Vital
Business Process Lessons
Courtesy Of The Downturn
A
deep economic downturn, like the one we are coming through now, is
like a vicious storm threatening everything in its path. The
natural responses to such an event are instinctive--first protect
what is most precious, then rebuild as quickly as possible but
better and stronger than before.
Protect
Your Customers
A
crisis makes it crystal clear that customers are our most treasured
business assets. Losing a customer will cost you not only the
current business but also all the time and money you invested to
get the customer, along with all the future revenue that this
customer would have produced for your company. In a crisis you need
to do everything you can with the systems available to protect your
customers.
Then you need to take a hard look at your business processes to
make sure they allowed you to do everything you possibly could have
to avoid losing customers. Were they robust and flexible enough to
detect and respond to customer needs quickly and comprehensively
during the economic crisis? Or did you lose some customers because
they felt your business was not in sync with them when they most
needed a vendor who understood their needs.??
Rebuild
Business Processes
We
can take these valuable, albeit painfully acquired, answers as
starting points for re-engineering our business processes to
bolster customer retention while providing us with a more powerful
engine for maintaining current customers and acquiring new business
in the future. Here are some more questions indicating areas you
may need to address:
Do I have an adequate process for collecting information on
business prospects? Do I have an ongoing plan for collecting and
updating information concerning the needs and objectives of
existing customers? Can my plans for updating this information be
implemented from within my CRM system?
Do all of the customer-facing individuals on service teams have
access to the same information? Or are there islands of
applications within our customer maintenance systems that isolate
divisions, departments and individuals from one another, thus
inhibiting timely and integrated responses to customer needs? Most
importantly do my business process systems present a holistic view
of the customer to everyone working to serve his needs?
Revisit
Deployment Options
Once
these and other issues have been thoroughly considered you will be
able to refine or totally re-engineer your processes to be more
timely and effective both in responding to customer emergencies but
also moving forward to the new business opportunities. Before you
implement your re-engineered business processes, however, you need
to look at how you are deploying your systems and making sure you
are making optimal use of the technologies currently
available.
Most CRM systems today are based on a client/server methodology
deployed behind a firewall. Web-based deployments retain the
firewall but allow for greater data security. New cloud
technologies (SaaS) are outside the firewall allowing access from
anywhere. They minimize hardware and software costs and shave
months off the design and deployment schedule. These advantages may
be important if you need to get up and running with a reinvigorated
system quickly.
So the downturn may have revealed some flaws in your business
processes, particularly the ones that impact customer retention.
You need to address those as fast as you can. Customer retention is
essential. While proactively maintaining your existing customers
you need to look at all the other things that can be done to
improve your business processes. While you’re at it, revisit
your deployment options. Some changes here could significantly
reduce business process costs while making you more competitive for
the upturn in the economy that is on the horizon.