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E-CRM
resources
A number of Web sites can help you stay current on CRM issues and trends
as well as keep you updated on new e-CRM services and solutions.
CRMCommunity.com - www.crmcommunity.com
Digitrends.net - www.digitrends.net
Conference for Help Desk Professionals - www.helpdeskconference.com
The Customer Relationship Management Daily Report - www.realmarket.com
IT Support News - www.servicenews.com
SupportGate.com - www.supportgate.com
SupportIndustry.com - www.supportindustry.com
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EVERY COMPANY THAT sells products or services needs to maintain
good customer relationships, but nowhere is this more important than on the
Web. With competitors just a few clicks away, every e-business must build
customer loyalty in order to survive. At the same time, companies are finding
that the increase in online sales and e-mail inquiries is overwhelming their
current service staff and infrastructure. These companies need help with
serving their customers, and they need it quick.
Geared specifically for e-business, e-CRM (customer relationship management)
solutions allow companies to boost service levels and brand loyalty (see our Test
Center Analysis). E-CRM solutions give customers a variety of
ways to contact service representatives, including e-mail, online chat, and
even VOIP (voice over IP) calls; they reduce the load on service personnel by
helping customers help themselves and by automating customer support
procedures.
An e-CRM solution can help any company, large or small; a brick-and-mortar
moving online; or a brand-new dot-com. Although e-CRM products are not as
difficult or costly to install and manage as traditional CRM solutions from
vendors such as Siebel Systems and Baan, they nevertheless require investment
in infrastructure, significant IT resources, and precious time to deploy.
Companies wanting to improve online customer service immediately with minimal
start-up costs should consider an outsourced solution.
In-house
solutions raise the roof
The high cost of implementing an in-house solution ranges anywhere from
$50,000 to $500,000 plus the cost of maintaining a full-time customer service
staff; therefore, many companies are turning to an outsourced solution.
In-house solutions also can take months to deploy. According to a survey
conducted by SupportIndustry.com, 66 percent of companies surveyed without
Web-based self-service planned to spend up to $250,000 to implement such a
solution, and 19 percent of the companies were allotting $250,000 to $500,000.
On the other hand, deploying a serviced application is much quicker and far
less expensive, taking anywhere from a few days to weeks to start up and
costing an average of $1,000 to $5,000 for setup plus a monthly service fee.
However, both setup charges and monthly fees vary depending on the hosted
company's requirements. Service solutions offer variations of customer
support, from supplementing help desk call centers with online customer
support knowledge bases to instant messaging for real-time chat, as well as
e-mail management for high volumes of customer inquires.
For each of these methods of service, monthly fees are often based on volume
or seats. For example, monthly hosting fees for eGain Mail, eGain
Communications' e-mail management solution, start at$2,800 based on 5,000
incoming e-mail messages. The company charges $900 per month for each
additional 10,000 messages.
Service
options
Hosted or outsourced options range from services as minimal as adding a chat
screen to your Web site to full-fledged solutions that combine e-mail
management, Web collaboration, VOIP support, and even rented CSRs (customer
service representatives) to handle frontline customer support.
Like their licensed counterparts, hosted e-CRM solutions track the who, what,
when, and why of customer calls or requests, sharing the history of customer
contacts with each service representative and allowing business managers to
leverage information gathered from each customer for marketing campaigns.
E-CRM services also can track and categorize customer requests and issues;
many knowledge bases or FAQs can be posted automatically from these
inquiries. Many of these solutions can be integrated throughout a company's
back end and with call centers from vendors such as Siebel.
Should
you outsource?
In 1999 Jupiter Communications found that 46 percent of highly rated Web
sites took longer than five days to respond to inbound e-mail, never replied,
or did not bother to list e-mail contact information on their Web site. They
also found that 51 percent of the top 125 e-commerce sites did not accept
e-mail or respond to e-mail received. Forrester Research found that 63
percent of Web site visitors would make an online purchase if they had more
information available to them.
If these scenarios sound familiar, it is time for you to consider a Web-based
customer service solution, which will enhance your Web site, increase sales,
reduce call center load and e-mail backlog, increase order abandonment, and
increase response time. All in all, you'll improve customer retention.
How far you want to go with one of these solutions can be determined by how
much you want to implement, your staff resources, and how much you are
willing to spend. Browsing the Web sites of the vendors listed under
"Who can help with customer service?," (see list below), can help
you determine what to look for in a solution. You need to consider the cost
of having CSRs around-the-clock; it might be more feasible to rent
representatives full time or just for off-peak hours.
Give
customers knowledge
By supplying your visitors with searchable knowledge bases and FAQs, you
provide them with the ability to find the information they require without
their having to get offline (if using the same line) and call your support
center. You also free up your call center to handle more complex issues
instead of answering repeat inquires. Many companies such as Software 911 and
RightNow Technologies offer automated self-help agents, or Web robots, that
walk visitors through a series of questions to give them the information to
solve their problem or answer their question.
