Assignment # 1

Monday, February 14, 2011 5:56 PM

Subject: Dell - Marco Fiorentino Author: MARCO FIORENTINO

Topic: Discussion Assignment #1 Date: January 25, 2011 11:05 PM

1. State the name of the store and the number of times you have visited it. Dell.com. I have visited their site about 7 times just this month. This is my 5th computer, and I'm a happy customer. 2. Explain why you go frequently. What are the main reasons? I have IT knowledge. When Apple tried (many times) to pay $ 1200 for a Mac Book (Laptop computer by Apple), they've approached me with their 'We're better than anyone, and if you buy our product, you will be better than anyone as well' speech. I study communications (advertising), and literally it is very hard to sell an image or a product to me. Apple was trying to give me, not a computer, but an expensive 'toy' on which you can't have the same productivity as in a PC or a regular Windows laptop. Plus, I understand about computers, and I know the difference in quality from a Dell to an HP to an Apple. My main reasons are simple. Dell is used by the government. Every federal building that has a computer, carries Dell as a main provider. Why? stability, reliability and price. Dell sends me discounts all the time. Dell gives me the chance of having a very good computer for less than $600, and for the person who actually understand what is to have a computer, you can make that $600 computer run faster than any Mac or any HP. Dell promotes new ideas, and listens every time you make suggestions on their webpage. 3. If you had to pick a CRM definition that best describes this store which one would it be and why? Explain how this store lives out the definition. To my view, Dell holds an Operational, Sales Oriented, Direct to Customer (DTC) CRM . I've seen that Dell has a record of my previous purchases, and they send me more offers so I keep on buying. They don't have a huge inventory, they also don't have a factory that produces computer parts for them. Not even the software that reads 'Dell' is made by them: it is all made through precise research, investigation and knowledge, that they are delivering cheap parts with good quality. They have a direct contact with their suppliers and your computer usually gets assembled in 24 hrs. something that is harder for other competitors such as HP, Toshiba or Apple. Why? simple: it doesn't matter what do you want your computer with; they will configure it so you have it fully customized. Even though the customization process is limited, because of technical specifications and discrepancies between specifications of internal computer parts, you computer is fully customizable. You can literally order anything you want on it, and they will assemble it on 24 hrs. 4. Has this store expressed an interest to establish a long-term relationship with you as opposed to merely selling or serving you in a single transaction? What have they done specifically, to indicate that they are interested in your long-term business as opposed to one-time transactions? They have given me discounts, gift cards and special offers, besides treating me like an A class customer. They have even upgraded my peripherals (mouse, keyboard, memory card reader, speakers, monitor) free of charge. They really deserve more attention than some other computer manufacturers. 5. Do you think the store follows a certain type of CRM perspective(s): strategic, operational, analytical, or collaborative? Explain why or why not using the material from the chapter. I believe that a company is a combination of strategies set to achieve a goal. Nothing really is properly structured as it was before. I already stated the reason why Dell computers has an Operational perspective. However, if the reader pays attention to a specific part of it, he or she will detect that there are some brush-strokes of Collaborative CMR. And to my belief, it is true. I think that Dell has a very fast response towards the customer's request, and I also think that it doesn't really matter what the customer wants: they will have it in less than 24 hours, so your computer is completed on that time. They also have business programs, where they assist you setting up a company computer's workgroup through, selling, installing and assisting the customers. They also sell smart mobile phones, as Windows
Discussions Page 1

through, selling, installing and assisting the customers. They also sell smart mobile phones, as Windows Phone 7 and Android based phones from different carriers, which they physically don't have in their warehouses. And that's maybe why I am on their customer suggestions program. You can tell: it's Dell. Last edited on: January 25, 2011 11:09 PM
Pasted from <https://lms.fiu.edu/webct/urw/lc3736222521041.tp3736222561041/newMessageThread.dowebct? discussionaction=viewMessage&messageid=3932532073041&topicid=3736222615041&refreshPage=false&sourcePage=>

Discussions Page 2

Assignment # 2
Monday, February 14, 2011 6:04 PM

Brief background about the company. Include name(1), purpose for implementing CRM(2), type of CRM initiative(3), problem they were trying to solve(4).

1. Cigna is one of the largest health insurers in the US. 2. "To render consistent and quality service to all customers nation-wide." That was the vision statement of the new CRM project. 3. Analytical CRM. The core of the solution was based on the purchase, and deployment of new it hardware and software, specific for customer data mining for tactical purposes. 4. In December 2002, they announced that problems in their customer database systems resulted in misquoting their number of customers by an extra 900,000. Membership fell due to poor customer service. The main reason, according to analysts was that the failure of restructuring of it's IT and CRM systems: the company was operating on systems that were almost two decades old.
Application of CRM planning & implementation guidelines. Include the parts of the course material that this company used(1). What did they do right? (2)Be sure clearly state and highlight the course concepts it used - you must have at least 4 connections. 1. It is clear that there was a situation analysis, and that the Phase 1 (development of the strategy) is completed. Phase 2 of the project, lacks a risk management plan. When Anania (CIO) saw the results from the situation analysis, she immediately proposed acting by developing a plan to fix the problem. The CRM business case misses and miscalculates the total cost of the project. There was also the problem that, after building the project foundations, there was basically almost no 'Phase 3'. Therefore, after realizing all their mistakes on an urgency released pseudo-phase 5, they came to realize that Anania's plan was crooked. They needed to restructure the whole idea. 2. Everything could be considered as "good" after Anania's first plan. However, right after evaluating their first plan, they did some things that brought the company to their golden years. a. They assessed the outcomes of the project performance (as seen on phase 5) after committing several implementation errors. This allowed them to create the www.mycigna.com. After this situation, they turned around the company's situation after allowing each customer to have access to their medical insurance records and claims over the internet, and thus, the customers started migrating to the new system gradually. b. The creation of the mycigna portal was in collaboration with Yahoo! Business Solutions and Sun Microsystems, part of the assessment and partner selection, as seen on Phase 3. c. Yahoo! Business Solutions and Sun Microsystems replaced the it staff on the creation of mycignna. They have prototyped the design, tested and modified the program required for it. This is part of the last stage of phase 4. d. As mentioned on C, this interaction with the service provider, gave Cigna the possibility to allocate their it resources back to their normal job, not worrying too much about the new project. This generated other possibilities, like creating a new portal for Business health insurance: Cignature. This was all made, right after they evaluated the performance of the mycigna it project, as seen at Phase 5.

