CRM at Gibca Group Companies

CRM at GIBCA Group companies

The modern day society evolves at a rapid pace, and this pace is generally set by the field of information technology and communications, which impacts all aspects of the daily life. The it&C innovations have also been integrated within the business context to generate a series of effects. Aside from it however, the business community has been impacted by other elements as well, such as the more pretentious customers or the growing competition at both national as well as international level. In an effort to address these emergent challenges, the managerial team at the GIBCA Group Companies has decided in favor of the implementation of customer data collection and integration within organizational Customer Relationship Management initiatives.

Despite the adequacy of the endeavor, the results were fairly limited. The aim of this research was that of exploring the dimensions of customer data collection and usage, as well as those of the CRM strategies implemented within the Middle East manufacturing organization. To ensure an appropriate research project, the project has established goals to be completed and questions to be answered, as well as issued three hypotheses which were gradually discussed and referred to throughout the entire paper. These three hypotheses are as follows:

(1) the collection and integration of customer data leads to the development and implementation of improved customer strategies

(2) Increases in the amount of customer data collected and integrated leads to increases in the loyalty of the organizational clients, and third

(3) the GIBCA Group Companies would be investing more time and otherwise resources in the integration of data collection and Customer Relationship Management within the business model.

The three hypotheses were all addressed through a complex set of combined qualitative and quantitative analyses and they were all three proven right.

2. Summary

The necessity for the study was born out of the observation of the numerous changes impacting the business community, combined with the curiously of how these changes impacted the Middle East companies, and how these economic agents responded to the emergent challenges. The organization selected to serve the research purpose in the field of customer data collection and CRM integration was represented by the GIBCA Group, with its five individual companies.

The study is valuable from two particular standpoints. From an academic standpoint, it reveals the applicability of theoretical concepts, whereas from a practical standpoint, it offers solid recommendations to a real life situation. These two dimensions however are also the determinants of the study's limitations. Through the lenses of theory, the limitation is that of extrapolating the findings of the particular situation to the greater community. The practical limitation is that of operational impracticalities.

The review of the literature has revealed the various definitions of Customer Relationship Management, with the ultimate conclusion that it represented efforts in the direction of attaining an improved company -- customer relation, but with the specification that it can be adapted to various contexts.

Each of the reviewed sources discussed the topic through the lenses of their desired context: contained components (Peel, 2002; Andersen and Kerr, 2002), customer excellence through CRM (Payne, 2006), expectations from a customer transaction (Ragins and Greco, 2003) or the need for customer loyalty (Dyche, 2002). In terms of customer data, this is also assessed through various lenses. Jacko, Stephanidis and Harris (2003) for instance discuss the four different types of customer information. Andersen and Kerr (2002) however argue that the variety of customer data is wider than initially established. Berson, Smith and Thearling (1999) take a more complex approach and look at the issue of customer data integration through the process of data mining.

In order to prove the validity of the initially issued hypotheses, a four stage process was developed. The first stage of this process revolved around the collection of customer data through direct interviews with the GICBA Group Companies customers. The second stage was represented by the collection of information through questionnaires completed by both customers and by the organizational staff members. At the third level, the data collected was processed. The fourth level, not yet integrated in the paper, would be represented by the formulation of recommendations which help the GIBCA Group Companies enhance their customer data collection and integration processes.

The data collection process was characterized by three distinct features. It initially collected reference data on the customer; it then focused on collecting specific information and it then finally allowed the respondents to review their answers. The analysis of the data was focused onto the initial elimination of redundant or unnecessary information, after which a combination of qualitative and quantitative analyses was implemented. The qualitative analyses are more personal and constructed on the observation of the sample, whereas the quantitative analyses are more impersonal and constructed on statistical evidence. The findings retrieved through qualitative analysis are difficult to generalize, whereas those retrieved through quantitative analysis are easy to be extrapolated to the greater community.

In the testing of the three hypotheses, two samples were created and used as study bases. The first sample was constituted by the GIBCA Group Companies customers and the second sample was constructed from the GIBCA Group Companies staff members. The customers sample was formed from 100 respondents and the second sample had a size of 60 respondents. All the respondents were as such selected so that the validity and reliability of their answers was increased. To increase the practicality of the analysis, a notation system was adopted to signify the interview questions to customers (IC), the questionnaire questions to customers (QC) and the questionnaire questions to staff members (QE). Two noteworthy results were that the main determinants of customer satisfaction at GIBCA are the high quality of the products, the ability to rely on the company, the quick delivery and the competitive prices. In terms of customer dissatisfactions, these were mostly due to communication deficiencies, order mix ups and the poor treatment from the staff members.

