Mini Case CRM at Minitrex4 Georges Degas, Director of Sales at Minitrex, looked at his salesman with

Mini Case CRM at Minitrex4

Georges Degas, Director of Sales at Minitrex, looked at his salesman with concern and sympathy as the man described another sales call where he had been made to look unprofessional! It was bad enough that he didn’t know that the company he’d just phoned was already a Minitrex customer, but being told that he was the third caller this week from Minitrex was horrible. “I’d be better off with a Rolodex and handwritten notes than this system,” he grumbled.

To keep track of customer information, salespeople use the Customer Contacts system, the brainchild of Degas’s boss, Jon Bettman, VP of marketing. Bettman’s posi- tion was created eighteen months ago in an effort to centralize sales and marketing activities at Minitrex. The sales and marketing team is responsible for promoting and selling an array of products to its customers. There are two distinct product lines, each developed by a separate division (insurance and financing) that also pro- vides after-sale customer service. The idea behind having a department dedicated to sales and marketing was to create opportunities for cross-selling and up-selling that didn’t exist when salespeople were tied to just one of the company’s product categories.

The insurance division, led by Harold Blumfen, VP of insurance, is a major profit maker for Minitrex. Blumfen’s group is divided into industry-specific teams whose goals are to develop deep industry knowledge and design short-term insurance products to meet clients’ needs. Irascible and brilliant, Blumfen believes that comput- ers are good for billing and other accounting functions but cannot replace people for customer knowledge and support. His division uses a credit administration system (developed more than twenty years ago) to track customer billings and payments and a general management system to keep track of which products a customer has bought and what services the customer is entitled to. Both are fundamentally back-end systems. The industry teams keep front-end customer knowledge in their own documentation and in their heads.

The mission of the financing division is to provide business sectors with financ- ing services that are competitive with those of the big banks. As with the insurance division, its products and customer service are designed and delivered through its own industry-specific teams. However, unlike Blumfen, the VP of financing, Mariella Hopkins, is an IT enthusiast. Hopkins joined Minitrex about four years ago after a suc- cessful banking career. Her mandate, which she has undertaken with alacrity, was to “combine big banking services with small company flexibility.” To do this, her division funded the development of a management business center application, which acts as an online customer self-service system. Customers can obtain statements and financing

4 Smith, H. A., and J. D. McKeen. “CRM at Minitrex.” #9-L05-1-002, Queen’s School of Business, January 2005. Reproduced by permission of Queen’s University, School of Business, Kingston, Ontario.

243

244 Section III • IT-Enabled Innovation

online and often can get credit approved instantly. Customer-service representatives use the same basic system, with additional functionality, to track customer transactions and to provide customer support as needed.

“The company is always promising better systems, ‘thought Degas,’ but when it comes down to it, no one can agree on what to do. Being customercentric seems to depend on whose view of the customer is being used. Meanwhile, salespeople can’t do their jobs properly. Just imagine what our customers think!”

Bettman has been trying to get the company to see the importance of having timely, accurate, and integrated customer information without much success. To give his sales force a better way to keep track of sales prospects, he developed his Customer Contacts system, which schedules sales calls on a periodic basis and provides mechanisms for generating and tracking new leads; it also forms the basis on which the marketing department pays the salespeople’s commissions. Real-time information on sales by product, salesperson, and region gives Bettman and his team excellent feedback on how well their centralized marketing strategies are perform- ing. For purposes of invoicing and servicing the accounts, the Customer Contacts system also feeds data into the insurance and financing divisions’ systems after sales are made.

“I’ll see what I can do about this,” Degas had promised his frustrated salesman, knowing that it would take a miracle to improve the situation. “I’ll speak with the direc- tor of IT today and get back to you.”

Degas put in a call to Denny Khan, Minitrex’s long-suffering director of IT. Khan, who reported to the CFO, was outranked by Bettman, Blumfen, and Hopkins. To his surprise, Khan answered the phone right away. “I was just leaving for lunch,” he explained. “What can I do for you?”

