Advantages and Concerns of Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

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Initial Post
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is the umbrella term which includes the
practices, processes and guidelines which the given organization adheres to during customer
interaction. Considering the dynamic consumer preferences and habits, it is imperative for
the organization to constantly interact with consumers so as to enhance reach and obtain
constructive feedback (Baran and Galka, 2016: 64). The various advantages of CRM include
improvement of relationship with customers, better understanding of the preferences and
needs of target customers, increase in consumer satisfaction and enhanced performance of
sales and marketing department. CRM is also helpful in management of supply chain through
demand estimation (Riyad, 2015: 83).
Even though CRM offers multiple advantages, but there are certain concerns that need to be
highlighted. One of these is the high cost associated with the implementation of CRM which
is not limited at the cost of package. This is because the CRM implementation would require
supporting hardware. Additionally, training costs would be incurred by the firm to train
employees regarding CRM usage. Besides, IT resources would be required to provide support
and maintenance once CRM module is in place. Besides, in certain cases there may be loss
of consumer data temporarily which may be stored at a remote location (Baran and Galka,
2016: 78-80).
Also, there are issues of failure associated with CRM especially when there is lack of support
from the management or resistance from employees. Additionally, in order to maximize the
benefits of CRM, training costs and support costs are to be incurred. Besides, one critical
issue is that the firms consider CRM as the solution in isolation to improve the customer
interactions which is not the case as it facilitates the business strategies and processes
((Riyad, 2015: 132-133).

References
Baran, J. R. and Galka, J. R. (2016) Customer Relationship Management: The Foundation of
Contemporary Marketing Strategy (2nd Ed.)Abingdon: Taylor& Francis. Available here
https://books.google.co.in/books?
id=iDolDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=CRM+in+r+Saudi+Arab&hl=en&sa=X&ved
=0ahUKEwiUt43_66jhAhUYXn0KHSfDD7AQ6AEIRjAF#v=onepage&q&f=false
[Accessed 30 March 2019]
Riyad, E. (2015) Successful Customer Relationship Management Programs and
Technologies: Issues and Trends (4th ed.) Pennsylvania: IGI Global Publisher. Available here
https://books.google.co.in/books?
id=eV4S2BZFkZoC&dq=CRM+in+retail+sector+in+Saudi+Arab&source=gbs_navlinks_s[A
ccessed 30 March 2019]