英文文献.docx

英文文献.docx

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英文文献

TheFunctionalityandUsageofCRMSystems

Abstract—Moderninformationandcommunicationtechnologiesofferavarietyofsupportoptionsfortheefficienthandlingofcustomerrelationships.CRMsystemshavebeendeveloped,whicharedesignedtosupporttheprocessesintheareasofmarketing,salesandservice.Alongwithtechnologicalprogress,CRMsystemsareconstantlychanging,i.e.thesystemsarecontinuallyenhancedbynewfunctions.However,notallfunctionsaresuitableforeverycompanybecauseofdifferentframeworksandbusinessprocesses.InthiscontextthequestionariseswhetherornotCRMsystemsarewidelyusedinAustriancompaniesandwhichbusinessprocessesaremostfrequentlysupportedbyCRMsystems.ThispaperaimstoshedlightonthepopularityofCRMsystemsinAustriancompaniesingeneralandtheuseofdifferentfunctionstosupporttheirdailybusiness.Firstofall,thepaperprovidesatheoreticaloverviewofthestructureofmodernCRMsystemsandproposesacategorizationofcurrentlyavailablesoftwarefunctionalityforcollaborative,operationalandanalyticalCRMprocesses,whichprovidesthetheoreticalbackgroundfortheempiricalstudy.Apartfromthesetheoreticalconsiderations,thepaperpresentstheempiricalresultsofafieldsurveyontheuseofCRMsystemsinAustriancompaniesandanalyzesitsfindings.

Keywords—CRMsystems,CRMsystemadoption,CRMsystem

diffusion,CRMfunctionality,Marketstudy.

I.INTRODUCTION

USTOMERRelationshipManagementincludesawiderangeoftopics,whichfocusonallcustomer-orientedprocessesinacompany[18],[7],[31],[8].TheinformationandcommunicationtechnologycomponentsofacomprehensiveCRMstrategyareintegratedintoCRMsystemsthatenabletheautomationofbusinessprocessesintheareasofmarketing,salesandserviceinordertobuildandmaintainprofitablelong-termcustomerrelations[28],[18],

[44],[32].TheeffectivemanagementofcustomerinformationhasbecomemoreandmorecrucialinCRM[32].InthiscontextCRMsystemscanthereforebeseenastechnologicalenablers[28],[17],[42],[12]thathaveledtoasignificanteconomicrevivalofCRM,whichwasboostedbytheavailabilityofintegratedCRMsolutions.ThemarketforCRMsystemsisquitewideandheterogeneous.OntheGermansoftwaremarketalone,over100differentCRMsystemsandproviderscanbeidentified[42].Duetothelargenumberofdifferentapplicationareas,manystandardsoftwareproductsofferspecialisedfunctionalityforindividualCRMprocessesorspecificindustries.However,integratedglobalsolutionsarealso.availableonthemarket[41],[16].AnanalysisofempiricalstudiesonavailableCRMsolutions[24],[20],[42],[15],[25]confirmedthediversityoffunctionsoftheofferedsoftware.Duetothisdiversity,theselectionofCRMsystemsisbecomingincreasinglydifficultforcompaniesastheircomplexityincreasesaswell[21],[26].Companiesalsofinditdifficulttoselecttheappropriatesoftwareduetothewidevarietyoffunctionsandthefactthatnotallindividualbusinessprocessescanbesupportedwithoutexpensivecustomizingofthesoftware.Againstthisbackground,wewilldiscusswhetherCRMsystemsareinoperationinAustrianenterprisesandwhichfeaturesofCRMsystemsareactuallyusedindailybusiness.Mostavailablestudiesfocusonthesupplyside,i.e.theyonlydescribethesoftwarefunctionalityofCRMsystems.DetailedstudiesdiscussingtheactualuseofCRMsystemsinbusinessesandexaminingtheirsoftwarefeaturesareunfortunatelyquitescarce.Tofillthisgap,thepresentpaperlooksatthefunctionalityofmodernCRMsystemsfocusingontheareasofcollaborative,operationalandanalyticalCRM,andtheiruseinabusinessenvironment.ThestudyalsointroducesaclassificationofCRMfunctionsandoutlinestheresultsofamarketstudy,conductedin2007,ontheuseofCRMsystemsinAustriancompanies.Theseaspectswillprovideanoverviewofthecurrentsituationandexpectedfuturetrends.

