Customer Relation Management
PART 1
A Customer Relationship Management Program is an approach in management that is taken by companies to offer improvement in the employee –customer relationship in the present and future in an effort to improve the efficiency of the business and make its productivity increase. The programs focus more on equipping employees to be better knowledgeable in dealing with each day’s interaction with customer and the general improvement and growth of the employee customer relationship. Also the programs aim at creation of a safer environment for the employees to work in and reduce the errors by human as much as possible. The task that took two weeks concentrated on the examination of an aircraft pilot and how the CRM program was running in the present regular carrier industry. In this assignment another organization will be chosen and inspected to perceive how they run their CRM program and look at a portion of the likenesses and contrasts between this new office and the aircraft business we beforehand considered (Leach, L.P., 2014).
CRM in the Airline Industry
CRM programs that were implemented in the airline industries focused on the area of safety above all other issues. Human errors were causing planes to crash in the past and implementing these CRM programs were the answer that was created to fix this most important issue. The CRM program in this industry helped to best serve the customers by making sure that the pilots that were flying the planes were in tip top shape and knew what to do in high stress situations that could mean the difference between life and death. These pilots were trained in a very in depth training program that created situations that put them under pressures that they could easily see in a real life situation in order to see how they respond and how fast their reflexes were in making these responses. The most cutting edge CRM simulation software helps to create these scenarios to help train a top notch pilot. While studying how the CRM was conducted in the airline industry it was noticed that all industries did not run these programs the same (Raju, 2014).
CRM in the Call Centers Industry
CRM programs in call centers work differently than that of the airline industry because their needs are different in allot of ways. In call centers safety isn’t as much of an issue so they focus most of their efforts toward employee and customer relation and customer satisfaction. Training is a very big part of the call centers central plan for efficient productivity. Whenever new employees are hired the main focus of the training is to familiarize them with the software and teach them how to interact with the customers in a positive way that keeps the customer satisfied and keeps sales up for the clients as well. Most call centers use the teamwork strategy by spitting employees up into teams and having a supervisor over each team to oversee each individual’s progress. One important skill that a call center tech should know how to do at the end of his or her training is how to calm down an irate customer and turn him or her into a satisfied customer by the end of the call (Bhat, S.A. and Darzi, M.A., 2016.).
Leaders and Managers
While conducting any CRM program it is important to be able to identify and know the difference between leaders and managers. Sometimes individuals tend to get these two terms mixed up and if you are not informed it may be easy to do so. Managers have an authority given to them just by the very nature of their job. They are hired to be in charge of a certain group of employees and some often have the authority to make changes and sometimes even hire and fire individuals. This position often come with allot of responsibility and more pay in most cases. Leaders on the other hand aren’t based on authority but rather ability and can sometimes be paid more in some cases but not always. Leaders in a field are what we consider the best at what they do and excel further and higher than anyone else at their place of business. Usually a leader will often be offered a raise at some point due to their abilities. Any successful industry will have both leaders and managers as it takes both to run a successful business. The managers to instruct individuals in the direction of what to do and the leaders to draw in the customers with their abilities proficient knowledge of the business.
Effects of a Successful CRM Program
The usual effects of success of a CRM program is a stable and successful company with high productivity, low turnover, and low incidence rates. Companies with high marks such as these operate for years to come with no signs of slowing down in sight. As long as the employees are trained properly and the customers are plentiful and satisfied then the current CRM is definitely doing its job properly. CRM programs also update with the times as we see now there are more and more software that is being released that are taking the place of people in the training part of the business. This move both cuts down on cost and allows for the training to be repeated with just a click of a button if someone doesn’t understand something at first.
Implementing a successful CRM program can be one of the most important parts of an industry in today’s society. All businesses need to take an interest in safety, training, employee and customer relations as well as customer satisfaction because these make up the backbone structure of a successful company in this day and time. Employees who are well trained have been shown to have less accidents and perform much higher than employees who are not properly trained. Human error can really cost a company and its customers in certain situations, and not just money in fact sometimes lives are lost. These program help to make our industries safe for everyone and this seems to be a very important thing.
TASK 2
Matrix organizational structure.
The best suited managing organizational structure is the matrix organizational structure, the structure is a hybrid form and it includes a number of other projects management structures on the hierarchical structure of functioning. In accordance to the relative powers of project manager and the functional managers, there are different types of matric systems in practice respectively. The first one is the functional matrix, in this kind of matrix, the functional managers possess great powers than projects managers. The second open is the project matrix, in this kind of matrices the managers of the project have the more powers than the functional managers. And finally the balance matrix in which the project and functional managers have a 50 50 powers sharing (Srinivasan, K. and Saravanan, S., 2015).
