CRM

IMPLEMENTATION
AT ICICI BANK

Customer Relationship Management

Haji Saif Ullah

The better a business can manage the relationships it has with its customers the more
successful it will become. Therefore IT systems that specifically address the problems of dealing
with customers on a day-to-day basis are growing in popularity. Customer relationship
management (CRM) is not just the application of technology, but is a strategy to learn more
about customers' needs and behaviors in order to develop stronger relationships with them. As
such it is more of a business philosophy than a technical solution to assist in dealing with
customers effectively and efficiently. Nevertheless, successful CRM relies on the use of
technology.

This guide outlines the business benefits and the potential drawbacks of implementing CRM. It
also offers help on the types of solution you could choose and how to implement them.

WHY CRM?

In the commercial world the importance of retaining existing customers and expanding
business is paramount. The costs associated with finding new customers mean that every
existing customer could be important.

The more opportunities that a customer has to conduct business with your company the better,
and one way of achieving this is by opening up channels such as direct sales, online sales,
franchises, use of agents, etc. However, the more channels you have, the greater the need to
manage your interaction with your customer base.

Customer relationship management (CRM) helps businesses to gain an insight into the behavior
of their customers and modify their business operations to ensure that customers are served in
the best possible way. In essence, CRM helps a business to recognize the value of its customers
and to capitalize on improved customer relations. The better you understand your customers,
the more responsive you can be to their needs.

CRM can be achieved by: finding out about your customers' purchasing habits, opinions and
preferences profiling individuals and groups to market more effectively and increase sales
changing the way you operate to improve customer service and marketing Benefiting from CRM

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is not just a question of buying the right software. You must also adapt your business to the
needs of your customers.

BUSINESS BENEFITS OF CRM

 Increased sales through better timing due to anticipating needs based on historic trends
 Identifying needs more effectively by understanding specific customer requirements
 Cross-selling of other products by highlighting and suggesting alternatives or
enhancements
 Identifying which of your customers are profitable and which are not
 Effective targeted marketing communications aimed specifically at customer needs
 A more personal approach and the development of new or improved products and
services in order to win more business in the future
 Enhanced customer satisfaction and retention, ensuring that your good reputation in
the marketplace continues to grow
 Increased value from your existing customers and reduced cost associated with
supporting and servicing them, increasing your overall efficiency and reducing total cost
of sales
 Improved profitability by focusing on the most profitable customers and dealing with
the unprofitable in more cost effective ways

HOW TO IMPLEMENT CRM

The implementation of a customer relationship management (CRM) solution is best treated as a

six-stage process, moving from collecting information about your customers and processing it
to using that information to improve your marketing and the customer experience.

Stage 1 - Collecting information

The priority should be to capture the information you need to identify your customers and
categories their behavior. Those businesses with a website and online customer service have an
advantage as customers can enter and maintain their own details when they buy.

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Stage 2 - Storing information

The most effective way to store and manage your customer information is in a relational
database - a centralized customer database that will allow you to run all your systems from the
same source, ensuring that everyone uses up-to-date information.

Stage 3 - Accessing information

With information collected and stored centrally, the next stage is to make this information
available to staff in the most useful format.

Stage 4 - Analyzing customer behavior

Using data mining tools in spreadsheet programs, which analyses data to identify patterns or
relationships, you can begin to profile customers and develop sales strategies.

Stage 5 - Marketing more effectively

Many businesses find that a small percentage of their customers generate a high percentage of
their profits. Using CRM to gain a better understanding of your customers' needs, desires and
self-perception, you can reward and target your most valuable customers.

Stage 6 - Enhancing the customer experience

Just as a small group of customers are the most profitable, a small number of complaining
customers often take up a disproportionate amount of staff time. If their problems can be
identified and resolved quickly, your staff will have more time for other customers.

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 OVERVIEW ON ICICI BANK

ICICI Bank (formerly Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India) is a major banking
and financial services organization in India. It is the 4th largest bank in India and the largest
private sector bank in India by market capitalization. The bank also has a network of 1,700+
branches (as on 31 March 2010) and about 4,721 ATMs in India and presence in 19 areas of
investment banking, life and non-life insurance, venture capital and asset management. ICICI
Bank is also the largest issuer of credit cards in India. The bank currently has subsidiaries in the
United Kingdom, Russia and Canada, branches in United States, Singapore, Bahrain, Hong Kong,
Sri Lanka, Qatar and Dubai.

Channels:

ICICI Bank has the following channels through which it offers its products and services to its
customers.

 Branches
 ATMs
 Internet Banking
 Mobile Banking
 Phone Banking

Products and Services:

ICICI Bank offers a host of products and services to its clients, which include Deposits, Loans,
Cards, Investments, Insurance, De-mat, NRI Services and Online Services etc.

EMERGENECE OF CRM IN ICICI BANK

The CRM initiatives in India‟s ICICI Bank hold together its compelling story of growth. Its growth
in customer base, channels, and product and service offerings, Since its inception in 1995, the
bank has grown to have 15.8 million customers, holding about 17 million accounts. The bank‟s
network has expanded to 610 branches and standalone counters and over 2,000 ATMs. CRM

