Customer Relationship Management

In the article "A Strategic Framework for Customer Relationship Management" Payne and Frow (2005) develop a conceptual framework with the intent to synthesize the various concepts found in literature and relationship marketing with the intent on providing a deeper understanding on Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and implementation success.

They begin by defining CRM, evaluating 3 different views derived from interviews with 3 different organizations. The first view or perspective as they call it "narrowly" defines CRM as a technology solution. The second perspective defines CRM as "wide range ... IT and internet solution", and the third perspective provides a larger definition of "strategic and holistic" implementation to drive stake holder value. These perspectives were combined to provide a definition of CRM in which to base their study (Payne & Frow, 2005, p. 168).

Payne and Frow (2005) citing Gummesson (2002) use "Interaction Research" to evaluate existing literature on CRM to identify key universal processes. The evaluation resulted in 5 processes which are incorporated into their conceptual framework. These are:

1. Strategy Development Process - This process takes into account the Business Strategy and Customer Strategy. The business strategy must be evaluated first and includes review of the organizations vision. With strategy developed the customer strategy can be defined and involves a clear understanding of the existing and potential customer base (Payne & Frow, 2005, p. 170)

2. Value Creation Process - This process takes what is produced from the strategy development process and identifies value that is received and delivered from a customer perspective. In addition also outlines the management of this "value exchange"(Payne & Frow, 2005, p. 172).

3. Multichannel Integration Process - Consider by the authors as an important process. It collects information from the business strategy and value creation processes to identify activities that add value to the customer. In provides decision making information that allows to customer to have a positive experience as well as ensure that regardless of the channels used that the experiences is viewed in a unified manner (Payne & Frow, 2005, p. 172).

4. Information Management Process - This is the infrastructure that will manage the "collection, collation, and use of customer data". The intent is to create customer awareness and generate the appropriate promotional response. Key areas of focus are the company's IT hardware, software, data storage etc... (Payne & Frow, 2005, p. 173)

5. Performance Assessment Process - This process is where an organization evaluates the CRM and if it is meeting the strategic goals. The process is evaluated via 2 points, a stakeholder perspective in where these results provide an overall view of performance and

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