Stand and Deliver

Multiple-channel CRM strategies can provide better service, customer retention, and profitability

By Hisham Alam

Continued from Page 2

Integrating Information

The challenge is to integrate the front- and back-end functions. Information overlaps in the two systems. New orders created through the front-end CRM system must be routed to the dispatch application. Order tracking information must be updated with the latest delivery status and routed back to the front-end system. Likewise, information about a new customer needs to be propagated from the CRM application to the dispatch application. These updates must take place in real time. Payment owed to drivers, customer payment and billing, and partner payment information may be loaded into the financial system on a nightly basis.

Information common to the different application systems includes:

• Customer information
• Partner information
• Employee/driver information
• Order information.

As you add systems, common information needs to be replicated across these systems. You may be able to designate a particular system as the system of record for a certain type of information, but this situation is not ideal. You need a fully integrated architecture.

Integrating Channels

The integrated multichannel CRM architecture facilitates the seamless flow of information. Figure 2 depicts a schematic of the integrated architecture. The common information bus is the integrating feature of this architecture solution. The "bus" is a relational database storing the common information used across the different systems. The various components of the solution interrelate with each other through this "bus." The use of a central database provides the flexibility to separate the call center CRM and the Web and wireless CRM applications. This separation of applications is a tactical choice depending on the business fit of the different CRM packaged software solutions. The CTI server may also access the central database directly to look up customer information and use sophisticated business rules to route calls to the most appropriate CSR. The architecture also simplifies the process of adding a reporting database, which can be a replication of the central database. The purpose of the reporting system is to provide various types of operational reports without affecting the performance of the mission-critical components of the architecture, which are the CRM, Web, and dispatch servers. Data replication can take place on a nightly basis.

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This integrated architecture provides many benefits; for example, it lets you incorporate additional applications without creating individual interfaces. The central database permits a common interface that can be leveraged across all applications. Common data is centralized, data redundancy is reduced, and all applications have a uniform view of the data. Transaction routing between applications is simplified and processed through the central database. Last, it is scalable with growth because the integrated architecture is not constrained by the number and the types of different application components.

Happy Customers and Higher Profits

Multichannel CRM strategies are becoming increasingly important. They offer a competitive business advantage by leveraging economies of scale across the multiple channels. They enable better customer reach while at the same time providing customer convenience and high customer satisfaction. The net result is higher customer retention and profitability. Startup delivery service companies, along with other types of companies, are building businesses based on this strategy. The hope for the delivery service companies is to conquer the last mile to efficient home delivery by being able to locally deliver anything and everything within the hour.

Hisham Alam (hisham.alam@us.pwcglobal. com) is a principal consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers. He has extensive experience implementing strategies and solutions in the areas of Web-centric and client/server application architecture, data warehousing, and technical architecture.