II.THEORETICALBACKGROUND

Duetothesteadydevelopmentofinformationandcommunicationtechnologies,CRMactivitieshavebecomemucheasiertoplanandimplementoverthelastyears[10].However,CRMisacomplextermwhichincludesseveralareaswithinanorganizationandcannotbereducedtotechnologyaspects[9],[26].ComprehensiveCRMstrategiesincludemanycustomer-orientedtasks[5]whichrangefromtheindividualresponsetocustomerrequeststocustomizedproductstailoredtocustomerneeds.Inordertoensuresmoothprocesses,qualifiedemployeesandthesupportofpowerfulsoftwaresolutionsarerequired[36].CRMsystemsprovidethetechnologicalinfrastructuretoimplementCRMstrategies[28],[14],[17],[42],buttheyonlyplayasubordinaterole.InaholisticCRMconceptthesupportofinformationsystemsalonedoesnotautomaticallyleadtoanimprovementofcustomerrelations[26],[46],[33],[12].Inpractice,theintroductionofsuchsystemsisoftenasubstantialchallengeforcompaniesbecauseofthehighcomplexityofthebusinessprocessesandtheinformationsystemsthemselves[21],[42],[43]–asaresult,manyCRMprojectsfailedorcouldnotfulfilltheexpectations[1],[9],[21],[35],[37].Moreover,legacysystemswhichalreadyexistintheenterprise（e.g.callcentersystems,CASsystems,datawarehouses）aswellasthemigrationofdataandsystemfunctionsmustbetakenintoconsideration[17].Foraholisticviewofthecustomer,CRMsystemscanalsobeintegratedintootherinformationsystems（e.g.ERPsystems）inordertoexchangedataandsetupacentraldatasourceforallprocessesanddepartments[14],[29],[17],[46],[49].Theoperationalareasofthesystemscandifferdependingonthecompany'sCRMstrategiesandthefunctionalityofthesoftwareapplication.However,mostCRMsystemsareusedtosupportandoptimizecustomer-relatedprocessesinabusinessenvironment[30],[41],[47].Following[17],thispaperregardsCRMsystemsastechnologicalenablerswhicharedesignedtocombineislandsolutionsandtosupportbusinessprocessesintheareasofmarketing,sales,andservice.Theyservetointegrateandprovideaccesstoallcustomerinformationandcontactchannelsonthebasisofacentraldatabase.BasedonthesetupandstructureofCRMsystems,theirfunctionscanbeclassifiedintothreedifferentareas,namelycollaborative,operationalandanalyticalCRM,whichareconnectedtoeachotherthroughalearningsystem（"closedlooparchitecture"）[46],[30],[18],[12],[11],[19].ThebackboneofallCRMactivitiesisusuallytheoperationalcomponentasitcoversthemainCRMprocessesinthefrontoffice[28],[6].Dependingonthecompany'sneeds,theseoperationalmodulescanbeextendedwithappropriatecomponentsfromanalyticalorcollaborativeCRM.

III.RESEARCHPROCESS

InordertodeterminetheCRMfunctionalitycurrentlyavailableonthesoftwaremarketandtoinvestigatetheactualuseofthesesoftware-packagesinenterprises,thestudyfollowsathreetieredresearchdesign.Firstofall,aliteraturesurveywasconductedonthetopicofCRMsystems.Inasecondstep,aclassificationofthefunctionalityofCRMsystemsisintroduced.ThisclassificationprovidesthetheoreticalbackgroundforthecollectionandinterpretationofmarketdatatoshedlightontheactualuseofsuchinformationsystemsinAustriancompanies.

A.GeneralLiteratureAnalysis

ToprovideageneraldefinitionanddescriptionofCRM,acomprehensiveliteraturesurveywascarriedoutatthebeginningofthestudy.Thissurveyinvolvedallrelevant

literatureincludingonlinesources,publishedpapersandfieldstudies.Onthisbasis,theobjectivesofCRMsystemswereidentified,classifiedandsummarized.

B.ClassificationofCRMFunctionality

ThesecondstepoftheresearchdesignincludestheidentificationandclassificationofthecurrentlyavailablefunctionsofCRMsystems.Theresearchprocesswasdividedintotwosub-categories:

•Literaturesurvey（vendorstudies）:

ThecategorizationofCRMfunctionsisbasedonrecentmarketstudiesonthevendormarketforCRMsoftware.Onthebasisofthecategorizationofsoftwarefunctionalitypresentedinthesestudies,aninitialclassificationmodelwasdeveloped.

ThiswasfurtherrefinedbytakingrecoursetothetheoreticaldescriptionsofCRMsystemsintherelevantliterature.Bybasingtheclassificationmodelbothontheliteratureaswellastheresultsoffieldstudies,theresultingcategoriesincludewellestablishedfunctionsaswellasrecentlyemergingfeatures.Inthedesignoftheclassificationmodel,itwasensuredthattheoveralltructureofthecategories（seeTable1）matchesthatofthevendormarketstudies（e.g.[20],[24],[15],[42]toallowacomparisonbetweenthesupplyanddemandside.

•Internetresearch（vendor）:

Inasecondstep,acomprehensiveInternetsurveywascarriedouttogetanoverviewofthecurrentsoftwaremarket.Theprimaryobjectivewastoobtainup-to-dateinformationonthevendorsandthesoftwaresolutionsonoffer.Togetherwiththeresultsofapreviouslyconductedsurveyon

softwarevendorsthefindingswereanalyzedandmissingfunctionswereaddedtotheclassificationmodel.

C.MarketStudy（DemandSide）

AsurveyofAustrianenterprisesaimstorevealwhetherCRMsystemsareusedtosupportbusinessprocesses,andifso,whichfunctionsaremainlyusedinday-to-dayoperations.Inadditiontothecurrentusage,thecompanieswerealsoaskedtopredictfuturetrendsconcerningCRMsystemsintheirbusinesses.

•Subjectsofthemarketstudy:

ForthereviewoftheuseofCRMsystems,apopulationof620Austriancompanieswasselected.Thisselectionwas