The first and third hypotheses were tested with the aid of qualitative analysis conducted on both questionnaires as well as open interviews. The second hypothesis was tested with the aid of statistical regression (quantitative method). In all three cases, the hypotheses were proven right. In other words, it was verified that:

(1) Customer data does materialize in superior customer strategies

(2) the more customer data collected, the higher the levels of customer loyalty, and (3) the GIBCA Group Companies would be emphasizing more on customer data and Customer Relationship Management.

3. Conclusion

Based on the analysis conducted, the initially stated objective of identification and analysis of the GIBCA Group Companies' relationship with the customers was achieved. It was concluded that the companies have begun to get a grasp of the customer dimension and its importance within the development and implementation of a successful business model. Yet, the organizational efforts remain limited to the understanding of the growing importance of Customer Relationship Management integrated through collection and use of customer data, whereas the actual implementation and results proved inconsistent. The causes for this problem were identified and the adjacent recommendations would be made throughout a following section.

Yet, what is important to remember at this stage is that the research was complex and objective and it was constructed on feasible data. It has as such managed to prove that all three initially issued hypotheses are correct. Furthermore, the combination of the findings and the methodology used in the identification of the final results enhance the validity of the study and the reliability of its findings.

4. Implications

The main implication of the study is given by the fact that it has assessed a common problem within the United States, Western Europe and other highly developed countries in the context of the Middle East. In other words, the issue of customer data collection and its integration in the CRM strategies is a business aspect common in countries and companies which have managed to overcome the political, social and economic hurdles. The same cannot however be said about the Middle East, where social, economic and political instabilities still cause internal turmoil.

Due to these elements, the business research conducted for the economic agents in the region is limited. Studies of the Middle East focus mostly on the infringements of human rights, on the role played by crude oil and natural gas in the economic support of the region or on the armed conflicts which occur between the inhabitants of the region. All these elements distract the attention of the researcher and that of the international community from the business abilities and characteristics of the Middle East.

Yet, in light of the current research, it becomes more obvious that the Middle East is a strong business player which understands globalization as the ability to learn from the business actions and decisions of the Western regions. In other words, it would appear as more and more economic agents in the region comprehended the importance of customer satisfaction, high product and service quality or employee on the job satisfaction and they begin to implement these values and integrate them within their business models. This translates into a higher openness to western values and represents another step in the globalization process. The door is as such opened to more research endeavors focusing on the business dimension of the Middle East and its economic agents, but it could also imply the prospect for improved relations between the East and the West in the future.

5. Recommendations

Based on the analysis conducted, several recommendations are issued. They normally refer to actions which should be taken by the GIBCA Group Companies in order to ensure that their future relationship with the customer improves, and through this, that it registers increased revenues through customer satisfaction. In order to achieve these, the following ought to be considered:

Stage 1: throughout the duration of one month -- the purchase of high technology applications and their implementation within the organizational context; this includes more telephones, faxes, computers, printers and so on.

Stage 2: throughout the duration of one month: the creation and consolidation of a strong communications infrastructure with both customers as well as at the level of the internal environment; this includes elements such as the contraction of line and mobile telephone services, internet and others.

Stage 3: gradual, throughout the duration of three months -- the offering of employee training sessions during which the staff members are trained how to more effectively interact with the customers, how to collect customer data and how to transform customer data into business value.

Stage 4: gradual, throughout the duration of two years -- the development and enforcement of an organizational culture focused on complete customer satisfaction. In other words, this means that the focus on customer data collection and usage, as well as the broader scope of customer satisfaction, would not only be promoted at the level of the sales and marketing team, but throughout the entire organization. This stage is the most challenging one as it requires a massive change in the business model, beliefs and philosophies.

Stage 5: gradual: throughout the duration of two years. During this final stage, the companies' managerial team, as well as the group's executive team, would continually follow the implementation of the data collection and integration process and the development and implementation of more adequate customer strategies. Throughout this stage, the managerial team would ensure that the strategies implemented are able to retrieve the initially established goals. In case any mistakes or inconsistencies are observed, the leadership team would identify and implement solutions.

6. Reflective Journal

The completion of the research endeavor was made more difficult by the existence of several challenges. A first example in this sense is offered by the reticence of the staff members in answering the research questions. While the customers understood the scope of the interviews and questionnaires and freely decided to help in order to enhance the quality of the customer service, the employee became more defensive. They were initially unaware of the full dimension of the research and interpreted it as the beginning of organizational change. Additionally, they though that the research was ordered by the managers and that they (the employees) would be punished for their answers of limited customer data collection. A second example is offered by the massive difference in cultures, which in fact creates a barrier in the path of an effective research process.