Digital Technology and E-Environment Implications
In the last decade, firms desiring to better understand the customer’s notion of perceived value
relied on customer relationship management (CRM)
software. Customer relationship management refers to a service approach that hopes to build a
long-term and sustainable relationship with customers that has value for both the customer and
the company. It is a generic term covering different software and browser applications that
collect information about customers and organize it in a way that may be used effectively by
management. This term will be referred to repeatedly throughout this text. CRM can assist small
businesses with respect to customer value in the following ways:
• It can assist in identifying and targeting the best customers of a business.
• It can help a company develop individualized relationships with customers, thus improving customer
satisfaction.
• It can improve customer service, particularly with the best customers.
• It can help management and employees better understand customers and therefore deliver better value to
them.
Although originally designed for large corporations with large budgets, CRM is now available to
many firms in the small business environment. In addition to being expensive, original fees-first
CRM packages were far too complex for small businesses. Now there are many CRM packages
that are specifically dedicated to the small business environment.
To maximize the benefits of the CRM package, several factors should be considered. Small
businesses should have a clear idea as to their requirements for the CRM solution. Some
questions that should be considered are as follows:
• Is our focus on increasing the number of customers?
• Are we attempting to improve our relationships with our customers?
• Will the CRM package help us with e-mail marketing?
• How are we seeking to more effectively use the Internet to communicate with our customers?
• Will we be able to integrate social media?
In some ways, integrating the CRM package may be easier in the small business than in large
business because you can overcome some bureaucratic hurdles. However, you must always
recognize that the successful implementation of any software package is highly dependent on
your employees.
