1.5 CRM practitioner views versus customer views: The data 7
1.5
C RM practitioner views versus customer
views: The data
Current conventional wisdom is that the essence of customer retention is to
develop a relationship and manage it with the aid of technology. What do new
technologies promise those responsible for crafting profitable and fulfilling
customer relationships?
The data presented here are based on interviews with large commercial
organizations, with dot-com firms, with financial institutions, with the pro-
ponents of next-generation technology, and with consumers. These data show
how companies are adopting new technologies both today and for the future
and analyze the dynamics of the B2C relationship, the primary focus of
this book.
Although companies recognize the pitfalls and difficulties involved in
creating a unified customer management process, these companies are none-
theless busy taking the steps they hope will help them to achieve just that.
Why do they believe this unity to be so important? Well, during the next two
years, customer service heads expect all major direct communication channels
to increase in use. And just as the growth of the road network led to gridlock,
so will these anticipated increases lead to customer frustration and defection
unless companies find a way to link these communication "stovepipes" and
get the so-called 360-degree view of the customer (although this is a much
overused term in CRM circles that has become somewhat meaningless). Even
if a high proportion of these extra interactions are to be managed automati-
cally, will companies be ready with the sophisticated customer process systems
they believe essential?
Corporations in consumer-facing sectors have assimilated recent new
channels. The telephone call-center, the Web site, and e-mail are all part and
parcel of what's needed to do business these days. The next leap forward is
data communication on the move, affording wireless consumers the "any-
time, anyplace, anywhere" experience. To reinforce the bullish views already
quoted, a recent survey by U.K. research consultancy Vanson Bourne
for CRM specialists London Bridge Software showed that 92 percent of
e-business and customer service directors said they would make every channel
available to customers, whatever it might be.
In a recent survey of telecommunications managers conducted on behalf
of CSC, Vanson Bourne found that only a third of large commercial compa-
nies have a mobile communications strategy in place. So, although e-business
I Chapter I
8 1.5 CRM practitioner views versus customer views: The data
and customer service heads make positive noises about overlaying any
new channel as it comes along, they evidently have some selling to do in-
ternally to the people who own and run the corporate communications
technologies.
What words of encouragement can the companies who recently invested
billions in third-generation (3G) mobile licenses add to push that internal
debate? How will 3G technology affect the process of business-to-consumer
communication? Research undertaken for this book about how business
customers will use third-generation mobile technology to improve customer
management revealed the following comments from senior managers in
mobile service providers that have acquired 3G licenses in Europe (at
great cost).
3G will make happen [in mobile devices] whatever currently happens
on the Internet, if a company wants to do it. Any application you can
build into a Web site will be accessible by some kind of mobile hand-
held device.
Predictions are that by 2004
60-65
percent of devices accessing the
Internet will be wireless. It will revolutionize people's ability to con-
sume certain types of information when mobile.
It's a key enabler for mobile commerce. We're already seeing that
people are looking for more information in the visual world than the
verbal world.
Companies will receive and need to field more mobile communica-
tions~we are talking about the death of distance.
Look at banks. It's no longer acceptable for customers to be expected
to go to a branch at lunchtime. Now they do phone or Internet bank-
ing because it's convenient. Users will come to demand that kind of
access wherever they are. Any business that's providing customer
access via the Internet will have to replicate that access to the new
mobile hand-held device.
Businesses will automate their communications with other parts of
the supply chain and the mobile workforce. This will both improve
speed and efficiency to customers and reduce costs.
If there's a Web-based application businesses are using to serve or
supply customers, then they have to assume that consumers are going
to want access to it, and to a really good quality, when mobile.
1.5 CRM practitioner views versus customer views: The data 9
The speed and bandwidth of UMTS 2 make video a serious possibil-
ity. Old jeans and a T-shirt won't do if the customer's a retired
stockbroker! Call-centers will become much more answerable to
the public; it's no longer just the PR manager who's the voice of the
company.