Mistakes in CRM planning & implementation. Explain the reasons why this company's CRM didn't work out as they expected. What did they do wrong? Be sure clearly state and highlight the course concepts it used - you must have at least 2 connections.

Discussions Page 3

1. When Anania (CIO) saw the results from the situation analysis, she immediately proposed acting by developing a plan to fix the problem. The CRM business case misses and miscalculates the total cost of the project. There was also the problem that, after building the project foundations, there was basically almost no 'Phase 3'. When the food started to burn, Anania didn't knew how to take it off the stove, and started to force the staff to do "too much in too little time," as said by the company's CEO Edward Hanway. They realized that they had to remake everything from scratch again when they discovered Anania's innoperance. IT was her responsibility as a Chief Information Officer, she should've known what the new plan could mean for the company, the costs, the effort and everything technical regarding it. How is it possible that a CIO doesn't know the specifications of the system they are picking on? Simple, because she shouldn't have been selected as CIO without having her under control regarding the decisions that she would take. While everybody on the IT department was fighting to get the transition on, when the unrealistic goal wasn't met, Anania blamed the IT staff instead of blaming herself, and taking responsibility over her mistake. 2. According to many of the former employees at Cigna, the management had unrealistic expectations about the new IT and CRM systems. As an ex employee said, "they (management) just thought they could hire some clerks and have it done in a couple of weeks, and we kept telling them, 'you guys don't understand, it's a really complicated system to set up and it's going to take a lot more than that.'" Unrealistic expectations occur because the proper investigation and assessments aren't made. Management change wasn't a problem, because all employees helped for the transition to occur, it was the plan what was crooked.

Referenceshttp://fcis.vdu.lt/~n.klebanskaja@evf.vdu.lt/FOV1-000893DA/Case_Cigna.pdf

Discussions Page 4

Assignment # 3
Friday, March 11, 2011 2:23 AM

Sprint, the Now Network.

Intro
Sprint is the "corporative son" of the union between Sprint PCS and Nextel in 2004. Sprint, as we know it today, was born in July of 2005. Despite the fact of being the product of two top companies (On top national wireless companies, Sprint PCS was #3 and Nextel was #5), Sprint lacked a good eye for customer segmentation. The processes that occurred between 2005 and 2010 (when it became "the NOW network") allowed Sprint to gain strength in a very populated market.

PART 1
1. What would you call each group of customers? Give them a name to help distinguish them from others. For example, bicycle riders could be classified into different groups such as: exercisers, transportation riders, socializers, adventurers, and environmentalists. This is differentiation based on needs. You can also differentiate based on the value that the customers generate to the company, or loyalty or any other basic criteria.
I have made a full description of each of any wireless company's customers. Obviously this is my perspective and probably doesn't reflect wireless companies' reality. My customer identification is based on age, income and service usage criteria: 1. Rugrats: if you are a young gentleman or lady within the age of 12-18, you fit this group. Your pockets are full of holes that connect straight to mom and/or dad's wallet. High on texting (because you cannot talk over the phone in the middle of the class), low on calling minutes (because mom doesn't want to give you a right that you don't deserve), super-connected with social media and internet (because you need to know what happens behind your back). Represents a problem to most companies due to data caps, which is usually set by the competition upon the 2GB/month margin. Your phone is your first one: cheap, usable and nothing fancy. 2. Van Wilders: you are between 18- 26 (6 year bachelor program contemplated + the gift of a masters program), and broke man! You need money for studying (books, supplies, tuition, room & board), personal entertainment (dating including movies and restaurants, alcohol + partying, Spring break and vacation venues), existential needs (eating, sleeping properly, STD's prevention, etc.) and other expenses. You text your friends most of the time (you cannot afford to call), and you call mom only when you need money (because you're a disgraced bastard). You will not use the wireless internet that much, unless you had that super phone from the commercials, but you cannot afford it anyway, because you will probably leave it at a bar. If you manage to get several A's mommy and daddy will buy you the phone you like, and you will use internet a lot. On your Discussions Page 5

daddy will buy you the phone you like, and you will use internet a lot. On your laptop, you will try to get the most tech related advancements if you have a top-of-the-notch wireless device, participating into forums, and giving your opinion about products and quality. That's why you also represent a problem to most of the wireless companies, and hence they apply a 2GB/month data cap. 3. Young Professionals: After college you decided to look around for something to do with that framed piece of paper. You are between 26-35, and you have started a professional life. This means that you are more computer-savvy than your boss, but you don't have the professional experience and you need to work your way up, hence in order to overcome this problem, you need either a PDA, a Blackberry or an Android phone. Your salary is the best news to your parents in 26 years and your moving out idea was a reason to celebrate. Still you are dependent on your job, and you need to pay back your loans, so you are not entirely debt-free (in most of cases, Americans are never debt-free) and you want to form a family with your college sweetheart. You need e-mails, more minutes, less internet and social media, and a balanced budget. You also need more apps that will allow you to do more in less time, or to organize the mess that you have on your desk/computer/life. 4. Super mom: so, your husband got a job and you are set to raise the kids, awesome. You are from 35-50, but still socially active. You handle the household accountability and hence distribute the money expenditure, always winking an eye towards shoe shopping and clothing stores. So now that you do household activities, you need to be aware of what's happening around you and your kids: you need social networking, whether it is Facebook, Myspace or Twitter; texting (the only way to communicate with a pre-teen) and calling (husband, kids, the mom's of other kids, principals and teachers for stalking reasons; mom and dad, and friends for social reasons). e-mail is rarely used (unless you have all your bills transformed into e-bills, or you happen to be a secret-by-contract ninja). Mostly average quality and middle priced phones are used by this customer type, and in the case of having a top-of-the-notch phone, they won't buy too many apps. 5. McDaddy: your boss retired or passed away (due to a cardiac arrest provoked by a mistake on your last report) and you got promoted. You made it, you are between 35-55 and rolling on a "Benzo." You are still using social networking (LinkedIN, off course, and Facebook to reconnect with your long lost high-school bully, to show him how better than him you are now) and your e-mail is your best ally. Since you are an executive, you are subject to travelling, and your phone needs to be full on with minutes and needs to have the best coverage. Texting to your inept employees is a must, because they need to feel your breath Discussions Page 6

