CRM in Axis Bank

Customer Relationship Management
DESIGN OF STUDY
OBJECTIVES
To study the CRM in brief.
To understand the CRM need in bank.
To know CRM strategies.
To know challenges faced by banks in successful implementation of CRM.
To understand the CRM process in Axis Bank.
METHODOLOGY
Research is a systematic quest for knowledge. That means, techniques
and frames of reference by which a researcher approaches and carries out
enquiry is known as methodology. Data is an input for my project; likewise
the data has been collected from the following sources.
The inputs of the project were mainly accumulated through the primary
research and the secondary information.
The primary information was gathered through interactions and
discussions with the employees of the Axis bank and customers of Axis bank
The sources of secondary information were various books, magazines,
articles, and web.
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Once the information was gathered, it was properly evaluated. Then
inferences were carefully drawn on the basis of the primary data collected after
going through series of deliberations. The output was thus produced.
The goal of fulfilment of the objective of the project was thus achieved.
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Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
CRM is the abbreviation for Customer Relationship Management. It entails all aspects of
interaction that a company has with its customer, whether it is sales or service-related. CRM is
often thought of as a business strategy that enables businesses to:
Understand the customer
Retain customers through better customer experience
Attract new customer
Win new clients and contracts
Increase profitably
Decrease customer management costs
Today, customers have more power in deciding their bank of choice. Consequently, keeping
existing customers, as well as attracting new ones, is a critical concern for banks. Customer
satisfaction is an important variable in evaluation and control in a bank marketing management.
Poor customer satisfaction will lead to a decline in customer loyalty, and given the extended
offerings from the competitors, customers can easily switch banks. Banks need to leverage
effectively on their customer relationships and make better use of customer information across
the institution.
Competition in the financial services industry has intensified in recent years, owing to events
such as technology changes and financial industry deregulation. Conventional banking
distribution has been gradually supplemented by the emerging use of electronic banking. Many
bank customers prefer using ATMs or a website rather than visiting a branch, while technology
has also reduced barriers to entry for new customers.
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For the purpose of CRM, a Customer is defined as:
A person or entity that maintains an account and/or has a business relationship with the bank;
One on whose behalf the account is maintained (i.e. the beneficial owner);
Beneficiaries of transactions conducted by professional intermediaries, such as Stock
Brokers, Chartered Accountants, Solicitors etc. as permitted under the law, and
Any person or entity connected with a financial transaction which can pose significant
reputational or other risks to the bank, say, aware transfer or issue of a high value demand draft
as a single transaction.
DEFINITION OF CRM Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a co-ordinate
approachto the selling process allowing the various operational, customer contact and salessellin
g process allowing the various operational, customer contact and sales promotional functions of
an organization to function as a whole.
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Chapter 2
CRM--A POWERFUL TOOL
CRM is a powerful management tool that can be used to exploit sales potential and maximize the
value of the customer to the bank. Generally, CRM integrates various components of a business
such as sales, marketing, IT and accounting. This strategy may not increase a business's profit
today or tomorrow, but it will add customer loyalty to the business. In the long term, CRM
produces continuous scrutiny of the bank's business relationship with the customer, thereby
increasing the value of the Customers business. Although CRM is known to be a relatively new
method in managing customer loyalty, it has been used previously by retail businesses for many
years. The core objective of modern CRM methodology is to help businesses to use technology
and human resources to gain a better view of customer behaviour. With this, business can hope
to achieve better customer service, make call centres more efficient, cross-sell products more
effectively, simplify marketing and sales processes, identify new customers and increase
customer revenues. As an example, banks may keep track of a customer's life stages in order to
market appropriate banking products, such as mortgages or credit cards to their customers at the
appropriate time. The next stage is to look into the different methods customers' information are
gathered, where and how this data is stored and how it is currently being used. For instance,
banks may interact with customers in a countless ways via mails, emails, call centres, marketing
and advertising. The collected data may flow between operational systems (such as sales and
stock systems) and analytical systems that can help sort through these records to identify
patterns. Business analysts can then browse through the data to obtain an in-depth view of each
customer and identify areas where better services are required.
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Chapter 3
CRM AND BANKS
In recent years, the banking industry around the world has been undergoing a rapid
transformation. In India also, the wave of deregulation of early 1990s has created heightened
competition and greater risk for banks and other financial intermediaries. The cross-border flows
and entry of new players and products have forced banks to adjust the product-mix and
undertake rapid changes in their processes and operations to remain competitive. The deepening
of technology has facilitated better tracking and fulfilment of commitments, multiple delivery
channels for customers and faster resolution of misco-ordinations. Unlike in the past, the banks
today are market driven and market responsive. The top concern in the mind of every bank's
CEO is increasing or at least maintaining the market share in every line of business against the
backdrop of heightened competition. With the entry of new players and multiple channels,
customers (both corporate and retail) have become more discerning and less "loyal" to banks.
This makes it imperative that banks provide best possible products and services to ensure
customer satisfaction. Toad dress the challenge of retention of customers, there has been active
efforts in the banking circles to switch over to customer-centric business model. The success of
such model depends upon the approach adopted by banks with respect to customer data
management and customer relationship management. Over the years, Indian banks have
expanded to cover a large geographic &functional area to meet the developmental needs. They
have been managing a world of information about customers - their profiles, location, etc. They
have a close relationship with their customers and a good knowledge of their needs, requirements
and cash positions. Though this offers them a unique advantage, they face a fundamental
problem. During the period of planned economic development, the bank products were bought in
India and not sold. What our banks, especially those in the public sector lack are the marketing
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attitude. Marketing is a customer-oriented operation. What is needed is the effort on their part to
improve their service image and exploit their large customer information base effectively to
communicate product availability. Achieving customer focus requires leveraging existing
customer information to gain a deeper insight into the relationship a customer has with the
institution, and improving customer service-related processes so that the services are quick, error
free and convenient for the customers. Furthermore, banks need to have very strong in-house
research and market intelligence units in order to face the future challenges of competition,
especially customer retention. Marketing is a question of demand (customers) and supply
(financial products & services, customer services through various delivery channels). Both
demand and supply have to be understood in the context of geographic locations and competitor
analysis to undertake focused marketing (advertising) efforts. Focusing on region-specific
campaigns rather than national media campaigns would be a better strategy for a diverse country
