Customer Relationship Management – a major strategic issue for companies

Customer Relationship Management in 2018

Who would have imagined, when the first iPhone went on sale on 29 June 2007, that it would shake the service industry to its very core? In one fail swoop the Cupertino firm revolutionized the mobile telephony industry and along with it the business world, by offering unprecedented customer service and experience. Since then, the term Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has clearly moved on. Customers now expect a service that is both personal, smooth and effortless every time they interact with a brand. Digital has eased access to information as well as services and products, but what does digital CRM mean in 2018? What follows will provide a pointer to the answer…

A customer at the heart of the business

When customer satisfaction rhymes with company strategy

Taking digital on board in our professional as well as our personal lives has a strong impact on corporate Customer Relationship Management. One of the latest, most spectacular examples is Société Générale’s #CUSTOMER2020 plan. The French bank has placed customers at the heart of its transformation plan and promised to offer them the best possible service and experience.
The new strategic trend followed by companies is to act as experience creators instead of merely concentrating on sales, namely the transactional part of the customer relationship. This stance, which aims to be as simple and intuitive as possible, bolsters the relationship between the company and the end customer.
Now that consumers have developed an appetite for using integrated products and services in real time and on all their portable devices, their attitudes have changed. Companies must cater for them. They have shifted their focus to 360° Customer Relationship Management and to setting up services that minimize the number of interactions so that customers can use them effortlessly.

Customer Relationship Management – a personalized customer experience

Personalize the customer relationship to stand out

The application of digital can underpin marketing strategies. By doing so, companies can almost instantly tailor not only their communication, but also the customer experience.
The digital data held on consumers’ profiles is fed into the Customer Relationship Management software for a more personalized, more relevant experience. This provides the opportunity to enhance the pitch, product or service and thus target the most important feature that triggers the purchasing act in a consumer.
Communication can be more personalized by using social networks such as Facebook, primarily to tap the data supplied when joining the site to enable cross-referencing. In effect, when the members indicate their leisure and other activities, they divulge precious details that can be used to offer the right product or service geared to the customer’s life cycle stage.

Adopting an omnichannel strategy

The proliferation of customer contacts through different media encourages adoption of an omnichannel approach to Customer Relationship Management to take advantage from the digital boom in our daily lives. Hence, digital channels (smartphone, social networks) and more traditional channels (call centres, the physical retail outlet) must be harvested together. The complementarity of these channels, which can also be used simultaneously, allows consumers to choose their favourite one without having to re-enter the same details. For example, they can virtually tour a shop to make up a shopping list and place their order by smartphone for home delivery.
Consumers now develop their own pet communication methods based on the various interaction options open to them. The challenge for companies adopting omnichannel Customer Relationship Management is to pinpoint these individual preferences by analysing the customers’ contact points, to focus communication on their preferred channel.

Our expertise

The same requirements apply regardless of whether the customers are on the B2C or B2B market. They need a clear offer, a personalized message and efficient purchasing and post purchase follow-up.
BY.O Group specializes in B2B2C customer relationship management. We work to develop powerful, innovative B2B2C ecosystems, based on the relationships with your partners, customers and suppliers so that they remain long-lasting, sincere, direct and positive.
We have contributed to the success of a new Customer Relationship Management strategy for SPIE, ADP and VEOLIA and can quote another example:

The Management of Aéroports de Lyon commissioned BY.O Group to develop and stimulate Synergie’Lys, its airport ecosystem that involves 200 companies. The services and exchanges platform created aims to enable the companies to jointly develop performance and the satisfaction of their common customer, the passenger.