Texting to your inept employees is a must, because they need to feel your breath on their necks constantly to work better. You might also text your attractive new secretary, something that you will deny and erase from your phone as soon as possible, in case that the text has nothing to do with work-related issues. You are a valuable costumer, because you pay the amount of money required without questioning the price plus, you never call customer service, because you simply have no time for that. 6. Joe Averagio: In a parallel universe, a copy of yourself dropped out of college and started to work to cover his/her debts. Being a waiter is hard when you are still 28-50. You need something that allows you to call mom, text your friends and cheap, that's it. No monkey business. 7. Dinosaur: You worked your whole life and either you are so on the top of the world that you don't need to use your mobile that much, or you are getting retired next year and your grandchildren are playing with your wireless device. You want to call every living family tie, especially on holidays. Texting and internet is something that won't bother you, because you forgot how to use it properly. A cheap device with huge numbers (to combat your sight problems), a reliable network (to call your family ties, doctor appointments and 911), and affordable plans. You will call customer service mostly to protest about life. Since Sprint offers services, devices and plans that are different to the rest of the companies, we could divide their customers into different segments. The main options that Sprint gives are surrounded by the speed of the internet, the quality of the devices, and the affordability of plans. Taking into account the given intel on the subject, we can divide all those identified customers into three segments: 1. Wireless Addicts: (Rugrats & Van Wilders) 2. Head of Households: (Super moms) 3. Multi-taskers: (Young Professionals, McDaddy's) 4. Cheapos: (Joe Averagio and Dinosaurs)

2. For each group defined in #1, what specific criteria or variables do you think are best for segmenting in this company and WHY? Discuss what data and information you would gather and use to classify a customer into this group.
The first thing that came to my mind was to concentrate on wireless usage. Because other companies imposed contractual limitations upon the internet usage of their customers, Sprint had to come out ahead in something: unlimited internet for everyone, plus 4G connection (destroying competition's 3G, and getting all the addicts to switch to Sprint). The data and information to collect in this case was how much internet people uses on a daily basis, including apps and widgets on smart phones. A second variable could be quality and tech of the devices. Many geeks out there want Discussions Page 7

A second variable could be quality and tech of the devices. Many geeks out there want to have 'the best phone' on the market, and they don't control themselves at the time of spending grand on them. Since Sprint cannot have the Iphone due to Apple's contract with AT&T and the fact that the Iphone is GSM and Sprint's whole network is CDMA, Sprint pointed towards getting the best and functional phones (HTC EVO, Samsung Galaxy S, Windows Phone 7, Blackberry , etc.) that are strong responses towards Apple's only option. It is imperative, then, to count how many smart phones were in the market in general, and then divide that number within providers. Right after that, start to make partnerships with leading tech companies, like HTC to develop exclusive phones for Sprint. The third variable that I analyzed was price and package. The slogan "The now network" means two things, first that they have wild-fast connectivity service, and then that is oriented to a younger market, which tries to get the most out of their plan, for less coin. In this case is necessary to evaluate the income, age and expenditure of the Sprint customers. In any case, at least to my perspective, the more information that you have regarding the customer, the better will be your vision to give that customer a personalized service. It seems that Sprint has been collecting this information for a long time, and now has applied it on marketing campaigns, management change, creation of new ideas and personalizing products.

3. Like Harrah's does, how would you use a customer-related database to help your selected company improve knowledge of its customers and most importantly, create more value for the customers AND for the company? Use specific examples to explain this.
Like I said before, the more information that you have regarding the customer, the better will be your vision to give that customer a personalized service. It seems that Sprint already did what it seems logic to me. First I make an analysis of the prices of the competition and compare them to mines. Then I analyze what customers are paying our price (these are most likely to keep on paying, because they can afford it, and if it gets lower they will cheer it!), and which customers are begging for Sprint to lower them. Let's see: The government taxes, plus the running of the company gives me a cost, that is divided monthly to each and every single contract (customer) as a base cost. Let's say that that base cost is $25 per person minimum. The rival companies have the same or similar running costs, but are not willing to change their base price of $80 (plus taxes and outrageous charges). After seeing this, I (Sprint) move my base price from theirs to $69.99 (plus taxes and few-to-none charges). This generates two things: first, I become cheaper than my rivals. Then, I become cheaper by $20, because people reads "$60" instead of "$70". Right after that, I analyze the usage of internet through phone and phone apps. Bingo: I give unlimited internet, which is something far-fetched compared to what Discussions Page 8

Bingo: I give unlimited internet, which is something far-fetched compared to what the other carriers offer. I see that if they want internet, they need better devices. Since I cannot get the Iphone, I need a counterpart. I call HTC, which develops a phone that is thought and designed for internet usage, texting and multi-tasking, with an Android interface (as appealing as Apple's IOS4) and less expensive than the Iphone. How do you collect all this information to make these decisions? Promotions (from NASCAR to golf raffling whatever I can to get an information sheet filled out), registrations (when I personally went to Sprint to get a new phone, they almost ask me for my criminal record), sweepstakes, and now, the posibility of having a new website (which is in reality what they actually did). They now allow customers to fill out their own basic data and preferences. The only thing that they need to calculate is how much income the customer would produce, but that's not an issue, because if you don't have that number, you just look at how well and "on time" that customer pays on their payment history.

