Customer Management: Nefab Company

Introduction node vigilance has been an integral part of lineage cognitive operationes since the early days of calling, withal before money was introduced. Development of reapings and services aimed at meeting the demand of the guest is what determines the potentness of the node property and firmty strategies (Rao & Perry, 2002). This paper analyses the practicable methods and strategies adopted by Nefab Packaging Comp on the whole- UK in providing harvest-homes and services and their effectiveness in terms of client satis situationion Background selective cultivationThe main business airfield for Nefab Company is incase. It is an international federation with spherical coverage. Its headquarters is in Sweden, b bely it has legion(predicate) subsidiaries in Europe and America including the UK (Nefab Group, 2013) where I happen to be one of the employees. Most of its operations involve workings closely with other businesses around the globe with the intent of p roviding them with the best(p) quality packaging stem for their convergences. Nefab Company has close to 20 major clients around the world with numerous other small guests distributed all over Europe. The attach to handles its clients using cardinal nestlees its macro global guests ar all handled by the primaeval reignment of the administration while the other small to medium sized nodes be handled at the ships familys local tycoons in the respective countries (Nefab Group, 2013). To farm its competitiveness and sustain major power as a global packaging participation, it has recently introduced guest kinship focus discussion section (Nefab curriculum Manager, 2012). This discussion section operates under the benevolent resource plane section and is responsible for give awayment and death penalty of systems aimed at ensuring the trains of guest satisfaction be postgraduate in the confederacy. Some of the main functions of this subdivision ar (Nef ab program Manager, 2012)Developing and focusing sight on the clients redeem tutelage to customer lifetime value Develop management sustainment for a customer focused strategies Developing effective value for education collected from the customer Developing an agnizeing of the levels of management involvement in customer management Developing flexible business processes to support a wide range of customer needs Advising the IT department on what to pay back as an onward motion of enhancing customer satisfactionThe current customer dealinghip management system operates establish on Microsofts CRM system. It is currently implement in around divisions of the confederation (Nefab program Manager, 2012). Currently, the company is working towards change magnitude the levels of integration of those services into the business function and ensuring that all the guidelines and strategies atomic number 18 use efficiently to realize maximum benefit from the new department in the arranging (Nefab Group, 2013).The Companys nodesThis company works in the business to business sector and therefore all its customers atomic number 18 businesses seeking for packaging services. The main struggle for the company is to heighten long-term dealingships with other businesses globally. The fact that the company has very small customers, it is very primary(prenominal) for the company to maximize on customer satisfaction as it tooshienot afford to lose any customer and must struggle to attract more(prenominal)(prenominal) in the global commercialise. The major customers for this company be companies in six global industrial segments Vehicles, Aerospace, Healthc atomic number 18 equipment Industry, Energy, and Telecom among many other industries.The things that our customers are seeking are packaging products that are reusable and at the same time slow expendable. The packaging should excessively be designed in such a way that the quality of the products is not affected during transport. Moreover, the current levels of environmental predisposition by many companies catch resulted to companies seeking packaging that are as green as possible and have minimal harm to the environment. Furthermore, the customers choose packaging that is optimal in terms of weight to minimize the price of transportation of the product. These are the main regions that customer relationship management department is focussed on in this arranging.This company has demonstrable an approach that commands all its customers are fountainhead known. The system is found on customer part in terms of products they buy from the company. The segmentation is similarly done establish on regions. This is important since the company has subsidiaries distributed all over the world. The process of product growth is done through with(predicate) consideration of the specifications of each customer. This is mainly achieved by maturation products based on customers instru ctions and comportions. The application of customer segmentation allows this company to meet the needs of al more or less all its customers. guest ObjectivesThe paper of this department will be central in promoting a sense of security, a feeling of being in mesh and trust among customers. The main reasons after part the let outment of the customer relationship management department in this scheme were to (Nefab program Manager, 2012) call down customer lifetime value Develop the best strategic information and communication Develop customer retention strategies Enhance the levels of customer satisfaction .This company developed this department as a central participant in the process of expanding and maintaining market share successfully. Particularly, retention of customers can be achieved through learning relevant information, such as expectations, p extension services, habits, and names around customers (Nefab program Manager, 2012). This department is expected to develop a one-on-one relationship with customers as an approach of ensuring that they come back ofttimes developing close association between the company and its customers.Furthermore, the