Introduction
Technologies
serve as a great development as a result of the globalization. The technologies
appear to be the advent of the modernized organizations. Through the use of the
technologies, the organizations believe that there is an increase and progress
in the overall performance of the organizations. The organizations believe that
the application of the technologies can increase their performances. Part of
the developments in the technologies includes the use of the internet and the
networks of the computers. Actually, with the application of the technologies,
the various departments within an organization were developed in order to catch
with the changes in the industry and the market.
In the
business report, the main aim of the study is to tackle the issue of security
as part of the CRM that are implemented in the organizations. The business
report are applied and used in the study in order to organize and present the
ideas that are related to the strategies in applying the technologies. In order
to facilitate the investigation in the utilization of the technologies, there
are objectives that need to consider. First is the exploration of the
technological application and strategies that are applied in the Business
Websites in UAE. The business chose to tackle the issues that are associated
with the Souq,com in the UAE. Second is to identify the online customer service
features for the company. Third is to explain the increased reliance of organizations
to offer web-enabled customer service in order to achieve business edge. And
fourth is to integrating traditional feature of CRM with online technologies.
Overview of the Company
The company
that will play an important source of the organization is Souq.com. The
organization prioritizes the Buy & Selling nature wherein the merchandizes
are ranging in different varieties. From the new and used mobile phones,
laptops, and other electronic devices, apparel and accessories, up to cars and
other vehicles, and properties that is subject in various prices. The website
of the organization is searchable among the search engines and is under the URL
address of http://www.souq.com/. Actually,
the word “souq” is based on the commercial quarter in the Arab region which the
influence is increased in the European City. This tern became popular and
became the part of the market designated in most of the Muslim City. In the
evolution of the technologies along with the developments in the organization,
the modern businesses managed to apply the technologies in their business
processes to facilitate the faster pace of exchange of the goods. In the
economic sense, the organization applied this very same term to bring back the
traditional value of the market.
The Technologies and Model
The
introduction of the virtual stores is based on the influence of the different
dynamics in the consumer’s decision making. The development of the different
models that are applied in the virtual stores or often referred as online
shopping sites, describes the consumers’ attitudes and purchasing decisions.
Through the use of the virtual stores, the model in online shopping sites that
are applied in Souq targets the purchasing decisions of the consumers that are
associated or engaged in business transactions in the virtual stores (Pierce,
2004).
In the continuous
application of the model, the organization managed to apply the technologies
well and the business gains the advantage as compared to their contemporaries.
The online service of the Souq.com provides the online services features that
can facilitate the exchange of information in between the buyers and sellers
(Ghazzawi, 2009). The online services that are facilitated in the online sites
are modeled and designed to describe on how the individuals visits and induce
the rate of the purchase from the virtual store. In a thorough study, the model
that is applied in the online sites describes the perceived usefulness,
behavior, control, and the influence of the peers of the customers towards
purchasing (Barkhi, 2008).
There are
various companies like the Souq.com and other online sites that successfully
craft their organizational strategies with the reference on what are the needs
and demands of the online consumers. The definition of the specific needs of
the customer needs is very beneficial in the UAE online market (Gulati,
Sawhney, & Paoni, 2003). Part of the online services is to provide the
opportunities for the consumers and aid them in choosing the right products
among the various options prepared before them. Because the online sites serve
the different categories, the security features should be implemented well.
Since there is a significant economic growth in the UAE, the modernization is applied
and utilized well in order to accommodate the wide range of needs of the online
consumers in the market. Allowing the technologies in the market became part of
the UAE’s development and hence, introduced to be the hub for the online
shopping and trading. In the next future, the UAE is described to be flourished
by the increasing rated because of the close competition in between the online
sites which includes the Souq.com, Tejari.com, UAEMall.com, Burjmall.com and
others. These organizations are actively competing in the virtual stores
(Barkhi, 2008).
Achieving the Business Edge
The increase
of the interaction of the organizational objectives with the technological
objectives enables the customers to browse on different products or services.
The level of reliance of the organizations with the technologies such as the
technological supports is prioritized with the idea to serve the customers well
and achieve the competency. However, as part of the technological adaptation of
the organizations of the organizations, the idea of CRM should be ensured
(LaFrance, 2003). The CRM or the application of the Customer Relationship
Management seems to be critical to the online shopping sites because there is
no physical interaction of the business with the customers. The disadvantage
that the organization can realize is the idea that they cannot gain the various
insights of the customers because of the lack of the communication. However,
the competitiveness of the organizations that facilitates the online shopping
sites can experience both of the risks and benefits (Bielski, 2006). The CRM
among the online shopping businesses is a great issue in the industry of
information technology and the continuous development in the technology
increases the needs of the organization with the CRM features (Liu, 2007).
