Customer Relationship Management System In Mauritian Bank Marketing Essay

Customer Relationship Management System In Mauritian Bank Marketing Essay 20 years back Mauritius was a struggling to make its place in the Indian Ocean and to become recognized for its well established economy. At that time, not every new business had the capital required to start and expand. This is where banks played an important role in our economy. At the then time, Banks did not have a proper online system with their branches. Customers needed rendez-vous with Bank Managers before meeting with them. It was a glamorous time for bankers. Customers remained loyal to the bank. With the evolution in technology and with Bank of Mauritius imposing on Mauritian banks to be Y2K compliant, bank moved towards the implementation of a proper Core Banking system to serve their customers. And with the introduction of ATMs and online banking, customers visit less and lesser their bank branch. The whole concept of banking has shifted. Customers now prefer delivery channels instead of branch base banking. This perfect Banker Customer relationship slowly disappeared as the nation grew, the customer started to work with different banks at the same time as the competitors kept on increasing. As per latest figures of Central Statistics Office there are presently 21 financial banks in operation with a population of approximately 1.2 million out of which only 45 %( 548,300) are in the working class We need to keep in mind, though a bank needs clients deposit to work, its main profit will be generated by credit facilities. This income will be generated by those 45%. (Not taking into account a small percentage of offshore business) If our figures are correct, we have 21 banks that are fighting for 548,300 employed people and out of which two giant banks have been established since 1838 and in 1973 respectively. The aim of this research is to analyze the impact of Customer Relationship Management system in the banking sector and how it can help in customer retention, reduce missed opportunities and enhance internal process thus increasing profitability. The purpose of this thesis is not purely for academic purpose. There is currently a need to implement a proper Customer Relationship Management system (CRM) in the bank I am currently working. Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Introduction of the study The vision for all Mauritian banks is to be the best bank for customers to bank with. CRM is the concept of building a strong relationship with your customer and making sure that he comes back again by providing him with a high quality service. CRM is an integration of technologies and business processes used to satisfy the needs of a customer during any given interaction. More specifically, CRM involves acquisitions analysis and use of knowledge about the customers in order to sell more goods or services and to do it more efficiently (Bose. 2002. Pg 1 ) Customers are now more than ever demanding a different relationship with their suppliers, managing a close relationship has become a central aspect in delivering the business goals (Xu, Yen et al, 2002). With the increase in technology available to customers today the world has become a much smaller marketplace and the relationship an even more important selling aspect. Walton Xu (2005) explain that CRM is widely regarded as method of retaining and developing customers, through increased loyalty and satisfaction. According to Drucker (1996) knowledge is the only meaningful resource and the only real competitive differentiator. Xu Yen et al (2002) further state that successful companies will use customer information systems to build relationships on the levels that customers want them, and by organizing the information about each customer a singular 360 degree view can be made of each client throughout the company no matter how many customers they have. Companies are also realizing they can more easily lock in customers by understanding their needs and competing with exceeded expectations, something which CRM systems can help organize (H. Kale, 2004). The realization of the benefits of CRM are also noted in the market of related software product, in 2008 the CRM market reached 8.9 billion USD and to increase by nearly 50% by 2012 (Gartner Group, 2008). The study is to investigate how CRM will benefit the bank I am currently working with. 1.2 Problem Statement I have been in the banking sector for more than 13 years and had held different positions starting from teller, officer and currently to be the Head of Business Solutions. Currently the bank has expanded and merged with another sister company, information and customer retention has become amongst others the center of motion. Currently we could note that data is being held in different systems and consolidation is a big headache. This has impacted on service delivery. Duplication of data and heaviness in process has strongly been felt within the organization. Currently the bank does not hold a proper CRM system to address most of these issues and to minimize missed opportunities. Having highlighted this, a proper CRM will help in achieving greater height by the organization. The focus of most CRM systems according to Xu Yen et al.(2002) is to aid in the understanding of customers. By warehousing collected data about many different customers, forecasts of both customers future buying trends as well as individual customer behavior can be made. Customer Relationship Management can also help in breaking down the barriers between departments, something which can prove to be quite difficult, as in some firms there are even deep rivalries between departments (Edwards. 