Abstract
(Englisch)
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There is an on-going discussion about software solutions today, whether they should be web-based (fully browser-based) or merely web-enabled (a C/S-based software with browser-based interface). In contemplating this issue, one must bear in mind that CRM is not mere software. Rather, it is a philosophy of an organisation, a high level strategy, opposed to field level tactics. Most of the organisations today are still taking their first steps on the Web. Only a very small fraction of them are truly 'Web-based Organisations' such as Amazon or Ebay. The vast majority is constantly looking for solutions that will 'Web-enable' their existing business activities, starting from some virtual presence (like a marketing oriented Web site), gradually evolving to higher stages as time goes by. For most of the organisations today, the real pressing goal is to become Web-enabled, i.e. to allow them to use the Web in addition to their normal way of doing business (and not in replacement). A chain store will not close its physical stores in favour of their new virtual store. Rather, the chain will seek a convenient way to integrate the Web into their regular business, and use it as another channel for doing business. Therefore we claim that most of the organisations are implementing or seeking to implement web-enabling of existing solutions. This is exactly where ECREM fits in, by providing the existing organisation with the necessary bridge between the regular business process and the World Wide Web.
ECREM is the abbreviation for Electronic Customer Relationship Management. Therefore the envisaged system should be able to handle efficiently all the interactions with the customers. By interactions we mean mostly these interactions that are not human intensive, and therefore are more difficult to be handled efficiently by most of the modern enterprises. The fact remains that most of the organisations are built to serve their customers in a way that is forcing their own limitations on the customers and therefore resulting in bad service, from the point of view of the customers. Most of the healthy organisations are growing and spanning in a phenomenal rate. This includes increasing number of products, extended availability of global services, increasing numbers of customers (from different locations and countries), increasing number of employees, larger distribution of premises, subsidiaries, partners, vendors and contractors, and so forth. These organisations are likely to become monsters from the point of view of their customers, having difficulties in communicating with the organisation as a whole. No doubt that this results in less satisfied customers and affects the bottom line of the organisation in terms of lost sales. Moreover, in the long run, unhappy customers are damaging severely the reputation of the organisation. Organisation developed few alternatives to deal with the phenomena, however none of these has resulted in a major breakthrough in the customer-enterprise relationships. The ECREM system aims at providing a unique, centralized, and structured solution that will revolutionize the way that the organisations are interacting with their customers. The suggested solution will result in more satisfied customers, leading to making them more loyal, and will have a positive affect on the bottom line of the entire organisation.
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