Keep the CRM wheels on the tracks - reclaim organisational information

The underpinning of a company`s customer relationship management (CRM) with appropriate data has to be done within the context of a knowledge management culture.

According to Amir Lubashevsky, marketing director of JSE-listed EC-Hold, embarking on implementation of enabling technology and business process reengineering must be accompanied by a culture change. This must result in a concrete commitment to the development and maintenance of the recorded knowledge base from every person involved in operations.

The loss of knowledgeable staff is a blow to any company, but when their knowledge base is largely in their heads, it is very costly. Customer relationship management (CRM) suffers as customers are not interested and rarely wait to hear the excuses about queries being handled by someone who has now left. Orders that can`t be tracked, guidance around product features and service and maintenance contacts are a few of the areas which suffer. The customer abandons the company; it is far easier to deal with a new supplier. At this point there is the cost of recruiting another customer, the immediate cost of lost business, the cost of bad publicity (few customers are silent about their experience).

Who are the culprits? The company receptionist who can always guide you to the right service provider, the marketing director who has the latest marketing plan in his head and his channel and business partners details in his palmtop, are all culpable. Everybody who has information that is privately held and not readily accessible, in their heads and in their personal records, are responsible.

Information has a context or situation in which it is useful and has to be acted upon to be knowledge. It should therefore be stored within a context for it to become meaningful. That information about the advanced features may not be useful to everyone when stored in a technical specification. Its context may be in the product`s frequently asked questions (FAQ) section.

Corporate boundaries and predefined roles limit the success of CRM. It then becomes the responsibility of only a few people. Often it is further complicated, divided among the few according to function. The accounts department only assists with account queries, the helpdesk looks after IT-related problems, the service desk takes product complaints. The result is, the customer must know who to phone, who to ask for, and be prepared to be passed along from one person to the next. Generally, client information must be accessible and easily referenced by anyone who may deal with a customer call.

While one cannot tap into people`s brains and download the information they have, a knowledge management culture of recording and updating business supportive information should be nurtured. CRM consultants exhort their clients to implement business processes with accompanying technology to support CRM. But the information needed is not all available on databases or in hardcopy, just waiting for conversion into a data warehouse or customer database. The customer need must be the starting point, followed by finding and recording the right information.

Knowledge has traditionally been used as a source of power, but this intellectual imperialism is now inappropriate. The possible consequences on a business makes the deliberate failure to share information unacceptable.

Technology support for the intelligent use of the structured information supporting a knowledge management culture is available in a number of forms. Business intelligence, data warehousing, workflow, document imaging and management, archiving, marketing databases, call centre technology all have components for managing the information needed to support CRM. But technology must be accessible. Training can help to bridge technical and cultural gaps, but if only a few are properly enlisted into the technical environment, the knowledge culture becomes exclusive rather than inclusive, hampering successful CRM.

Knowledge management stems from a culture of co-operation within the enterprise. Successful CRM is only possible when supported by successful knowledge management. Some of the business benefits of developing the required culture, business processes and technology are the development of a loyal customer base, greater market penetration, cost effective marketing and higher turnover. This all goes towards maintaining a strong presence in a highly competitive market.