DESIGNING MODULES

System Diagram on CRM

System Diagram on CRM

How modular was your system?

This model goes back to 2001 and has been developed before Payne and Frow (2005) designed their strategic framework. It has been used in the qualitative and the quantitative study over the last six years. The differences between the two frameworks are not dramatic. In both, marketing and information management are aligned. Our model however originates in information management, while Payne and Frow's one stems from marketing and strategy. The major differences are the following. We have not separately addressed the business strategy, but did cover the organization's vision in relation to the customer. On the other hand we separately addressed the organizational issue, a topic on which they agree is crucial for the success of CRM. The value creation process and the integrated channels are in our model the subject of the customer experience and in our operationalization we did not emphasize the co-creation process, although we followed the relationship marketing practices (Bruhn, 2003) where a seller strives to build mutually profitable relations with the right customers.

What kind of coupling did it exhibit?

Striving for mutually beneficial buyer-seller relations requires a profound synthesis of strategic vision. The organization as a whole needs to articulate or review its vision, related to CRM (Davidson, 2002; Payne & Frow, 2005). The vision reflects a company's ideal (long-term) future state that it wants to achieve regarding Customer Relationship Management. It focuses on values the organization is committed to and that are translated in appropriate standards of behavior of all employees. We define CRM vision as an organization's top management commitment to customer centricity as a path to business success. A good example of such a vision is the one adopted by the Dutch company Agrifirm: 'Agrifirm's success is best achieved through helping farmers yield higher returns from their lands.' The vision is not only important in creating a stable environment for CRM. Glazer (1997) also stresses the importance of the CRM vision in aligning information technology and marketing strategy. The CRM vision is crucial to the translation and communication of CRM throughout the organization. It significantly affects the way in which the entire organization accepts and practices CRM (Payne & Frow, 2005). In the model, the CRM vision is the first component since it determines the scope and direction of CRM within the organization and therefore the development of other components.

The CRM strategy describes the way the organization wants to realize its vision. Without the CRM strategy, the vision will remain without (significant) impact on the other components. The strategy involved in translating a CRM vision to operational results is often referred to as 'customer centricity'. The aim of the organization is to optimize the value of the customer base. It does so by positioning the customers at the heart of her activities. It is attentive to the needs of the customer and its strategy is aimed at making choices that optimize the customer value ...