It is the best organization since it is the same as functional, the resources can be used and shared in numerous projects which significant reduce the issue of redundancy in the staff. Second, it is the focus of work. Secondly, it is the focus of work, with formal designated managers for the projects will compel him to have more focus and responsible for the coordination and integration work in various units. Thirdly, when there are various projects concurrently, the company has to balance the resources to make sure that the various projects can go on to complete their respective costs and quality requirements. Fourth, the curiosity of the project numbers is cut down largely after the completion of the project while they are largely related with the project itself, on the other end they have the feeling of home belonging about the function. The limitation is that the organization structure, especial the matrix structure has exacerbated the unrest between functional managers and the project managers, secondly, the sharing of equipment and resources in the different projects will result to disagreements and the competition for the rare resources. Third, during the implantation of the projects, the managers have to talk and agree on the numerous issue, which is bad and can delay problem solving and decision making. Fourth, the matrix is not in accordance to the principles of unified management, project members have two bosses, the managers of the projects and the functional managers when they have divisions in command, it will result into losses at their members
There matrix can improve and increase the integration of the project and reduce internal power struggle, and cut down on inside power struggle, its weakness are seen in the bad and poor management of their functional areas and are threatened by project inflammation. The functional matrix can give an improved system for management of the fight indifferent projects, but go on with their functions is at efficient cost integration projects. Balanced matrix can attain the balance in technology and requirement of the projects in a better way, but Maintenance and establishment is very subtle, it is not in any way likely to experience issues in the field of matrix organization.
Payback Period Analysis
Analysis using this method is the simplest way of taking into account one more ideas on projects. This analysis tells you how long it will need to take to earn back the money spent on initiating the projects. Formula:
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For instance the project has to cost $60,000 and is projected to give back $6666 yearly, the payback period is going to be $60000 ÷ $6666 which gives 9 months. If the profits from the project is to change from year to year, it is good to get the sum of the expected returns for all the succeeding years until one arrives at the overall cost of the projects
For Instance, in the previous cash flow examples, the cost of the projects was $100000 and the projected returns were as below
| First month | $8,059 |
| Second month | $15,513 |
| Third month | $24,951 |
| Forth month | $32,021 |
| Fifth month | $40,072 |
The case of our project is to be paid completely in about four year, since $60,000 is the projects costs is the same as the prior three years revenue, on top of $28,477. $28,477 is an equivalent of about 10.7/12 the revenue in the fourth year.
According to the payback theory, the payback period in this case is short and therefore it means the project is more liquid and therefore it is of less risk. It will allow to return the investment money fast and therefore allowing for reinvestment into other areas. By and large, a payback time of three years or less is favored. A few consultants say that if the payback time frame is not as much as a year, the undertaking ought to be viewed as essential. But keep in mind the downsides of the payback time frame technique. Essentially, it disregards any advantages that happen after the payback time frame, so an undertaking that profits $1 million following a six-year payback period is positioned lower than a venture that profits zero following a five-year payback. Yet, likely the significant feedback is that a straight payback strategy overlooks the time estimation of cash. To get around this issue, you ought to likewise think about the net present estimation of the undertaking, and also its inward rate of return (Mecham, 2013).
Net Present Value of Major Purchases
The net present value strategy (NPV) of assessing a noteworthy venture enables you to consider the time estimation of cash. Basically, it causes you locate the present an incentive in “the present dollars” without bounds net income of a task. At that point, you can contrast that sum and the measure of cash expected to actualize the project. If the NPV is more prominent than the cost, the undertaking will be productive for you (accepting, obviously, that your assessed income is sensibly near reality). On the off chance that you have more than one anticipate on the table, you can figure the NPV of both, and pick the one with the best contrast amongst NPV and cost. As a case of how NPV functions, envision you’re taking a gander at a task costing $7,500 that is required to return $2,000 every year for a long time, or $10,000 altogether. At first look, the undertaking looks gainful. Under the payback strategy, it looks as though the task will pay for itself in 3.75 years (Srinivasan, 2015).
Project Plan
- Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) will provide a structural view into the project. It is an essential tool for planning and executing the project. Use the WBS to define the work for the project and to develop the project’s schedule. You should use the additional fields in MS Project to provide more detailed information on each component of the WBS – then export the WBS dictionary directly from Project. This Work Breakdown Structure Template provides a good set of WBS examples. Whether you are new to project management and working on your PMP certification, or been doing project management for many years, you’re sure to find our templates helpful in your projects (Srinivasan, 2015).
