The concept of “customer journey” has been around for over a century, however since the digital age began it has drastically evolved. Initially the customer journey was considered a straightforward linear process, with the current technological advances the customer journey has become much more complex with clients having more choices than ever. Now customers research and shop across several devices, touch points which are both online and offline. According to Google, “after monitoring thousands of users’ click stream data (across multiple industries) found that, no two customer journeys are exactly alike. In fact, even within the same category, journeys take multiple shapes - ranging from 20-500 touch points prior to purchase.” In addition to this customer are also expecting a personalized experience. This is great news for the consumer; however, this has created nightmares for Marketers, Sales Professionals, Field Service Professionals, and Customer Care teams. In such a complex digital era; how are organizations adapting to the evolving expectations of their customers? Organizations are focusing on creating omnichannel strategies to improve their customer satisfaction and retention – which in theory should increase your organizations revenue and decrease the operating margin (cost of acquiring and retaining your customer). One of the key factors in achieving an omnichannel strategy is accurate data about your customer – this is where customer relationship management tools come in place.

Customer Relationship Management has been around since the early 1980’s – mainly as a contact management tool. Since then it has evolved to provide insight on customers interactions across different channels (customer care, online interactions, physical store interactions, phone calls etc.). CRM systems gather data about your clients from every interaction with your customer which in turn provides a 360 view of your customer such as Customers’ Personal Information, Purchase History Purchase Patterns & Preferences, Visibility to Customers’ Requirements, along with Customers Priorities & Concerns. Building a 360-degree view of the customer provides benefits to businesses across various sectors and sizes, whether it is a retailer, a healthcare provider, or a bank.

In a nutshell, successfully providing a 360 view of your customer changes an organizations relationship with their customer from a transactional relationship to an experiential relationship. This view provides you with all past and present data on each of your customers – which provides the ability to analyze and predict your customers behavior in order to create a competitive advantage and quickly capitalize on it.

For example, after STS implemented the CRM, we were able to capture the touch points we have with our customer across all the different divisions. This revealed trends and patterns that we previously had no visibility on as all the data was scattered around different internal lines of business. This provided us with the strategic priorities for customer based on our interactions with them. This has changed the way we approach and communicate with our clients and tailor our offerings and portfolio according to their needs and objectives.

Based on CIO Magazine, solely looking at a CRM from a technological factor leads to an avg of 30% of CRM projects to fail, so it is very important for companies to consider identifying and aligning their CRM business goals with their business objectives. Thus, creating a strategy and a plan prior to implementing the tool/system as it is essential for a successful CRM implementation. 

There are numerous benefits from CRM Systems such as:

1. Enhanced Customer Intelligence - What is the customer’s purchase history? Do they communicate with your company using your digital channels? or do they prefer a personal touch when it comes to communicating with you and your Company? How are they reacting to your latest offerings and whether they find it relevant and how it aligns with their strategic objectives?

2. Superior Predictive Analytics – This is about taking that complete picture of the customer’s situation — drawing on their accounts, transactions, priorities and service calls, their interest in your latest offerings and how relevant they are — and predicting where they’re headed and what they’ll need in the future. As such, your sales reps can anticipate and act upon opportunities for re-ordering, upgrades, and cross-selling.

3. Seamless Customer Experience: Customer relationships aren’t just about sales. Service is a big part of the customer journey and each customer’s happiness. How you handle those challenging calls makes all the difference to the customer’s experience. That’s why a 360-degree view is essential. Don’t make your customers do any extra work to explain their needs or provide details about their purchase. Instead, give your service agents the tools they need to assess the situation quickly and respond competently.

4. Improved Customer Loyalty :Well-timed, informative communications are at the heart of building those ongoing customer relationships. Thus, creating another opportunity to leverage the power of an effective CRM. By having the ability to anticipate your customer needs and develop a strategic timely and relevant communication plan, you can keep your business top-of-mind and increase the levels of customer satisfaction, and accordingly reducing customer churn. For instance, you might use your CRM to schedule reminders for follow-up calls at specific intervals or to send targeted email campaigns based on customer history or scheduled strategic milestones.

Turning these benefits into the key business drivers for Companies of all sizes resulting in:

• Increasing Revenue: providing services and products that are exactly you’re your customer wants, offering better customer service, cross selling products more effectively, helping sale team close deals faster, retaining existing customers, and discovering new customers.

• Decreasing Operating Margins: automating everyday tasks, decreasing cost of new customer acquisition, increasing sales force efficiency, decreasing number of recurring calls to call center etc.

Typically, a CRM covers five areas of the Customer Journey:

• Sales Force Automation
• Customer Service
• Field Services
• Marketing Automation
• E-Commerce

Realizing that the core of any company’s success is their satisfied customers, we at STS have enabled our customers to better understand the changing demands of their clients and provide a proactive and personalized experience for every and each one of them.

Many examples for Successful CRM adoption and strategy creation has been proudly done by the STS team, creating value, and driving business success across multiple industries and companies of all sizes such as Pharma International, Nuqul Automotive, and Al Faisaliah Healthcare Systems among others.

• Ibrahim Zeine

STS, Sales Operations Manager