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Sorting Out your Customers
Call management software
Businesses these days have to deal with a higher volume of calls to personnel and to more hits upon their websites than ever before. As the pace of consumerism increases, the need to deal with more and more people inevitably puts a strain upon the quality of customer service that is provided. New methods therefore have to be developed in order to cope with this emerging trend of ever-increasing customer demands. To solve the problem, Customer Relationship Management, or CRM, is the method and philosophy being adopted more and more by businesses around the world. Not easily defined, CRM is a series of systems, driven by various software packages, that allow businesses and call centres in particular to identify the credentials or status of a caller and categorize them, allowing the company to choose and provide the appropriate level of service. Simply, as ascertained by the CRM software package, all calls are dealt with in the appropriate manner. For example, depending on how the caller is identified, the call can be directed immediately to a personalised service or to an automated messaging system to manage the call in the most appropriate manner. Obviously, one of the method by which firms can categorise their callers is to have the individual key in their account number. However, the CRM software in some call centres can identify the caller merely by the number from which they are calling. With this system, 'priority' clients are able to jump to the front of the queue simply by virtue of their status. The idea of CRM technology being implemented and becoming widespread causes consternation in some sections of the consumer base, as they are concerned that it could allow organisations to favour certain clients over others. However, considering the overwhelming number of calls companies are receiving, everyone should see that efficient methods of answering all calls are needed. A survey of CRM users, conducted by IT services firm Dimension Data, indicates that firms are using the data to improve services for everyone. Almost half of the 350 call centres that responded (mostly UK-based) claimed they used such systems to sort out customers according to geographical location, type of inquiry or spending power. Another 19% of the centres that answered the survey said they planned to install the technology at some stage in the future. A spokesperson from Dimension Data said: "For the first time personalisation of products and services based on intelligence yielded from data mining and sophisticated CRM systems is now really starting to take off." The spokesperson adds, "at long last companies are beginning to segment their customers, to reveal which customer groups should be targeted." CRM technology has taken the industry by storm and its ability to aid companies to deal with high volumes of calls is obvious. US-based Meta Group Inc. predicts that the CRM software market will more than double from $20 billion last year to $46 billion by 2003. For further information on implementing CRM software into your business systems, an all-encompassing view of the world of CRM is available at CRMguru.com and CRM Community. Also, the About.com website has an excellent set of links for those who are interested in CRM at all levels. Writer: Mario Cacciottolo © Copyright 2002. Galt Western Personnel Ltd. Unless otherwise specified, you may reprint this article, quote from it, use it in research or projects, duplicate it or distribute it. Credit of authorship and source MUST be given to galtglobalreview.com. Ownership of Copyright remains with Galt Western Personnel Ltd.
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