Essay Undergraduate 827 words

Business Information Systems: CRM, Customer Service & EIS

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Abstract

This paper examines three critical business information systems — Customer Relationship Management (CRM), automated customer service applications, and executive information systems (EIS) — and the strategic roles they play within organizations. It argues that these systems support the three most essential business functions: generating and nurturing sales, retaining customers through quality service, and equipping executives with synthesized, real-time strategic information. Drawing on peer-reviewed research in marketing, operations, and information management, the paper demonstrates how integrating these systems reduces organizational silos, improves cross-functional coordination, and ultimately drives long-term profitability and competitive advantage.

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What makes this paper effective

The paper organizes its argument around three clearly defined business functions, giving each section a focused purpose and making the overall structure easy to follow.
Each section ties its discussion back to measurable business outcomes — such as customer lifetime value, retention rates, and profitability — grounding abstract system benefits in practical terms.
The conclusion synthesizes the three systems into a unified argument about integration and competitive advantage, avoiding a mere summary and instead advancing a final claim.

Key academic technique demonstrated

The paper consistently uses peer-reviewed sources to support each functional claim, demonstrating how to anchor business arguments in academic literature. Rather than citing sources only for definitions, the author uses them to validate strategic claims — for example, citing Chang, Park, and Chaiy (2010) to support the assertion that CRM transforms customer perception from transactional to relational.

Structure breakdown

The paper follows a clear five-part structure: a brief introduction identifying the three focal systems, three body sections each dedicated to one system (CRM, customer service automation, and EIS), and a conclusion that reframes the systems as complementary integration tools rather than isolated departments. This parallel structure makes the argument cumulative and reinforces the paper's central thesis about cross-functional integration.

Introduction

The three most critical strategic areas of any company are its ability to generate new sales, retain them over time through excellent customer service, and accumulate knowledge quickly and act on it. The three corresponding information systems that support these processes include Customer Relationship Management (CRM), automated customer service applications, and executive information management systems. These three organizational departments gain the greatest benefit from automating their operations with information systems.

How CRM Systems Build More Effective Customer Relationships

The strategies and processes that fuel the development and lead to the continual nurturing of customer relationships, when taken together, are what Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications are designed to automate. CRM is designed to get companies beyond thinking of customers as just participants in transactions and to focus more on how to build lasting relationships with them (Chang, Park, & Chaiy, 2010). Sales cycles vary significantly across industries in the business-to-business (B2B) marketplace, and the longer the sales cycles, the greater the need for tracking the roles of each participant within them (Reimann, Schilke, & Thomas, 2010).

The development of lead generation, lead nurturing, prospect development, and sales closing events are all critically important to the success of both B2B and business-to-consumer (B2C) companies. CRM systems are designed with enough flexibility to support strategies aimed at attracting, selling to, and retaining the loyalty of customers over time. CRM systems can also incorporate lifetime purchase data to determine the long-term value of a customer and assess which strategies will lead to the greatest level of profitable sales over time.

In short, CRM systems can tell a company which customers have the highest probability of purchasing, which represent the greatest long-term value by product line, and which are most influential in gaining new customers. For all of these reasons and for the foundational role they play, CRM systems are invaluable for helping companies manage relationships with their customers profitably and effectively (Chang, Park, & Chaiy, 2010).

2 Locked Sections · 260 words remaining

Automating Customer Service for Retention and Quality · 110 words

"Software streamlines service and improves customer retention"

Executive Information Systems and Strategic Decision-Making · 150 words

"EIS provides real-time cross-functional strategic intelligence"

Conclusion

Chang, W., Park, J., & Chaiy, S. (2010). How does CRM technology transform into organizational performance? A mediating role of marketing capability. Journal of Business Research, 63(8), 849.

Reimann, M., Schilke, O., & Thomas, J. (2010). Customer relationship management and firm performance: The mediating role of business strategy. Academy of Marketing Science Journal, 38(3), 326.

Seah, M., Hsieh, M., & Weng, P. (2010). A case analysis of Savecom: The role of indigenous leadership in implementing a business intelligence system. International Journal of Information Management, 30(4), 368.

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Key Concepts in This Paper

CRM Systems Customer Retention Executive Information System Sales Automation B2B Sales Cycles Service Quality KPIs Cross-functional Integration Customer Lifetime Value Business Strategy