PART 2
This part covers the material in Chapters 6 & 7 of your textbook and the corresponding slides. BE SURE TO READ THE Customization Notes UNDER Supplemental Materials for Chapter 7. You will use the same company you chose for PART 1. I want you to put yourself in the shoes of a customer of that company as you answer the questions below. In the slides, we talk about how 'customizations' can be used as a customer value strategy. You will focus on specific interactions that your selected company can use to provide you, the customer, with a 'customized' product or service. Be sure to watch the 'Customize" video by Martha Rogers. You will answer each of the following questions: 1. Explain the type of customization. Would it be transparent to you, i.e. can it done without you asking for it? Or can it be something you request? Be specific.
Sprint has locked their contracts into few options. Then you have bundles (Business plans, family plans), but the options for single users are usually the same. This is showing match to order mass customization on the plan package, because it costs more or less, depending on the services that they offer. What Sprint basically did is to give you a plan that has unlimited text, picture messaging, data, e-mail and voicemail, and unlimited wireless calling but limited minutes in calls to land phones. Their other packages have more options, but the most important change (the attention grabber on the pamphlet) is the amount of minutes: 400, 900, 1500 & Unlimited. The last one is only affordable if you are a McDaddy. They have already assessed that the plan will cover everything, but if that person needs to talk to a land line (usually offices or other businesses), might need more minutes. Their trick is on their Multi-taskers segment. Therefore, if you need more minutes, you will have to change your plan, which will require to sign another 2 year contract extension to force you to keep on being their customer. They also have other types of product customization. Their website, apart from gathering customer's information, also allows the customers to get educated on their new device (tutorials), listen to requests or complaints (chat rooms and forums), and Discussions Page 9

new device (tutorials), listen to requests or complaints (chat rooms and forums), and filter information (e-billing, communication preferences). They have also released an application for Android based phones (most of the phones in Sprint use Android) that is called "Sprint ID". This app works in the following way: Android is the phone system (the system that supports everything inside). Android has an app launcher (what makes every part of the Android system, from calling to texting to any app, to work: the phone's interface), which is given by the company that produced the phone. What Sprint ID does is to change the interface so the customer can customize their mobile phone's screens, in just a second. This app is free, but it gives two benefits: It gives the customer the power of customizing their phone It's a Branding tool.

2. How can the customization create value for you? What sources of customer value can be addressed?
Customization allows each person to have a different product from their neighbor. This marks the aids for a company to highlight itself compared to other ones. You cannot customize your Iphone (AT&T and Verizon), but you can download Sprint ID and customize your HTC EVO 4G (Sprint). That customization creates the sensation that your phone is unique. The mass customization of the plans create the illusion that the plan adjusts primarily to your economic needs, and secondarily to your usage needs. This customization give more benefits for less sacrifices. As the book says "[] companies cannot be all things to all customers[]," but perhaps one of the goals of marketing is making that company to be "all things" to every customer. At Sprint they realized that perhaps they will not have the best customer service, so perhaps they kept that one low cost by giving plans on which customers cannot complain, basically. The service is highly rated, their phones are on the top of the lists, and their plans are affordable. However, the story doesn't end there. They proposed another source of value: 4G. They were the first wireless company to announce 4G internet connection for smartphones. This didn't just gave them the product leadership badge, but also the product innovator one.

3. NOW, put yourself in the shoes of the company. Explain what you think can go on behind the scenes to create the customization (back-office CRM)?
The first thing that comes up to mind is to make a research about our own customers, using the CRM database. Therefore, after understanding their situation, I think they can run numbers to see if they can mass-customize their plans. On the other side, you have technology customizations: the website and the phones. The major problem that Sprint had was that, by having so many smartphones, Sprint could not put one as a flagship. AT&T has a flagship phone: the Iphone. Even now that Verizon got the Iphone, when you say the name 'Iphone' the first thing that rings in your brain is AT&T. Sprint had that problem, until they started promoting the HTC EVO 4G. Since the EVO had the best app launcher (called HTC Sense), being customizable for business oriented people and social networking, Sprint adopted the Discussions Page 10

customizable for business oriented people and social networking, Sprint adopted the device as their best option. Since the rest of the phones using the Android system were not as productive with their own app launchers, Sprint ID adopted a "watered down" version of HTC Sense and distributed around the other phones, making Sense the "(un) official Sprint app launcher" for Android devices. In order to make this happen, Sprint had to hire a developers team that would design and write the Android code for that free application, and make it "stable" so it won't crash on the different Android phones. That demands research, time and money, and over all a lot of customer experience comments. On their website, they had another problem. It was out of date, boring, and aesthetically horrible. They changed the whole interface, basically because of their team work with Sun Microsystems (developers of Java), and because it was really not appealing to anyone's eyes. They created the possibility of allowing each customer to register and have a user name; this didn't only gave the possibility to gather more information about the customer, but also, allowed them to offer that customer more products and services.

Discussions Page 11

Assignment # 4
Thursday, March 31, 2011 11:48 PM

Answer these questions: All connections to pertinent material are in bold and underlined. 1. Article name, author, publication, publication date. Provide link if available. The name of the article is "Helping Clients Succeed in Today's Rapidly Evolving Markets", taken from the Siebel Annual Report, therefore the author is unknown. The year of publication is 2003, and the article on page 10 of the report can be found here.
http://www.slideshare.net/crmrussia/annex-1-siebelannualrpt

