never be underestimated.

In India, the trend is positive. When compared to about twenty years ago , people have more
choice and every company knows it cant take customer for granted .May be the movement is
slow ,but we see a steady progress towards an increased focus on the customer rather than
merely on the products and price .

Todays era is of service because customers are ultimate base line for any business to
sustain in this competitative world.

For example : Banks started providing gold, silver cards to its valued customer, depending
on their needs the customer get faster services.

The concept of CRM is relatively simple and familiar to insurers. The two points of the
concept are:-

Understand your customers' unique requirements.

Offer them the services and products over their lifetime that will maintain or increase
their profitability and retain them as your customers.
 Customer Relationship Management - CRM
The generally accepted purpose of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is to enable
organizations to better serve its customers through the introduction of reliable processes and
procedures for interacting with those customers.

In today's competitive business environment, a successful CRM strategy cannot be

implemented by only installing and integrating a software package designed to support CRM
processes. A holistic approach to CRM is vital for an effective and efficient CRM policy.
This approach includes training of employees, a modification of business processes based on
customers' needs and an adoption of relevant IT-systems (including soft- and maybe
hardware) and/or usage of IT-Services that enable the organization or company to follow its
CRM strategy. CRM-Services can even redundantize the acquisition of additional hardware
or CRM software-licences.

The term CRM is used to describe either the software or the whole business strategy oriented
on customer needs. The second one is the description which is correct. The main
misconception of CRM is that it is only software, instead of whole business strategy.

Major areas of CRM focus on service automated processes, personal information gathering
and processing, and self-service. It attempts to integrate and automate the various customer
serving processes within a company.

Evolution of CRM
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is one of those magnificent concepts that swept
the business world in the 1990s with the promise of forever changing the way businesses
small and large interacted with their customer bases. In the short term, however, it proved to
be an unwieldy process that was better in theory than in practice for a variety of reasons. First
among these was that it was simply so difficult and expensive to track and keep the high
volume of records needed accurately and constantly update them.
In the last several years, however, newer software systems and advanced tracking features
have vastly improved CRM capabilities and the real promise of CRM is becoming a reality.
As the price of newer, more customizable Internet solutions ave hit the marketplace;
competition has driven the prices down so that even relatively small businesses are reaping
the benefits of some custom CRM programs.
In the beginning
The 1980s saw the emergence of database marketing, which was simply a catch phrase to
define the practice of setting up customer service groups to speak individually to all of a
companys customers.
In the case of larger, key clients it was a valuable tool for keeping the lines of communication
open and tailoring service to the clients needs. In the case of smaller clients, however, it
tended to provide repetitive, survey-like information that cluttered databases and didnt
provide much insight. As companies began tracking database information, they realized that
the bare bones were all that was needed in most cases: what they buy regularly, what they
spend, what they do.

Advances in the 1990s

In the 1990s companies began to improve on Customer Relationship Management by
making it more of a two-way street. Instead of simply gathering data for their own use, they
began giving back to their customers not only in terms of the obvious goal of improved
customer service, but in incentives, gifts and other perks for customer loyalty.
This was the beginning of the now familiar frequent flyer programs, bonus points on credit
cards and a host of other resources that are based on CRM tracking of customer activity and
spending patterns. CRM was now being used as
a way to increase sales passively as well as through active improvement of customer service.
There are three parts of application architecture of CRM:

operational - automation to the basic business processes (marketing, sales, service)

analytical - support to analyse customer behaviour, implements business intelligence alike
technology
cooperational - ensures the contact with customers (phone, email, fax, web...)

Operational part of CRM typically involves three general areas of business. They are
(according to Gartner Group) a Enterprise marketing automation (EMA), Sales force
automation (SFA) and a Customer service and support (CSS). The marketing information
part provides information about the business environment, including competitors, industry
trends, and macroenviromental variables. The sales force management part automates some
of the company's sales and sales force management functions. It keeps track of customer
preferences, buying habits, and demographics, and also sales staff performance. The
customer service part automates some service requests, complaints, product returns, and
information requests.

Integrated CRM software is often also known as "front office solutions." This is because they
deal directly with the customer.
Many call centers use CRM software to store all of their customer's details. When a customer
calls, the system can be used to retrieve and store information relevant to the customer. By
serving the customer quickly and efficiently, and also keeping all information on a customer
in one place, a company aims to make cost savings, and also encourage new customers.

CRM solutions can also be used to allow customers to perform their own service via a variety
of communication channels. For example, you might be able to check your bank balance via
your WAP phone without ever having to talk to a person, saving money for the company, and
saving you time.
Improving customer service
CRMs are claimed to improve customer service. Proponents say they can improve customer
service by facilitating communication in several ways:

Provide product information, product use information, and technical assistance on web sites
that are accessible 24 / 7
Help to identify potential problems quickly, before they occur
Provide a user-friendly mechanism for registering customer complaints (complaints that are
not registered with the company cannot be resolved, and are a major source of customer
dissatisfaction)
Provide a fast mechanism for handling problems and complaints (complaints that are resolved
quickly can increase customer satisfaction)
Provide a fast mechanism for correcting service deficiencies (correct the problem before
other customers experience the same dissatisfaction)
Identify how each individual customer defines quality, and then design a service strategy for
each customer based on these individual requirements and expectations
use internet cookies to track customer interests and personalize product offerings accordingly
use the internet to engage in collaborative customization or real-time customization
Provide a fast mechanism for managing and scheduling followup sales calls to assess post-
purchase cognitive dissonance, repurchase probabilities, repurchase times, and repurchase
frequencies
Provide a fast mechanism for managing and scheduling maintenance, repair, and on-going
support (improve efficiency and effectiveness)
Provide a mechanism to track all points of contact between a customer and the company, and
do it in an integrated way so that all sources and types of contact are included, and all users of
the system see the same view of the customer (reduces confusion)
The CRM can be integrated into other cross-functional systems and thereby provide
accounting and production information to customers when they want it

Improving customer relationships

CRMs are also claimed to be able to improve customer relationships . Proponents say this can
be done by:
CRM technology can track customer interests, needs, and buying habits as they progress
through their life cycles, and tailor the marketing effort accordingly. This way customers get
exactly what they want as they change.
The technology can track customer product use as the product progresses through its life
cycle, and tailor the service strategy accordingly. This way customers get what they need as
the product ages.
In industrial markets, the technology can be used to micro-segment the buying centre and
help coordinate the conflicting and changing purchase criteria of its members
When any of the technology driven improvements in customer service (mentioned above)
contribute to long-term customer satisfaction, they can ensure repeat purchases, improve
customer relationships, increase customer loyalty, decrease customer turnover, decrease
marketing costs (associated with customer acquisition and customer ?training?), increase
sales revenue, and thereby increase profit margins.

Technical functionality
A CRM solution is characterised by the following functionality:
scalability - the ability to be used on a large scale, and to be reliably expanded to what ever
scale is necessary.
multiple communication channels - the ability to interface with users via many different
devices (phone, WAP, internet, etc)
workflow - the ability to automatically route work through the system to different people
based on a se