like India. Customer-centricity also implies increasing investment in technology. Throughout
much of the last decade, banks world-over have re-engineered their organizations to improve
efficiency and move customers to lower cost, automated channels, such assets and online
banking. But this need not be the case. As is proved by the experience, banks are now realizing
that one of their best assets for building profitable customer relationships especially in a
developing country like India is the branch-branches are in fact a key channel for customer
retention and profit growth in rural and semi-urban set up. However, to maximize the value of
this resource, our banks need to transform their branches from transaction processing centesimo
customer-centric service centres. This transformation would help them achieve bottom line
business benefits by retaining the most profitable customers. Branches could also be used to
inform and educate customers about other, more efficient channels, to advise on and sell new
financial instruments like consumer loans, insurance products, mutual fund products, etc. There
is a growing realization among Indian banks that it no longer pays to have a transaction-based"
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operating model. There are active efforts to develop a relationship-oriented model of operations
focusing on customer-centric services. The biggest challenge our banks face today is to establish
customer intimacy without which all other efforts towards operational excellence are
meaningless. The banks need to ensure through their services that the customers come back to
them. This is because a major chunk of income for most of the banks comes from existing
customers, rather than from new customers. Customer relationship management (CRM)
solutions, if implemented and integrated correctly, can help significantly in improving customer
satisfaction levels. Data warehousing can help in providing better transaction experiences for
customers over different transaction channels. This is because data warehousing helps bring all
the transactions coming from different channels under the same roof. Data mining helps banks
analyses and measure customer transaction patterns and behaviour. This can help a lot in
improving service levels and finding new business opportunities. It must be noted, however, that
customer-centric banking also involves many risks. The banking industry world over is being
thrust into a wild new world of privacy controversy. The banks need to set up serious governance
systems for privacy risk management. It must be remembered that customer privacy issues
threaten to compromise the use of information technology which is at the very centre of e-
commerce and customer relationship management - two areas which are crucial for banks' future.
The critical issue for banks is that they will not be able to safeguard customer privacy completely
without undermining the most exciting innovations in banking. These innovations promise huge
benefits, both for customers and providers. But to capture
Them, financial services companies and their customers will have to make some critical
tradeoffs.
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Chapter 4
NEED OF CRM IN BANKS
Bank merely an organization it accepts deposits and lends money to the needy persons, but
banking is the process associated with the activities of banks. It includes issuance of cheque and
cards, monthly statements, timely announcement of new services, helping the customers to avail
online and mobile banking etc. Huge growth of customer relationship management is predicted
in the banking sector over the next few years. Banks are aiming to increase customer profitability
with any customer retention. This paper deals with the role of CRM in banking sector and the
need for it is to increase customer value by using some analytical methods in CRM applications.
It is a sound business strategy to identify the banks most profitable customers and prospects,
and devotes time and attention to expanding account relationships with those customers through
individualized marketing, pricing, discretionary decision making. In banking sector, relationship
management could be defined as having and acting upon deeper knowledge about the customer,
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ensure that the customer such as how to fund the customer, get to know the customer, keep in
touch with the customer, ensure that the customer gets what he wishes from service provider and
understand when they are not satisfied and might leave the service provider and act accordingly.
CRM in banking industry entirely different from other sectors, because banking industry purely
related to financial services, which needs to create the trust among the people. Establishing
customer care support during on and off official hours, making timely information about interest
payments, maturity of time deposit, issuing credit and debit cum ATM card, creating awareness
regarding online and e-banking, adopting mobile request etc. are required to keep regular
relationship with customers. The present day CRM includes developing customer base. The bank
has to pay adequate attention to increase customer base by all means, it is possible if the
performance is at satisfactory level, the existing clients can recommend others to have banking
connection with the bank he is operating. Hence asking reference from the existing customers
can develop their client base. If the base increased, the profitability is also increase. Hence the
bank has to implement lot of innovative CRM to capture and retain the customers. There is a
shift from bank centric activities to customer centric activities are opted. The private sector
banks in India deployed much innovative strategies to attract new customers and to retain
existing customers. CRM in banking sector is still in evolutionary stage, it is the time for taking
ideas from customers to enrich its service. These of CRM in banking have gained importance
with the aggressive strategies for customer acquisition and retention being employed by the bank
in todays competitive milieu. This has resulted in the adoption of various CRM initiatives by
these banks.
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Chapter 5
IMPORTANCE OF CRM IN BANK
For long, Indian banks had presumed that their operations were customer-centric, simply because
they had customers. These banks ruled the roost, protected by regulations that did not allow free
entry into the sector. And to their credit, when the banking sector was opened up, they survived
by adapting quickly to the new rules of the game. Many managed to post profits. For them an
unexpected bonanza came from government bonds in which most were hugely invested.
Ironically, the Reserve Bank of India's moves to cut aggressively the interest rates after 1999,
pushed up the prices of bonds. So banks had a windfall doing almost nothing. The bond profits,
like manna from heaven, improved the balance-sheets of all banks irrespective of their core
performance. However, the era of lazy banking is soon to end. The mesh of rules that propped up
the Indian banking industry is now being dismantled rapidly. According to a RBI road-map, India
will have a competitive banking market after 2009.
A greater focus on Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is the only way the banking
industry can protect its market share and boost growth. CRM would also make Indian bankers
realize that the purpose of their business is to "create and keep a customer" and to "view the
entire business process as consisting of a tightly integrated effort to discover, create, and satisfy
customer needs. What is CRM and what will it deliver to the banks? CRM is, probably, one of
the least clearly defined business acronyms, as there is no single definition for it. It is probably
easier to say what CRM is not. Unfortunately, CRM has also become a misnomer for a range of
solutions from IT vendors, each providing its own spin on the idea. CRM is variously
misunderstood as a fancy sales strategy, an expensive software product, or even a new method of
data collection. It is none of these. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in the Indian
banking system is fundamental to building a customer-centric organization. CRM systems link
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customer data into a single and logical customer repository. CRM in banking is a key element
that allows a bank to develop its customer base and sales capacity. The goal of CRM is to
manage all aspects of customer interactions in a manner that enables banks to maximize
profitability from every customer. Increasing competition, deregulation, and the internet have all
contributed tithe increase in customer power. Customers, faced with an increasing array of
banking products and services, are expecting more from banks in terms of customized offerings,