2007) 1.3 Objectives of the Study As per Doran, G. T. (1981), we need to consider the following criteria when setting up the objectives Specific Objectives are exclusively related to the business. Measurable The objective can be quantified. For e.g. Increase in profit amounting to Rs1 million instead of Higher profits. Agreed The parties who will be affected directly or indirectly by these objectives need to be informed and also have their consent. Realistic The objective should be challenging, but yet also be achievable. Time specific The objective should be delimited by time, having a specific start and end date. The following objectives have been identified for this study: Identify the benefit bank already implemented CRM have obtained Determine the hurdles and barriers in implementing a proper CRM Evaluate the impact of CRM in the Mauritian Banking Community Determine the benefit that bank will obtained in implementing a proper CRM 1.4 Research Questions The research questions in this proposal shall include but not limited to the following: How CRM has impacted on the internal process of banks What are the barriers and obstacle for implementing a proper CRM What are the main benefit obtained for a proper implemented CRM How far do bank staff agree on the benefit of a CRM By how much has missed opportunities been reduced 1.5 Hypotheses (Assumptions) The following hypotheses based on the objective of the study have been formulated: Hypothesis I: Ho: Banks in Mauritius do not agree that CRM improves their internal process HA: Banks in Mauritius do agree that CRM improves their internal process Hypothesis II: Ho: Banks in Mauritius do not face any barriers and obstacles for the implementation of CRM HA: Banks in Mauritius face barriers and obstacles for the implementation of CRM Hypothesis III: Ho: Banks Staff do not agree that CRM has ease their day to day tasks HA: Banks staff do agree that CRM has ease their day to day tasks Hypothesis IV: Ho: Banks do not agree that CRM has reduced missed opportunities HA: Banks do agree that CRM has reduced missed opportunities 2.0 Literature Review The idea behind Customer Relationship Management is not new; even the earliest merchants knew it was a good idea to build relationships with customers to keep them coming back. (Jobber , 2004) Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a business approach that integrates people, process and technology to maximize relationships with customers Barton Goldberg, ISM, CRM Strategic Advisors. Jobber has stated the need for loyalty because it is customer loyalty that will ensure that the repeated purchase in made with your business. According to Storbacka and Lehtinen(2001, p 5) the three main pillars of CRM are : Customer value Creation Viewing the product as a process and it is the business responsibility for developing customer relationships Offering customers the possibilities to create value for themselves. With the help of technology and human resources, CRM will help a business to gain insight into the behavior of customers and the value of those customers. For CRM to be effective and bear its fruits, an organization must devise an adequate business strategy that it will have to follow. The organization must also look at the different ways information about customers comes into a business, where and how this data is stored and how it is currently used. With an effective CRM strategy, a business can increase revenues by: Providing adequate services and products that are exactly what customers expect Increase customer service level Initiate cross selling Provide the banks staffs with an extra tool that will help them increase business Retaining existing customers. Bringing new customers Personalized service Target the right customer with the right product Aggressive marketing All elements are mixed in to increase and maintain greater business to customer relationships. CRM has an impact mostly on marketing, sales, and customer service strategies. CRM helps create time efficiency and savings on both sides of the business spectrum. Through correct implementation and use of CRM solutions, companies gain a better understanding of their strongest and weakest areas and how they can improve upon these. Therefore, customers gain better products and services from their businesses of choice. In any business, CRM will start from the Back office and will go throughout the whole company to reach the front office. It is nowadays a must to put the customer at the center of the business. Customer experience is the sum total of all the interactions a customer has with your brand during his customer lifecycle. It has become the critical differentiator in todays hypercompetitive, hyper connected global marketplace. Differentiation based on product innovation is no longer sustainable because competitors can leapfrog feature/function advantages more quickly than ever. And differentiation based on price kills profitability. On the other hand, research shows that 86 percent of consumers said they would be willing to pay more for a better customer experience. [2011 Customer Experience Impact Report conducted by Harris Interactive] Being now the Head of Business solution of the bank, I found it suitable to perform this research in the Mauritian market for implementing a proper CRM solution in the bank ensuring that the bank reap its benefit. 3.0 Research Methodology This section describes the methodology that will be followed to address the hypotheses or research questions. It includes the research design, sampling method, data collection procedures, research instrumentation and related data analysis. 3.1 Research Design Research design provides the basic direction for carrying out a research project so as to obtain answers to research questions (Cooper Schindler, 2003). A descriptive research design will be adopted for this study since it involved collection of both qualitative and quantitative information by conducting a survey. The descriptive research design would therefore, make predictions and analyse the behaviour of the respondents with respect to the survey. 3.2 Population and Sample 3.2.1 Target Population A population is considered to be any group of people, events, or things that are of interest to the researchers and that they wish to investigate (Sekaran, 2000). The target population for this study will include banks in Mauritius and staff working in the banking sector. 