2. What is the name of the company? What CRM technology did the company implement? The name of the company is "The Bank of New York." The company used an Enterprise CRM suite called Oracle's Siebel CRM. They have designed their own custom Siebel Finance Application, hosted on the Oracle's SaaS network.
3. What processes were showcased/highlighted in the article as targeted for improvement? Be sure to state the specific processes within sales and marketing that the company addressed with technology (sales automation and marketing automation). The SFA system implementation began in July 2002, and has seen since then: a. Increased cross selling: the sales personnel gets advice from the lead management application, and were able to coordinate the sale of other products b. Increased Customer Satisfaction: the bank has developed value-added solutions and coordinated customer outreach, because (please read C)

c. Increased productivity and efficiency:

i. the sales force has a shared system. This allows that a contact management applet helps the sales force to update data and use it instantly. This is very important, since the Bank uses the software to be able to have up-to-date information of all its customers, in a timely manner, all around the world (this bank operates in 33 countries). ii. Added to this, there's also an activity management app that also helps customer service agents to stay "on-top" of their customers, by showing the agent all the activities pertinent to that account, and generating to-do lists, priorities, monitoring progress and programming alerts for the agents to resolve a pending issue. d. Better planning of sales efforts: SFA software, allowed the Bank of New York to have a good vision of future sales, through the Pipeline Management Application. This one helps to manage the entire sales cycle process, but also, as it relies on accurate
Discussions Page 12

one helps to manage the entire sales cycle process, but also, as it relies on accurate and up-to-date opportunity information, can provide a good forecast of the sales upcoming. 4. How did the technology change the targeted sales and marketing processes? What do the before and after processes look like as a result of sales or marketing automation? Be specific. The bank has five primary businesses, as stated in the introductory paragraph: Securities Servicing and Global payment Services, Private Client Services and Asset Management, Corporate Banking, Global Market Services and Retail Banking. Over the 90's, the bank has made 80 acquisitions worldwide. This generated a huge issue, as the bank had increasingly complex, cross-border customer relationships and multiple customer databases and tracking systems. The bank needed technology to unify all the information, in order to retain all the new contacts and relationships gained through these acquisitions. According to Bruce Miller (Senior Vice President, Institutional Cross Selling and Strategic Sales at The Bank of New York), "We wanted a customized solution that would provide us with a 360-degree view of all our institutional customers, accessible anytime and anywhere in the world." Since every acquisition of the Bank had a different database, tracking systems, and sales implementations, the deployment of a customized financial software would allow the bank to impose a standard modus-operandi, that would give, not only the solutions mentioned on question 3, but also the unique identity of the Bank of New York: different countries, different markets, different languages, but one identity. Among the improvements after the implementation of the Siebel Financial pack, we can find: Increased cross-selling Increased customer satisfaction Better planning of sales efforts Increased employee productivity and efficiency Reduced IT maintenance costs All of these improvements have been properly explained before on the answer of question 3. The last one ("Reduced IT Maintenance Costs") is an accident of the implementation of the new SFA. As the software deploys most to all of the applications that the associates need, the bank has been able to terminate services and systems that would use other program for the same function. Therefore, the bank reduced its cost of ownership significantly. Another issue found was that the bank deals with financial markets worldwide, which will require to have accurate on-demand information about the market fluctuations and the respective analysis of them ready to go. This type of deployments require an SaaS or hosted system.The software allows to cut the clutter and deliver the information pertinent so management and the sales force can take better decisions. 5. What was the impact of the changed processes on the company's performance? What did the technology actually do for them? Just because a process was changed doesn't mean that the results of the change are good. Well, everything on this article seems to be almost self-explanatory, especially if one has a
Discussions Page 13

Well, everything on this article seems to be almost self-explanatory, especially if one has a good "fix" of what it's said on the book about the SFA software functionality. What was changed in the company revolves around the question 3. According to Miller, "The technology foundation provided by Siebel Finance plays an important role in helping us achieve our goals." They seem pretty happy with it.

Discussions Page 14

MAR 4860 Research Paper Description of Assignment

Option #1 Retention Strategy Recommendation (Worth 135 points 5 extra points)

The purpose of this research paper is to apply as much as you can about what you have learned in this class. Specifically, you will be analyzing a company of your choice and recommending a customer retention strategy for that company. Retention strategies are based on the benefits of long-term customers. We have studied these benefits throughout the semester. According to your textbook, there are 4 general objectives in customer retention strategies: Creating customer delight Adding customer-perceived value Creating social and structural bonds Building customer engagement Here are a number of specific strategies you can consider: Preferential treatment the customers perception of how much better they are treated than the companys other customers. Rewarding - when a company offers some tangible incentive to a customer in return for loyalty. Loyalty schemes Customer clubs Social bonding Personalization Customers perception of how personally they were treated. Customization Ability of a company to adopt its marketing mix to the needs of the customer. Cross-selling Also called bundling (can be greatly enhanced through the use of data mining to determine which items to bundle). Up-selling Managing migration of customers Converting transactional customers to relational customers Providing and attaining intimacy with the customer

Choose a company that you know fairly well. This can be your place of employment, a family business, or a company that you have a relationship with as a repeat customer. You are to assume the role of a CRM consultant and write a paper explaining how you believe this company can increase its customer retention. Paper Outline Please use headings to separate the sections of this paper. Paper must be between 5-7 single-spaced, typed pages. I. Background and your history with the company you chose

MAR 4860 Research Paper Description of Assignment II. III. IV. Current situation in this section, explain what you believe is their current retention strategy and why you think it could be better. Recommended Retention Strategy THIS IS the MEAT of your paper. Be clear and integrate the CRM concepts from this course. SUPPORT your strategy. SELL IT! Required Resources in order to make this strategy successful, identify what resources would be needed to make it happen. Resources can be financial, people, technology, processes. Key Performance Indicators what indicators would you recommend the company use to determine whether your strategy is working or not. Why would these be the best indicators to use? Appendix References, Exhibits, Bibliography

V.

VI.