department is too expected to step-up the level of IT integration into customer management, resulting in senior high school levels of intimacy between customers and the company. The high levels of using IT allow the fundamental law to a class of employees in managing customer relationship removing the barrier associated with personalised attention of the customer (Nefab program Manager, 2012). This will result to sustained agreemental performance and so profitability even if certain employees are no longer working with the organisation.Therefore, there are trio main customer-related physical objects in this initiative customer retention, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty (Nefab program Manager, 2012). The introduction of customer relations management department is expected to enhance the level of customer loyalty. By making this company more knowledgeable about its current customers as considerably as prospective customers will underwrite the services offered to them are offered in the best manner easy to satisfy the customer positively impacting on the levels of customer loyalty. A similar case is expected in customer satisfaction. Developing a positive experience between this company and the customer has been seen as the main approach towards ensuring the customer is highly satisfied. This department is alike focused on ensuring the job done by the company is the best. This will ultimately result to high level of customer retention. For instance, this company has been suffering from numerous instances of confusion and misc erstptions especially when employees are unable to submit what has been delivered to a specific customer and what needs to be delivered and when. This has portrayed the company as unresponsive to its customers. This has dealt the company a major blow in the process as it negatively affected customer satisfaction levels. These three objectives are related to one another. For instance, a customer who has a unvaried repeat purchase is said to be loyal while at the same time, a customer can only be loyal if the products and services are satisfactory.Business Related ObjectivesThis department is focused on not only fulfilling customer related objectives, but also business objectives. In terms of business, objectives are collection and summary of data to increase the understanding levels of customer. This is important in ensuring the organisation meets the needs of the customer and is in a position to provide current and future customer needs. This is also substantive in developing future forecasts for production and gross revenue prospects. The development of process automation is also another important objective of this department. It is necessary for the enhancement of strength and ultimately profitability of this organisation. Most probes agree that the nearly important objective of customer relation management at organisational level is to gather information. Xu & Walton (2005) clearly explain the main reason for collection of information by an organisation as being to enable the organisation understand its customers, to meet the needs of the customers and also develop effective strategies to meet the companys future prospects.Customer relationship Management StrategiesThere versatile theories that try to explain the strategies used on customer relationship management. The most unwashed ones analyse customer touch points, front office, back office, and warehousing. To be able to analyse the approach adopted by this company in managing its customers, it is necessary to review this parts. WarehousingThis is the area in organisational processes that has numerous literatures regarding the implementation of customer relation management (CRM). Specifically, Bose has developed a very complex theoretical account that analyses all the necessary steps in the process of implementing CRM. This model is alter by a joust developed by David (1999). Thus, Davids list is comprehensive exuberant to provide guidance of the process of implementing CRM. Another implementation plan that is not as complex as Boses was developed by Chase (2004). The most important aspect of this plan is the comminuted explanation of the integration levels. Back OfficeThese are functions in an organisation that the customer cannot view directly (Chen & Popovich, 2003). Many authors put more emphasis on the importance of an organisation using the CRM in determining the value of its respective(prenominal)(a) customers. When analysing customer value, Zikmund provides a expatiate review of various theories that analyse this issue. Moreover, Xu and Walton (2005) have developed a very distinct approach to classification of customers based on profit salute matrix.Another important asshole that is all important(p) in analysing customer classification is the Identify Differentiate Interact make (IDIC) tool (Zikmund et al., 2003). This tool is known to provide detailed information on approaches of customer differentiation and product customisation. According to Zikmund and his colleagues (2003), customisation of the various stages in product development is essential in ensuring the products meet the specific requirements of the customers. Nefab achieves product customisation through the selection of materials and concepts for product development based on the specific customer requirements. This results to production of products that are customised for an individual customer. This is driven by Nefabs objective that aims to replace its customers packaging departments which requires complete customisation (Nefab program Manager, 2012)Another important tool that is effective on providing insights into the process to customers in terms of areas that data can be gathered from is the ana lytical model by Xu and Walton (2005). It is essential in developing background on the information that should be looked for. This allows a company to develop usable data from the customers especially for development of the customer based strategies. Nefab has an effective tool for data collection that is based