attractive returns, ease of access, and transparency in dealings. Retaining customers is major
concern for banking institutions which underscores the importance of CRM. Banks can turn
customer relationship into a key competitive advantage through strategic development across a
broad spectrum. This book examines issues related to changing banking industry in India and the
challenges in CRM.CRM is a simple philosophy that places the customer at the heart of a
business organizations processes, activities and culture to improve his satisfaction of service
and, in turn, maximize the profits for the organization. A successful CRM strategy aims at
understanding the needs of the customer and integrating them with the organizations strategy,
people, and technology and business process. Therefore, one of the best ways of launching a
CRM initiative is to start with what the organization is doing now and working out what should
be done to improve its interface with its customers. Then and only then it should link to an IT
solution. While this may sound quite straightforward, for large organizations it can be a
mammoth task unless a gradual step-by-step process is adopted. It does not happen simply by
buying the software and installing it. For CRM to be truly effective, it requires a well-thought-
out initiative involving strategy, people, technology, and processes. Above all, it requires the
realization that the CRM philosophy of doing business should be adopted incrementally with an
iterative approach to learn at every stage of development.
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Chapter 6
CRM STRATEGIES
This is a new way of thinking for many banks with thousands, even millions of customers.
Managing customer relationships successfully means learning about the habits and needs of your
customers, anticipating future buying patterns and finding new opportunities to add value to the
relationship.
1. Customer Behaviour Patterns
For example, in the financial sector, early beneficiaries of successful CRM strategies have been
the banks. These organizations use data warehousing and data mining technologies to learn from
the millions of transactions and interactions with their customers, and to anticipate their needs.
The patterns of customer behaviour and attitude derived from this information enable the banks
to effectively segment customers on pre-determined criteria. Detailed customer data can provide
answers to the following questions:
Which communication channel do they prefer?
What would be the risk of leaving the bank to go to the competition?
What is the probability the customer will buy a service or product?
This knowledge assists financial institutions with CRM solutions in place to develop marketing
programs that respond to each customer segment, support cross-selling and customer retention
programs and enables the staff to understand how to maximize the value of each customers
interaction. CRM applications provide functionality to enhance customer interactions. Banks
known for its high level of customer service might use this characteristic as a starting point for
implementing a CRM application. Another company may be very good at targeting profitable
customers. Each bank should seek a niche on which to develop its CRM strategy.
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2. Customer Data
A common problem many organizations share is integrating customer information. When
information is disparate and fragmented, it is difficult to know who the customers are, and the
nature of their associations or relationships. This also makes it difficult to capitalize on
opportunities to increase customer service, loyalty and profitability. For example, knowing that
other family members are also customer provides an opportunity to up-sell or cross-sell products
or services, or knowing that a customer uses several sources of interaction with a supplier can
also provide opportunities to enhance the relationship. The creation and execution of a successful
CRM strategy depends on close examination and rationalization of the relationship between an
organizations vision and business strategy. Building toward a CRM solution and evaluating the
use of customer data requires analysis and alignment of the following core capabilities:
Customer value management
Prospecting
Selling
Collection and use of customer intelligence
Customer development (up-selling and cross-selling)
Customer service and retention
Protection of customer privacy Successful CRM implementations result from the capability of
the organization and its employees to integrate human resources, business processes and
technology, to create differentiation and excellence in service to customers, and to perform all of
these functions better than its competitors.
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Chapter 7
CRM PRINCIPLES
The main principles of CRM can be grouped into seven guiding factors:
1. Customer focus
The first and foremost important guiding principle in CRM is customer focus. Who is a
customer? This question is very fundamental. A customer is a person or group of persons who
receives the product or servicethe final output of a process or group of processes. A customer
is the final arbiter of quality, value and price of product or service. A satisfied customer only
assigns value to a service, on the contrary, to a dissatisfied customer a product or service has no
value, even if
theconcerned service orproduct has beendesigned with lot of effort, energy andcost after a thorou
ghplanning. A satisfied customer motivates his fellow members Togo in for the service or
product that he has already acquired. But a dissatisfied customer always counsels his friends, and
fellow members not to go to banks where his experience proved to be wrong or other-wise. So
customers delight or customers satisfaction is the essence of any CRM program. As a part of
this focus on customers, banks should ensure that clients are identified; their requirements are
determined, understood and met enhancing customers satisfaction. The main thrust of CRM is
to improve an organizations efficiency, economy and effectiveness through reduction of sales
cycle times and selling costs, identification of new markets and channels for expansion,
improvement of customer value, satisfaction, retention and thereby increasing profitability and
market share of the enterprise. Successful CRM focuses on understanding the needs and desires
of the customers and is achieved by placing these needs at the heart of the business by
integrating them with the organizations strategy, people, technology and business processes.
(Holgate, 1999). There must be total commitment for the enterprise towards this end.
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2. Leadership
Persuasion, judgment and decision-making abilities are the main attributes of quality leadership.
When there is a slight chance of getting a business but the client is hesitating or in a fix, or not in
a position to decide properly, it should be followed up by the relationship manager by patient
hearing, mild counselling and to stand by the side of the prospective client to help clear his
doubts and to make him feel happy by realizing that he is going in the right direction and he is
very right in choosing his requirements. The following points may be found helpful in this
regard:
(a) It is to be communicated to all employees that all customers should be given proper
hearing and it should be supported from all levels.
(b) Ways and means should be identified and practiced of getting and staying closer to
customers.
(c) Proper respect should be extended to the customers. All relevant information should be
collected from them with humble and polite approach. Proper value should be given to their
feedback.
(d) There should be proper re-action to the information and feedback provided by the
customers in designing, developing and providing desired products at afford-able cost.
3. Process approach
A process transforms an input into desired output by the use of resources, energies and time. In
producing an output there may one single process or a group of inter-related processes. In case of
inter-related processes, often the output from one process directly forms the input to the next. For
effective functioning of an organization, it has to identify and manage numerous linked activities
with the help of different processes for accomplishing its goal. Proper attention should be given
to the following points :( a) all processes should be de-signed keeping in view the requirements
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and desires of the customers, within the policy, resource availability, and strategy of the
company. (b) All processes should meet the legal and statutory requirements to perform the
activity or deliver the product or service. (c) Time involved in processing should be minimum
