Effectiveness Criteria for CRM Systems (Research Paper Sample)

Introduction
This section provides an in-depth evaluation of research done by other scholars concerning the effectiveness of CRM systems. Alqahtani&Saba (2013) contends that that literature review analyses information, published, on a certain subject and focuses on a particular area of research and it, is like a synopsis or a summary of other research works done by different scholars. The review gathered from different peer reviewed journals obtained from various libraries including EBSCO Host and Macmillan libraries. This segment will help the reader to have an overview of what the research is about and its reason.
Overview of CRM
Customer relation management refers to the measures, technologies, strategies that organization practice in order to maintain a good relationship with their customers. This is based on the fact that building a strong customer relationship helps to create a longer business relationship. Customers act as a fulcrum around which the success of any company revolves. As such managing their relationship is essential for sound performance. The customers may be active or generally customers who are potential to transact with the organization. They can also be present or future customers. The aim of CRM is to interact with customers and maintain the good relationship with them hence increasing the productivity of the organization (Rigby &Bilodeau, 2013). According to Payne and Frow (2013), CRM systems designed to create a point of contact with the customers such as emails, telephone, or social media. In this way, the customers can get information about the organization and the organization, on the other hand, can see customer’s comments, questions, or what they need from the organization.
CRM is a customer related function. It performs sales force automation where sales promotion analysis is implemented (Kumar, 2013). In this case, it tracks the customer history of purchase and the predicted sales hence coordinating sales and marketing. In addition, CRM performs another function of data warehouse technology where aggregated transaction data merged with CRM products to show whether the organization is performing well (Johnson & Zapf, 2013). CRM is also important in opportunity management, which helps the organization to go about growth, and demand, that are unpredictable. It also evaluates marketing campaigns in different networks and their effectiveness (Carroll &Buchholtz, 2014). 
Customer relations management has an impact on customer satisfaction. As proposed by Mithas, Sunil, Krishnan, and Fornell, (2013) if an organization carries out its CRM properly the customers will be satisfied with their products or services. Customer satisfaction plays an important role in the economic performance of organizations. According to Olszak (2013), customer satisfaction increases the consumers’ loyalty and lowers the chances of them complaining about the organization. This will make them purchase more from the organization. When the organization practices good CRM, it will be able to identify various customers’ tastes and needs. The organization can know how the customers perceive the value of their products as it is the main source of customer’s satisfaction. Organizations are able to deliver timely services or products to their customers through CRM. It is also easier for them to manage their accounts and accurately process their orders and request in time (Bejou& Palmer, 2013). This will enhance effectiveness not only in customer relations but also in the organization at large. It can lead to customer satisfaction hence increasing productivity.
Effectiveness criteria for CRM systems
Choi, et al (2015) notes that there are different types of CRM systems that include call centres, business-business, social media and other types. The organization can choose the best type of CRM depending on the available resources to run it. These criteria used to evaluate the most effective system in regards to organizational goals, operations, and requirements (Kirchmer, 2012).According to Mainela&Ulkuniemi (2013) in business-business, CRM seen as a tool that facilitates customer’s relations and business partners throughout the enterprise. Apart from the general notion that CRM is only for customers, it also involves business-to-business interactions to develop and streamline customer relations activities. The organization needs to create a good relationship with other organizations for mutual co-existence between both organizations.
Customer care centre is one of the most effective CRM systems. Call centres are customer care oriented contact points where the customers can make a call and receive information from the organization. Customers may need an explanation of some products or services, a forum to express their grievances or comment on the organizational functions. A call centre is available all the time so that customers can access it anytime. The workers need to make the process more enjoyable and motivating. This is because receiving calls all day can be tedious and boring even to the most enthusiastic customer service representative to the organization. Therefore, organizations need to make the call centres as enjoyable and motivating as possible (Kirchmer, 2012).
Spicer (2013) noted that social media is a popular forum where the organization opens yellow pages in social media like the Facebook, Twitter, Google, what Sapp and other social media. Trainor, Andzulis, and Agnihotri observed that many people and mostly young people have increased their use in social networking. The organization can use these sites to draw the attention of the customers with an aim of improving customer relations, which on the other hand increases corporate identity and demand. The customers share their views, experiences, or attitudes towards the organization. This helps the organizations to know their standing PR positions and they can adjust accordingly. On addition to this, it plays an important role in helping the organization to make appropriate decisions about what products to supply Khodakarami& Chan, 2014).
Other types include CRM software accessed from the internet via the web browsers. Business pays a subscription fee to the software vendors in order to access the software. In small businesses, CRM may be in the form of contact manager like the email, fax among others (Heinonen et al., 2014). Membership based organization or non- profit companies may practice CRM in the form of fundraisings, volunteering, sponsorship, membership levels, or communication with individuals. An effective selection and implementation of CRM systems ensured in order to achieve the organization’s specific goals. (Kirchmer, 2012).A CRM system may become an expensive and not useful if the system is not chosen and implemented well.
Therefore, the organizational specific goals must be a key factor while selecting a CRM system. Technology is one of the main key factors in CRM. It merges business rules with technology in order to manage information that supports those rules (Kale, 2014).They further asserted that an organization understands their business rules best therefore every organization practicing CRM is an expert in that field and must work well with the technology experts.
While taking your time, one should know that CRM team needs time to choose and implement the systems. In order to make good decisions supported by the right information, one needs to budget enough time. Rushing through the process is not efficient and can end up being expensive and time-consuming (Raynus, 2013). Steps in selection and implementation involve; CRM review and selection, project management, vendor contracting and software licensing, CRM system customization, data migration and training and support.
Kirchmer (2012) noted that CRM review and selection is where one needs to look out for various varieties of systems and evaluate the best alternative. One should evaluate the system features and assess how easy it is to use them. Choosing the best system is important in maintaining cost-effective and timely project. An organization should choose the system that it can easily maintain and afford. One of the best ways that can assist in narrowing down to the desired alternative is consulting organizations that performs similar work like your organization and have gone through the process of selecting the CRM system (Greenberg, 2015). Such organizations can offer important advice on things they evaluated and challenges or pitfalls as one proceeds with the process of CRM systems evaluation.
In project management, one ensures strong management of the CRM project. Implementation of CRM can be expensive and may consume a lot of time. An effective communication strategy followed so that participants informed about their responsibilities and upcoming issues in the process. An organization needs to appoint one person who can be in charge of the project management (Tarimoradi, et al., 2014). Communication is important to know the progress of the project, and operating cost followed closely to ensure that the project not affected by financial crackdowns (Venturini& Benito, 2015). Various tools can assist in keeping the project on track. They include; calendar which can show meeting dates for participants and show various importance activities in the process of developing CRM such as the date of the project launch, work plan which shows how the project will be carried. It also include budget spread sheet which shows various predicted cost during the implementation of the project and finally a task list which contains various task that will be performed by different participants (Tarimoradi, et al., 2014).
Vendor contracting and software is vital in evaluating which kind of CRM system implemented, how it assisted, and the cost ...