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My CRM Glossary
CSS:
Once known as the complaint-handling
department, CSS is responsible for retaining and
extending customer relationships once a product or
service is sold. Customer service interacts with
customers, on a reactive or proactive basis, more
frequently than any other organization and is
critical for maintaining customer satisfaction. Due
to the increasing complexity of customer
interactions, customer service organizations need a
complex technological infrastructure that is
flexible, extendible, scalable and integrated to
meet customer needs on a timely and accurate basis.
The components of CSS include the following:
- Call Management — The core functionality of
CSS applications. This component is used to log all
incoming telephone calls and transactions and to
manage the transaction from initiation through
closure.
- Internet-Based Customer Service Suites —
Also known as e-service suites, these applications
and tools empower customers, partners and prospects
for self-service and interactions with the
enterprise via the Web, Internet, intranet or
extranet. Interactive customer service Web sites
should be integrated with front-end servicing
applications (customer service, sales, marketing and
e-commerce), back-end systems and databases and the
contact center to facilitate interaction between
users and the enterprise. The five essential
functional components of e-service suites are: 1)
tracking and escalation software, which is
integrated with the front-end CSS servicing
application for Web-based inquiry management; 2)
problem-enabled knowledge management software to
provide natural-language-like interfaces and allow
customers to research inquiries by themselves; 3)
an ERMS for managing inbound and outbound e-mails;
4) a universal queue management system, which
functions as a funnel, integrating multiple channels
— such as telephone, interactive voice response (IVR),
speech recognition, the Internet and the Web — to
standardize the handling of all customer inquiries;
and 5) collaborative chat, which facilitates
integration between enterprises and their customers
via the Web. Voice over IP (VoIP), while immature,
will be an essential component of e-service
environments by 2002.
- Field Service and Dispatch (FS/D) Systems —
FS/D has historically been a back-office function
that was closely associated with manufacturing
enterprises and utility service providers. It is
critically important in the service economy, has
become an essential element of complete CSS suites
and is an important element of CRM. FS/D software is
evolving from solely back-office functionality to an
enterprise system that tightly couples the back
office with the front-office servicing systems. FS/D
applications must be integrated with the contact
center and the call management system and, in the
future, will be integrated with the sales
organization. FS/D systems are also referred to as
"service delivery chain management" software, which
is intended to assist organizations in increasing
sales revenue, reducing labor and parts costs,
improving productivity, reducing outages, and
increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty. FS/D
involves complex systems that include modules for
call management, workforce forecasting and
scheduling, contract management (for purchased and
leased assets), warranties, entitlements, depot
repair/overhaul, technician dispatch, service parts
planning and management, infrastructure maintenance,
inventory, defect tracking (i.e., quality assurance)
and reporting. FS/D systems need to support mobile
(connected and detached) and Internet computing, as
well as data synchronization.
- Contact Centers — Traditional call centers
handle voice-only customer contact, whereas contact
centers include all types of channels of customer
contact, including voice (e.g., telephone, IVR,
speech recognition and voice verification), the
Internet (e.g., e-mail), the Web, fax, video kiosks
and mail. This is an inbound and outbound
service-based environment in which agents handle all
types of contacts regarding sales, customer service,
marketing, telemarketing, collections and other
functions. A contact center is logically
consolidated, but can have a physically
decentralized environment.
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DBM:
This technology encompasses the database management
system (DBMS) and relational DBMS (RDBMS). Such
software packages enable end users or application
programmers to share data and provide a systematic
method of creating, updating, retrieving and storing
information in a database. The DBMS is generally
also responsible for data integrity, data access
control, and automated rollback, restart and
recovery.
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Electronic Software Distribution (ESD):
ESD enables software to be installed by transmitting
it over a network. It is designed to help users
distribute programs and files in their environments.
The development of client/server andmobile
client/server applications has made ESD a critical
requirement. Withoutan effective means of automating
the distribution and installation of software, most
applications of client/server and mobile
client/server technology will not be viable.
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Electronic CRM:
E-CRM involvesthe integration of Web channels into
the overall enterprise CRM strategy. The goal is to
drive consistency within all channels relative to
sales, CSS and marketing initiatives to achieve a
seamless customer experience and maximize customer
satisfaction, customer loyalty and revenue. A
component of CRM and e-business, it includes such
Web-based customer channels as e-sales, e-service,
e-marketing and e-retailing.
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Knowledge Management (KM):
A business process that formalizes management and
leverage of a firm's intellectual assets. KM is an
enterprise discipline that promotes a collaborative
and integrative approach to the creation, capture,
organization, access and use of information assets,
including the tacit, uncaptured knowledge of people.
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Middleware: This
term is used in many ways. Basically, middleware is
the software "glue" that helps programs and
databases that may be on different computers work
together. More formally, GartnerGroup defines
middleware as "runtime system software that directly
enables application-level interactions among
programs in a distributed computing environment."
Its most basic function is to enable communication
between application programs or DBMSs within a
single-application system or across
multiple-application systems.
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Mobile Client/Server (MC/S):
This is an approach used to transport information
between mobile computers and host systems. At a
minimum, this approach provides communications and
database replication and synchronization.