with least waiting time to the customers. If required delegation of authority and assignment of
account-ability at various executive levels should be addressed, revised and fine-tuned to meet
the requirements. (d) All the processes should be properly integrated to meet the goal congruence
and should not function at cross-purpose. (e) There should be in built control mechanism for ease
of measuring, reviewing and taking corrective action.
4. System approach
Customers requirement is one level of commitment. That level implies system that is reactive
and provides to customers what they want but the target should be to achieve more and to exceed
the customers expectation to accommodate future requirement and to build a cushion against the
competitors attributes.CRM denotes the management of the entire system and is not confined to
only one or the other sub-systems or functional departments. CRM is based on a system
approach to management. Its primary objective is to increase value to customers on continuous
basis by designing and improving organizational processes and systems one on-going basis.
Meeting each sub-system may have its own goal but the goal and objectives of all sub-systems
are to be integrated to achieve the overall goal. There may be one sub-system to acknowledge the
customers order, a separate one to deliver the product within the delivery schedule, another sub-
system to comply with the complaints of the customers etc, but all directed to accomplish the
goalvalue to the customers. The total system as a whole should decide what product to make
or what service to offer, what should be the quality involved, what should be the price, what
markets and customers to target upon and similar other issues.
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5. Involvement of people
The fundamentals of CRM bear the genes of customer relationship through involvement of
people, i.e., the work-force at the disposal of the organization. The whole gamut of CRM is for
the people, of the people and by the people. People involvement at all levels is essential for the
success of a CRM program. The bank managers and staff must be in a position to exploit the
concept of customer relationship completely. Customer relation may be defined as that
dimension of relationship marketing that seeks and ensures customer loyalty by fulfilling
promises and continuing to satisfy customers wants and needs so that defection is zero. It
comprises of three levels of relationships; financial relationship, social relationship and structural
relationship.
The main focus of financial relationship is frequency marketing programs based on financial
incentives such as reduction of processing fees, lower rate of commitment charges, organization
of loan meal on special occasions etc. A social relationship program revolves round a social
bonding between company and its customers and establishes brand loyalty. Bankers, nowadays,
make house calls, offer different services outside their for-mal activities, share the feelings and
emotions of clients and even send clients flowers on birthdays and anniversaries. A marketing
relation with the middleman and interested groups is developed in an in-side-out manner mainly
based on software, which would help in data warehousing, data mining and data analysis. The
optimization of structural relationship lies in the replacement of physical resources by total
service replacement. Drawing of money through ATMs instead of physical presence in the
branch for withdrawal of cash through cheques or withdrawal forms may be sited as example. To
obtain the full benefits of people involvement, the human resource management should focus on
employee empowerment, productivity linked reward, and zero defeat service oriented train-in
and total quality management.
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6. Mutually beneficial customer relationship
The relationship with the customer should be based on a mutually beneficial relation-ship. A
bank should not concentrate its attention towards earning of profits only, but focus should be
directed to the customers wealth creation or value enhancement with the motto of earning
through service. As an example we can talk of a savings account thats fixed up to give you
more interest. It ensures that any balance in your savings account above a certain amount, say,
Rs 3,000 automatically gets transferred to a fixed deposit to give you higher returns, which will
be swept back into your savings account, when you need it. Sometimes, other benefits are also
extended, such as, free personal accident insurance coverage along with fixed deposit scheme
above a certain amount and above certain term. Banks are no more restricting their activities to
deposit and advances; rather they work with the mot-two of offering Integrated Total Package
Solutions to all needs of a customer. Banks have gone to the extent of booking cinema tickets,
paying utility bills, school fees etc. for the ease of their clients who are very busy and do not find
time for such work. Many of such activities are not profitable in terms of time and efforts spend
by the bank. But banks are carrying out such services for mutual benefits, which pays in the long
run. Wealthy individuals are in the habit of placing all sorts of demands on their private bankers
and a bank has to respond to such requests not merely for income generation but as a gesture of
goodwill and at times such activities add a consider-able percentage to a banks fee based
income. According to an estimate, a bank can earn Rs35, 000 to Rs 100,000 per an-numb for a
good customer. But generally it is found that earnings start after the first two- three years of
dealing with the customer. In a mature relation-ship, such fee-based income is a regular feature
and is very much crucial in todays banking where interest spread is getting reduced due to
competition and fee based income can increase the bottom line. But in many instances, the
expenses in terms of time, effort, recognizing individual needs and offering a customized
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investment solution are high. Retention of customers and building a long lasting relationship is
the main criteria under this concept.
7. Continual improvement
Another objective of CRM is the efforts towards continuous improvement in the customer
relationship through the provision of value added seer-vices at favorable cost. Business processes
in the areas of finance, system integration, human resource management etc. are to be automated
and optimized with an aim to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of operations. The most
effective way of improvement lies in innovation and change management. Todays successful
organizations must stimulate and foster innovation and master the art of change. Organizations
that maintain their flexibility, spontaneity and unpredictability, continually improve their quality
and, beat their competitors tithe market place with a constant stream of innovative products and
services, will bathe winners. The major areas to be targeted are:
(I)Improving the effectiveness of marketing.
(ii)Implementing multichannel trigger driven marketing.
(iii)Implementing a strategic analysis capability to support strategic decision-making.
(iv)The ability to deliver the increasing levels service demanded by customers.
(v)Building a transparent communication system and employee participation to better define
the needs of the customers and deliver the right services and products
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Chapter 8
CRM IMPLEMENTATION - The Right Way!
CRM implementation differs from organization to organization but there are a few common
steps one needs to follow to ensure a successful implementation. There are many factors that
could influence the success of CRM implementation. Some of them are;
Organization Objectives
Clear cut objectives are essential and they need to be communicating effectively tithe entire
organization. Business goals are absolutely essential and need to be clearly defined. Similarly
goals of the CRM implementation and how it supports organization goals should also be
intimated to employees. Let employees know how important CRM success is to the organization.
Solution to Suit Business Objectives
A business needs to look for a CRM solution that fits its needs, not the other way around. This
step is vitally important and spells success. When choosing a CRM solution every business
organization has to ensure that it chooses a CRM solution that fits into the organizations
requirements. It is wrong to try and adjust organization requirements to the chosen CRM
solution. If this is done organization goals will not be achieved and their process will have
disastrous results.
Focus on All Business Aspects
In most cases the technology will have less to do with the CRM success. Therefore it is
