Customer management

Customer information changes all the time. This information includes contact details, delivery information, financial information, and areas of interest. The way that customer information is structured and managed can help you retain your customers, using analysis to follow-up with effectively targeted communications. It is generally preferable for customers to enter and maintain their own contact information into a contact database, increasing accuracy and saving you time. Broadband will allow such a resource to be permanently accessible to your customers and to you.

Resource centres
If you work closely with customers you may want to give them access to particular information or documents on your local network, to help them with product configuration and pricing, ordering and delivery, or installation and support. This type of shared setup is often referred to as an extranet. This type of collaboration makes life easier for customers, and will help tie them in to you as a supplier. To enable this you will need broadband, as it is always-on, and allows individual computers on your network (where shared resources might be stored) to be given fixed IP addresses, making them uniquely identifiable on the internet.

Tracking orders
Many customers find it valuable to be able to track their orders, particularly if the product configuration process is time-consuming or if the shipping takes time. With the appropriate customer and order management systems it is possible to allow customers to review these processes in real-time, which will increase their satisfaction (as long as the order is progressing smoothly!). You will need the always-on aspect of broadband to facilitate this. Many logistics companies allow shipments to be tracked, and it may be possible to incorporate this information into an online management system. (This is also discussed in the ‘Order Processing’ white paper.)

Online discussions
Delivering customer support can be time-consuming. Online support via discussions can help questions be resolved and provide a resource for the future. In such forums customers can post questions which your staff can address, but you may find that one customer answers another’s question. Easy access to answers at any time will make life easier for your customers. Discussion areas need to be moderated and broadband will make it easy to frequently check new discussion postings, and for your staff to post responses. Where a question has been extensively discussed it is often appropriate to summarise the answers in a frequently asked questions (FAQ) document, to which future customers with related questions can be directed.

Customer problems and surveys
If a customer has a comment or a serious complaint you are likely to want to know about it right away. The always-on aspect of broadband allows for email to be collected as often as you choose, ensuring you get their emails as promptly as you want. (You will find the ‘Sales and Marketing’ white paper of interest here.) If you use a contact management system as a way of logging complaints through to resolution, you may want to allow customers to see how close to resolution their problem is (information that is often very hard to find). In this case you will need broadband to enable your system to be always accessible. If you use an ASP-based contact management system you will need broadband to give you always-on and high-bandwidth access to it.

You may also be pro-active and choose to conduct online customer surveys using bespoke survey tools. As these surveys need to be setup online, a broadband connection will help ensure that you can do this efficiently and without losing your connection to the setup process.

Tools and services

Actinic Business
Allows for creation and management of an online stores, with advanced features including customer account management, customised pricing schedules for individual customers, customer-specific store content and quantity based discounts.
Platform: Windows-only for site maintenance tool, Windows NT or Unix/Linux with Perl for web server
Cost: around £1000
www.actinic.co.uk/products/business.htm

WebObjects
A high-powered tool for shopping carts and a wide variety of interactive, database-driven products.
Platform: MacOS
Ease of use: medium
Cost: $99 to $50,000
www.apple.com/webobjects

Customer information

Accucard
Users can invite their contacts to enter and update their own information. Only practical for small organisations.
Platform: web-based
Cost: free
www.cardscan.net

Personalisation

Microsoft Commerce Server
Commerce Server supports user profiling and personalisation. It works in conjunction with Microsoft’s Content Management Server.
Platform: Windows. Requires Windows 2000 Server and SQL Server.
Cost: licensing per processor. £10,000s and upward (including other required tools).
www.microsoft.com/CommerceServer

Resource centres

Microsoft SharePoint
SharePoint uses the concept of audiences to support access to appropriate documents. It integrates with Commerce Server and Content Management Server. It is likely to need an IT integrator to create an appropriate implementation for specific needs.
Platform: Windows. Requires Windows 2000 Server.
Cost: licensed on a per seat basis. £5000 upward (including other required tools) to £10,000s for unlimited license.
www.microsoft.com/SharePoint

Contact management

Microsoft Business Solutions Customer Relationship Management
Customer Relationship Management allows management, routing and tracking of incidents, contacts, and customer service levels. It facilitates creation of articles and FAQs.
Platform: Windows
Cost: £100s to £1000 per user
www.microsoft.com/BusinessSolutions

Online discussions
All products have web-interfaces for accessing discussion groups.