on direct interaction with its customers on a regular basis (Nefab program Manager, 2012). culture is collected on their products on issues, such as the level of customer satisfaction and production requirement of the customer. The company also gathers information on their competitors especially on their prices and the approach to business of their competitors.More so, a give away explanation on the uses of customer knowledge is provided by Zineldin (2006). A cabal of theories by Xu & Walton and Zineldin is used in the process of seeking information and developing effective use of the information.In a study by Wilson (2006), it was limpid that it is very important to anal yse the value of a customer in the process of developing long term relationship with the customer. Zikmund et al. (2003) identifies the important set of customer lifetime as the period the customer is expected to last, cost of capital, retention rate, and profit margin. This is the area that Nefab is still struggling with. Its approach is focussed on determining the profitability of each customer based on the part margin. However, the company has in all separated loyalty and retention from the approach adopted for determining the profitability of its customers (Nefab program Manager, 2012).According to this company, it is hard to develop a measure for profitability that is not based on income per product is uncertain and hence not realistic (Nefab program Manager, 2012). Thus, according to this company, the process of predicting future customer loyalty is impossible. The company depends on its employees to manage its customers in that the salesperson handles any conflicts or comp laints from customers to ensure that they are preserved as customers of the company.In terms of relationships, Peppers & Rogers (2001) suggested that the main objective of CRM is to allow an organisation to manage its customers on an individual basis. This is the area that Nefab is more focussed on. It has established its CRM strategies to ensure that customers are handled at a personal level. This is also coupled with development of personalised relations with its customers. The company strives to ensure that the customer comes back for more products and services. Nefab has established measures that increase the levels of openness between it and its customers. They allow their customers to be partners in the business (Nefab program Manager, 2012). The company has also established a variety of departments involved in management of sales including technicians, design teams and accounts manager. This is necessary to ensure each of its major customers is handled differently by the comp any. This is sometimes challenging to the organisation in terms of coordinating the numerous departments in the organisation. Front officeThese are firms functions that directly interact with the customer (Chen & Popovich, 2003). The IDIC model is also an effective tool for providing a description of the functions of the front office as per CRM (Peppers & Rogers, 2001). The primary role of the front office is to collect information from the customer in an easy was as possible (Peppers & Rogers, 2001). Nefab has try to develop an effective front office by minimising the number of departments at the front office level (Nefab program Manager, 2012). The company has a concentrate workloads and information for its large customers with global coverage. The local branches handle the other smaller customers. This allows the company to repositing information about all its major customers in a centralised place (Nefab program Manager, 2012).Rao and Perry (2002) explain the importance of d igitizing employee knowledge. Another important contribution to this part is the Greenberg (2004), analysis of culture and its importance in the process of implementing CRM as a strategy within an organisation. His analysis is comprehensive and very central in the development of CRM strategies that meet the requirements of a specific organisation.A study by Curry and Kkolou (2004) found out that customer life musical rhythm is very important for an organisation. They further assert that it should be handled while providing detailed information about each and every stage that the companys customers go through. The common stages set were targeting, translation, delivery, dissatisfaction management, and winning back lost customers (Curry & Kkolou, 2004).These are the areas that this Nefab Company is struggling with. Its customers life cycle is initiated when they visualize a customers firm as most of my colleagues described. This is wherefore followed by sending of samples of packa ging until the final solution is arrived at (Nefab program Manager, 2012). Once the customer has approved the design of packaging, the company delivers that packaging to the customer until when the production of a specific product comes to a stop. During this time, the company expects the customer to approach them again for a new packaging plan. The company completely lacks customer win-back and dissatisfaction management stages in the customer lifecycle.Another important area in the front office, organisational culture is analysed by Greenberg (2004). He asserts that the culture of the organisation must be changed such that it aligns with the objectives of the organisations CRM initiative. Thus, the success of an organisations CRM depends on the levels to which its objectives align with the firms culture.This is the area that Nefab has tried to deal with. The company has implemented an intensive training program for the sales persons with specific reference to behaviour and conduct (Nefab program Manager, 2012). The company has also equipped its workforce with computer skills. The company has endowed its employees a heavy responsibility especially in conclusiveness making. The company also promotes the development of independent culture at its subsidiaries. However, the pagan independence of its subsidiaries is curb as they operate based on a general cultural framework of the company.This has positively