This project assignment is due no later than Monday, April 18th by midnight. Send your paper to me via Blackboard EMAIL as a Microsoft Word document. Show me everything youve learned so far in this course. Be sure to use critical thinking skills and integrate as many concepts as you can from the text and all the material covered in the slides. This is a professional, research report so it must be clear, concise, and error free, i.e. no misspellings or grammatical errors. Use page numbers, headers, sub-headings, tables, and BE SURE to use footnotes to cite references within your paper. You can be as creative as youd like, but you MUST give credit where it is due. Within the paper, you must cite your source for an idea or concept at the end of the sentence where the idea is mentioned. Otherwise, it is considered PLAGIARISM! Paper should be single spaced, Arial font, and a 12 point font size. Number your pages. Have a title page. Have a REFERENCES PAGE at the end.

MAR 4860 Research Paper Description of Assignment

Option #2 CRM Technology (worth 130 points)

The goal of this assignment is to familiarize you with the participants of the CRM Ecosystem and apply what youve learned so far about CRM. Assume you have just been selected to participate on a board that will evaluate CRM software providers for your companys CRM strategy. You are to become the resident CRM expert on your two assigned CRM providers, which you will choose from the following list of CRM providers: List of CRM Providers http://www.rightnow.com/ http://yankeegroup.com/ http://www.salesforce.com/ http://www.act.com/ http://accenture.com/ http://www.ascendix.com/ http://www.astutesolutions.com/ http://www.oracle.com/siebel/index.html/ http://www.teradata.com/ http://www.acxiom.com/ http://www.unica.com/ http://crm.cas-software.com/ http://www.vovici.com/ http://www.sugarcrm.com/crm/ http://bearingpoint.com/ http://www.amdocs.com/ http://chordiant.com/

MAR 4860 Research Paper Description of Assignment http://www.netsuite.com/portal/products/crm_plus/main.shtml http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/crm/default.mspx http://www.kadient.com/company/ http://www.landslide.com/ http://www.us.capgemini.com/ http://www.tcs.com/ http://www.cognos.com/ http://saleslogix.com/ http://www.sagecrm.com/ Paper Outline - Please use headings to separate the sections of this paper. Paper must be between 5-7 single-spaced, typed pages. PROVIDER #1 - Name I. Type of CRM Provider. Based on what we have learned in the CRM Technology and CRM Ecosystem course content, Describe the type of provider this is. Use the terminology from class to explain the reasons. Explain the type of software application it provides. Explain the CRM perspective it addresses (functional, customer-facing or strategic).

Explain all of your answers; otherwise you do not get credit. II. Application & Benefits of CRM Provider. Discuss the features and benefits of the providers services. Describe the types of business problems the company is trying to solve for its customers. How would your chosen CRM provider assist in this? In other words, what exactly would it do for the company? In explaining this, you must use your own words and not copy and paste from the provider websites.

III.

Success Story. Search through the CRM provider website for white papers and/or case studies. Briefly describe a success story or situation the provider uses to market its

MAR 4860 Research Paper Description of Assignment product/service(s). Who was the customer of the provider? How did the customer that bought the product or service, use it? What benefits did the customer reap? IV. Your Learning Experience. Explain three (3) things you learned from this project about CRM that you did not know before. Be very specific. Each experience should be one paragraph with 3-4 complete sentences. What did you take away? PROVIDER #2 - Name Follow same outline above. This project assignment is due no later than Monday, April 18th by midnight. Send your paper to me via Blackboard EMAIL as a Microsoft Word document. Show me everything youve learned so far in this course. Be sure to use critical thinking skills and integrate as many concepts as you can from the text and all the material covered in the slides. This is a professional, research report so it must be clear, concise, and error free, i.e. no misspellings or grammatical errors. Use page numbers, headers, sub-headings, tables, and BE SURE to use footnotes to cite references within your paper. You can be as creative as youd like, but you MUST give credit where it is due. Within the paper, you must cite your source for an idea or concept at the end of the sentence where the idea is mentioned. Otherwise, it is considered PLAGIARISM! Paper should be single spaced, Arial font, and a 12 point font size. Number your pages. Have a title page. Have a REFERENCES PAGE at the end.

Dell A Face Lift

Marco Fiorentino
A strong proposition to fix the profits and image of one of the most important technology companies in America.

Dell Computers 1 Dell Way, Round Rock, TX 1-800-222-dell

4/19/2011

Background Dell is an American multinational information technology corporation based in Round Rock, Texas. It is one of the largest technological companies in the world, employing more than 103,300 people worldwide. Dell is right now listed #38 on the Fortune 500 ranks. It was founded on November 4 1984 by Michael Dell. As of 2011, Dell computers scored revenues of US$ 61.49 billion. Dell fabricates Desktops, Servers, Notebooks, Netbooks, Peripherals, Scanners, Smart Phones and Printers. Dell also sells Televisions, Smart phones and storage from other manufacturers. Dells major issue was the customer service, years ago. However, with technology, new implementations of software and a good training of the Customer Service department, allowed Dell to be more professional and reduce the rates of churn from dissatisfied customers. My personal story with Dell started long ago, and after enjoying the benefits of my fifth computer, I could say that Im a happy customer. To my point of view, Dell gives a good product for a decent price. Computers dont have a long lasting lifespan, because with the advent of technology, the systems are required to be changed every six to twelve months. The minimum lifespan of a computer nowadays has dropped from two years to nine months, and Dell has taken that into consideration. Dells computers last much more than two years, if they are taken care of properly, and since they are mostly always upgradeable, the parts are inexpensive enough to the point where the consumer can replace the entire computer for a couple hundred dollars. They have a lot to modify, though; and that process will take time, money, planning and patience.

