In a recent moment, Customer Relationship management (CRM) is no longer perceived to be a branch if marketing or Information Technology (IT). Rather, it is seen as an integrated infrastructure in business that coordinates diverse functional departments. Hence, CRM is more of a business process than marketing or IT sub-function (Hassan et al, 2015). In that respect, this paper shall focus on the effect of CRM on Coca-Cola Company.
Company Background Information
Coca-Cola is an American based company that leads globally in the manufacture of beverages. The company offers diverse brands of beverages such as soft drinks, sports drinks, and fruit juices among others. Apparently, Coca-Cola has a wide variety of customers who are located in different parts of the world. The customers include businesses that sell their products to the final consumers. This includes supermarkets, petrol stations, cinemas, restaurants, discounters, hotels, cafes and leisure parks among others. The differentiation strategy that Coca-Cola Company used is thus based on diversification. For instance, the company produces sub-products bearing the brand name Coca-Cola. This includes Cherry Coke, Lemon Coke, Diet Coca-Cola, and Vanilla Coke among other. As a matter of fact, this is done so as to increase the volume of products being sold.
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Impact of CRM to Coca-Cola Company
Understanding Customer Needs
CRM promotes a better understanding of consumer needs, wants, and behaviors which on the other hand would help the company to serve the customers better. Research has shown that CRM directly affects the overall outcome of a business. Scholars have shown that various organizational activities would trigger customers’ responses which would influence the outcome of an organization. Through CRM, Coca-Cola Company would be able to establish a multilayer relationship between it and the customers which can be demonstrated by Service-Profit Chain (SPC) (Hassan et al, 2015). SPC will help the company understand the impact that its services have on the perceptions and behaviors of the customers. The main service of focus is the external service which handles complaints, customer justices, and key CRM initiatives.
Support Market Campaign and Sales Force Automation
CRM marketing campaign might lead to the automation of the marketing segment of the company. This may require certain rules to be established. Based on the type of integration, the automation process could be incorporated into the CRM marketing campaign through a rule. Basically, the rule spells out the acknowledgment by the vendors of marketing automation that the involved parties in the CRM campaigns are different. Prior to indulging in the marketing automation process, the company ought to be aware of the various meanings of the word campaign in the vast applications that are likely to be used (Kim, 2012). This will help them to understand and execute crucial marketing activities.
Support Customer Service
The adoption of CRM would allow Coca-Cola Company to become more successful at ensuring that their customers are satisfied. This, on the other hand, would enhance the overall performance of the organization (Kim, 2012). Notably, the primary gist of CRM is to enhance organic growth in organizations by improving client equity. Owing to this merit, the traditional puzzle about whether CRM would be successful has been substituted with the question of which CRM strategies will have a greater impact on organizations. As such, CRM strategy ought to influence consumer relationship, consumer value and brand equity within an organization. These three aspects are what constitute the drivers of consumer equity.
IT support that Coca-Cola would need for Front Office and Back Office Systems
The front office applications are needed to establish a direct relationship with the customers. This may include CRM and sales force automation (Kim, 2012). The back office system IT support does not require a direct relation with the customers and may include supply chain activities, manufacturing, and enterprise resource planning and inventory control systems.
In a nutshell, CRM would provide the company with an opportunity indulge in activities that would lead to the desired outcomes (Coltman, Devinney, & Midgeley, 2011). Notably, the CRM strategies are attained following a CRM process. The CRM process aims at relationship building through awareness, commitment, exploration and dissolution. The company strategies on the other extreme have three stages namely strangers to an acquaintance, acquaintances to friends, and finally friends to the partnership. The company thus is provided with an opportunity to select a strategy which is dependent on the market situation. As such, CRM provides it with an opportunity to retain maximize on customer shares by retaining and expanding their customer base.
References
Coltman, T., Devinney, T. M., & Midgley, D. F. (2011). Customer relationship management and firm performance. Journal of Information Technology , 26 (3), 205-219.
Hassan, R. S., Nawaz, A., Lashari, M. N., & Zafar, F. (2015). Effect of customer relationship management on customer satisfaction. Procedia Economics and Finance , 23 , 563-567.
Kim, H. S. (2012). How CRM strategy impacts organizational performance: Perspective of customer equity drivers. Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management , 19 (4), 233-244.
