The Technology Industry has skilfully created – in a short period of time – a sense of deprivation in those Companies who have not CRM [Customer Relationship Management] Systems – and embarked on the significant investment programme that comes with a largely technically driven strategy.

The prize for investing in this essential technology was to have not only a more complete understanding of customers and better predictive capability, but also increased profitability.

The reality is a much bigger gap between the promise and the result, and many Companies are now looking for ways to close that gap.

We understand, like our Clients, that CRM is not just about Information technology solutions – it is a way of thinking about Customers and looking inward at your own organisation, infrastructure and culture.

Our Customer Management Practice looks at all the principles involved in effective Customer Service, Care and Management - where segmentation, customisation, personalisation, measurement, culture and climate are all evaluated. In conjunction with our other business practices we develop solutions to leverage people, technology and the integrated whole to form powerful competitive units.

All our programmes are based on extensive research in both B2B and B2C environments and the evidence is that Customers in both sectors clearly see as most important - the relevance of the service to them, the consumer, how tangible is it and whether it can be sustained. They look at how responsive a company is – not just in speed but in the competence of the response – and what assurance and empathy is demonstrated during the Customer Service experience.

Through this evaluation our Customer Management practice builds a complete understanding of your Customers and their motivation. We start to align Customer related activity to other elements in the delivery chain – from product design through sales and fulfilment right through to Care ensuring that it becomes a visible part of the buying decision and is integral to the loyalty motive.

Organisationally, we identify where your Customer service sits and how the links inside and outside should be formed. We understand that the individual in a Company can make all the difference – and we know what makes a good Customer Service person. So, although our programmes embrace large groups of Customer Service people at al levels – they reach the individual too – showing how rewards flow to people not just Companies and Customers when great Customer Care is given. We help people understand the importance of their role and make them feel good about making a difference; and we help them understand their responsibilities and how to acquire the skills to fulfil them.

And, although technology is a vital element – the way in which it is utilised is critical – our deep understanding of both surface and support technology like SAP, Siebel and Onyx allows us to not only ensure that you have an optimal technical solution giving value – but also that technology and people are fully integrated and that utilisation of investment is at a high level.

Bringing together Customer expectations, the potential of your people, technology and other parts of the infrastructure – are our measurement programmes that look at performance, effectiveness, cost and quality and we add specific measures relevant to your particular business. We add to this processes for data gathering, analysis and evaluation – often very short cycle – to support decision making and track the effectiveness of Customer Care development programmes.

We look at channel alignment and skills – is the channel utilisation by your Customer being driven by failure. Or is the most expensive channel for you too convenient.

As performance starts to rise – typically in three weeks or less - communications plays a big part in Customer Care and letting people know about this – Customers, other parts of the organisation and – of course – the people providing the service, becomes part of the virtuous upward spiral.

Our focus on Customer Service and Care Teams shows how to identify and then manage Customer expectations and how going beyond resolution drives sales, margin and retention – often taking local initiatives to global impact – sustainably.

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