Although one mobile service provider described what is coming as a
"revolution," the reality is that a number of gray areas remain, not the least of
which is the cost of 3G connection, given the huge sums paid for licenses and
the nature of the hand-held device. Some light needs to be shed on these
before either consumers or businesses are likely to line up for 3G. However,
we expect wireless access to become a fact of life and as one mobile service pro-
vider told us:
You have to embrace m-business because your competitors will.
However, don't simply take all your existing business processes and
make them available to the mobile user. That will need to be devel-
oped specifically with the mobile user in mind.
Suffice to say that consumers will find new ways of testing companies'
ability to know, understand, and serve them. Businesses will need to change
again, but will the foundations upon which that change must be built be up to
it? Companies have already had to move far and fast to change their customer
service models. They understand that excellent customer service is a
sine
qua nan
these days, as a key means of differentiation in the climate of com-
moditization and churn. Customer relationship management has become
a buzzword, the means of underpinning growth objectives. However, we
repeatedly ask the question, throughout the course of this book: Are current
CRM processes up to the task of managing even the current communications
channel mix regardless of what is around the corner? We debate how best to
achieve a combination of customer satisfaction
and
brand bonding. These
topics are discussed at length in Chapters 6, 7, and 9.
Vanson Bourne's study on behalf of London Bridge Software, a CRM
software vendor, showed that companies have a rosy view of how well they
are performing in customer management terms, as the chart in Figure 1.1
demonstrates.
m
m
2. UMTS--Universal Mobile Telecommunications System.
I Chapter I
10 1.5 CRM practitioner views versus customer views: The data
Evidence of ostrich syndrome? Although 75 percent of companies
could
statistically perform better than average in customer processes, it is pretty
unlikely. Worse is the proportion that thinks customers are happy with their
customer service, as Figure 1.2 shows.
The same survey showed a marked divergence between companies'
perceptions and the experience of consumers, reinforcing the fear that com-
placency prevails and that investments to date in servicing customers are not
generally bringing about the improvements anticipated. In a separate survey
for CSC, the researchers found that 70 percent of consumers had experienced
and could recount the nature of poor customer service. "Staffdemonstrating a
lack of knowledge" was the most common complaint. Not until appropriate
systems are introduced at the customer interface is that issue likely to go
1.5 CRM practitioner views versus customer views: The data II
away. New channels and interfaces discussed earlier may well aggravate rather
than remedy this situation.
Another myth that needs exploding is that all the good work companies
do to provide great service and products is, in general, contributing to a "rela-
tionship" with the customer. As we hinted at the beginning of the chapter, not
all customers want a relationship~or the type of relationship the company
had in mind. Receiving good service and experiencing quality product natu-
rally inclines consumers to return when there is a need, but no more than that,
as Figure 1.3 shows.
The types of organizations that consumers do want to have a relationship
with (when they are asked) include the bank, other financial services organiza-
tions, and "community" institutions such as a medical practice. Companies
need to redefine the term "relationship," think of a new one, or be doomed to
the disappointment of the unrequited. Whatever they decide to do, it is key
that they find out what it is about their customer service performance that
causes customers to be so unresponsive to their demonstrations of affection.
Consumers are quite aware of what they perceive as the interposition of
technology between them and the companies that serve them. In two separate
consumer surveys, each of 1,000 individuals across the social scale, less than
one-third were positive about the increased use of technology, while almost
half believed that technology is actually making them more remote. Couple
these statistics with the number-one complaint about the "complicated auto-
mated phone systems" (interactive voice response systems) and we see that the
dream of transparent technology that will allow companies to focus on excel-
lent service remains just that~a dream.
Figure 1.3
Contrasting need
for a "customer
relationship"
(Source: Vanson
Bourne~London
Bridge Software).
COMPANIES
98%
We want to form and develop a
relationship with our customers
CONSUMERS
43%
~ -
m
L ~
L
E-- - -22
We want to form and develop a
relationship with our regular suppliers
I Chapter I
..................Content has been hidden....................
You can't read the all page of ebook, please click here login for view all page.