By posting this useful information directly to your Web site, customers can
ask questions any time and retrieve answers at their convenience; thus you
provide one aspect of around-the-clock support. If the customer still needs
more information or assistance, many solutions such as Facetime, eGain, and
Brightware offer instant messaging capabilities so that the customer can
speak to a representative immediately.
For those companies that need to expand their support staff but can't afford
an around-the-clock staff, CSRs can be rented or hired through some of these
complete outsourced solutions. Hiring outsourced CSRs can be a cost-effective
means of providing after-hours service. For example, by using the eReps at
PeopleSupport for your off-peak hours, you pay only for the calls that are
placed to the reps instead of an hourly employee rate. Fees are based on a
per-transaction basis.
Let
there be e-mail
E-mail is such a convenient form of communication that we are all inundated
with messages we can't possibly respond to. However, e-mail from customers
needs to be handled and responded to in a timely fashion. E-mail management
solutions from vendors such as Mustang.com and Talisma are available to
handle high volumes of e-mail, automatically routing messages to appropriate
representatives and/or automatically responding to common inquiries.
In the end, support managers and Web developers will want to track the progress
of the Web site and how well the support center is responding to issues.
Therefore, it is important to have tools available for reporting and tracking
problems.
E-businesses struggling to keep up with customer e-mail should consider
outsourcing a Web-based CRM solution. The quicker deployment and lower
start-up costs will lessen the burden of customer calls and increase customer
retention.
Senior
Analyst Lori Mitchell (lori_mitchell@infoworld.com)
covers online customer service and other Web-based technologies for the
InfoWorld Test Center.
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Outsourcing e-CRM
Follow this five-point strategy to successfully implement a hosted
e-CRM solution.
1. Set realistic goals. Determine how you want to strengthen and
maintain customer relationships and develop a sound strategy to achieve
them. Creating customer satisfaction at all "touch points"
requires support from all levels of management.
2. Involve all departments. Implementing e-CRM can and will have an
impact on multiple departments in your organization. Secure department
cooperation during the planning stages.
3. Let your strategy drive the technology. E-CRM is a process, not a
product. Do your homework to find which ASP (application service
provider) offers the services you need to implement your plan.
4. Consider an incremental rollout. Roll out your e-CRM strategy in
managed stages and have each stage of implementation build on the
previous one.
5. Solicit feedback. Once your plan is implemented, keep employees in
the loop. Encourage their input on how your strategy is working and
make changes if it is not working.
Who
can help with customer service?
ASPs have entered the CRM arena in droves. Some services are based on
their vendors' own software, and others combine software solutions from
multiple sources.
Ask Jeeves - www.corporate.ask.com
AudioTalk Networks - www.audiotalk.com
Brightware - www.brightware.com
Continuity - www.continuity.com
eAssist.com - www.eassist.com
eFusion - www.efusion.com
eGain Communications - www.egain.com
e-help (formerly Blue Sky Software) - www.ehelp.com
eLoyalty - www.eloyaltyco.com
eShare Technologies - www.eshare.com
eSupportNow (eSN) - www.esupportnow.com
FaceTime Communications - www.facetime.com
Inter-Tel - www.inter-tel.com
Island Data - www.islanddata.com
Kana Communications - www.kana.com
Lipstream Networks - www.lipstream.com
LiveAssistance - www.liveassistance.com
LivePerson - www.liveperson.com
Matranet - www.matranet.com
Mustang.com - www.mustang.com
Net2Phone - www.net2phone.com
NetCustomer.com - www.netcustomer.com
NetEffects Systems - www.neteffects.com
PeopleLink - www.peoplelink.com
PeopleSupport - www.peoplesupport.com
Pipelive.com - www.pipelive.com
RightNow Technologies - www.rightnowtech.com
ServiceSoft Technologies - www.servicesoft.com
Software 911 - www.software911.com
Talisma - www.talisma.com
E-CRM servicesAn outsourced e-CRM solution can help your company
improve customer service and build customer loyalty without investing
in hardware and software or allocating scarce IT resources. Outsourced
e-CRM solutions can be deployed more quickly at lower initial cost than
licensed solutions. Like licensed e-CRM solutions, outsourced solutions
typically provide searchable knowledge bases, e-mail management, Web
collaboration, issue tracking, and workflow routing. They also can be
integrated with traditional CRM solutions and call centers.
- No need to purchase
software and hardware
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- Data security is in
the hands of a third party
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- Less control over
training and performance of service reps
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BOTTOM LINE
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E-CRM services 
BUSINESS
CASE
An outsourced e-CRM solution can help your company improve customer
service and build customer loyalty without investing in hardware and
software or allocating scarce IT resources. Outsourced e-CRM solutions
can be deployed more quickly at lower initial cost than licensed
solutions.
TECHNOLOGY
CASE
Like licensed e-CRM solutions, outsourced solutions typically provide
searchable knowledge bases, e-mail management, Web collaboration, issue
tracking, and workflow routing. They also can be integrated with
traditional CRM solutions and call centers.
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PROS
+ No need to purchase software and hardware
+ Requires no IT resources
+ Fast and easy to deploy
CONS
- Data security is in the hands of a third party
- Less control over training and performance of service
reps
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