Current Situation At these precise moments, Dell has been playing around with technology a little bit. They have released an Android tablet computer, and upgraded some of their desktop models. Dell released an Android-based phone in the UK and the US in a mode of tasting the waters still without enough success. Neither the Dells logo nor the slogan is as merely popular as HPs nor Apple, but then again, Dell is not the top manufacturer of computers, and its # 38 on the Fortune 500 list. Hewlett-Packard is #10 and Apple is 56, on the F500 list of 2010. In the list of the largest technological companies in the world, Dell ranks #8. Dells issue is that, in order to maintain the ir 18.3% of market share, they lower the price of their products, while shipping its customer service programs to El Salvador and India, and killing all the stores since 2008. Dell has a particular type of selling: DTC or Direct To Customer (1), which is made directly through its webpage. Dell has saved millions by directing customers towards its only way of selling, making shipping most of the times free as part of their hook to promote their businesses. Dell has more tricks under its sleeves and proves this whenever the customer clicks to start customizing their computer, by offering different parts for a lower cost, covering the needs and expectations of the customer, without putting its numbers at risk. Dells parts is another section where they sell the parts and replacement parts, a part from refurbished parts that they recover from returned computers. The use of
Fiorentino - Dell: A Face Lift | 1

marketing at Dell is quite basic, because they only advertise when they have something new to offer. In this case, the Inspiron Duo, a netbook/tablet PC has been its last technological adventure. This computer has allowed them to sell decently during the first weeks, but lately has shown mixed reviews, and sheer disappointment by a sector of their customers. The reason why Dell hasnt been able to rocket its numbers over passing its rivals has been due to the lack of physical presence in the world and proposition after the customer left the online store. Most of the computer manufacturers have a flagship store, where they buy, sell and even exhibit their new products and technological advancements. Dell has none. On January 30th 2008, Dell closed all its shopping mall kiosks (approximately 140), with the excuse of going for retail stores. On February 14, 2008 Dell closed its flagship in Texas, lying off all of its employees. This generated the obvious problem of bad word of mouth, because the employees had been played around with their one and only source of income, and the fact that they lost their place in the eyes of the people: something thats virtual isnt really present in peoples minds. That being said, Apples strategy, in example, has been to show itself always inside or around an Apple store. The Apple logo is absolutely everywhere and its highly recognizable by almost everyone. Dell isnt so lucky. As I mentioned before, Dell needs to keep the prices low, because thats their hook. Dell doesnt have sleek designs or technological advancement. Dell doesnt have a branded MP3 player, as Apple has Ipod. If Dell start raising their prices, the churn rate starts to become higher by the second. Price is not only the most interesting thing that Dell has nowadays, but also, the only one. Most of the customers from Dell are transactional, not relational, and Dell doesnt really do much in order to retain the customers who are thinking about getting an HP. That has to change.

Recommended Retention Strategy I have identified in the last paragraphs of the previous section, which the thing that is missing from Dells business life is retaining the customer due majorly to a lack of bonding propositions. The customer comes to Dell, because they want a decent computer that could have the ability to solve the customers problems. Dells primary hook is the price, and the convenience of free shipping, a part from the assemble-toorder mass customization (Buttle, 196) of their selected product. Right after the computer gets to the hand of the consumer, unless the customer has bought a service plan, Dell doesnt interact with the customer at all. The only thing that might be doing is sending brochures through mail, promoting other products on which the customer might be interested on buying, but the issue is the following: if they pick Dell is because of the price, not because of the style or performance. If it was for the style or performance, the customer would probably pick something better. However, most of Dells clients are usually those of low to mid income. This presents a problem, because a customer with these characteristics perhaps might demand more responses from the company. Thats why Dell has to change the way that they interact with its customers.
Fiorentino - Dell: A Face Lift | 2

My proposed 4P strategy will be a combination of some strategies already mentioned on the textbook. 1. Priming Innovation This part of the plan is about fast and sharp investigation, product technology and design innovation. This is where negotiation and alliances with top companies and developers comes into sheer utility and outstanding importance. You cannot re-sell old news in the technology business, you have to keep innovating every four months. This would be not the primary marketing strategy, but what the strategy is going to be based on. You cannot market something that people already knows that exist. This is key to get the instrumental commitment of the customers (Buttle, 277). a. Microsoft bonding Windows 7 has been a great technological advantage for Dell, and has equaled Apples iOS, however, it needs to be more hardware friendly. The windows based laptops have low reliability on their batteries, because they last an average of three hours, five hours less than those of Apple. The issue relies on that, since Apple builds its own hardware, they have control of each and every single model that they build. Microsoft cannot hold account of how many brands with different technical specs have their system, and the computer manufacturers are the ones who have to come close to make things work better, snappier and more reliable. New collaboration software might be needed in order for Dell to collect information (requiring always user authorization, first) in order to see what Windows and Dell are missing in general. b. Designer hunting In order to market a product properly, looks are the thing that defines it best. Apple has contracted a British designer for every single isomething that they place on the market. Dell should have more sleek designs, better quality looks and less greasy keyboards. They dont even need a team of designers they need a renowned one, the more famous, the better. c. Gadgeting Dell has a tablet PC (Dell Streak) and has also a mobile phone. Dell sells someone elses mp3 players on their website. How about Dells? Every single computer company has or had one at that time, and even though they are not really needed now, Dell needs to get a flagship product, something that people will remember Dell for right away. For example, Apple = iPod, Microsoft = Office. d. Technology and design improvement I know that I seem to repeat myself, but this is the part where Dell should base its aid for the new marketing campaign. In the technology business, you cannot re-sell old news, you need to sell something new every four months. Products that offer better solutions to problems create more value for customers (Buttle, 197). Thats why a team of
Fiorentino - Dell: A Face Lift | 3

