Database Reference
In-Depth Information
business relationships with all key stakeholders of the company, namely, customers, suppliers,
partners, and employees. Relationships that continually engage, satisfy, sustain, and enhance these
relationships across all channels and touch points result in greater loyalty, revenues, and profit-
ability. ERM enables an integrated business experience that spans service, marketing, and com-
merce and extends outside the enterprise to incorporate customers, partners, and suppliers in
collaborative business processes. By integrating and sharing information and processes across vari-
ous constituents, the enterprise enables precisely targeted marketing campaigns, increases up-sell
and cross sell opportunities, and ensures consistent and personalized treatment of every customer
throughout this extended value chain. Such an extended dialog between its stakeholders creates
collaborative relationships that yield greater customer loyalty.
Unlike the problems that confronted the traditional supply chain, today the issues extend
beyond the conventional static and predefined individual supply chains. This is because of the
dynamic reconfigurations that are possible by the Internet. The Internet enables the formation and
dissolution of momentary supply chains even for individual customer transactions depending on
the optimal combination of collaborations to deliver a product and/or service triggered by the cus-
tomer. More than supply chains, these will be a network of suppliers and partners. The extended
collaborative enterprise will be more like a community of enterprises guided by the major value-
adding players within the communities. Instead of the competitive advantage of individual enter-
prises, the competition today will exist among different communities of enterprises, that is, ECEs.
The success of an enterprise will depend on the
collaborative advantage
of the corresponding supply
chain or, more correctly, the supply network to which it belongs. Since the threat of substitution
is available not only to the end customers but also to the other constituents of the ECE, it may
become vital to become a valued member of a successful supply chain.
2.5 electronic Customer Relationship Management (eCRM)
The Internet has altered forever the ways in which enterprises interact and work with their custom-
ers, suppliers, and even their own members. The Internet has enabled a dramatic reduction in the
cost of transactions and interactions between the enterprise and its customers. Online customers
expect shorter sales cycles, personalized information, quicker resolution of issues, and added value
at each stage of the transaction. Internet-supported Customer Relationship Management (eCRM)
is rapidly emerging as the
killer app
of the Web of the 2000s.
eCRM provides a standard-based Web architecture for information, process, and applica-
tion integration so that the enterprise can integrate information and processes across marketing,
commerce, and service. The enterprise can integrate existing databases, legacy applications, and
systems to create a virtual centralized information repository so that the company can market,
sell, and service its offerings more effectively. And the Web's architecture scalability and flexibility
enable it to be more responsive leading to rapid growth.
2.5.1 Data Warehouse and Customer Analytics (ERM)
Many enterprises find it necessary to complement their CRM systems, as well as their ERP sys-
tems, with Business Intelligence (BI) tools that support decision making. BI includes a range of
tools such as query and reporting, business graphics, online analytical processing (OLAP), statisti-
cal analysis, forecasting, and data mining. Data Warehouse, OLAP, and Data Mining are the
killer
apps
for CRM. CRM tries to capture information from each customer touch point and store it
