Database Reference
In-Depth Information
High
Relationship
oriented
Partnership
oriented
Transaction
oriented
Information
oriented
Low
Low
High
Need for information
Figure 1.4
type of customer relationships.
◾
The need for information
: Customers with a high
need for information
place a high value on
the supplier's ability to provide all relevant information on the company, its products, and
services enabling them to make an informed decision regarding using the company's prod-
ucts and services.
Accordingly, Figure 1.4 presents a map that classifies customer relationships depending on what
customers value most:
◾
Transaction oriented
◾
Relationship oriented
◾
Information oriented
◾
Partnership oriented
For a successful CRM program that can produce bottom-line financial results, the customer cen-
tricity needs to pervade the whole of the demand and supply chain. A process view, as embodied
in SAP CRM, assists in achieving this by integrating the downstream customer-facing processes
with upstream supply chain processes. As emphasized throughout this topic, the process view cuts
through the impeding organizational boundaries to focus on business results for the satisfaction
of the end customer.
1.2.1.1 From Products to Services to Experiences
By the middle of the last Century, the products, goods, and property came to increasingly mean
an individual's exclusive right to possess, use, and, most importantly, dispose as he or she wished
in the market. By the 1980s, the production of goods had been eclipsed by the performance of
services. These are economic activities that are not products or construction, but are transitory, are
consumed at the time they are produced (and, thus, cannot be inventoried), and primarily provide
