E-business fundamentals: A case study on e-CRM initiative of Commonwealth Bank

This case study evaluates the e-CRM initiative of Commonwealth Bank and identifies the opportunities and issues faced by the company. It also discusses the nature of the e-CRM initiative, ethical issues and risks, and recommendations for further improvement. The subject is E-business and the document type is a case study. The course code, course name, and college/university are not mentioned.

E-business fundamentals
5/29/2019
Commonwealth Bank

E-business 1
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Overview of the company................................................................................................................3
Problem or opportunity to Commonwealth bank............................................................................3
Issues............................................................................................................................................3
Opportunities...............................................................................................................................4
Nature of the eCRM initiative that the organization implemented..................................................5
Improved customer service across channels................................................................................5
CAN campaign............................................................................................................................6
Everything-as-a-service...............................................................................................................6
Ethical issues and risks in implementing the eCRM.......................................................................7
Security issues.............................................................................................................................7
Reliability....................................................................................................................................8
Dependence..................................................................................................................................8
Success of the e-CRM initiative......................................................................................................8
Recommendations for further improvement....................................................................................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11

E-business 2
Introduction
Customer relationship management (CRM) is an approach that is used by the company to
manage the interaction with potential customers. This interaction is majorly maintained by the
company with the help of the history of the customer's with them to enhance their experience
with the company so that they remain loyal with them and this drives the rise in sales of the
company. This paper includes the case study that reflects the understanding of e-business
concepts in the Commonwealth bank. The evaluation of the e-CRM for Commonwealth bank has
been done to identify the problem or opportunity of the company. The evaluation helps the
company to recommend for improving the performance of e-CRM. In addition, the report
includes the ethical issues and risks of the company that they might face while implementing the
e-CRM. In the end, the successful e-CRM initiative has been done with further recommendations
for improvement.

E-business 3
Overview of the company
Commonwealth Bank of Australia is a recognized multinational Australian bank with the
business at different areas of the world including New Zealand, United Kingdom, Asia, and
many others. The company is a leading provider of the combined financial services that consists
of premium, retail, business, institutional banking, management of funds, insurance, investment
and many others (Commonwealth Bank, 2019). The company needs an advance requirement
related to the technology so that complete the needs and expectations of the customers due to
which they like to form a strong relationship with them. Commonwealth bank implements the e-
CRM that allows the company to enable the customers to assist them in their transactions
(Commonwealth Bank, 2019). The company apply the e-CRM for improving the capacity in the
competitive market and for enhancing their concentrated market that contributes in enhancing the
profit, decreasing cost and many other benefits (Hosseini, Hosseini and Meymand, 2016).
Problem or opportunity to Commonwealth bank
Commonwealth Bank tries to manage the long-term customer relationship that is possible with
the help of effective customer relationship management. This has been found that the bank has
taken the initiatives for customer relationship but they deal with some issues.
Issues
In the Australian market, the Commonwealth bank is serving best services as well as experience
to their customer that is witnessed with the help of “finest online” project 2007 - 2009 of
company. The commonwealth bank of Australia redesigned its NetBank Internet banking service
with the motive to provide the delight customer experience and online sales (Commonwealth

E-business 4
Bank, 2019). It has been found that the bank has implemented the new content with the
functionality to provide the support for the customer journey and the integrated new secure site
processes with in-person channels as well as bank multichannel customer relationship
management system through electronic. However, this has been witnessed that this e-CRM
system is affecting the customers of Commonwealth bank because recently they faced the
trouble logging into online banking services after the five-hour outage saw the transfers and in
addition, some of the cards were not accepted by businesses (CommSec Adviser Services, 2019).
This shows the issue that is faced by the company in terms of the e-CRM with the bank.
It has been found that the company provide the Kaching mobile payment that makes it easy for
the customers to make the multiple types of payments from an iPhone. However, this has been
found that the clients of the bank are facing the issue to access the mobile app, as they are not
able to make the easy the transactions because of the crash of the online system (Letts, 2017).
Opportunities
It has been found that commonwealth bank due have some of the opportunities in the market
which they are able to grab in the market in order to improve their relationship with the
customers. It has been found that with the rise in the use of the information technology system
there is an increase in the number of threats to the clients in terms of the data breach
(Commonwealth Bank, 2019). For example, AMP data breach of the 20 customers due to the
weak information system. These breaches are increasing due to which the trust of the customers
on banking is declining. In this era, by providing effective services and managing the customer
relationship commonwealth can win the trust of the employees. Thus, there are some benefits
that show the opportunity to the bank that includes a rise in revenue, improvement in service
level, customer satisfaction, productivity and many others (Schelle, 2018).

