Authors: Keith Thompson; Lynette Ryals; Simon Knox; Stan Maklan
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has its roots in relationship marketing which isbased in turn on the formative work of Berry (1983) and the IMP Group (see e.g. Ford,1990). Its purpose is to integrate marketing, sales and service functions through businessprocess automation, technological solutions and information resources to maximise eachcustomer contact. In this way CRM systems facilitate relationships among enterprises, theircustomers, suppliers and employees and so provide the technological means to putrelationship marketing philosophy into practice. Organisations that fail to keep up withcompetitors? CRM capabilities risk being seriously disadvantaged.However, the use of technology on its own is not sufficient and firms must combinedevelopments in IT with a philosophy that calls for the re-organisation of the entire firmaround its customers. This shift will not be easily achieved. Our purpose, based oncollaborative Cranfield/CSC Computer Sciences Corporation studies, is to identify thepitfalls, and offer advice on the successful implementation of CRM systems in support ofrelationship marketing strategies, including an audit of the organisation’s readiness toproceed.
Journal: ( – )
Web Address:
Publish Year: 2000
Conference: Bath, U.K (2000)