Archive for month: October, 2015

Parature Cloud Based Solution

The way customers interact with businesses has changed. Customers are constantly connected via mobile devices, plugged into their social network, and doing their own research. This means that traditional ways of doing business are becoming obsolete, as consumers strive to take advantage of all of the technologies at their disposal. Microsoft acquired Parature in 2014, which is a cloud based solution that is geared towards creating an amazing customer experience through empowering multi-platform interaction, customer self-service and knowledge management. Parature is Microsoft’s first outward facing acquisition for Dynamics, which empowers organisations to;

• Communicate with customers across multiple channels, facilitates constant engagement. It also enables the organisation to communicate in the customer’s favoured medium.
• Provide customer self-service facility enables intelligent and guided self-service round the clock.
• Knowledge management is designed to boost productivity by providing employees with the knowledge they need when they need it.

These capabilities complement the existing Microsoft Dynamics CRM software with core strengths in workflow, extensibility and process-driven user experiences that allow contact centre agents to do their best work. CRM Magazine has spoken highly of the acquisition and integration by stating with reference to their web support leader board… “On our leader board for the first time in this category, Microsoft impressed analysts with its integration of Parature technology after acquiring the company in January 2014. Just a year after the acquisition, Microsoft has rolled out an updated Parature Customer Care Solution and has not only improved existing capabilities, but included new features as well.” This article aims to illustrate the benefits that this innovative cloud based solution can bring to your business, by enabling users to maximise productivity.

Pre-requisites

Parature Enterprise as an Office 365 service.

CRM Online with Spring Release Update.

Benefits of Parature Integration

Knowledge Base

Parature enables user’s access to a knowledge base that can be added to according to the ever evolving information requirements of the organisation. Updates to the knowledge base search capabilities have made search functions more efficient, allowing users to filter by; content type, recency and customer rating. Customers are now able to rate content that was sent to them based on how helpful it was, which has an influence on search results. This functionality enables CSAs to reduce call handling time. While working with a case users are able to;

• View system suggested KB articles
• Search for the most relevant KB articles using the enhanced search capabilities.
• Send Knowledge Base articles to customers which can include embedded pictures and videos.

These features empower users to build, manipulate and employ a “web of knowledge”, when information is used and collated in this dynamic way, it provides users with all the knowledge to quickly and effectively exceed the needs of their customers’ expectations.

Self Service Portal

Available through self-service portals on the Web and Facebook, support ticketing, virtually any mobile device, social customer support, and chat for both traditional customer service scenarios and proactive sales engagement, Parature can revolutionize your customer service experience. Brent Leary, partner at CRM Essentials, says. “Overall, I think they’ve got a good job of integrating Parature, especially because it’s been only a little over a year since the acquisition. It has already filled in some key gaps for Microsoft, especially in the area of adding social channels. Parature makes it easy, which is important as social becomes more prevalent.”

Chat

The enhanced chat functionality enable agents to provide support to customers who speak different languages in real time. This feature can be used either proactively or reactively, many customers agree that live chat is one of the best customer service channels, due to the fact that it is an extremely responsive and personalised medium in which to communicate. There are many chat widgets available for users to improve the experience of their customer based on their specific service requirements available within the parature console, including;

External

• Screen Sharing
• File sharing

Internal

• RMA system

Social

Social influencers in any industry are becoming more and more important for organisations wishing to make themselves heard in the increasingly noisy digital market place. Parature enables users to prioritise, harvest and respond to the activity of the influencers within their industry. Another enhancement made to Parature’s social offering, is that users can now provide customer service from across a variety of social channels including LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram.

Manufacturing Industry Overview

The manufacturing industry accounts for approximately one quarter of the world’s economic activity. It is a common misconception that the UK manufacturing industry is weak, it is actually the 11^th largest manufacturing nation in the world. In a report from themanufacturer.com it was stated that manufacturing makes up 11% of UK GVA and 54% of UK exports and directly employs 2.6 million people.

Market Transformation

The entire supply chain ecosystem is undergoing massive transformations, and this includes manufacturing.  The growth of the internet and digital/mobile technology has served as the main catalyst in changing customer expectations which is driving this transformation. Manufacturing companies were once known for being notoriously production orientated. However, Products don’t provide as much differentiation as they once did. It is possible to cut price for short periods of time, however, this does not create a sustainable competitive advantage. There is now a requirement for companies in this space to adapt to this shift in customer expectations, and invest resources in building an infrastructure that enables them to put the preferences of their customers at the heart of their business. The most effective way to achieve this, is to constantly innovate when it comes to their use of sales and communication channels.  The purpose of this article is to highlight some of the challenges faced by manufacturers, and illustrate how Microsoft Dynamics can address these issues.

