implementation at Visy resulted in simplifying and streamlining their
cash collection process. Management gained much access and control on credit collection
task and top level opportunities are able to analyze for better insights into work load capacity.
The CRM implementation enabled organization to collect all activities in a single centralized
repository and increased visibility of collection performance. This streamlining process,
allowed organization to satisfy individual customers and analyze the insights of their top
priority clients by increasing credit service workloads (UCX Oxygen 2013).
3. Process Efficiency, Sales Forecast and Effective Decision Making

Hindustan Construction Company is facing challenges in driving organization consistently

without interaction with all channels and less analysis and low clarity for effective decision
making. SAP CRM provided a solution for the company by integrating it to existing SAP
ERP modules. This integration allowed greater scalability in existing ERP modules and
support to business intelligence tools (Highbar 2011).
The implemented CRM solution fitted seamlessly with the SAP R/3 architecture and
provided organization with

4.

Process efficiency
Productivity improvement
Key account management
Integrity and visibility of data
Effective decision making
Improved sales and customer satisfaction
Departmental Integration

Integrating CRM with different other services enables users with ease of access, increases the
speed of process, customer visibility of all channels. The On-premise CRM solution provides
single sign on for users and integrating it with business communication management allows
operators to view customers identity and cross reference customer information (Pennycate C
2015). The CRM integration results in efficient maintenance and usage of

Sales, Service and Marketing

Customer Service and Support
Service logistics and finance
Service Contracts and Agreements

The CRM integration option enables organization to deliver personalized services through
multichannel paths to meet customer expectations and keeping organization ahead of the
curve.
Disadvantages:
Integration Issues:
CRM may not integrate with the existing third party tools. So companies before
implementation, have to evaluate their departments and analyze their requirements.
Resistance:

Companies newly implementing CRM may get opposed by the existing employees. It will be
very difficult to increase the performance without cooperation of them. Top management has
to provide required training for employees to improve their confidence in using the solution.
Training helps employees to become familiar with the software.
Costs:
To implement CRM on a short run is very expensive. Improper implementation results in loss
of money time and resources.
Ineffective implementation of CRM results in unused of all modules. Before implementation
strategies have to be drafted concretely to serve and fit its purpose (Hysi et al (2015)).

References:

CRM 2013, Viewed 5 May 2016 <

http://www.onebusiness.ca/sites/default/files/MEDI_Booklet_Customer_Relationship
_Management_Accessible_E.pdf>

Highbar 2011 Viewed 6 May 2016

http://www.highbartechnologies.com/knowledge_centre/casestudies_pdf/HCC_CRM_

111124.pdf
Hysi, V.P., Axhami, M. and Gura, S., 2015, July. CRM IMPLEMENTATION AND
USE IN SERVICE COMPANIES IN ALBANIA: CASE STUDY" ALBTELECOM &
EAGLE MOBILE". In Global Conference on Business & Finance Proceedings (Vol.

10, No. 2, p. 196). Institute for Business & Finance Research.

Pennycate,C. 2015, SAP CRM Service, Viewed 7 May 2016
http://www.bluefinsolutions.com/what-we-do/technologies/sap-cec/customer-

service/sap-crm-service-(on-premise)
SAP 2016, Viewed 5 May 2016 http://go.sap.com/product/crm.html
UCX Oxygen 2013, Viewed 5 May 2016
http://www.uxcoxygen.com/assets/uploads/docs/Integria_SAP_CRM_Rapid_Deploy
ment_Solutions.pdf

Appendix:
Areas to Consider by an organization while implementing CRM