A Fujitsu Consulting survey of 45 telecommunications companies found that customer relationship management (CRM) initiatives being aggressively pursued by many of them are paying dividends, particularly where the initiatives are cross-function, integrating sales, marketing and customer service.
Complementary case studies of eight service providers found that newer CRM tools capable of “precision marketing” have improved returns on various direct marketing campaigns from 65 percent to 300 percent for one carrier, Sprint Corp. According to the survey, only two other industries exceeded the 38 percent of communications companies reporting they have completed CRM initiatives; utilities reported 58 percent; and financial services reported 46 percent, while only 28 percent of all other industries reported completed initiatives. Two-thirds of communications companies attributed their efforts to reduce sales and marketing costs.
The study identified eight common characteristics among communications companies reporting solid pay-back on CRM investments:
A focus on making themselves easier to do business with for customers,
A cross-functional and/or cross-business-unit approach,
Introduction of alternative, automated service channels complementing human-assisted channels,
Employment of information systems that supply a per-customer view of company relationships,
Establishment of concrete goals for the initiative and frequent measures of progress,
A revision of internal corporate measurement and reward systems for focusing on customer benefits,
Design of new marketing, sales and service processes with employee input, and
A view of CRM as an ongoing process.
