Customer Relationship Management On The Rise

AUCKLAND – 09 AUGUST, 2001 – Low economic growth hasn’t deterred New Zealand companies from spending on customer service and relationship marketing.

This is the view of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) specialists, Sales Technologies (SalesTech), who say local interest in CRM mirrors a recently released US study.

The Jupiter Media Metrix study (US) states that approximately three quarters of businesses intend to spend more money on CRM systems this year than they did last year. Further, a majority of businesses are committed to increasing their CRM spending by up to 50 percent.

SalesTech Chief Executive, John Devine says the study parallels the New Zealand situation and furthermore highlights the burgeoning interest in CRM systems by businesses.

“We have been receiving phenomenal interest in smarter CRM solutions and Internet software based applications,” says Mr Devine. “What we are seeing are organisations investing in CRM to build their growth and consequently achieve high levels of customer satisfaction and retention.

In essence, it is key for organisations to think about how to get a real Return on Investment from targeted CRM initiatives, rather than trying to force fit enterprise wide technology solutions.”

CRM solutions are designed to capture, consolidate, analyse and get the results of customer specific data into the hands of the people within an organisation who need it most, so they can respond to customers. Successful CRM systems can help businesses realise significant productivity enhancements, revenue growth and greater customer retention.

“Low growth in the economy does not mean that businesses can afford to cut costs in areas such as customer service and relationship marketing,” adds Mr Devine. “This is the time businesses need to invest in customer management to ensure they protect revenues and maintain margins.

Importantly, the success of a CRM system is contingent on the company adopting a customer centric culture, along with a consistent customer experience.”

SalesTech, the NZ distributor of PeopleSoft CRM and Selectica’s ACE business rules engine, has a track record of generating export income from exporting products and services based on existing products back to the US, Australia and other markets.

The company has already increased its consulting staff by over 20% in the first six months of this year to meet current demand for its CRM and consulting business.

ENDS

About Sales Technologies
Founded in 1992, Sales Technologies has 50 front-line staff focused exclusively on systems that make interactions with customers more efficient. Key areas of expertise include:

- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- Sales and marketing automation
- Business rules processing
- Complex service configuration

Its solutions are based around some of the world’s leading e-business products – PeopleSoft CRM and Selectica (global leader in Internet selling systems). Sales Technologies has implemented systems for leading blue chip organisations’ such as Telecom (NZ) Ltd, BAT, Shell Oil, On Energy, Tower Corporation and gen-i limited.

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