The new IT strategy targets to upgrade the current customer relations management CRM systems to facilitate customer relations and satisfaction. This upgrade will feature models for improving the company's interactions with both current and potential clients by developing tools for tracking client consumption patterns to keep up with trends in the market (Gupta & Aggarwal, 2016) . Additionally, it will involve systems that compile client data from the various communication channels used by the company like the website, emails and social media interactions to develop charts and graphs that represent the client need. These needs and expectations will then be marked against the current organization production to facilitate future changes in production to depict the evolving market needs.
In line with the company's goals of going global, it is essential that the customer care department find avenues to encourage an online client audience. To attract the global market, the company can no longer rely on conventional physical interactions with clients to get their feedback on its products and services. Additionally, with the increased use of social media and online marketing, it is essential that the company find ways to interact with potential clients, putting across all the necessary information about its products and services to act as a marketing strategy, hence this upgrade in CRM.
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This upgrade in CRM will distinguish the company from the typical regional companies, hence earning it a competitive advantage among its peers (Gupta & Aggarwal, 2016) . Many local producers still rely on the conventional physical interactions with clients for the feedback thus are more focused on retaining their current clientele rather than attracting a broader clientele. Emphasis on such CRM approaches has been left for global corporations that have a broader market reach. But as a regional producer adopting this approach in CRM, the company has the upper hand in attracting a broader market and increasing its production base, hence rapidly facilitating its expansion.
Most regional producers are constancy-oriented. In other words, they are more focused on retaining their market share by emphasizing on current customer satisfaction rather than adopting measures to reach potential markets. In this case, they are heavily invested in traditional methods of CRM that are more focused on addressing the needs of the current clients. In as much as this approach allows them room to ensure client satisfaction, it limits their reach to only the existing markets.
If the proposed changes to the current CRM strategies are not implemented, the company not only risks losing its existing markets but also loses the potential to attract newer markets (Hadi, 2015) . Customer satisfaction is key for any producer, and one way of ensuring that is through encouraging open interactions with the consumers to air their insights. If such an avenue is not advocated for, then the current clients are bound to lose faith in the company and could shift their loyalty to other producers who they feel are more invested in answering to their needs and expectations. In such a process, potential markets would be lost since they tend to put their faith in the confidence current clients have on the company to determine their choice.
Implementing such changes would require funding. The cost of upgrading the technological systems to reflect these changes in online communication management would be approximately $30,000. These include both software upgrades and hardware upgrades, such as the purchasing of additional computers. Other costs to be incurred include the upgrading of the customer care department to create the division for online communications management. The purchase of office equipment needed is approximately $20,000. The hiring of customer care agents to coordinate these interactions would cost $20,000. In total this upgrade in CRM will cost the company $70,000 in revenue budget though the return on investment (ROI) calculated as the gain from investment in the changes over the cost of investment will be higher since the upgrade projects increased sales by up to 35% from the current sales (Hadi, 2015) . The upgrade is best conducted at the start of the next fiscal year to allow more room to gauge its performance before the end of the financial year. This being the case, the board should consider imbursing the funds 3rd February 2019.
References
Gupta, G., & Aggarwal, H. (2016). Analyzing customer responses to migrate strategies in making retailing and CRM effective. International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management , 12 (1), 92-127.
Hadi, W. E. (2015). The relationship between CRM strategies stage on competitive advantage: An analytical perspective. International Journal of Business and Management , 10 (8), 245.