In tackling
the issues of the CRM in the information technologies, the CRM feature that is
commonly emphasized is the needs for security. The application of the CRM in
the technologies makes the online businesses more successful because of their
ability in providing the extensive customer information. Part of the security
that the organization provides are the information banks that are secured such
as the accounts in Sales, Marketing, Service, and other departments (Pierce,
2004). The CRM as a technological security can be a great way to serve the
various customers in a better way. In the world of the competitive marketplace,
the good customer service plays an important role. In the growing pace of the
organization with the help of the technologies, the CRM is offered as a one
solution wherein the organization can gain the market share, manage, and retain
the customer loyalty unto their products and services. This very same idea is
also important in the online sites (Ghazzawi, 2009).
Because of the
fast exchange of the information in online sites, the security features as part
of the CRM is considered to be the kind of factor that the organizations under
the online sites needs to be prioritized. As part of the online sites, the
collection of various data such as the customer data is important to determine
the authenticity of the user. The accounts of the customers are important to
acknowledge the user. Within the facility of the CRM, the professional
considerations of the CRM should be part to the company procedures (Pang &
Norris, 2002). In addition, because of the software, the policies in applying
the technologies should be considered. For an instance, the collection and
distribution of the customer data should bound under the organizations’ privacy
and security. However, in focusing on the issues of the security, various
questions and answers can surface in the area of CRM and in between the
interaction of the vendors and the online administrators or integrators. Through
observing and revising the policies that are included in the CRM functions, the
technology and the security that are part of the implementation are emphasized
(LaFrance, 2003).
Integrating Traditional Feature of CRM with Online
Technologies
The traditional
CRM features should be aligned with the objectives of the technologies that are
applied in the organization (Gulati, Sawhney, & Paoni, 2003). Through the
adoption of the various requirements that the government designed such as the
agencies in the Intelligence Community, the CRM features of the modern
organizations can catch the various changes and meet the challenges even under
the complex conditions. Part of the government requirements are the application
of the CRM users which addresses the application of the security, support,
certification and accreditation processes, and as well as the integration with
the legacy systems. The functions of the capabilities in the CRM software and
solution should satisfy the key implementation requirements to ensure that the
security features are applied (Pang & Norris, 2002).
There are five
basic and essential capabilities in which the online shopping sites (virtual
stores) can apply in their CRM model that focuses on the security. This five
capabilities are includes in the study of (Paschuck, 2008).
First is to collect and maintain the diverse types of the institutional
knowledge. The most basic part that the traditional CRM can influence with the
technologies is to provide the people with the appropriate and specific answers
that they sought. This means that the security of the information can be formed
through the effective knowledge foundation in order to allow the different
areas in “owning” the various types of information. Therefore, they are
responsible in terms of including the policies, application forms, customer
histories, and others. In addition, the point-of-access can be discovered,
distributed, updated, verified, and managed.
Second is to make the business information transparent and allows the
organization to make the information available to the wide range of customers.
This can be viewed as the fastest and most resource-efficient way to get the
information to people. In addition, the effectiveness of the security features
empowers the users to find the information even without the assistance of the
organizations’ staffs.
Third is the ability to quickly interact with the other customers in the
communication channels. The security features allows the organization to be
consistent with their answers disregarding on how or with whom they
communicate. The communication channels
include the email, web, chat, phone, and fax and others that can provide the
customers and organization with the consistent, accurate, and up-to-date
information.
Fourth is to automate the workflows for the case management and other
business processes. Aside from the communication channels, the organizations
should open the collaboration in between the various departments and have
mechanisms in addressing the full end-to-end workflows for the customer
processing. This is an important feature in determining the certain benefits
for both the organization and the users. Furthermore, the feature in workflow
can reduce the risks in the human error because of the service-level objectives
and flow processes.
Fifth is the assessment of the organizational performance. The basis for
assessment is measured through the facilitation of the objectives of the
organization and collecting the customer feedbacks. In implementing and
managing the website which can be the source of the sales and revenues of the
organization, it is only appropriate for the organization to facilitate the
communication channels, tracking, workflow, automation, and generation of the
performance metrics to optimize the customer services. In the case to Souq.com
the effectiveness of the security can be used to improve the alignment in
between the organizational knowledge and with the customer needs.
Conclusion
The CRM has
been the most influential topic across the academic and business settings. The
modernization of the organizations and their orientation in allowing the
technologies to be part of the performance and operation needs to improve the
CRM functions. Since there is a significant interaction of the business processes
with the technologies, the security features became the center of the CRM
topics.
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