Exercise 22

Differentiate between software systems such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, Business-to-Business e-commerce programs and Supply-Chain Management (SCM) software.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a process or methodology used to learn more about the needs and behaviors of customers, in order to build better relationships with them. CRM help to learn a lot of information about customers, sales, marketing effectiveness, responsiveness and market trends. CRM software helps businesses gain insight into the behavior and the value of their customers by using technology and human resources (Knowledge Hills, 2004).

Advantage of using CRM software (Knowledge Hills, 2004):

• Provide better customer service
• Increase customer revenues
• Discover new customers
• Sell products more effectively
• Help to close deals faster by salesman
• Call centers become more efficient
• Marketing and sales processes become simply
  

The CRM software are divided into different area (Knowledge Hills, 2004):

• Contact Management - stores, tacks and manages contacts, contracts and agreements
  
• Lead Management - manages and tracks forecast sales leads, helps to understand and improve conversion rates
  
• Self service CRN - customer interaction, automation of email, call logs, web site analytics, campaign management through Web
  
• Survey Management - automates an electronic surveys, polls, questionnaires and capable understand customer preferences
• Call Center
  
• Help Desk
• Distribution Management

Business-to-Business (B2B) e-commerce between supplies and customers in Internet is conducted by industry sponsored marketplaces and through private exchanges set up by large companies. Certainly, companies also sell their product to business customer through their own Web sites. Most of the companies use such marketplaces mainly to purchase commodity goods, manage their supply chains and conduct indirect purchase that not related to their main business. Different from business-to-consumer (B2C ) e-commerce, most B2B commerce is done through negotiated contracts. It allows the seller to expect and plan how much the buyer will purchase (Net Industries, 2009).

Supply-Chain Management (SCM) is the management of multiple relationships across the supply chain. It is a network of multiple businesses and relationships. SCM provides the opportunity to capture the synergy of intra and intercompany integration and management. SCM is integrate the key business process from end user to original suppliers that provides products, services and information that add value for customer and other stakeholders (Lambert & Cooper, 2000).

The five basic component of SCM (Wailgum & Worthen, 2008):

1. Plan - strategic portion of SCM. SCM planning develop a set of metrics to montior the supply chain, make it efficiency, less costs and higher deliver quality and value to customers.
2. Source - choose suppliers to deliver the goods and services they need to create their product. SCM need to develop a set of pricing, delivery and payment process with suppliers
3. Make - the manufacturing steps. SCM schedule the necessary for production, testing, packaging and delivery.
4. Deliver - refer to as logistics: receipt of orders from customers, develop a network of warehouse, pick carriers to get products to customers and set up an invoicing system to receive payment.
5. Return - receiving defective and excess products back from the customers who have problem with delivered products.

The SCM software provides functions of the above basic steps in SCM, but no one has a complete package that is right for every company. As each industry's supply chain has a unique set of chanllenges. And if employees bypass the supply chain systems and try to manage things manually such as using the fax machine or spreadsheets, then even the most expensive systems will provide an imcomplete picture of what is happening in the SCM of the company (Wailgum & Worthen, 2008).

Relationships between SCM, CRM & B2B:
Many SCM applications are linked to the information store inside enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. The ERP software may include the CRM systems inside. Theoretically the company could assemble the information it needs to feed the SCM. The SCM applications benefit from having the source from CRM to go to for up-to-date information. Applications that simply automate the logistics aspects of SCM are less dependent upon gathering information from around the company. The rise and importance of CRM systems, more companies puts more pressure to integrate all enterprisewide software packages together (Wailgum & Worthen, 2008).

Before the come of the Internet, the SCM softwares are limited to improving theire ability to predict demand from customers and make their own supply chains run more smoothly. Now a day, companies can connect their supply chain with their suppliers and customers together in a single network. That optimizes costs and opportunities for everyone invole into the business. This make the exploseion of the B2B idea in the Internet. Of course, it isn't quite happy to most companies. But today most companies share at least some data with their supply chain partners. The supply chain in most industries is very important for their life, so they don't want to show much of them (Wailgum & Worthen, 2008).
Reference

1. Knowledge Hills (2004), Customer relationship management tutorial, Knowledge Hills, Retrieved at http://crmtutorial.com/CRM/CRM.aspx on 1st May, 2009.
2. Lambert, D. M. and Cooper M. C. (2000), Issues in supply chain management, Elsevier Science Inc., 29, 65-83.
3. Net Industries (2009), Business-to-business (b e-commerce (2b) - b2b e-commerce quantified, b2b e-commerce in early adopter stage, customer server, Net Industries, Retrieved at http://ecommerce.hostip.info/pages/141/Business-Business-B2B-E-Commerce.html on 3rd May, 2009
   
4. Wailgum, T and Worthen, B. (2008), Supply chain management definition and solutions, CIO, Retrieved at http://www.cio.com/article/40940/Supply_Chain_Management_Definition_and_Solutions on 3rd May, 2009.