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DSC Tech Library
This section of our technical library presents information and documentation relating to CRM Service and Customer relationship management software and products. Providing customer service is vital to maintaining successful business relationships. Accurate and timely information provided in a professional manner is the key to any business and service operation.
Our CRM software application TELEMATION, was developed with this in mind. But the ability to change is just as important in this ever changing business environment.
Telemation call center software was designed from the very beginning for this environment.
Many call center managers, with unique and changing requirements, have chosen and continue to use our CRM software as their solution of choice.
Our contact center CRM solution is ideally suited for call center service bureaus.
The Customer Experience Management Concept
Introduction
Kinesis, kinesis-cem.com
Just when companies are becoming comfortable with the idea of Customer Relationship Management (CRM), a new term has emerged: Customer Experience Management (CEM).
The two are similar in many ways, not least in that they are both difficult to define. Neither can be identified with a unique product or a specific technology; rather, they both comprise a group of applications, technologies and analytics that orbit around a central premise.
The premises of CRM and Customer Experience Management are quite different, however, and are best understood when compared side by side.
Introduction
Just when companies are becoming comfortable with the idea of Customer Relationship Management (CRM), a new term has emerged: Customer Experience Management (CEM). The two are similar in many ways, not least in that they are both difficult to define. Neither can be identified with a unique product or a specific technology; rather, they both comprise a group of applications, technologies and analytics that orbit around a central premise. The premises of CRM and CEM are quite different, however, and are best understood when compared side by side.
The idea at the center of CRM can be stated in the following way: Every time a company and a customer interact, the company learns something about the customer. By capturing, sharing, analyzing and acting upon this information, companies can better manage individual customer profitability. Customer Experience Management's premise is almost the mirror image. It says that every time a company and a customer interact, the customer learns something about the company. Depending upon what is learned from each experience, customers may alter their behavior in ways that affect their individual profitability. Thus, by managing these experiences, companies can orchestrate more profitable relationships with their customers.
In a sense, this is a classic nature vs. nurture argument. CRM uses profiling, micro-segmentation and predictive analyzes to identify each customer's figurative genetic structure. CRM thus uncovers the preferences and propensities of customers so that they can be nudged towards optimal profitability. Customer Experience Management, on the other hand, looks at the environment. It gathers and analyzes information about the dynamics of interactions between companies and customers. This information is fed back to the company in a self-calibrating system that (in theory) makes optimal use of every opportunity to influence customer behavior.
Obviously these are overlapping approaches, and both have merit if designed and applied intelligently. Up until now the spotlight has predominantly been on CRM, in part because it is technologically impressive (as well as astonishingly expensive). Unfortunately, CRM has not been nearly as effective as promised; according to some estimates, from 50% to 70% of CRM initiatives fail to achieve their goals.
As CRM is more widely used, its weaknesses become more apparent. Analysts have become fond of noting that there is no R in CRM (some go so far as to say there is no C, either). The idea of a "relationship" with customers seems hollow: CRM is very good at receiving, but not very good at giving. It asks customers to provide access and information without telling them what they will get in return. It pigeonholes customers based on past actions without informing them how to build a more advantageous profile. It prompts customers to become more valuable to the company without promising greater value from the company.
Furthermore, while CRM is fairly effective at measuring its own successes, it does not provide much information about its failures. It can record when customers respond positively to its automated prompting and prodding, but it doesn't give much insight when customers do not respond in the predicted way. CRM is thus unable to determine whether failures are the result of faulty assumptions, incorrect information or poor execution. It is also unable to tell how these "failed" interactions affect the customer relationship; it treats all failures as neutral, when in fact the fabric of the relationship may have been weakened or undermined by a poorly executed service encounter.
CEM's strengths lie in precisely the areas where CRM is weak. By focusing on the experiences of customers and how those experiences affect behavior, CEM examines both the quality of the company's execution and the efficacy of the result. It aligns customer needs with the company's ability to fulfill those needs, leading to business relationships that are mutually beneficial and that both parties — company and customer — are motivated to improve.
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