- Leveling of Resources
Resource leveling helps an organization to make use of the available resources to the maximum. The idea behind resource leveling is to reduce wastage of resources i.e., to stop over-allocation of resources. Project manager will identify time that is unused by a resource and will take measures to prevent it or making an advantage out of it. By resource conflicts, there are numerous disadvantages suffered by the organization, such as:
- Delay in certain tasks being completed
- Difficulty in assigning a different resource
- Unable to change task dependencies
- To remove certain tasks
- To add more tasks
- Overall delays and budget overruns of projects
Resource leveling Techniques
Critical path is a common type of technique used by project managers when it comes to resource leveling. The critical path represents for both the longest and shortest time duration paths in the network diagram to complete the project.
However, apart from the widely used critical path concept, project managers use fast tracking and crashing if things get out of hand.
- Fast tracking – This performs critical path tasks. This buys time. The prominent feature of this technique is that although the work is completed for the moment, possibility of rework is higher.
- Crashing – This refers to assigning resources in addition to existing resources to get work done faster, associated with additional cost such as labor, equipment, etc.
- Fact finding evidence
CRM programs that were implemented in the airline industries focused on the area of safety above all other issues. Human errors were causing planes to crash in the past and implementing these CRM programs were the answer that was created to fix this most important issue. The CRM program in this industry helped to best serve the customers by making sure that the pilots that were flying the planes were in tip top shape and knew what to do in high stress situations that could mean the difference between life and death. These pilots were trained in a very in depth training program that created situations that put them under pressures that they could easily see in a real life situation in order to see how they respond and how fast their reflexes were in making these responses. The most cutting edge CRM simulation software helps to create these scenarios to help train a top notch pilot. While studying how the CRM was conducted in the airline industry it was noticed that all industries did not run these programs the same (Raju, 2014).
- Precedence Diagramming Method (PDM)
- Critical Path
A critical path in project management will provide us with the longest ask series that determines the least amount of time needed to complete this IT customer relation program. Our project will follow the following sequence. This makes the minimum time to finish it in time
In the example below, tasks A, D and E form the longest sequence of tasks, and thus determine the project’s critical path. This makes the minimum time required to complete the project nine days.
Critical Path to use
The distinction critical path is essence mainly for two reasons:
It’s because not all the tasks are independent on the preceding ones, it’s not every task will be on the path. Also the sequence of this software on the path are linked and that if there is delay in one task, it will hold the entire project.
- Quality technique
A good and best way to approach and establish a strategic metrics for this projects is to follow through the following
- The team projects should flowchart the process touched by the project as in today. At the exercise, identify then procedure are bottlenecks, constraints or areas of problem. The whole flowchart exercise has to take less than three hours
- The following step should be telling where the logical intervals and handoffs in departments, time stamps, milestones or any of the other logical process break. Collect information in the ranges and chart them.
- Finally, we have to connect the measures to the ultimate customer in the business measure supposed to be improved by the project. The measure of process with the standout linkage or correlation, are the focus areas to improve results.
Flowchart and Related Metrics
Other inclusion in suggestion for the project managers to have consideration for in regard to linking their metrics to what is significant for the organization to possess is to do with cost of quality metrics. On the off chance that the point of a venture is to lessen disappointment costs, for example, modify, reinsertion, scrap, returns, guarantee claims, or discounts, those measurements ought to be followed and connected to a definitive suggestion and process changes of the undertaking(Walsh, 2014).
- Risk Analysis
The project is complex and it will involve risk ranging from:
Scope risk
It comprises of the risks that result from the following factors:
- Scope creep- this project will become increasingly complex since clients begin gold plating
- Issues of integration
- Defects in hardware and software.
- Varying in dependencies
Scheduling risk
The Risk involves delays in the 9 months period of vendoring natural factors, errors in approximation and acquisition parts delays. For example the test team cannot begin the work until the developers finish their milestone deliverables and a delay in those can cause cascading delays.
To curb this risk use tools like work breakdown structure and the Grantt Charts to assist you in scheduling
Resource risk
This risk will come up from outsourcing and other treated personnel matters. A big project will include hundreds of major personnel. Coming in with a new worker at a big stage can slow down the project. Putting aside the attribution, it involves a skill related risk too. For example, if the project need a lot of front end in website and the team has insufficient designer, it can face unexpected delays. Another risk source is lack of funds available. This is expected to take place if you are relying on external sources of funding, for example clients who pays per milestone and it suddenly the client may face cash crunch.
Technology Risk
This hazard incorporates delays emerging out of programming and equipment absconds or the disappointment of a basic administration or a stage. For example, part of the way through the task you may understand the cloud specialist co-op you are utilizing doesn’t fulfill your execution benchmarks. Aside from this, there could be issues in the stage used to assemble your product or a product refresh of a basic instrument that never again underpins some of your capacities.
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