important to focus as much importance on communication training and other aspects as much as
the technology involved. It is important to involve management at several levels, focus on
communication need and indulge in adequate training of the concerned employees throughout
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the organization. If these items receive a level of focus comparable to the technical system, CRM
implementation stands a better chance of succeeding.
Define the Business Problem
A business needs to clearly define the business problem see what benefits it wants to achieve and
adopt the required measures. It is imminently important to clearly identify the business problem
that the company needs to resolve. An organization needs to absolutely identify the desired
benefits and make sure that the expected returns are generated at every stage. It is important to
break down the entire process into smaller pieces that can be individually handled effectively.
Establishing Proper Metrics
Since companies normally wait for a five year period to see a return on investment. Every
organization has to compulsorily define performance metrics to ensure that it measures the return
on investment adequately.
Business Processes not Technology
In order to succeed at CRM all companies need to understand that it is not about technology
alone but about business processes as well. While CRM changes a companys business processes
technology supports the processes. Most businesses make the mistake of actually assuming that
the CRM is only about technology alone. This hampers business process development.
Identifying CRM goals
Objectives need to be identified and CRM goals need to be fixed before embarking on a CRM
project. Business processes need to be integrated with the Resolution before actual
implementation. The chosen solution should fit organizational objectives to the hilt.
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Phased Implementation
Start a pilot project and set goals for the organization. Then go ahead with Reimplementation in
phases to ensure CRM success. Phased implementation is always easier to implement and
the rewards are higher.
Objective Focus
The net result or the ultimate objective of the business process needs to be taken into
consideration while implementing .The ability of the CRM solution to contribute to this has to be
considered. If the objective is increasing overall profit or simply contributing to customer
retention than this should be achieved by the CRM choice.
Customer Focus
The CRM process sometimes gains department coordination and success but fails to focus on the
customer. Hence although companies may succeed internally they fail to achieve customer
retention on account of unsatisfied customers.
Data Consolidation
What happens here is that information needs to be corrected before putting it into the CRM
system so that bulk data is assessed, corrected and placed together so as to be easily assessable.
Change Incorporation
Since change is unavoidable and CRM is a continuous process, information becomes outdated
very quickly. Changes required need to be implemented periodically.
Customer Flexibility
CRM processes need to be suited to the customer needs. Adopting stringent rules that affect the
customer due to its inflexibility will hamper the ability of the organization to find appropriate
solutions for its customers.
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Date Assessing
Assessing data quality issues is essential. Companies need to measure data quality before
embarking on a CRM implementation.
Holistic Approach
It is important to create a single holistic view about a customer with the collation of all the
information available about him. This information should be available to everyone in the
organization. An integrated view of the customer with entire company accesses absolutely
essential.
CRM Consultants
Outside resources need to be brought in if required. The need for outside resources has to be
carefully studied and adopted if essential.
IT's Involvement
Dynamic changes are possible only when sufficient technology is in place. IT enables this as it
facilitates change within the organization and enables it to adapt. Hence the IT department needs
to be incorporated in all respects
Data Cleansing
Since all information needs to be cleansed before it enters the system a data quality solution must
be used from initial analysis to identification, cleansing, and consolidation.
Cost Restraints
It is imperative to understand the existing problems customers are facing and note ndeavor to
find solutions that suit the companys budget alone.
Identifying CRM goals
Objectives need to be identified and CRM goals need to be fixed before embarking on a CRM
project. Business processes need to be integrated with the Resolution before actual
implementation .The chosen solution should fit organizational objectives to the hilt.
24
Integration
It is essential to actually collaborate the IT departments and the other departments. Their
combined efforts are essential for CRM success.
Employee involvement
It is important to get the customer facing employees personally involved in the activities of the
business you can get many online jobs from CRM consultants. It is they who should initiate this
and be involved in all aspects of its implementation. CRM success is a sure result if this is
implemented the focus on the importance of segregating these two and doing what is required to
avail of the maximum returns. After this segregation is done CRM easily enables banks to
increase their communication and cross-selling to their customers effectively and efficiently.
25
Chapter 9
CHALLENGES FACED BY BANKS IN
SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF CRM
1. Cost factor: one of the major challenges of CRM is the cost factor. This includes
The initial investment of installing computer hardware, software programs, training
personnel, promotional expenses and so on for building CRM program.
Implementing CRM program.
Cost of maintaining customer data base.
Updating CRM.
2. Support from the top management: the success of CRM program depends on the
support of the top management. Proactive management helps the bank in not only
installing but also sustaining the CRM program successfully during difficult times. Lack
of support from the management may lead to failure of CRM program.
3. Quantify results: one of the challenges of CRM is measuring its success. There is no
one common formula to measure the CRM. Using a proper metrics to measure the
customers satisfaction precisely is required as CRM is a term result oriented technique.
4. Resources: the success of CRM depends on the availability of adequate and proper
resources namely,
Financial resources,
Trained and motivated personnel,
Adequate infrastructure, equipment and updated technology.
The company objectives, nature of business, nature of competitors, extent of competition,
availability of resources and so on.
26
5. Training:
Service provisioning throughout the entire life cycle of the corporate customer, from the
initial stages to the establishment of a close, long-term relationship with profitable clients,
Optimization of the use of bank resources, such as alternative channels of distribution
(internet and home banking),
Significant reduction in and limitation of operational costs through system automation and
standardization,
Low maintenance and expansion costs owing to the use of modern administration tools which
allow bank employees to make a wide range of modifications to the system
CRM permits businesses to leverage information from their databases to achieve customer
retention and to cross-sell new products and services to existing customers.
Companies that implement CRM make better relationships with their customers, achieve
loyal customers and a substantial payback, increased revenue and reduced cost.
CRM when successfully deployed can have a dramatic effect on bottom-line performance.
For example, Lowes Home Improvement Warehouse, in a span of 18 months, achieved a 265
percent return on investment (ROI) on its $ 11m CRM investment.
According to a study conducted in the sector of banking, convenience of location, price,
recommendations from others and advertising are not important selection criteria for banks.
From customers point of view, important criteria are: account and transaction accuracy and
carefulness, efficiency in correcting mistakes and friendliness and helpfulness of personnel.
Thus, CRM, high-quality attributes of the product / service and differentiation proved to be the
most important factors for customers.
Another study conducted in a European bank shows that with CRM, the bank was able to
focus on profitable clients through efficient segmentation according to individual behaviour.
Information about who buys what and how much enabled the bank to have a commercial
27
approach based on the client and not solely on the product. Thus, the bank was able to better
