Chapter 9 Q3: Describe and differentiate the CRM technologies used by marketing departments and sales departments.

There are three marketing operational CRM technologies:


1-List generator: compiles customer information from a variety of sources and segment the information for different marketing campaigns
2-Campaign management system – guides users through marketing campaigns
3-Cross-selling and up-selling:
-Cross-selling – selling additional products or services
-Up-selling – increasing the value of the sale

Chapter 9 Q2: Compare operational and analytical customer relationship management.

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a broad term that covers concepts used by companies to manage their relationships with customers, including the capture, storage and analysis of customer information.



Aspects of CRM

There are three aspects of CRM which can each be implemented in isolation from each other:
1-Operational CRM- automation or support of customer processes that include a company’s sales or service representative
2-Collaborative CRM- direct communication with customers that does not include a company’s sales or service representative (“self service”)
3-Analytical CRM- analysis of customer data for a broad range of purposes
META Group (acquired by Gartner in April 2005) developed this conceptual architecture in the late-1990s, and dubbed it the “CRM Ecosystem”

For the sake of this question, we will focus on the difference between Operational and Analytical CRM:

Operational CRM provides support to "front office" business processes, including sales, marketing and service. Each interaction with a customer is generally added to a customer's contact history, and staff can retrieve information on customers from the database as necessary.
One of the main benefits of this contact history is that customers can interact with different people or different contact “channels” in a company over time without having to repeat the history of their interaction each time.
Consequently, many call centers use some kind of CRM software to support their call centre agents.

Analytical CRM analyses customer data for a variety of purposes including:
1-design and execution of targeted marketing campaigns to optimise marketing effectiveness
2-design and execution of specific customer campaigns, including customer acquisition, cross-selling, up-selling, retention
3-analysis of customer behaviour to aid product and service decision making (e.g. pricing, new product development etc.)
3-management decisions, e.g. financial forecasting and customer profitability analysis
4-prediction of the probability of customer defection (churn).

Analytical CRM generally makes heavy use of predictive analytics.
http://gleez.com/customer-relationship-management-crm

Chapter 9 Q1: What is your understanding of CRM?

Customer relationship management is a broadly recognized, widely-implemented strategy for managing and nurturing a company’s interactions with clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing, customer service, and technical support. The overall goals are to find, attract, and win new clients, nurture and retain those the company already has, entice former clients back into the fold, and reduce the costs of marketing and client service. Once simply a label for a category of software tools, today, it generally denotes a company-wide business strategy embracing all client-facing departments and even beyond. When an implementation is effective, people, processes, and technology work in synergy to increase profitability, and reduce operational costs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management

Chapter 7-8 Q6: Define the relationship between information technology and the supply chain.

IT’s primary role is to create integrations or tight process and information linkages between functions within an organisationThe five factors driving the explosive growth of SCM include:




• Information technology – only recently have advances in IT made it possible to bring the idea of a truly integrated supply chain to life
• Visibility – More visible models of different ways to do things in the supply chain have emerged. High visibility in the supply chain is changing industries, as Wal-Mart demonstrated
• Consumer behavior – Companies must respond to demanding customers through supply chain enhancements.
• Competition – Increased competition makes any organization that is ignoring its supply chain at risk of being obsolete
• Speed – As the pace of business increases through electronic media, an organization's supply chain must respond efficiently, accurately, and quickly

The following are the SCM industry best practices:

1. Make the sale to suppliers - A large part of any SCM system extends beyond the organization to the suppliers. Since the organization has very little control over anything external to itself, these pieces are typically the most complicated. Be sure suppliers are on board with the benefits that the SCM system will provide to ease SCM implementation difficulties.
2. Wean employees off traditional business practices - If the organization cannot convince people that using the SCM software is worthwhile, the employees will probably find a way around using the software.
3. Ensure the SCM system supports the organizational goals - Be sure to select SCM software that supports organizational goals and strategies
4. Deploy in incremental phases and measure and communicate success - Designing the deployment of the SCM system in incremental phases is the most successful deployment method. The BIG BANG approach – implementing everything at once – fails 90 percent of the time
5. Be future oriented - An SCM system, like all systems, must scale to meet future demands.


http://techsci.msun.edu/wilke/BUS%20Courses/BUS%20406/Summer%2006%20Distance/Notes/chapter_ten.htm

Chapter 7-8 Q5: List and describe the five components of a typical supply chain.

Traditional SCM thinking involved “I buy from my suppliers, I sell to my customers.” Today, organizations are quickly realizing the tremendous value they can gain from having visibility throughout its supply chain. Knowing immediately what is transacting at the customer end of the supply chain, instead of waiting days or weeks for this information to flow upstream, allows the organization to react immediately. The role of SCM is evolving and it is not uncommon for suppliers to be involved in product development and for distributors to act as consultants in brand marketing.
The components of a typical supply chain include:

· Supplier’s supplier
· Supplier
· Manufacturer
· Distributor
· Retailer
· Customer
· Customer’s Customer

http://techsci.msun.edu/wilke/BUS%20Courses/BUS%20406/Summer%2006%20Distance/Notes/chapter_ten.htm

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Chapter 7-8 Q4: Explain supply chain management and its role in a business

Supply chain management encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing, procurement, conversion, and logistics management. It also includes the crucial components of coordination and collaboration with channel partners, which can be suppliers, intermediaries, third-party service providers, and customers. In essence, supply chain management integrates supply and demand management within and across companies.
A supply chain, as opposed to supply chain management, is a set of organizations directly linked by one or more of the upstream and downstream flows of products, services, finances, and information from a source to a customer. Managing a supply chain is 'supply chain management'.
Supply chain business process integration involves collaborative work between buyers and suppliers, joint product development, common systems and shared information. According to Lambert and Cooper (2000), operating an integrated supply chain requires a continuous information flow. However, in many companies, management has reached the conclusion that optimizing the product flows cannot be accomplished without implementing a process approach to the business. The key supply chain processes are:

Customer relationship management

Customer service management

Demand management

Order fulfillment

Manufacturing flow management

Supplier relationship management

Product development and commercialization

Returns management
 
Kouvelis, P.; Chambers, C.; Wang, H. (2006): Supply Chain Management Research and Production and Operations Management: Review, Trends, and Opportunities. In: Production and Operations Management, Vol. 15, No. 3, pp. 449–469.
 
 

chapter 7-8 Q3: Describe the correlation between operations management and information technology.

Managers use IT to heavily influence OM decisions, including :


What: What resources will be needed and in what amounts?

When: When should the work be scheduled?

Where: Where will the work be performed?

How: How will the work be done?

Who: Who will perform the work?

Please follow this link to watch a video on the issue:
http://www.bnet.com/2422-19516_23-256068.html