impacted the performance of the company as the decision making paths has been shortened. The negative impact of this approach is on development of a centralised decision by the firm since its subsidiaries work very independently. Customer Touch PointsThese are the interactions that exist between an organisation and its customers (Chen & Popovich, 2003). The touch points are well illustrated in the interact phase of the IDIC model (Peppers & Rogers, 2001). This model has a detailed overview of all the necessary areas in the touch points that exist at an orga nisational level. According to Peppers & Rogers, touch points are essential in the process of organising and streamlining the bet of an organisation. Nefab Company has in the recent past involved the touch points in the process of organisational streamlining. This has been enhanced by the introduction of the CRM department as an approach to refining its front end with the endeavour to ensure its customers are well served (Nefab program Manager, 2012). The company has also increased the level of using the clear as a customer interaction tool. It currently accounts for the most of the companys customer leads.A theory by Davids (1999) is comprehensive enough in developing approaches for examining how customers interact with an organisation. Furthermore, Peelen (2005) presents possible interaction points in an organisation that is similar to the work by Davids (1999) as well as Peppers & Rogers (2001). These points identified by Peelen are personal sales, telephone, e-mail, websites, and public media.Nefab Company has tried to develop effectiveness of these channels of interaction. However, the company has limited use of media such as radio and television as it assumes that their customers are less likely to be there for interaction between the company and them (Nefab program Manager, 2012). The major forms through which this company interacts with its customers is through phone calls, email and direct communication.Conclusion and ImplicationsFrom the analysis, it is apparent that the theories analysed by various investigators are applicable at organisational level. It is evident that using CRM in business benefits a business since it offers effective objectives for management of businesses as well as its customers. The most important objectives in this case are customer retention and satisfaction, data organisation, and in-depth understanding of the customer. From analysis of the company, it has been evident that the most important aspect of CRM is the organis ation of customer information. The ultimate results of this organisation are high levels of customer satisfaction and retention as witnessed in the organisation. The ability of an organisation to meet customer requests and respond to them in time depends on how bone upd is the approach to the collection and analysis of customer data. This evidently results to high levels of customer satisfaction. This result because of high levels of efficiency in customer management strategies.From these results, it can be concluded that for an organisation to effectively gather and organise customer information, it requires to develop a customer relation management approaches. This allows an organisation to develop a comprehensive analysis of the customer on an individual basis. This is central to capturing relevant information in an approach that allows availability of the information from all departments in an organisation. Furthermore, the main benefit of CRM is to allow organisations to own a nd control information about its customers and not specific individuals or departments in an organisation. This is important in limiting the implications of employees exiting from an organisation where customer information is readily usable for the replacement recruits as compared to the case where there was no CRM.Moreover, CRM is important in the sense that customer information can readily be pulled and reviewed. This is an essential ingredient in organisational efficiency. In fact, new employees can use the stored information to develop an effective background about the customer. More so, CRM allows an organisation to develop approaches of handling objectives such as customer retention, satisfaction, and loyalty at once as they are assessed in terms of their impact on the organisational efficiency of the firm. Implications of the studyThis investigation analysed how customer relationship management is used in Nefab Company. The analysis focussed on the application of CRM in the organisation with relation to available theories that focus on the consumer market. The analysis reveals that it is important for an organisation to focus on developing strong relations with its customers other than focusing on the consumer market loyalty. Development of customer relation automatically results to high levels of customer loyalty. However, this investigation is limited to information gathered by other investigators in reference to one organisation. Further studies need to be done using more than one organisation. The investigations should collect data using quantitative as well as qualitative methodologies to further enhance the available information on the research issue. Other areas that need to be analysed in future investigations areAnalysis of the effect of company culture on customer relations Investigate on the approaches to evaluating customer loyalty Examine how price and customer loyalty interact.ReferencesChase, P., 2004. A success model for CRM integratio n, and how to countermand the most common mistakes, New Hampshire, USA Scribe Software Corporation.Chen, I., & Popovich, K., 2003. Understanding Customer Relationship Management People Process and technology. Bradford, UK MCB Up Limited.Curry, A. & Kkolou, E., 2004. Evaluating CRM Contribution to TQM improvement- across-case comparison The TQM Magazine, 16(5), 314-324Davids, M., 1999. How to avoid the 10 Biggest Mistakes in CRM Journal of Business Strategy, 20(6)22-26Greenberg, P., 2004. 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