3.2.2 Sampling Method Sampling is the process of selecting units (e.g. people, organizations) from a population of interest so that by studying the sample we may fairly generalize our results back to the population from which they were chosen. Trochim (2006). It is therefore, important to adopt the appropriate sampling techniques and to design the sampling method to minimise any error or response bias. The appropriate sampling technique that will be adopted for the study will be the simple random sampling technique so as to ensure that each officer has an equal chance of selection since a simple random sample is meant to be an unbiased representation of a group 3.2.3 Sample Size To determine the sample size we need to calculate the necessary the sample size for a different combination of levels of precision, confidence level (93%), and variability. The level of precision also called as the sampling error, is the range in which the true value of the population is estimated to be. This range is often expressed in percentage points, (e.g., Â ±7 percent). A proportion of 0.07 indicates the maximum variability in a population Therefore the Solvins formula, as described below, will be used to calculate the sample size at 7% level of precision. Where n is the sample size, N is the population size and e is the level of precision Hence the sample size for this study will be 68 on a population of 100. 3.3 The research Instrument The research instrument for this study will include a structured questionnaire to elicit relevant information from the respondents employ primary and secondary sources of data. Questionnaires have advantages over some other types of surveys in that they are cheap; do not require as much effort from the questioner as verbal or telephone surveys, and often have standardized answers that make it simple to compile data. Questionnaires are also sharply limited by the fact that respondents must be able to read the questions and respond to them. An open-ended question asks the respondent to formulate his own answer, whereas a closed-ended question has the respondent pick an answer from a given number of options. For this paper, the questionnaire will include both open ended and closed ended questions. The close ended will comprise of dichotomous, multichotomous as well as likert scaled information. The questionnaire will consist of some main sections such as First section will demonstrate the barriers and obstacles in implementing CRM Second section will point out the benefit obtained from CRM Third section will evaluate the impact of CRM in the Banking Community 3.4 Data Collection method The choice of the data collection method is influenced by the data collection strategy, the type of variables involved, the accuracy required, the data collection points and the skill of the enumerator. The links between the variables, its source and practical methods for its collection helped in choosing appropriate method. Therefore, for the data collection, the survey method will be adopted given that the survey involved a structured questionnaire given to respondents and designed to elicit specific information with respect to the objectives of the study. Moreover, the data will be gathered by scheduling a meeting with the different targeted organization where the questionnaires will be distributed to the different respondent and collected some days later to allow them to give the maximum information in a precise way. 3.5 Validity and Reliability Validity is defined as the extent to which differences in observed scores reflect the true nature among objects on the characteristics being measured and Reliability relates to consistency of results over a period of time. Hence, consideration regarding validity and reliability will be taken into account for this study. 3.5.1 Pre testing Pilot testing is used to identify and eliminate problems before the main survey takes place. 10% of the sample size will be used for pilot testing prior to the data collection phase. The pilot test will be used to check questions relevancy, whether respondent understands all questions, and logic of question order. 3.5.1 Reliability of data Reliability of data is used to check for internal consistency of data which is measured using coefficient alpha (also known as Cronbachs alpha). According to George, D., Mallery, P. (2003), the acceptable level for the Cronbach alpha depends on what is being measured, with the general rule of thumb being 0.7. Therefore, for the purpose of this study a Cronbachs alpha of 0.7 or higher will be considered acceptable, and that below 0.75 was regarded as multidimensional 3.6 Data Analysis and interpretation The data file will then be organized and analysed employing the SPSS software version 16.0 or above. Both descriptive and inferential statistics will be used for analysis where descriptive statistics will include frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation. Inferential statistics will include regression analysis, correlation, chi square, T-test, ANOVA. Significant tests will be conducted at 5% level using p-value as indicator for both significance and hypothesis testing where; Indicator for significance P-value less than 0.05 = statistical significance P-value greater than 0.05 = no significance Indicators to be used for hypothesis testing P-value less or equal to 0.05 = reject Null hypothesis (H0) P-value greater than 0.05 = do not reject Null hypothesis (H0) 4.0 Expected Results The following results might be expected: It is expected that Mauritian Banks has benefited from CRM It is expect that Mauritian Banks has faced barriers and difficulties in implementing CRM It is expect that CRM has positively impacted on the internal process of Mauritian Banks. It is expected that number of customers has increased 5.0 Ethical Considerations In order to protect confidentiality, the data collected will not be revealed to others except in the form of processed data/information without detailing the identity of the individual responses. Relevant permission will be sought from the concerned authorities prior to administering the questionnaires. 6.0 Limitation of this study The limitation of the study is that not all bank staff will responds due to time constraints. Also only banks where CRM has been implemented will be contacted. However, the data collected from respondents will be analyzed and interpreted within the limited framework allowed. 7.0 Conclusion This study will endeavor to demonstrate to my senior management the benefit in implementing a proper CRM in the bank in order to align back-office processes and to leverage the use of IT system. This proposal will quantify the impact on the business in terms of customer retention and new offerings possibilities while reducing missed opportunities. Definitely this study will bring a better insight on the capabilities of a CRM. Definitely greater profit would be achieved if the CRM is properly implemented and used.