satisfy and retain its customers.
The difficulty of obtaining a complete view of customers.
The need to move away from disjointed, standalone, and inconsistent channels to provide a
cohesive, multichannel offering.
The burden of disconnected legacy systems and disparate databases that store client financial
data.
The cost and complexity of meeting stringent government regulatory and client security and
privacy requirements.
The pressure on margins and growth prospects from increased competition.
The costs associated with retaining customers and developing customer loyalty.
28
Chapter 10
BENEFITS OF CRM TO BANKS
1. CRM Banking Focuses on the Customer
CRM manages to places the customer at the focal point of the organization in order to cater to
his needs, satisfy him and thus maximize the profits of the organization. Banking CRM
understands the needs of the customer and integrates it with people, technology, resources and
business processes. It focuses on the existing data available in the organization and uses it to
improve its relationship with customers. Banking CRM uses information and analytical tools to
secure customer focus. Thus it is completely essential that banks implement CRM in order to
secure this.
2. Overall Profitability
CRM enables banks to give employee's better training that helps them face customers easily. It
achieves better infrastructure and ultimately contributes to better overall performance. The by-
products of CRM banking solutions are customer acquisition, retention and profitability. Banks
that don't implement CRM will undoubtedly find themselves with lesser profitability coupled
with a sharp decline in the number of customers.
3. Satisfied Customers
It is important to make a customer feel as if he / she is the only one - this will go a long way in
satisfying and retaining them. Bankers need a return on investment and it has been proved that
increase in customer satisfaction more than contributes a fair share to ROI. The main value of
CRM banking lies in satisfaction and increased retention of customers.
29
4. Centralized Information
CRM banking solutions manage to clearly integrate people, processes and technology. CRM
banking provides banks with a holistic view of all bank transactions and customer information as
well and stores it in a single data warehouse where it can be studied later.
5. A good CRM associated with a good tool ensures companies to have a good view
over the list of customers and prospects, to know where it stands with relationship
management, when to contact them again, etc. Furthermore, an improved customer and
prospect insight ensures a better and more targeted communication.
6. CRM also ensures enhanced productivity. By fostering customer's loyalty, the
company spends less time acquiring new customers and saves then time on other projects.
30
Chapter 11
BENEFITS OF CRM TO CUSTOMERS
Customer relationships are becoming even more important for banks as market conditions get
harder. Competition is increasing, margins are eroding, customers are becoming more
demanding and the life-cycles of products and services are shortening dramatically. All these
forces make it necessary for banks to intensify the relationship with their customers and offer
them the services they need via the channels they prefer.
CRM helps banks to provide lot of benefits to their customers; some key benefits are as
follow.
Service provisioning throughout the entire life cycle of the corporate customer, from the
initial stages to the establishment of a close, long-term relationship with profitable clients,
Optimization of the use of bank resources, such as alternative channels of distribution
(internet and home banking),
Significant reduction in and limitation of operational costs through system automation and
standardization,
Low maintenance and expansion costs owing to the use of modern administration tools which
allow bank employees to make a wide range of modifications to the system
CRM permits businesses to leverage information from their databases to achieve customer
retention and to cross-sell new products and services to existing customers.
Companies that implement CRM make better relationships with their customers, achieve
loyal customers and a substantial payback, increased revenue and reduced cost.
31
CRM when successfully deployed can have a dramatic effect on bottom-line performance.
For example, Lowes Home Improvement Warehouse, in a span of 18 months, achieved a 265
percent return on investment (ROI) on its $ 11m CRM investment.
According to a study conducted in the sector of banking, convenience of location, price,
recommendations from others and advertising are not important selection criteria for banks.
From customers point of view, important criteria are: account and transaction accuracy and
carefulness, efficiency in correcting mistakes and friendliness and helpfulness of personnel.
Thus, CRM, high-quality attributes of the product / service and differentiation proved to be the
most important factors for customers.
Another study conducted in a European bank shows that with CRM, the bank was able to
focus on profitable clients through efficient segmentation according to individual behaviour.
Information about who buys what and how much enabled the bank to have a commercial
approach based on the client and not solely on the product. Thus, the bank was able to better
satisfy and retain its customers.
32
Chapter 12
MEASURING CRM BENEFITS
A key basic CRM challenge is establishing the measurement method. Banks may find it hard to
build the initial business case justification and then to prove the worth or success of their
investment What makes the latter task even more difficult is the fact that the metrics that are best
used to justify a significant IT investment are not always the most appropriate for evaluating on-
going success. When banks seek to justify the cost of their investment in CRM-related
technology they usually focus on hard numbers, typically those related to decreased costs and
increased sales. In other words, the proponents look to justify the top-line expenses with bottom-
line benefits. Traditionally, banks have determined the success of any project or product mainly
in terms of internal business gauges such as return on investment, units sold asset growth, or
service level agreement measures. One exception to the typical practice of focusing solely on
internal data for gauging success is market share, or market performance. Interestingly, most
CRM practitioners quickly default to marketing and sales measures when asked about the
success of CRM implementations. The tendency to frame the Discussion of CRM measurements
in terms of sales and marketing measures is completely understandable given the phased nature
of most CRM projects. Since the majority of CRM projects are expensive multiphase and
multiyear projects that often involve multiple technologies, the funding for CRM projects is also
often phased. CRM sponsors grant funding to project leaders at the completion of one phase and
start of the next. To ensure that the subsequent phases will get funding, project leaders typically
build into each phase of a CRM project demonstrable business benefits. At completion of each
phase of a project, business benefits are expected to accrue rapidly to the bank. Revenue
generation--whether through sales or marketing improvements--is the preferred business benefit
for CRM project sponsors. Not surprisingly, it is far easier to continue funding large; intricate IT
projects when incremental revenue generation can be squarely identified.
33
Chapter 13
CRM IN
ABOUT AXIS BANK
Axis Bank is the third largest private sector bank in India. Axis Bank offers the entire spectrum
of financial services to customer segments covering Large and Mid-Corporates, MSME,
Agriculture and Retail Businesses.
The Bank has a large footprint of 1947 domestic branches (including extension counters) and
11,245 ATMs spread across the country as on 31st March 2013. The Bank also has overseas
offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Colombo, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Axis Bank is one of the first new generation private sector banks to have begun operations in
1994. The Bank was promoted in 1993, jointly by Specified Undertaking of Unit Trust of India
(SUUTI) (then known as Unit Trust of India),Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), General
Insurance Corporation of India (GIC), National Insurance Company Ltd., The New India
Assurance Company Ltd., The Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. and United India Insurance
Company Ltd. The shareholding of Unit Trust of India was subsequently transferred to SUUTI,
an entity established in 2003.
34
With a balance sheet size of Rs.3, 40,561 crores as on 31st March 2013, Axis Bank has achieved
consistent growth and stable asset quality with a 5 year CAGR (2009-13) of 26% in Total Assets,