E-business 5
Nature of the eCRM initiative that the organization implemented
Commonwealth bank considered the issues and opportunities that are present in the market due
to which they implemented the different initiatives so that they can offer the e-CRM to the
customers. The below given are the initiatives taken by the commonwealth bank: -
Improved customer service across channels
In the dynamic environment, the needs of the customers with the banking services are changing
due to which the commonwealth bank needs to ensure that they adhere to the needs of customers
in the market. Further, the increase in opportunities made the company to bring the improved
customer service initiative across different channels (Darajeh and Tahajod, 2010). From the past
few years, the bank is performing the operations with the Pegasystems to use technologies like
the case management as well as the predictive analytics to enhance the overall flexibility of the
company that helps them to respond to the customer's changing needs and to enhance the
different number of processes. The processes due to which the initiative is selected include the
handling of the customer complaints.
In the past few years, the commonwealth bank found that customer complaints are increasing
and they started acknowledging those complaints. Considering the complaints of the clients the
company started providing the updates to the customers so that they can take the necessary
updates through different channels (Oumar, Mang’Unyi, Govender and Rajkaran, 2017). For
example; automatically generated e-mails, robotic handling on customer care calls in which they
can press the number to know the balance and many others. Thus, this allows them to start with
the initiative of customer service across channels that help them to resolve the issues of the
existing customers and to form the customer relationship with the new customers.

E-business 6
CAN campaign
Commonwealth bank took the step in which they brought the “Can Campaign” that majorly
highlights the services that range from the mobile payment to apps for the homebuyers. The
process of this initiative is linked with social media emergence in the economy. Commonwealth
bank found that transformation is not related to the technology for the sake of technology but
they found that social media is the reflection of the present technology and how it gregarious
human beings with the motive to be part of the conversation (Salesforce, 2019). The use of social
media technologies is supporting the bank to form the relationships among the customers and
banks that emulate the personal connection from people once had with their local branch. This
Can campaign helps the bank to get the attention of potential customers and to form long-term
relations with existing customers (Commonwealth Bank, 2019).
Everything-as-a-service
The commonwealth bank understands the issue of offering the services to numerous people in
the country as it offers the services to more than half of the citizen of Australia. The bank has
invested with that it has spent the past four years in a cloud operating model. The company offers
Everything-as-a-service with his enterprise service team offer companies who want to improve
human resources and the customer relationship management to the business units majorly on
demand (Tay, 2012). This new software is based on the six elements that include pay-as-you-go;
contestability; on-demand; automation; standardisation; and workload portability. The bank will
implement the same software in their business so that they can improve the operations; form the
long-term connection, relationship, trust, and improvement in business and many others.
All these are considered, as effective initiatives of e-CRM are effective as through this, they can
not only attract the customers or meet their needs but they can retain the customers with them. It

E-business 7
is very vital for the banks to retain the customers. It has been found that the major process behind
all the operations is the customers of the Commonwealth Bank. Commonwealth bank employees
enrol in the e-CRM exam majorly on the new technology so that they can offer delight
experiences and improved services (Abu-Shanab and Anagreh, 2015). The bank deals with the
risk of losing the customers due to which they consider the revaluation in the data of their clients
so that they can effectively manage the customer attrition.
Ethical issues and risks in implementing the eCRM
Customer relationship management is beneficial for both the customers as well as the suppliers
of the company due to which its implementation is important for the Commonwealth bank
(Commonwealth Bank, 2019). The implementation of the e-CRM leads to several ethical issues
and risk for the company that are given below -
Security issues
The e-CRM implementation needs a Commonwealth bank to collect the data for offering delight
services. The collections of the customer data include the secure method of collecting methods
and verifying the information. The companies ensure that the data needs to be sensitive enough
which include credit card numbers and many others (Markgraf, 2017). The risk factors occur in
the loss those details that are collected by commonwealth bank.
Reliability
There is a presence of the risk of reliability of the e-CRM initiative by the Commonwealth Bank.
It has been found that there is a possibility that the initiative of the CRM might be achieved or

E-business 8
fail in the market. There is a risk to the company that this initiative of CRM that is implemented
will remain reliable or not.
Dependence
The dependence is another element that is considered because it has been found that e-CRM
initiative of the commonwealth is dependent on the internet connectivity and its database that
helps them to connect with the customers through the digital platform. This means that the
commonwealth bank is depended on the digital platform (McKinley, 2012). Thus, this might lead
to the risk of confidentiality and privacy. It has been found that the digital platform is not secure
because the data breach has been found from these channels.
Success of the e-CRM initiative
The success of e-CRM initiative matters a lot for the company because these initiatives are taken
by the company so that they can make the customer to avail the services provided by the
commonwealth bank. The initiatives of the company are successful because they can meet the
changing needs of customers (Dalir, Zarch, Aghajanzadeh and Eshghi, 2017). The e-CRM
initiatives that are taken by the company are applied with the use of mediums like social media,
electronics, mail, phone and many others. However, it has been found that the rise in the
competition of commonwealth bank contributes to enhance the expectations and needs of
customers towards. This competition of the bank includes National Australia Bank, AMP, and
many others are enhancing the expectations and needs of customers.

