September 2002 Newsletter

Introduction

The aim of this communication is to bring you informative articles, tips and news on how to successfully merge teams and technology and maximise your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.

This month:

1. Direct Marketing Association of NZ (DMA) CRM Breakfast Workshop Review
2. Supporting paper to the Breakfast workshop - to show participants that their ideas were sound
3. Six Steps to Successful CRM.

SRD Group Breakfast Workshops Review

SRD Group has been asked to run some breakfast workshops for the DMA. The aim of these workshops is to explore solutions to commonly encountered, non-technical, issues surrounding CRM. The idea is to share experiences and learning of the entire group. Participants come up with strategies or methodologies to get more value out of the CRM systems in their organisations.  

The first workshop was run in Auckland at the Stamford Plaza on the 17th of September. The topic workshopped was "How can we manage the cultural changes required in implementing and running a CRM program?." The feedback on the workshops has been excellent with all attendees saying that they would recommend the workshop to colleagues and the general view is best summed up in one attendees comment "Really enjoyed the presentation - very worthwhile. A good atmosphere was created. Led to lots of interesting discussion and information sharing."

We have summarised the outcomes of the DMA Breakfast CRM workshop into one document (You will require Adobe Acrobat Reader).

Six Steps to Successful CRM

The Six steps to successful CRM paper is short but reinforces a lot of the ideas and findings of the DMA Workshop. It is also one of the few papers that we have encountered that mentions the need for the Human Resources in CRM 'journeys'.

Upcoming Events

SRD Group will be speaking at the DMA Senior Executive Breakfast meetings on the 1st of October in Auckland and 2nd of October in Wellington. Neil will be speaking about the need for ongoing cultural change management when looking to introduce or improve upon CRM projects. In particular he will be focusing on the People, Process and Strategy part of the CRM equation.

SRD Group have also been asked to participate in the Customer Contact World Conference to be held in Auckland in April 2003. Orix Australia and SRD Group will jointly present a case study based on ORIX Australia's companywide re-launch of their Customer Management System . The case study will focus on people, process and cultural change as ORIX Australia strive to be more customer focused.

Neil is also engaged in discussions with each of the organisers of the events in NZ, Australia and Asia about how SRD Group could add further value to the events in each country. We will keep you posted.

Next month we will begin a four part series on CRM and cultural change using the Transformational Change Cycle model.

Tips/Thoughts

CRM requires strategic vision and it needs to be viewed as never ending, as a journey. This journey will take you over hills, through valleys, across plains, over rivers; it will not always be easy and the vehicle (the system, the people and its supporting processes) will require constant supervision, regular services and refuelling. Each destination reached is only the transit point for the next stop.