24% in Total Deposits, 27% in Total Advances and 37% in Net Profit.
35
METHOD OF EFFECTIVE CRM IMPLEMENTATION IN AXIS
BANK
Axis Bank can take several steps to strengthen their customer relationship management in an
effective manner.
1. Acknowledge email enquiries
At the very minimum, banks should send out an automated email response that acknowledges
receipt of a customer's email and lets the sender know when to expect a more complete response.
It is then vital to get back to the customer within the promised time frame. Bank scan earn more
customer goodwill if they respond faster than the imposed deadline. To handle significant
volumes of email, banks need adequate routing technology. Many banks regard a voice call
centre as a cost of doing business, but they don't look at it the same way with email.
2. Develop the right contact strategy
By knowing which offers and incentives to offer to which customers and when, banks will not
annoy customers with unwanted marketing offers, building customer loyalty along the way. Such
goals can be at least as important as realizing cross-sell opportunities.
3. Providing online `chatting'
An alternative to telephone support, online chatting is providing a service via emails or any other
form of immediate response. This service also offers some of the immediacy of the phone but
primarily allows customers to remain online. With online chatting, service agents can usually
handle between one and three customer inquiries atone. Given that the average call lasts about
four minutes; a customer-service representative can handle 10 to 12 customers per hour using
"chat", compared with six to eight per hour over the telephone. One of chat's important
36
advantages is that it keeps customers in an online store environment where they remain exposed
to merchandise and promotions.
4. Reduce costs by improving website design and self-service
Email, telephone support, and chat all involve considerable staffing costs. But to reduce these
expenses a site should anticipate customer needs. Sites that is difficult to navigate and don't
provide needed information chase away some customers and force those who stay to resort to
more expensive channels to satisfy their service needs.
5. Analyses the project's scope
Before recommending or embracing CRM, bank executives must analyses the business issues,
the customer relationship model and the exact nature of customer interactions and how they tie
together. Banks should not embrace top-line growth as an objective until they can understand
precisely how CRM technology will provide those new revenues.
6. Know thy limitations
Many CRM implementations are severely limited because they fail to provide a complete and
meaningful view of the customer. CRM is primarily a business program, and it requires a
genuine partnership between various departments to ensure that both business and technology
issues are managed effectively. Furthermore, CRM not only takes existing business processes
and makes them more efficient, but it also requires these processes to be modified. For a CRM
implementation to be successful, decision makers within the bank need to make sure that all the
stakeholders understand and support the required process changes.
37
7. Change accounts into customer
Traditionally banks have closely associated customers with accounts, to the point of calling the
account the customer and vice versa. Customers will tend to feel alienated when they are treated
like a number instead of a person. A conventional account structure usually contains very little
information about customers and their needs, or their relationship with competitors or other
divisions within the bank. The way ahead Banks have excellent reasons to adopt comprehensive
CRM strategies to cultivate a lifetime customer relationship. As banks move from transaction-
centric to a relationship-centric business approach, effective leveraging of customer relationship
becomes all the more critical. Today, customers are expecting even more individual attention,
responsiveness and product customization, yet are unwilling to pay a premium for these services.
They are willing; however, to build a long-term relationship with banks that offers differentiated
and more personalized services. This is where electronic banking can offer a competitive
advantage. Successful CRM implementation in electronic banking needs to integrate data from
all customer touch points, employee feedback and even shareholders' perceptions. If used
effectively and in an innovative way, this approach will enable banks to develop a strategy to
deliver to the customer the most appropriate products and services.
38
Chapter 14
RECOMMENDATION
Customer Relationship Management (CRM), the most exciting strategies that emerged from
networking technology revolution of the nineties, is today fast emerging some of the most
important cooperates strategies. A well-executed Customer Relationship Strategies can result in
number of quantitative benefits, including greater ability to sell and cross sell, improved
retention besides cost of services. Customer Relationship Management is do-able. However the
following must take into consideration before embarking upon its implementation. All aspects of
customer relationship management, including technology solution, must be fully explored
effectively deliver the competencies required to realize the business benefits.
1. Tackling any one competence alone will lead to a dysfunctional business. One competence
does not customer relationship management make.
2. Take pragmatic steps with a clear view on delivery of all the components in the medium
term, rather than piecemeal in the short term.
3. Successful mass customization is crucial to reducing customer acquisition cost and
improving the cross selling capacity.
4. Channels are a delivery mechanism. The effectiveness of the mechanism is achieved when it
is faultless!
5. 75% of all Customer Relationship Management projects have failed due to lapses in
implementation. Technology is not enough, implementation is the key and this is where the
people aspect comes into the forefront.
6. Customer Relationship Management implementation is effective when companies are able
to identify the internal and external customer and integrate them with its core business
process.
39
7. Project on CRM in Banking Sector
8. Take pragmatic steps with a clear view on delivery of all the components in the medium
term, rather than piecemeal in the short term.
9. Successful mass customization is crucial to reducing customer acquisition cost and
improving the cross selling capacity.
10. Channels are a delivery mechanism. The effectiveness of the mechanism is achieved when it
is faultless!
11. 75% of all Customer Relationship Management projects have failed due to lapses in
implementation. Technology is not enough, implementation is the key and this is where the
people aspect comes into the forefront.
12. Customer Relationship Management implementation is effective when companies are able
to identify the internal and external customer and integrate them with its core business
process.
40
Chapter 15
CONCLUSION
Banking can be mysterious for consumers and how they interact with their finances can be a
complex matter. The challenges faced by banks and their customers are many but the trick lies
in de-mystifying complex financial relationships. Technical solutions deployed by banks today
are flexible, user-friendly and meant to facilitate specific workflow and requirements in
23implementation processes. In order to simplify lives, banks have begun to implement end-to-
end technologies through all departments with the intention of removing human error from
processes. Previously existing manual environments could not have been adequate for future
visions, growth plans and strategies. In this day and age, customers enjoy complete luxury in
terms of customized technical solutions and banks use the same to cement long-term, mutually-
beneficial relationships. For a bank to succeed in adopting a CRM philosophy of doing business,
bank management must first understand CRM as a holistic concept that involves multiple,
interlocking disciplines, including market knowledge, strategic planning, business process
improvement, product design and pricing analysis, technology implementation, human resources
management, customer retention, and sales management and training.
41
BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://www.scribd.com/doc/50597064/CRM-in-Axis-Bank-Stage-2-Mid-Review-of-the-
Project#download
http://www.scribd.com/doc/165701712/Crm-in-Banking
http://www.scribd.com/doc/59532224/CRM
http://www.reference.com/motif/computers/disadvantages-of-customer-relationship-
management
http://www.ehow.com/list_7292683_disadvantages-crm_.html
http://simplemanagementtheory.blogspot.in/2012/11/benefits-of-crm-to-banks.html
http://www.slideshare.net/twieberneit/the-future-of-crm
42

