Winning strategies

CRM -- AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT: Paul Greenberg; Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Ltd., 7, West Patel Nagar, New Delhi-110008. Rs. 395.

THIS BOOK, divided into 16 chapters and two appendices, is about the technology of CRM -- a jargon for customer relations management. The focus is on web-based systems and who are the major players.

The CRM is not a software package though data management plays an essential role. Quite simply it is capturing relevant data about customer prospects with regard to their behaviour, buying and usage habits of the product and to utilise this information to commence a dyadic communication. An effective CRM programme must have tools and applications to recognise the existence of customer perception and act to make the bonds stronger or stop them from breaking. Starting with the definition of what and who a customer is, the author traces the various definitions given by heavy weights like Craig Conway of People Soft or Scott Fletcher of e-Pipeline.

The definition of CRM can best be described as "a complete system that provides a means and method to enhance the experience of individual customers so that they will remain customers for life; both technological and functional means of identifying, capturing and retaining customers and a unified view of the customer across an enterprise" and the goal as "to optimise customer and partner satisfaction, revenue and business efficiency by building the strongest possible relationships at organizational level, as succinctly put by Brent Frei, president and CEO of Onyx.

Chapter three gives a brief definition of the difference between sales management and CRM. With the accession of the Internet to the mainstream, small and large companies compete to do business in the same market places. It is no coincidence that customer retention has become one of the primary focuses of contemporary sale and marketing. This is brought out well with case studies in chapter four.

In "Business analytical tools" the author has distinguished e- Marketing from traditional marketing by "the ability to capture, extract and analyse customer information from multiple and often platform-independent sources and realise the results through the Web." There are several CRM variants with a few that could stand out in a potentially viable niche market and those that have already successfully broken into the market place. Rather than a comprehensive look at all the variants, the book looks at a few that show promise, reveal a unique fresh perspective or are at the cusp of explosion.

The book is for the executive or the IT savvy rookie who is looking for good grounding in CRM.

N. RAMASWAMI

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