Implementing a customer data management system can be the difference between success and failure in terms of leveraging an organization's customer relationship management (CRM) system. Since customers drive profitability, organizations need a way to provide their employees with a single view of the customer and to provide that customer with above-average customer service. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Disparate applications such as billing and call center systems do not always feed into one another, and even when they do, lack of data cleansing and management can cause employees to see only a portion of a customer's history, interactions, or profiles. A widely used example is that of an organization sending multiple marketing brochures to one customer because of inaccuracies and lack of customer data synchronization. A more alarming example is having more than one customer record for a specific customer, with the collections department calling that customer to collect on an account that is actually current.
Why do CRM initiatives fail? Because implementing a system to manage customers does not guarantee that CRM applications will work successfully within the organization. The old adage—"garbage in, garbage out,"—definitely applies to the realm of CRM. If organizations do not have clean, reliable, centralized data, their customer view will not be complete or accurate, and their business goals will not be achieved. Consequently, customer data integration (CDI) has become an essential component of an organization's management of data, along with any CRM initiative.
This article will provide an overview of CDI within CRM, and see how it differentiates itself from the general data integration industry. Additionally, the components of CDI will be explored, to identify the important areas that should be considered when implementing master data management (MDM) for CRM within the organization. Finally, key vendors in the industry and their key product features will be identified.
Defining Customer Data Integration
Within CRM, CDI is the management and consolidation of customer information from across the organization. This includes, but is not limited to, information stored in call centers, sales and marketing departments, and accounts receivables and payables. CDI ensures that each department requiring customer contact has access to timely data, to provide employees with a complete view of customer profiles or histories. This creates a standardized view of each customer and promotes positive customer interactions.
Most enterprise organizations have built or acquired their computer applications over an extended period of time, creating a series of complex systems that work independently or that interoperate with one another. Even if these systems have high interoperability, many times the business rules and data structures of each application and business unit have not been taken into account, as they were developed independently of one another. This means that data may be captured in different ways. For example, customer address information and name may be recorded in different formats within different business units. When data is pulled from one system to another, this particular customer information may not be synchronized.
Why do CRM initiatives fail? Because implementing a system to manage customers does not guarantee that CRM applications will work successfully within the organization. The old adage—"garbage in, garbage out,"—definitely applies to the realm of CRM. If organizations do not have clean, reliable, centralized data, their customer view will not be complete or accurate, and their business goals will not be achieved. Consequently, customer data integration (CDI) has become an essential component of an organization's management of data, along with any CRM initiative.
This article will provide an overview of CDI within CRM, and see how it differentiates itself from the general data integration industry. Additionally, the components of CDI will be explored, to identify the important areas that should be considered when implementing master data management (MDM) for CRM within the organization. Finally, key vendors in the industry and their key product features will be identified.
Defining Customer Data Integration
Within CRM, CDI is the management and consolidation of customer information from across the organization. This includes, but is not limited to, information stored in call centers, sales and marketing departments, and accounts receivables and payables. CDI ensures that each department requiring customer contact has access to timely data, to provide employees with a complete view of customer profiles or histories. This creates a standardized view of each customer and promotes positive customer interactions.
Most enterprise organizations have built or acquired their computer applications over an extended period of time, creating a series of complex systems that work independently or that interoperate with one another. Even if these systems have high interoperability, many times the business rules and data structures of each application and business unit have not been taken into account, as they were developed independently of one another. This means that data may be captured in different ways. For example, customer address information and name may be recorded in different formats within different business units. When data is pulled from one system to another, this particular customer information may not be synchronized.
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