CRM Goes Mainstream

While the adoption of customer relationship management (CRM) systems is still in its infancy stage among most Philippine companies, the increasing competition for marketshare and the need to survive has started to make this business process an important business strategy in most, if not, all companies.

Jan Alvin Pabellon, executive vice president of the IT Group, Inc., revealed that change is coming in the CRM market line. He made the announcement during his talk on “How to Get Started with CRM” at the Computerworld Philippines Executive Briefing on CRM, held last Nov. 13, at the Dusit Thani hotel in Makati City.

“There are now a lot of cheap options—lots of choices for CRM because it is now a tough competition out there for this huge business,” Pabellon said.

Pabellon told participants, composed of IT personnel from various companies, that many people still abhor CRM, viewing it as expensive and complex.

“CRM is not technology by itself. It is a business strategy covering a big area, which involves technology, people and process,” Pabellon said, adding that CRM is essentially achieving a business goal, usually on retaining customers, improving sales and profit, among others.

He explained CRM is about putting the customer at the center of the business but users must ensure that they have positive return on investment (ROI). But to achieve ROI, Pabellon said users should act on what the CRM brings, which is customer information.

“You don't just stop implementing the CRM, you need to act on it, either improve your customer service profit or create a new sales or marketing campaign,” Pabellon noted.

Instead of going to the traditional CRM vendors, Pabellon recommends two options for having a CRM in business: on-demand CRM and commercial open-source CRM.

Pabellon explains that on-demand is now typically marketed as software-as-a-service (Saas) that can be availed through a monthly subscription with no infrastructure cost other than Internet connection. On the other hand, commercial open-source CRM is another cheaper alternative to the traditional products and provides more flexibility, which can be customized to fit business needs.

Meanwhile, Emmanuel Tanseco, country manager of Gurango Software Corp., who did a talk on “Customer Relationship Management: Using Microsoft Dynamics CRM,” said the country’s adoption of CRM in business is still in its infancy.

“Microsoft’s approach is to educate the market, produce or create a system that allows us to manage its transformation,” Tanseco said.

He shared the software giant’s tactic in doing CRM is focused on three main approaches – usability, flexibility, and manageability.

“Under usability component, we make the user experience in using CRM very smooth and simple,” Tanseco said. “In terms of flexibility, we deploy systems with tools that allow businesses to modify or customize the applications to suit the needs of their customers. The workflow engine and the customization tool are good examples of this initiative.

Last one is manageability or deployability of the application. We make sure it is easy to manage, maintain, and administer. It has to integrate easily with all the other IT infrastructure components like the operating systems, databases and even other related systems.”

Meanwhile, Jennifer Reyes, CRM pre-sales manager of SAP Philippines, said that for users to take advantage of a CRM, it should have an “easy user interface configuration.”

Reyes claimed SAP’s CRM 2007 provides functionality for marketing, sales, and service.

“By supporting customer-facing business processes across multiple interaction channels, SAP CRM enables organizations to focus on strategies for customer-driven growth and to differentiate themselves in the market by providing a superior customer experience,” she said.

Reyes said some of the key benefits of SAP CRM include: satisfying customers, team empowerment, and growing the business.