Barbequing in Western Michigan and Customer Relationship Management

This weekend my wife and I were invited to a barbeque at a friend’s house in West Michigan. We were treated to some great steaks, string bean casserole, and baked potatoes. We brought wine and dessert. We spoke of life in West Michigan and how it compares to Long Island. One of our friends is a transplant like us so we had a lot of stories to share. We also spoke of the differences in conducting business between the East Coast and West Michigan. There are many differences, but common to both is the necessity of managing customer relationships since as the saying goes “The Customer is King”.

In today’s tight economy, each enterprise must optimize its IT investment. Perhaps one of the most valuable investments is CRM as it enables the enterprise to maintain comprehensive control of customer data. With the advent of cloud computing, the investment may be significantly reduced, given that the majority of the costs can be expensed.

Many people still believe that Customer Relationship Management Systems (CRM) are applications which manage leads and basic customer information. This may have been the case 10 years ago but today CRM Systems manage the complete customer relationship. Customer data is integral to any enterprise and must be treated as a corporate asset. CRM Systems today can provide:

• Management of the customer contact information, beginning with the management of leads through the life cycle of the customer’s relationship with the organization. Customer information may be provided by customer service representatives, customer’s portals and business partner’s portals. Leads may come through customer service, linked from the organization’s own web site or other sources through the Internet.
  


• Work Flow Management to ensure that all resources (personnel and computer) involved in supporting the customer are in the loop and nothing is lost. This may even include interfacing with the existing ERP systems.
  


• Pipeline Management which enables the sales team and management to have a realistic view of sales. This information, when linked to the ERP system, allows the Supply Chain to better optimize its manufacturing and distribution plans and schedules.
  Forecasting which utilizes historical data, outstanding orders as well as estimates from the sales force and marketing departments.
  


• Dashboards which display sales and marketing metrics along organizational structures (intermixing corporate hierarchy and product line management).
  


• Marketing Campaign Management which enables the marketing department to have the ability to design and track campaigns. Utilizing tools provided in the CRM package, it can disseminate and maintain control of marketing material.
  


• Call Center Management which allows the customer or inside customer service staff the ability to track the life cycle of support issues. Call Center Management may include a customer portal, knowledge database, and technical personnel assignment/tracking. It can also automate billing and warranty tracking.
  

In order to effectively select the best CRM solution, implement it into production, customize it to best support the business and ultimately interface it with the business systems, an experienced CRM consultant is required. Mark Shurr, Vice President and Principal Consultant at Ada Business Technology, has over 15 years of experience in CRM system implementation and integration. Please contact Mark at (616) 805-7402 or on his mobile phone at (631) 742.5178. Email Mark at mshurr@AdaBusTech.com and visit his web site at http://www.adabustech.com/.

July 4th in Ada and our “Special Sauce”

July 4th was a great day to spend in Ada, a suburb of Grand Rapids. We started the day attending the Ada 4th of July Parade. Local merchants and organizations paraded around town and threw candy to the kids. I was amazed at the enthusiasm of everyone, from the policeman directing traffic to the parents making sure each child had his or her share of the loot. I think the kids have enough candy to last until Halloween. After the parade, we headed to the Cascade July 4th Carnival where we bumped into old friends from Long Island and got up to date on current events. Since we had our family with us for this 4th, we attended our development’s bike parade. Our neighbor, across the street, lent the kids decorations for their bikes. The evening ended with local fireworks and a campfire by the pond where our next door neighbor shared some marshmallows and smores with us.

Spending the 4th of July in Ada Michigan demonstrated to us what community means and how resolve and ingenuity makes America what it is today. I have learned that my success is not only dependent on skills and expertise; it is also dependent on sharing with others. This was truly a day America can be proud of.

Seeing all the products that originated here in West Michigan, I was reminded of the technological growth in the last 30 years that has its origins in the US from the Intel Microprocessor through the wireless smart phone. Computer technology has become a part of virtually everyone’s life and I am proud to be a computer technologist. I am proud that many of the leaders in this technology such as Microsoft, IBM, and Oracle and Sun are US based companies and I am excited to see that computer technology is now global just as we are today in a global economy.

Today software for a local company may be developed in such far away places as India, Russia or Vietnam. I have worked with some excellent programmers that live and work in these parts of the world. The cost of programming overseas is now typically much less then the cost of development in the US and many view program development now as a commodity. Like any commodity, the buyer must take steps to be assured of the quality of the product and that starts with a solid contract with a reputable off shore developer. As someone who started out as a programmer/analyst it is a bit concerning but as a business technologist I see this as technological growth.

I have often told my staff that their future is in understanding the businesses they work for or consult with and providing the “Special Sauce” that will make the organization a leader in its field. The competitive future for us is to “architect” systems which will provide business and commerce with that “Special Sauce” that is native to the USA. The systems may be programmed anywhere in the world but as time has proven, they should be managed by experts locally. To ensure success of the off shore development project, the project manager must bring his or her “Special Sauce” to the job. For this, an experienced IT Consultant is a must.

Mark Shurr, Vice President and Principal Consultant at Ada Business Technology, has over 25 years experience specializing in Business and Manufacturing Systems, Project Management and IT Governance. Please visit our web site at http://www.AdaBusTech.com and contact us at Support@AdaBusTech.com or contacted by phone at 616.805.7402.