Case Study: ICD010: Customer Service Healthcheck
Drivers
- Client had embarked upon a large scale CRM project
- Client wished to ensure that the scope of the CRM project had been fully considered to ensure implementation was successful
- Robust business case for further investment in technology
The client, an international publishing house specialising in educational publications, had embarked upon a large scale CRM project that spanned several areas of the business and which, it suspected, had swerved off target due to changing needs of customers. A team from the ICD Partnership were asked to conduct a review of the project against the business activities with a view to identifying any potential gaps in thinking and to make recommendations on where the project may require realignment to overall business objectives and to ensure that the group was in the minority of organisations with successful CRM implementation.
Inputs
- Channel and business process analysis
- Customer service organisational analysis
- Assessment of technological support systems
- Employee competency appraisals
- Project health check
A team from the ICD Partnership was formed to evaluate the work undertaken by the client and to benchmark this against successful CRM implementations. By reviewing the client’s key business processes and CRM project activities, including an in-depth assessment of the effectiveness, efficiency and customer focus of each channel and associated business processes, the team were able to identify gap areas as well as project areas that had been fully scoped.
Deliverables
- Review of existing project activities and deliverables
- Analysis of CRM technology prototype
- Situation analysis (using the ICD CRM Audit process)
- Customer strategy checklist
The ICD Partnership reported back to the client on the alignment between the business and the objectives of their CRM project. In particular, the client was provided with a benchmark of existing customer management practices and identified areas for improvement including the use of technology to support the customer management activities of front line staff and training solutions that would drive higher levels of competency across the business.
Outputs
- Client benefited from an independent assessment of their current business operations
- ICD Partnership identified 26 areas for project improvement
- Client was able to validate the ROI model for their CRM strategy
- New tasks identified and incorporated into the implementation plan
The client was able to refocus its strategic CRM activities ensuring they were adequately meeting the needs of both their customers and their front line staff. The client was also reassured by the validation of their return on investment model for the project through its external assessment within the context of the overall business objectives.