As soon as Degas began to explain what had happened that morning, Khan cut him off. “I know, I know. But the VPs would say, ‘Our systems work fine for our needs, so why change them? We have a lot more urgent IT needs to spend our money on.’ Blumfen doesn’t want to spend a nickel on IT and doesn’t want to have to work with Hopkins. Hopkins is open to collaboration, but she doesn’t want to compromise her existing system, which is working well. And Bettman can’t do anything without their cooperation. Furthermore, none of them will assign dedicated business staff to help us put together a business case and requirements. Their line is ‘We don’t have the budgets for this. Of course, we’ll answer IT’s questions, but it’s their job to give us the systems we need.’”

“I see the same attitude in our business activities,” agreed Degas. “Our sales force often doesn’t know what services the business teams are providing to the customers. I don’t see how management can expect to make informed decisions when they’re not sharing basic information. Isn’t there some way we could at least get common customer data—even if we use the data in different ways? And surely, with each unit identifying, prioritizing, and paying for IT opportunities, the duplication of support services must cost an arm and a leg.”

“Sure,” Khan agreed, “but each unit developed its own terminology and special- ized data items over time, so these only work for their systems. Sharing is impossible unless everyone agrees on what information everyone needs about our customers. I’d like to see something done about this, but when I take it to the IT prioritization

CRM at Minitrex 245

committee, it always seems to get bumped off the list. To the best of my knowledge, there has never been an effective business case to improve CRM. And anyway, I don’t own this issue!”

“You’re probably right, but I’m not sure how to go about this,” said Degas. “Let me think about it and get back to you.”

Discussion Questions

1. Explain how it is possible for someone at Minitrex to call a customer and not know (a) that this is a customer and (b) that this is the third time this week that they had been called.

2. Outline the steps that Bettman must take in order to implement CRM at Minitrex. In your plan be sure to include people, processes, and technology.

Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Preface
About the Authors
Acknowledgments
Section I: Delivering Value with IT
Chapter 1 DEVELOPING AND DELIVERING ON THE IT VALUE PROPOSITION
Peeling the Onion: Understanding IT Value
The Three Components of the IT Value Proposition
Five Principles for Delivering Value
Conclusion
References
Chapter 2 DEVELOPING IT STRATEGY FOR BUSINESS VALUE
Business and IT Strategies: Past, Present, and Future
Four Critical Success Factors
The Many Dimensions of IT Strategy
Toward an IT Strategy-Development Process
Challenges for CIOs
Conclusion
References
Chapter 3 LINKING IT TO BUSINESS METRICS
Business Measurement: An Overview
Key Business Metrics for IT
Designing Business Metrics for IT
Advice to Managers
Conclusion
References
Chapter 4 BUILDING A STRONG RELATIONSHIP WITH THE BUSINESS
The Nature of the Business–IT Relationship
The Foundation of a Strong Business–IT Relationship
Conclusion
References
Appendix A: The Five IT Value Profiles
Appendix B: Guidelines for Building a Strong Business–IT Relationship
Chapter 5 COMMUNICATING WITH BUSINESS MANAGERS
Communication in the Business–IT Relationship
What Is “Good” Communication?
Obstacles to Effective Communication
“T-Level” Communication Skills for IT Staff
Improving Business–IT Communication
Conclusion
References
Appendix A: IT Communication Competencies
Chapter 6 BUILDING BETTER IT LEADERS FROM THE BOTTOM UP
The Changing Role of the IT Leader
What Makes a Good IT Leader?
How to Build Better IT Leaders
Investing in Leadership Development: Articulating the Value Proposition
Conclusion
References
MINI CASES
Delivering Business Value with IT at Hefty Hardware
Investing in TUFS
IT Planning at ModMeters
Section II: IT Governance
Chapter 7 CREATING IT SHARED SERVICES
IT Shared Services: An Overview
IT Shared Services: Pros and Cons
IT Shared Services: Key Organizational Success Factors
Identifying Candidate Services
An Integrated Model of IT Shared Services
Recommmendations for Creating Effective IT Shared Services
Conclusion
References
Chapter 8 A MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK FOR IT SOURCING
A Maturity Model for IT Functions
IT Sourcing Options: Theory Versus Practice
The “Real” Decision Criteria
A Decision Framework for Sourcing IT Functions
A Management Framework for Successful Sourcing
Conclusion
References
Chapter 9 THE IT BUDGETING PROCESS
Key Concepts in IT Budgeting
The Importance of Budgets
The IT Planning and Budget Process
IT Budgeting Practices That Deliver Value
Conclusion
References
Chapter 10 MANAGING IT- BASED RISK
A Holistic View of IT-Based Risk
Holistic Risk Management: A Portrait
Developing a Risk Management Framework
Improving Risk Management Capabilities
Conclusion
References
Appendix A: A Selection of Risk Classification Schemes
Chapter 11 INFORMATION MANAGEMENT: THE NEXUS OF BUSINESS AND IT
Information Management: How Does IT Fit?
A Framework For IM
Issues In IM
Getting Started in IM
Conclusion
References
Appendix A: Elements of IM Operations
MINI CASES
Building Shared Services at RR Communications
Enterprise Architecture at Nationstate Insurance
IT Investment at North American Financial
Section III: IT-Enabled Innovation
Chapter 12 INNOVATION WITH IT
The Need for Innovation: An Historical Perspective
The Need for Innovation Now
Understanding Innovation
The Value of Innovation
Innovation Essentials: Motivation, Support, and Direction
Challenges for IT leaders
Facilitating Innovation
Conclusion
References
Chapter 13 BIG DATA AND SOCIAL COMPUTING
The Social Media/Big Data Opportunity
Delivering Business Value with Big Data
Innovating with Big Data
Pulling in Two Different Directions: The Challenge for IT Managers
First Steps for IT Leaders
Conclusion
References
Chapter 14 IMPROVING THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE: AN IT PERSPECTIVE
Customer Experience and Business value
Many Dimensions of Customer Experience
The Role of Technology in Customer Experience
Customer Experience Essentials for IT
First Steps to Improving Customer Experience
Conclusion
References
Chapter 15 BUILDING BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
Understanding Business Intelligence
The Need for Business Intelligence
The Challenge of Business Intelligence
The Role of IT in Business Intelligence
Improving Business Intelligence
Conclusion
References
Chapter 16 ENABLING COLLABORATION WITH IT
Why Collaborate?
Characteristics of Collaboration
Components of Successful Collaboration
The Role of IT in Collaboration
First Steps for Facilitating Effective Collaboration
Conclusion
References
MINI CASES
Innovation at International Foods
Consumerization of Technology at IFG
CRM at Minitrex
Customer Service at Datatronics
Section IV: IT Portfolio Development and Management
Chapter 17 APPLICATION PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT
The Applications Quagmire
The Benefits of a Portfolio Perspective
Making APM Happen
Key Lessons Learned
Conclusion
References
Appendix A: Application Information
Chapter 18 MANAGING IT DEMAND
Understanding IT Demand
The Economics of Demand Management
Three Tools for Demand management
Key Organizational Enablers for Effective Demand Management
Conclusion
References
Chapter 19 CREATING AND EVOLVING A TECHNOLOGY ROADMAP
What is a Technology Roadmap?
The Benefits of a Technology Roadmap
Elements of the Technology Roadmap
Practical Steps for Developing a Technology Roadmap
Conclusion
References
Appendix A: Principles to Guide a Migration Strategy
Chapter 20 ENHANCING DEVELOPMENT PRODUCTIVITY
The Problem with System Development
Trends in System Development
Obstacles to Improving System Development Productivity
Improving System Development Productivity: What we know that Works
Next Steps to Improving System Development Productivity
Conclusion
References
Chapter 21 INFORMATION DELIVERY: IT’S EVOLVING ROLE
Information and IT: Why Now?
Delivering Value Through Information
Effective Information Delivery
The Future of Information Delivery
Conclusion
References
MINI CASES
Project Management at MM
Working Smarter at Continental Furniture International
Managing Technology at Genex Fuels
Index
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
Doc1:

The post Mini Case CRM at Minitrex4 Georges Degas, Director of Sales at Minitrex, looked at his salesman with concern and sympathy as the man described another sales call where he had been made to look unprofessional! appeared first on Versed Writers.