technicians should work with a team of designers (what Dell has right now, plus a lead celebrity style designer), to try to refurbish what Dell already has: products that had change slightly over time, but need a real face-lift. 2. Preparing and training This is the real overhaul planning. Preparing and training has the power of prepping the deployment of the new campaign in order to sell Dell to the public. Marketing not a single product but all of them properly, giving the brand the identity that deserves and the possibility of really making a strong mark on the technology market. a. Preparing i. Store locations: the idea is to set a Dell store at every big scale shopping mall in America, like Apple. This would mean that Dell would start with 50 stores (one per each state) and move up to 300 in the first five years. ii. Openings: I have noticed that the Apple stores open and people simply get rewards for it. For everyone that actually shows up to the opening of a store, Dell should give a $25 gift card just for showing up. The stores should also promote local artists, like bands, writers, sportsmen or celebrities, pointing Dells image to appeal more traditional and closer to their local public through their store. Plus, the association of the memory of meeting a local celebrity, would also come close to the phrase oh, we met [Insert name of Celebrity here] at the Dell store! This would imply by a fallacy and thus, a psychological effect that Dell would be glorious by association. iii. Events During the year, Dell should be more active with the company public events during the year, this would actually make the companys name circulate more often from mouth to mouth, consolidating the brand. 1. Social Organizing a rock festival in Texas with the collaboration of local companies, will put Dell in the mouth of students. A Dell-a-palooza, in collaboration with the University of Texas, would probably build more Texan pride, and thus, generate more word of mouth. The fact of getting closer to the college students, would allow Dell to get a better look than the its only cheap. 2. Philanthropy When you donate, you should tell the press you do, so you get more media attention, and word of mouth is usually more positive. Some issues from the past has left Michael Dell with a really bad reputation. Events like
Fiorentino - Dell: A Face Lift | 4

donating computers to schools, hospitals and universities for a small room name, will have a benefit in the future. Supporting the minor league teams is also another thing that could be taken into advantage. 3. Environmental Michael Dell has promised to eliminate PVC of their products, but hasnt done that yet. We have to make sure than when it does, he should let the press know that he did. Ethical concerns like this one generate value based commitments, and in some cases preference (Buttle, 278). iv. Dells Friends program The Friends program would reward each costumer who has been loyal to the company for 5 years or more (like me) with discounts of %50 of their next computer purchase or a free faxscan-printer. The Acquaintance program would be a spin-off from the Friends program, and would reward those who spend more than $1500 with Dell-branded storage units (they can be made by other manufacturer for Dell). This is an excellent example of loyalty schemes (Buttle, 267). v. Dells Resellers program Its true that with this implementation would create the Dell stores, but what about those who re-sell Dell computers, like Best-Buy? Do they get benefits too? Yes. If the reseller is in the Dell Partners Program, the customer will receive the same benefits and products of the Acquaintance Program as if they buy at the store or online. vi. Branding sealing The first thing that should change is the slogan Yours is here. On past editions, the slogan You can tell its Dell, seemed to be made by a 5 year-old. The slogan should be one word: Pow!. With the new sleeker, sober designs imposed by the new hired designer and the clicks and tweaks form the new technicians team, Dells computers should be faster, snappier and have higher quality specs. For roughly the same price. This will actually change the perspective of the customer, from thinking of Dell as cheap to think of Dell as powerful. vii. Website Upgrade The website needs an upgrade to HTML5. The design is okay, but it needs more flashiness. If you sell technology, you should have the most futuristically effective website. A few lines of code during a few time will do. viii. Sharper ads More persuasive, more eye-candy. More money.
Fiorentino - Dell: A Face Lift | 5

b. Training In order to implement any of these steps, the company needs to train as many employees as it can. They need to be friendly, effective and warm. This will later generate a relational commitment (Buttle, 278) i. Dell Store employees and technicians Fifty stores are scheduled for the first year. That means that at least 500 and 100 technicians must be properly and effectively trained in order to operate according the requirements of the circumstances. ii. The Friendly commando They are the customer service division that will be in charge of collecting the information filtered through the database, offering promotions to old customers to gain them back, and rewarding the loyal customers. This shouldnt be a direct telemarketing sale. This should be some sort of call notifying that the customer has 40% discount on his new computer, and that whenever they feel like it, they can use it, but it expires by the end of the month. This perhaps would require some modification on the CRM system. 50 new customer services will be needed. iii. Resellers Program The store employees could receive instructive booklets with the new promotions and benefits for customers under the Acquaintance Program. iv. Customer Service The customer service needs to know the new products and the new promotions to perfection. Even though Dell will try to impose itself physically in every state, its major revenue place would be its website. 3. Promoting Promotion will be also key on this strategy. The products must be promoted in magazine ads, tv ads and public. Its not just about the promotion of the price, people already know that Dell computers are cheaper than any other in the market, but they need to show how reliable, and how fashionable is. Dell Stores will show customers and passers-by the products, but the ads will make Dells showing massive. Promoting teams must be deployed at the shopping malls where a Dell store is going to open, even 5 days before the opening of the store, so people knows that they are opening a Dell store, and that will carry benefits for them. 4. Pounding Before analyzing the data, the collection of data will be possible thanks to the automatic data collection aps that come by default on every Dell computer. This allows the company to get a registration of the customer in order to
Fiorentino - Dell: A Face Lift | 6

better serve him. This has allowed Dell to know whether or not the customer purchased a computer before or not, and how long was the last time that the customer purchased. It also has allowed Dell to send e-mail marketing and promotions. The information and technology is there. There shouldnt be any modification to the CRM software other than the one for the new customer service division the friendly commando which will need perhaps a screen or two. Required Resources The required resources will be a costly item for Dell, but if it definitely wants to make much more profits, the company will have to risk whatever is necessary to stop being in the uncertainty situation that is now. This is the list properly calculated for the first year: US$ 200 million total investment. 500 new store employees 100 new store technicians US$ 25 million for marketing, advertising and promotion US$ 60 million for research on new technologies and design 50 new friendly commandos

Key Performance Indicators The results will be seen prospectively in a range of a year. The Key Performance Indicators (Buttle, 281) will be measured by the following activities: a. Raw customer retention rate in each segment b. Sales-adjusted retention rate in each segment c. Profit-adjusted retention rate in each customer segment d. Share of wallet of the retained customer e. Cost effectiveness of the customer retention tactics The usage of these will give us the result, and hopefully is positive.

Fiorentino - Dell: A Face Lift | 7

Works Cited

"Dell." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_Computer#Dell_kiosks>.

Buttle, Francis. Customer Relationship Management. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2008. Print

"Fortune Global 500." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortune_Global_500>.

Fiorentino - Dell: A Face Lift | 8