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Customer Relationship Management

To study the CRM in brief.

To understand the CRM need in bank.

To know CRM strategies.

To know challenges faced by banks in successful implementation of CRM.

To understand the CRM process in Axis Bank.

Research is a systematic quest for knowledge. That means, techniques

and frames of reference by which a researcher approaches and carries out

enquiry is known as methodology. Data is an input for my project; likewise

the data has been collected from the following sources.

research and the secondary information.

The primary information was gathered through interactions and

The sources of secondary information were various books, magazines,

articles, and web.

Once the information was gathered, it was properly evaluated. Then

going through series of deliberations. The output was thus produced.

often thought of as a business strategy that enables businesses to:

Understand the customer

Retain customers through better customer experience

Attract new customer

Win new clients and contracts

Decrease customer management costs

satisfaction is an important variable in evaluation and control in a bank marketing management.

such as technology changes and financial industry deregulation. Conventional banking

has also reduced barriers to entry for new customers.

For the purpose of CRM, a Customer is defined as:

Beneficiaries of transactions conducted by professional intermediaries, such as Stock

DEFINITION OF CRM Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a co-ordinate

an organization to function as a whole.

CRM--A POWERFUL TOOL

customer and identify areas where better services are required.

CRM AND BANKS

communicate product availability. Achieving customer focus requires leveraging existing

especially customer retention. Marketing is a question of demand (customers) and supply

analysis to undertake focused marketing (advertising) efforts. Focusing on region-specific

like India. Customer-centricity also implies increasing investment in technology. Throughout

benefits, both for customers and providers. But to capture

NEED OF CRM IN BANKS

individualized marketing, pricing, discretionary decision making. In banking sector, relationship

IMPORTANCE OF CRM IN BANK

will have a competitive banking market after 2009.

banking system is fundamental to building a customer-centric organization. CRM systems link

iterative approach to learn at every stage of development.

1. Customer Behaviour Patterns

answers to the following questions:

Which communication channel do they prefer?

What would be the risk of leaving the bank to go to the competition?

What is the probability the customer will buy a service or product?

interaction. CRM applications provide functionality to enhance customer interactions. Banks

A common problem many organizations share is integrating customer information. When

nature of their associations or relationships. This also makes it difficult to capitalize on

Customer value management

Collection and use of customer intelligence

Customer development (up-selling and cross-selling)

Customer service and retention

these functions better than its competitors.

to improve an organizations efficiency, economy and effectiveness through reduction of sales

a position to decide properly, it should be followed up by the relationship manager by patient

hearing and it should be supported from all levels.