E-business 9
Recommendations for further improvement
This has been found that initiatives of the company are successfully but there is an opportunity of
the improvement in e-CRM initiatives. Customers presently want the initiatives that make them
feel personalized because the use of the electronic mode for customer relationship management
reduces the opportunity for personal interaction. The lack of personal touch affects the customer
relationship with the company. Thus, it is suggested to the company that they should make use of
videos and different social media tools through which they can directly make the customers feel
prior.
In addition, it is suggested to the company to prepare new CRM initiative for their company
through which they can protect the interest of their customers who helps them to survive in the
market and to generate the awareness.

E-business 10
Conclusion
In the end of this report, it can be said that customer relationship management is essential for the
company in the Australian market. The company that has been selected for the e-CRM is
Commonwealth bank, which is a well-known Australian bank who is effectively performing its
entire business operations. It has been found that presently the bank is dealing with the different
types of issues that they want to resolve by implementing the e-CRM. Further, the report shows
the need for the eCRM initiative that the company implements that include CAN campaign,
everything-as-a-service, improved customer service across the diverse channels. In addition to
this, it includes ethical issues as well as the risk that might be faced by the Commonwealth Bank
while implementing the eCRM initiative. The issue that has been highlighted in the report
include security issues, reliability, and dependence. These issues affect the implementation of the
initiatives of the eCRM. In the end, this has been found that Commonwealth Bank has achieved
success with the implementation of eCRM initiative. It has been found there are some of the
issues that are faced by Commonwealth Bank which include changing customer preference and
personalised services which are recommended to the company.

E-business 11
References
Abu-Shanab, E. and Anagreh, L. (2015) Impact of electronic customer relationship management
in banking sector. International Journal of Electronic Customer Relationship Management, 9(4),
pp.254-270.
Commonwealth Bank (2019) About Commonwealth Bank [Online]. Available from:
https://www.commbank.com.au/about-us.html?ei=CB-footer_about-commbank [Accessed on
29th May 2019]
Commonwealth Bank (2019) Our company [Online]. Available from:
https://www.commbank.com.au/about-us/our-company.html?ei=CB-footer_who-we-are
[Accessed on 29th May 2019]
CommSec Adviser Services (2019) How to build stronger client relationships using CRM
[Online]. Available from:
http://www.investing.commsecadviserservices.com.au/empowered/articles/build-stronger-client-
relationships-using-crm/ [Accessed on 29th May 2019]
Dalir, M., Zarch, M.E., Aghajanzadeh, R. and Eshghi, S. (2017) The Role of e-CRM in the
quality of customer-bank relationship. Human Resource Management, 4(2), pp.12-22.
Dalir, M., Zarch, M.E., Aghajanzadeh, R. and Eshghi, S. (2017) The Role of e-CRM in the
quality of customer-bank relationship. Human Resource Management, 4(2), pp.12-22.
Darajeh, M.R. and Tahajod, M. (2010 June) Benefits of e-CRM for financial services providers.
In 2010 International Conference on Financial Theory and Engineering (pp. 95-98). IEEE.

E-business 12
Hosseini, T., Hosseini, M.H. and Meymand, M.M. (2016) The effect of performance of
electronic customer relationship management (e-CRM) system on accepting electronic
banking. Journal of Administrative Management, Education and Training, 12(3), pp.357-367.
Letts, S. (2017) Commonwealth Bank's ongoing systemic failures: But wait there's more
[Online]. Available from: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-15/cba-updates-settlements-
with-clients-and-employees/8805872 [Accessed on 29th May 2019]
Markgraf, B. (2017) Ethical Issues in CRM [Online]. Available from: https://bizfluent.com/info-
8384284-ethical-issues-crm.html [Accessed on 29th May 2019]
McKinley, M. (2012) Ethical dilemmas in customer relationship management. In Ethics in
Marketing and Communications (pp. 51-67). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
Oumar, T.K., Mang’Unyi, E.E., Govender, K.K. and Rajkaran, S. (2017) Exploring the e-CRM–
e-customer-e-loyalty nexus: a Kenyan commercial bank case study. Management &
Marketing, 12(4), pp.674-696.
Salesforce (2019) Reinventing banking for the social era [Online]. Available from:
https://www.salesforce.com/ap/customer-success-stories/commonwealth-bank/ [Accessed on 29th
May 2019]
Schelle, C. (2018) CommBank online services restored after outages [Online]. Available from:
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/commonwealth-bank-online-and-visa-transactions-
down/news-story/38c5bb1da1414ffeb2e7b22a6ff21637 [Accessed on 29th May 2019]

E-business 13
Tay, L. (2012) How CommBank designed IT-as-a-service [Online]. Available from:
https://www.itnews.com.au/feature/how-commbank-designed-it-as-a-service-324491 [Accessed
on 29th May 2019]

E-business 14