Sales-side process automation to improve integration: An exploratory research

Type :

Theses

Pages :

51 pages

Format :

.doc

Published date :

05/08/2009

Category :

Business & market

Sub category :

Business strategy

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Summary :

Introduction
A overview of Information Communication Technologies
1. Rationale of the study
Objective of the study
Conceptual framework and literture survey
What is sales force automation?
1. Technology behind it
The definition of knowledge management
Implementation measures for facilitating knowledge management
An overview of customer relationship management (CRM)
An overview of partner relationship management (PRM)
The pros and cons of supplier relationship management (SRM)
A study of global price management
Research methodology
Conclusion
Bibliography

Abstract

The customer has always been important. Peter Drucker, the dean of management consultants, once remarked: "Because its purpose is to create a customer, the business enterprise has two and only two basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results: all the rest are costs." (Gemmy Allen, 1999). If possible, the advent of the Internet has put even more emphasis on the importance of the customer than Drucker suggested. Historically, individual customers were limited to buying at stores near where they lived, or from catalogs or by phone. The Internet has made Web shopping possible, and it is increasingly popular with a growing number of customers. Today's customers can use software to examine prices and features of products from around the world and then order what best meets their specific needs. Interestingly, some technology experts and academic scholars have observed that there is no direct correlation between IT investments and business performance or knowledge management. For instance, Erik Brynjolfsson, a professor at MIT Sloan School, notes that: "The same dollar spent on the same system may give a competitive advantage to one company but only expensive paperweights to another." Hence a key factor for the higher return on the IT dollar is the effective utilization of technology. In the good old days selling a product to customers was enough to ensure success - if it was a good product. However, while that is generally still true, it is no longer enough. There are dozens of similar good products competing for markets that have worldwide scope and localized distribution needs. With the accession of the Internet to the mainstream, small and large companies compete to do business in the same marketplaces. It is no coincidence that customer retention has become one of the primary focuses of contemporary sales and marketing. This gives rise to sales Force automation, designed to help sales people acquire and retain customers, reduce administrative time and to make salesperson's activities something that earns them and their company's money.