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has been envisioned by the bank to support its goals in sales, customer service, and analytics.
Already, about 30.40% of the bank‟s home loans are cross-sold to existing customers. Similar
ratios have also been reported in the sale of insurance policies. Ratios of about 50.60% have
been seen out of the credit cards and personal loans business. The bank‟s stated intention is to
take these ratios to as high as 60.75%. ICICI Bank states that these high levels of relationship
maximization are made possible by how its CRM system is able to "know and understand the
customer better.” which customer is most suitable for what kind of product and at what point
in time." In the area of service, the bank receives as many as 150,000 customer requests per
day, a challenge not only to channel capacity but also to how the bank is able to ensure that
each request is recorded, tracked, and resolved. Last, customer analytics have been used to
support various strategic decisions of the bank. Recent strategic decisions of note are several
anti attrition programs, the intended attrition of unprofitable customers, the imposition of fees,
and various customer segment tactical initiatives. ICICI Bank‟s CRM capability is built on a
“Teradata” data warehouse that integrates data from multiple sources, including the Oracle
database and various flat files. The system provides users with information about each
customer‟s checking accounts, fixed deposits, credit cards, and other financial information. The
bank has taken on the end-to-end proposition of SAS for enterprise intelligence, which offers a
credible integrated approach to analytics, including data detection, data cleansing, data
preparation, event detection, reporting and business intelligence, and campaign analysis. The
bank estimates that it is able to track more than 1,200 parameters concerning demographics,
transactions made, channel usage, and product relationships. Through Behavior Explorer and
views, business users develop customer profiles and run ad hoc queries. Analysts then use the
information to guide product development and marketing campaigns that are intended to
address each individual‟s total requirements, instead of just pushing a product. The success of
cross selling to existing customers has also been enabled by the bank‟s growing capabilities in
lead management. The home loans business unit, for example, has built a lead management
system rolled out to about 700 users. The system is able to allocate leads, schedule meetings,
provide a record of all interactions with the customer, and give reminders for customer follow-

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ups. A lead generation tool has also been developed in house to capture and route Product
applications made over mobile phones.

According to ICICI consists of the following approaches:

 Getting personalized information on customers

 What is the value of the relationship?
 Customized offerings to the customers
 Converting a prospective customer into a true customer

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Getting personalized information on customers:

The bank collects all the information about the customers for processing. ICICI bank has mainly
4 service offerings viz: loan account, saving account, current account and fixed deposits.
Moreover, the bank has many customers in each category. So, they collect the data on one
server and thus the company gets the personalized information on each customer by asking
them to fill the information in customer application form.

What is the value of the relationship?

After the collection of the personalized information on every customer, the department checks
out the value of the relationship with each and every customer. Later, they decide how to
approach the customer for knowing what his needs and wants are? After this is done, the
company offers him the customized product.

Customized offering to the customers:

The step which comes after deciding the value of the customer is that the company offers the
person the customized product. Moreover, they also practice a concept called cross selling over
here. Cross – selling refers to offering another product from the service offering of the bank to
the customer which he has not gone for. Example If customer has saving account with the bank
then we offer him loan, insurance and other investments.

Converting a prospective customer in to a true customer:

The last approach of CRM according to ICICI bank is that they try to convert the prospective
customer into a true customer. Right from the moment the inquiry comes, they follow- up the
customer and then make him to come to the bank occasionally and then regularly.

Additional Features of CRM in ICICI Bank:

Most banks have their own databases but because of the huge technological investments done
by ICICI the databases in all the branches are integrated, which means they can be accessed
from anywhere and at any time. ICICI bank has tied up with Teradata Company for making their

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software and is the only bank doing this. The difference can be known through matching tool
parameter. This refers to; on the server of ICICI sum standards are set in terms of value of the
customer and whenever the customer reaches the set standard, the server automatically
informs the department to offer him another product.

CRM at ICICI Bank involves increased communication between the bank and its present and
prospective customers. Its philosophy focuses on each and every customer‟s satisfaction. CRM
facilitated coordination of multiple business functions & multiple channel of communication
with the customers to carry out customer management more efficiently. It also automated the
process flow tracking in the product sales process and helped generate customized reports and
promote cross-selling. The typical components of a CRM strategy at ICICI are as follows:

Understand and differentiate:

Understanding customers is important in order to develop a sound relationship with them.

Customer profiling is done in order to understand demographics, purchase pattern and channel
preference. CRM also helped ICICI in valuation of its customers to understand customer
profitability and Customer Life Time Value (CLV).

Develop and customize: -

In a customer centric business environment, the products and processes have to be according
to customers‟ needs and preferences. ICICI has always focused on developing channels of
service delivery according to customers‟ need and service expectation.

Interact and Deliver:

To foster a strong customer relationship ICICI ensured that all areas of the bank have easy
access to relevant, actionable customer information and employees should be trained on how
to use customer information to tailor interactions based on both customer needs and potential
customer value.

Acquire and Retain:

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CRM helped ICICI to figure out valuable customers and made it easy to formulate retention
strategies for them. It also helped it cope up with the change in customer‟s life cycle and offer
services accordingly.

CRM INITIATIVE BY ICICI

 ATMs are kept in vans and parked at high traffic areas at specified timing to facilitate
standard services.
 Bulk deposit facility through ATMs
 Cash pick – up service
 ATMs for visually challenged
 Prepaid mobile recharge
 Buying and renewing internet packs
 Making donations for Shri Mata vaishnodevi shrine and Tirupati, nathdwara temple.
 Mutual funds transaction & Bills payments
 Credit card facility through mobile

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

Thus, we see that a focused and customer centric approach helped ICICI Bank become # 2 bank
in India (till recently, as PNB has taken over it as the No 2 bank in India now). ICICI has used
CRM not only as a tool but also as a strategy to gain competitive advantage over other new
generation private banks. It has invested a lot in ICT and spared no pains in giving best to the
customers. Its multi-pronged approach towards managing customer relationship is paying
dividends constantly and as a result we see millions of happy satisfied customers determined to
make it one of the most successful banks in India.

Thus after grabbing details of CRM in ICICI bank we can say that ICICI bank is well ahead of
other banks as far as Customer Relationship Management is concern. However at the same
time keeping intense completion in to account, ICICI bank should involve technology more in
CRM in terms of Mobile Banking, Competitive products and Services to all the segments.

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