CRM technology use and implementation benefits in an emerging market

Abstract

Against a backdrop of growing popularity of Customer Relationship Management (CRM ) systems globally, this study empirically examines CRM awareness, perceptions and extent of CRM technology adoption among organizations in an emerging market -Saudi Arabia. It also examines the specifi c uses of analytical CRM and the perceived benefi ts of CRM technology among adopting organizations. Data for the empirical analysis come from 118 responses provided by key informants to a structured self-administered survey. The empirical results show a reasonably high level of CRM awareness and a relatively high CRM technology adoption rate, particularly among large organizations. Contrary to expectations, however, service organizations are no more likely to adopt CRM technologies than their non-service counterparts. The results also show that adopting organizations mainly use the customer analytics capabilities of CRM technologies to obtain insights about current customers and for customer value assessment and information tracking. Analytics relating to potential and past customers and to customer cost determination are relatively less prevalent. Finally, CRM technology-adopting organizations report the greatest implementation benefi ts in improved customer insight and employee productivity. With a few exceptions, the fi ndings endure irrespective of organization size, industry sector and CRM technology duration in the organization. Implications of the results are outlined and discussed.

The firms benefits of mobile CRM from the relationship marketing approach and the TOE model

“…It may be more likely that companies that tend to innovate are also the ones that more adequately manage large amounts of client information, as a company's operational activity. Following this line of argument, Abdul-Muhmin (2012) suggests that companies use the m-CRM primarily to improve their operational efficiency in the management of the large amounts of customer data.…”

“…Finally, the environmental context refers to the industrial framework, the relationship of the company with its stakeholders and/or competitors (Kuan & Chau, 2001;Low, Chen, & Wu, 2011). The three contextual groups of the TOE model have been mentioned in the literature to determine factors that influence the benefits of CRM to adopt technology (Internet or mobile) in business activity (Abdul-Muhmin, 2012;Awa, Nwibere, & Inyang, 2010;Kimiloglu & Zarali, 2009).…”

“…Thus, from a conceptual perspective, we understand that for there to be a perception of benefits of performing a marketing activity (in this case m-CRM), there has to be an improvement in various indicators of business performance. Although there is no consensus in the measurement of the variable 'perceived benefits of CRM' in previous literature (Chang et al, 2005), there are various studies that highlight the financial and marketing benefits (Abdul-Muhmin, 2012;Awasthi & Sangle, 2013;Harrigan et al, 2009;Lai, Chou, & Cheung, 2013;Wang & Feng, 2012), as it has been previously justified (recall Table 1). In this sense, we understand the perceived benefits of m-CRM as a formative variable.…”

A hierarchical IMC data integration and measurement framework and its impact on CRM system quality and customer performance

“…Recently, the merging of advanced marketing and advertising channels with more traditional communication media has altered the fabric of IMC (Sasser et al, 2007;Zigmond and Stipp, 2010), more specifically with regard to measuring ongoing and real-time 'interactive' buyer-seller relationships (Schultz and Patti, 2009;Hipperson, 2010;Acker et al, 2011). Interactive IMC has not only impacted the way marketers communicate with customers and prospects, but has also placed greater value on bringing together multiple data touchpoints, media and messages to deliver personalized marketing communications that maximize return on investment (Swain, 2004;Micu et al, 2011;Abdul-Muhmin, 2012). IMC has thus evolved from simply creating a consistent message to increasing the value of traditional and emerging media.…”

“…However, a CRM strategy based on quality data requires companies to organize and analyze every touchpoint so that the customer's value to the firm can be readily determined. Utilizing customer profiling, firms can then implement interactive IMC campaigns that maximize this value over time (Abdul-Muhmin, 2012). Through appropriate resource allocation and marketing mix optimization (Kumar and George, 2007), the anticipated outcomes of personalized, data-driven IMC programs include increased retention, share of wallet, customer lifetime value and profitability (Peltier et al, 2013).…”