Introduction to CRM & Social CRM - Presentation given on 4th August 2011 at Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Salt Lake, Kolkata to a group of post-graduate students.

The complexity level is intermediate.

Here is an excellent write-up on the Social CRM session by Sreekar Pappala along with more pictures:

“Generally when buzz is generated for an event, the expectations of its audience rise; but mostly it so happens that the event does not live up to the expectations. This wasn’t the case on 4th August, 2011. Mr. Angsuman captivated the audience with his insight on Customer Relationship Management.  He started off with the history of customer relationships between sellers and customers in ‘Mom and Dad shops’ and went to discuss the need for good relations with customers in the present world. Previously companies had control over information regarding their products and services through annual reports, press interviews/conferences but due to the advent of internet every customer’s opinion can be read, discussed and spread across all spectrums. This new age social media can spread news; good and bad; like a virus and it has a strong influence on the populace. Hence, it is a challenge for companies to follow Peter F. Drucker’s saying, “The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer.”

At the core of CRM is data mining which is done by tracking, analyzing and reporting information regarding customers. This can be used to automate strategies for maintaining relations with customers. We can also use this data to analyze the performance of employees (sales personnel) through customer feedback. He went on to discuss that although customer consciousness in India is low compared to developed nations, it is on the rise. To drive his point home, he shared his personal experiences with Marriott and Vodafone India; their difference in CRM.  He also discussed about Recency, Frequency and Monetary value concept used for understanding customer behavior and how the CRM software in use now were developed pre-social media age. His company, Taragana has a social CRM product, Relaso Social CRM which provides 360 degree bi-directional integration with Web, Email, SMS, Blog, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. We can use Relaso even from a ultra-cheap phone (like Rs. 800 phone) to high end smartphones and tablet devices. You can use it even without internet connection. It is a unique software which is bi-lingual and comes with an open API.”