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Systems Administration
Management (SAM) Tools: This is a
flexible set of application maintenance utilities
and application administration tools. The key value
of such tools is derived from how well they manage
changes. A well-designed tool permits an
administrator to describe either a database or a
form field change, ensures the integrity of all of
the application components tied to the change and
propagates the change to all affected users. SAM
tools for central administration are used by system
administrators and thus provide a level of technical
competency, whereas administrative functionality for
managers (e.g., sales managers, marketing content
managers and call center supervisors) must be
limited by the capabilities of the end user.
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TES: Also known as
sales automation, this refers to the application of
technology to enable selling through all desired
sales channels, including field/mobile sales, inside
sales/telesales, selling partners (i.e.,
e-partners), Web selling (i.e., e-sales) and retail
sales. The goal of TES is to integrate technology
with optimal processes to provide continuous
improvement in sales team effectiveness, as well as
balance and optimize each enterprise sales channel .
The components of TES include the following:
- Field Sales — Also known as mobile sales or
sales force automation (SFA), this includes
applications for salespeople who most often work
outside the boundaries of the enterprise and without
the benefit of continuous LAN or high-speed WAN
connections. To perform their jobs, they need to be
able to access applications and databases; share
data; and roam, connect and disconnect from the
network freely. Applications for managing
opportunities (i.e., leads or objectives),
territories, accounts, contacts and activities, as
well as for configuring products, pricing,
contracts, orders, quotes and promotions are common
requirements, as is the ability to leverage
technology in face-to-face sales meetings and to
access all types of marketing materials.
- Inside Sales — Also known as telesales or
inside selling, this involves applications for
salespeople who most often work inside the
boundaries of the enterprise and with the benefit of
continuous LAN or high-speed WAN connections. To
perform their jobs, they spend a majority of their
time using the phone or Web/e-mail. They may work in
a contact center. Common application requirements
include opportunity management, dynamic scripting,
order processing and management, quoting and
proposal generation, lead management and
collaborative Web selling (i.e., the integration of
the Web and telephony, which allows the seller to
take control of the Web site from the visiting
buyer, while engaging the buyer over the telephone).
- E-Partner — Also known as extended selling
enterprise (ESE), this includes applications and
technologies provided by the enterprise to assist
third-party selling channel partners (e.g., brokers,
agents, distributors and value-added resellers) in
achieving selling objectives. E-partner is a
component of partner relationship management.
E-Sales — Also known as technology-enabled buying
(TEB), unassisted selling or Web selling, this
component of TES involves customer-direct, business
or consumer Web-selling applications. These are
customer-facing technologies and applications that
allow consumers and businesses to "sell themselves"
and conduct transactions without the assistance of a
salesperson. E-sales is considered to be a part of
e-CRM, and e-CRM is a part of e-business.
- Retail Sales — Also known as retail
selling, this component of TES includes applications
that enable retailers to sell their products to
consumers through traditional brick-and-mortar
outlets (such as department stores, specialty shops
and outlet malls) or via new options such as home
shopping, the Internet and warehouse clubs.
Merchandising, relationship marketing and
e-retailing are typical examples of retail sales
applications.
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TEM: Also known as
marketing automation, TEM involves analyzing and
automating the marketing process. Because the role
of technology in all aspects of business is growing,
marketing departments must make it a strategic
imperative to use information and IT to build
competitive differentiation. TEM includes a
proactive strategy for using information and IT in
marketing, with the ultimate goal of TEM is to
allocate marketing resources to the activities,
channels and media with the best potential return
and impact on profitable customer relationships. The
new metrics of customer profitability, customer
lifetime value and share of customer will be needed
to supplement the traditional metrics of market
share and penetration.
The components of TEM include the following:
- Data Cleansing — This involves the use of
tools for data support (e.g., cleansing,
manipulation and reconciliation) to produce quality
data and data consistency.
- Data Analysis — Also called business
intelligence, this involves the use of software for
ad hoc query, reporting and analysis capabilities,
supporting strategic decision-making processes with
a data warehouse or data mart. A data warehouse is a
consolidated database that stores all — or
significant portions of — the data collected by an
enterprise's multiple business systems. Data from
online transaction-processing applications and other
sources is selectively collected, extracted,
integrated, transformed and cleaned. A data mart
contains a subset of the data typically found in a
data warehouse and is designed to support the unique
business intelligence requirements of a specific
business process/application requirement.
- Content Management Systems — Also known as
marketing content management (MCM) systems or
marketing encyclopedia systems (MES), this category
of applications allow enterprises to view and access
marketing content.
- Campaign Management System (CMS) — A CMS is
a database management (DBM) tool used by marketers
to design single-channel or multichannel marketing
campaigns and track the effects of those campaigns
by customer segment over time. CMS applications are
also used by sales organizations to execute sales
campaigns, such as achieving a specific market share
with a particular product by a certain date.
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Telephony: A generic
term for voice telecommunications.
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Workflow Management:
There are two types of workflow management: 1)
Internal and external process integration is a
workflow approach that allows for the definition of
business processes that span applications, including
those that come from different vendors. This usually
requires a standards-based commercial workflow
development environment. 2) Automated events or
processes — a workflow approach that enables
automated tasks (e.g., the automation of steps in a
marketing campaign or a sales process) to be
performed.
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