Implications for Manufacturing

The manufacturing industry has always been competitive, however, never more so than it is now. There is huge pressure to gain new customers whilst retaining existing ones. This can sometimes seem like a bit of a juggling act for companies striving to provide the same high level of service that has always been required to compete in this market.  There are several challenges facing the manufacturing industry in today’s turbulent environment. One of the main industry specific issues, is the fact that there are many different manufacturing processes, such as; Lean Manufacturing, Flexible Manufacturing, Agile Manufacturing, Rapid Manufacturing and Just in Time (JIT) processes. To carry out any of these processes effectively requires a very specific solution, which is tailored to very specific business needs.

Supply chains are now truly global which has resulted in a huge demand for low cost. However, as stated before, simply cutting costs is not a sustainable way to gain competitive advantage in a price sensitive industry where quality is king. Manufacturers need to think outside of the box in order to find ways to add value. Another requirement for all manufacturers is that whatever CRM solution they choose needs to be flexible in order to adapt to changing market conditions. They also need the ability to accurately monitor the supply chain which relies on accurate inventory and manufacturing data.

Manufacturing and Dynamics CRM

Microsoft Dynamics CRM enables organisations to zero in on the areas of their business that add significant value. Manufacturers that utilise Microsoft Dynamics CRM are able to manage the core aspects of their business, such as; equipment and asset management, project management and account management in the same place. Marketing automation enables organisations to communicate more effectively with their customers based on their position within the sales funnel and response to past communication. Dynamics CRM integrates with other Microsoft products including; Outlook and OneNote which empowers users to collaborate. The user interface is familiar and easy to use which maximizes user adoption. It is now extremely important to harvest has much information as possible regarding the most profitable customer, the most effective communication method for different groups of customers, and how different markets respond to marketing efforts. Microsoft Dynamics CRM allows organisations to harvest and display this information to the people within the organisation in order to maximise productivity.

Lack of Long Term Strategy

There is an overwhelming number of variables that can cause a CRM initiative to fail. In order for an organisation to successfully implement a CRM system, they must first take steps to map out as many of these variables as they can, in an attempt to mitigate the associated risks, and give themselves the best possible chance to achieve maximum ROI as quickly as possible. These variables include;

• The organisations resistance to change
• A lack of employee buy in
• A lack of management CRM experience
• Integration issues
• An organisation not illustrating the benefits to all stakeholders properly

Obviously there are far more variables than this, and these variable can vary from organisation to organisation. However, these are a few of the main factors that can throw a spanner in the works when implementing CRM. The issue that this article will focus on is, how a lack of long term strategy can cause major issues for organisations considering CRM.

Implications for Business

Businesses are often startled due to a lack of long term strategy to align their operations with the CRM. It’s impossible to accurately predict the future performance of your business, as there is an almost infinite number of economic, political and social uncertainties that surround most businesses today, and they are constantly changing. New technologies can make or break entire industries, and CRM systems are driven by these new technologies. A correctly planned, implemented and maintained CRM system can provide businesses with the tools to facilitate business changes and advances in technology. However, companies considering a CRM solution need to recognise the fact that a CRM system is not a business solution in itself. Saur (1993) made the point that, more often than not, a system will fail because of its users as opposed to the system itself. The common notion that CRM is a technology solution is still a significant stumbling block for far too many firms. A possible reason for this is that many companies view CRM as a tactic as opposed to a strategy. In an article by the iveybusinessjournal.com CRM is defined as…

“The ongoing process of identifying and creating new value with individual customers, and sharing the benefits over a lifetime association. It involves the understanding and managing of ongoing collaboration between suppliers and selected customers for mutual value creation and sharing.”

This definition concurs with the view that CRM implementation is a strategic decision as opposed to a tactical one. Effective implementation of CRM has to be approached in the same way as a business process change, which is supported by technology. Many organisations continue to look to CRM as a business remedy in itself. One of the main reasons an organisation would consider CRM implementation is to become more consumer-centric. Customer centricity is most definitely not something that happens overnight. Companies need to formulate a process or strategy for collaborative innovation and customer inclusion, in order to drill down to the areas where customer perceive value and constantly adapt their offering.

CRM Implementation

The most logical solutions to the strategy issue surrounding CRM implementation is for the organisation to take steps to fully understand their CRM requirements before adopting it. For an organisation considering a new CRM system or updating an old one, an effective way to fully understand the challenge at hand, would be to have members of the CRM implementation team spend time working on the front line, to get as vivid a picture as possible as to how the proposed CRM system could benefit the end users in terms of; productivity, ease of use, stress reduction and the user’s ability to zero in on the needs of the individual customer, and act accordingly in a timely manner. This will in turn help the organisation formulate long term strategies as well as streamline the CRM implementation process, as they will be able to accurately illustrate their specific business requirements to the team tasked with the development and customisation of their system.