Lyris
Considerable control possible over the software configuration. Supports email discussion groups.
Platform: Windows, Linux, and Solaris. Hosted service also available
Cost: for hosted service based on feature set, performance level, and database type. Software licenses from under £400.
www.lyris.com

Web Crossing
A well-established discussion tool, which scales to include extensive collaboration features.
Platform: Windows, MacOS, various versions of Unix
Cost: traffic licenses based on pageviews, seat licenses based on number of registered users. £2-300 to purchase for moderate usage. Technical support extra. Hosting also offered.
www.webcrossing.com

Infopop OpenTopic
A well-established discussion tool with a good user interface.

Platform: Java and XML-based, hosted by Infpop
Cost: bespoke quotes available
www.infopop.com/products/opentopic

CF Forum
Platform: Runs on top of Macromedia Cold Fusion server software
Cost: £50-£600 for license. Technical support and upgrades or upgrades extra
www.cfcode.com

Customer surveys

Catapult Systems Inquisite
An easy-to-use automated survey software system that allows non-technical users to manage their own web surveys.
Cost: pricing on request
www.inquisite.com

Survey.com
US- and UK-based. Able to develop surveys using a wide range of technologies and techniques.
Cost: pricing on request
www.Survey.com

SurveyMonkey
Cost: professional subscription under £20/month, up to 1000 responses
www.surveymonkey.com

Zoomerang
Cost: limited free service. Around £400 per year for unlimited surveys with up to 10,000 responses.
www.zoomerang.com

What you need
Many of the tools and techniques discussed require that your network is accessible at all times and over a fast connection. You will need the always-on and high-bandwidth aspects of broadband to allow this. Some applications require that computers on your network have a fixed IP address, which broadband also facilitates.

Next steps

Where to go
For specific advice on which applications discussed might fit your business needs, or on finding and evaluating suppliers and products, you can contact your local, government-funded, Business Link service (www.businesslink.org). You might also review the UK Online for Business website (www.ukonlineforbusiness.gov.uk).

Look for customer management services and software at:
http://uk.dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Business_to_Business/Corporate_Services/Customer_Service/

Learn on

IT-director.com
Published by Bloor Research. Aimed at IT decision makers. Publishes current IT news, information, analysis and advice. Members area allows registered users free access to an archive of technology reports, product evaluations and white papers from Bloor.
www.it-director.com

Business 2.0 magazine
A US-based publication broadly covering business, technology and innovation with a strong journalistic approach. The website offers daily editorial features and columns.
www.business2.com

CIO magazine
A US-based publication covering topics including e-business, knowledge management, ERP, supply chain management, and staffing. In print but also available online with a full archive of articles.
www.cio.com

CRMguru
An online CRM-focus community and publication including feature articles, case studies, a newsletter, discussion forum, and events center (with webcasts).
www.crmguru.com

Business Europe (www.businesseurope.com) has a number of articles worth reviewing (free registration required):
Set up a database for customer information

Watch out for...

Loose terminology
This white paper discusses concepts that are often grouped under the heading of customer relationship management (CRM) - still a hot area in the IT industry. While this concept is useful it often obscures more than it reveals, and you should beware of software vendors who use the term but never explain how it is really effected in their product.

Unfulfilled promises
Tools used for customer management are often very complex and although they have great potential it is very difficult to realise their promise. You will need to very carefully evaluate products you are considering purchasing, and work with a company or individual that has experience in this area and a clear sense of your project objectives and constraints.

Allowing for maintenance
These tools and processes also require constant monitoring, as they will often be running or giving access to core aspects of your business. You will need to have processes in place for ensuring that any products you commission continue to run as expected, and ensure that you have IT support to help if they do not.

On security
As many of the tools and processes outlined here involve opening up access to network resources (including customer information), you will need to put additional security processes in place to reduce the likelihood of unauthorised access. If you collect data from customers or potential customers you should indicate to them why you need this data and how it will be used. You should also consider the legal issues around storing data, detailed at the government Data Protection website (www.dataprotection.gov.uk) site for more information.