Successful strategies of business-to-business customer relationship management

Abstract

Globalization and deregulation are opening up new markets and increasing the competition. Enabled by e-business technologies, many companies often have lower cost structures and broader geographic reach. At the same time, they should be very creative in addressing customer needs. Today the keys to business success are to build a loyal customer base, ensure that product and service offers meet customers’ specific needs, have an ongoing competitive intelligence system, and build new business around current customers. The purpose of this study is to increase the odds of success as well as to better understand CRM in the B2B(Business-to-Business) industry through the empirical analysis of B2B CRM dimensions that drive profitable expectations and outcomes in Korea up to now. In the B2B industry, understanding customers and how to add customer value are critical for real CRM. Without understanding customers, implementers are just playing technology games. Finally, this study suggests. First, companies should change from internal focus to customer focus. Second, companies should build integrated cross-functional teams that consist of business and technology resources from marketing, sales, customer service and the IS organization for the B2B CRM. Third, customer data and information architecture are required to become incorporate CRM and collaboration. Therefore, companies should invest in collaborative training tools to improve channel partner selling effectiveness. Until now companies have got the problem that salespeople are not accustomed to use the information technology. Salespeople need to go into training. And CRM has a definite impact on the shape of the organization and the roles of people. Successful B2B CRM projects happen when people are integrated into the process of change. Change management is fundamental to achieve the expected project benefits because people - from employees to channel partners and customers - are the ones generating the be...