Customer Relationship Management Assignment: CRM System Implementation Plan For Starbucks

Question

Task:
Submit a completed Customer Relationship Management System Implementation Plan.

Situation to be analysed in the customer relationship management assignment:

In your future role, you have been given the task of managing the replacement of the CRM System within your organization.

Being responsible for this new implementation you will have to work within the organizational business process framework and collaborate with various stakeholders to see a successful transition.

For this final assignment, you must complete this CRM implementation plan so that it corresponds to all the requirements, including the matching of the management´s focus that must be in line with the strategic direction of the company, as well as the action plan that you propose since you must sell your CRM implementation plan to the company’s board of directors.

Approach:

1. First select an organization. This can be a real organization that you have worked for, or an organization that you are familiar with for any other reason. Describe it, including business name, sector, and company size as a minimum and justify your selection. The product or service you select must be realistic, and the company you select must have English-language websites or documentation. This means, your chosen company must already exist. You must also be able to find what this company stands for, what its vision/mission is or what its stated purpose is (in English).
2. Next, describe your (hypothetical) role in the selected company (your business unit, which level as a manager or individual contributor).
3. Then, argue why a new CRM system will be beneficial for the business, given the current business environment.
4. Explain how and where the company can use the new CRM system. Then analyze (take apart and examine in depth) at least one CRM business process that will be impacted, and how the process will be improved.
5. Describe the impact of the new CRM Technology on the Organization and Management dimensions of the IS.
6. Recommend which stakeholders should be included in the implementation process.
7. Explore possible reasons for failure that could threaten the potential success of the new CRM system.

Answer

Abstract
The customer relationship management assignment illustrates how the rapid advancement in technology and increasing penetration of internet have been enabling companies to attract new customers, track their purchase behaviour and performance, online shopping habits and customize their products, services, offerings, communication and prices accordingly. In this regard, customer relationship management (CRM) has been playing a significant role for enhancing competitiveness in the market. It has emerged as one of the pillars of success for companies by providing personalized products, services and maintaining relationships with their valued customers. Thus, the report here has aimed to analyse how implementation of such an effective CRM system can provide competitive advantage to a company by taking the example of Starbucks.

Introduction
Advanced technology is an integral part of today’s business. CRM is one such software that has been implemented by organizations across the world to establish transparent communication and strong relationship among employees, customers and managers. CRM is a management information system that helps in keeping track of customers’ activities. Furthermore, the knowledge creation process of customers is also supported by CRM. The aim of this report is to analyse the impact of CRM in core business activities of an organization. This report also helps in providing a clear insight about the competitive advantage that an organization may gain after successful implementation of CRM.

Goals and objectives
Organizational leaders tend to set short-term and long-term goals or objectives. These goals can be financial, operational and many more. Objectives are primarily set by organizations because accomplishment of these objectives help in measuring the progress in organization’s performance (Elena-Iuliana and Maria, 2016). There is no exception in case of Starbucks. Starbucks which is one of the fastest coffee retail chains in the world, focus on nurturing the spirit of humans. This organization is also known for having the best customer loyalty programs where customers are rewarded on the basis of their purchase and this can be marked as the customer loyalty objectives of the firm (Farfan, 2021). Furthermore, Starbucks also aims at increasing the sales of the product or service by enhancing their product quality. The marketers of the firm also emphasize on both digital and traditional form of marketing to increase the reach of their product among a greater number of customers or prospects.

Therefore, from the above analysis it is clear that Starbucks is one such organization that aims at establishing a strong relationship with their customers. Thus, the organization is constantly focused to implement tools and strategies that help in enhancing their relationship with customers.

Strategies
The current business environment has become very competitive. Therefore, strategic managers of organizations are constantly focusing on developing strategies that can help their firms gain competitive advantage. There are 4 strategic pillars that can help Starbuck accomplish all the above discussed objectives. These strategic pillars are vision, target, analysis and plan. To accomplish marketing, sales and customer loyalty goals, the organizational leaders of Starbucks should have clear vision and must set achievable targets. Moreover, implementation of advanced technological tools in the current business environment is necessary to achieve its goals and objectives. This can be done with a proper plan. While analyzing the goals and objectives of Starbucks, it can be found that the organization is customer-centric. Therefore, implementation of CRM can help Starbucks achieve its objectives in effective way. CRM is an information system that has an impact on organizational activities. It helps firms manage their relationships with customers and prospects. Implementation of CRM tool is a strategic decision that is undertaken by corporate leaders to enhance the value of shareholder (Rodriguez, Peterson and Ajjan, 2015). In the following part of the report, impact of CRM technology in the core business activities of Starbucks by keeping in mind the external environment will be discussed in details.

Analysis
Current performance
Starbucks have segmented its customers on the basis of their personality, social class and lifestyle. It has targeted customers who belong to the age group of 18-40 years. Costa Coffee, Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds Mc Café are the current competitors of Starbucks.

Competitive review
Organizations are constantly focused on making their products or superior to deal with globalization and gain competitive advantage (Hanafi, et.al., 2017). The following table represents the competitive position of Starbucks among other players in the coffee retail chain market.

Source: Author made

Product and service review of Starbucks
The average customer ratings of Starbucks are 3.52 stars. This means customers are overall satisfied with the service of the firm but there are several areas of improvements. Furthermore, the ranking of Starbucks in terms of its website activities is 6th (sitejabber, 2022). Therefore, from the customer rating and ranking it can be found that though Starbucks have managed to engage a greater number of customers towards the brand but there are several scopes for improvement. Implementation of CRM tool can help the firm to improve the business activities of the organization.

SWOT analysis of Starbucks

Implementation of CRM tool
From the above part, it is clear that Starbucks have scope to improve its relationship with customers and grab several opportunities. The following part focuses on discussing implementation strategies through steps.

Setting specific goals
It is essential for the company to first identify the goals for implementing the CRM system. The formulation of a strategic vision can help in recognizing areas of improvement that can be achieved through the new system (Agapitou, Bersimis and Georgakellos, 2017).

Gathering Required Documents
The brand should identify the flow of its business and collect all necessary documents after having identified the problem to be addressed.

Seeking Weak Points
In this regard, the company has to identify the gaps existing between the current set-up of its business processes and the desired targets to be achieved. This helps in understanding the weak points that are required to be addressed through CRM system.

Selecting Service Provider
It is further important to seek out for the service provider who can provide a high-quality CRM system in accordance with the desired goals to be attained. The performance of the system depends largely on this quality of service provided.

Drafting a Budget
This is another important step that must be undertaken for successful implementation of the CRM system in the company (Zouaoui, Triki and Ferchichi, 2016). In this regard, investment should be made in quality resources for getting the desired results.

Devising a Configuration Plan
Drafting a plan of action for the implementation of the CRM system is another important step that must be undertaken for the smooth functioning of the business. It should consist of a detailed explanation of gathered data and procedures for routing the system.

Appointing Project Manager
Alongside forming a team of different members for the CRM implementation and getting the top management on board with the plan, a specific project manager needs to be appointed (Lipiäinen, 2015). He or she should be entrusted with responsibilities of reviewing every task related to the CRM implementation.

Ensuring Smooth Transition
This is essential for enabling the employees to get accustomed with the changed process of the implementation for transitioning to the new system. Here, a focused transition program can also be helpful for the employees.

Preparing for Resistances
Employees and other members might display negative attitude towards the implementation of a new system. Thus, managers need to be prepared for handling such obstacles and rejections by justifying the need to implement the system.

Testing before Using
This step is of utmost importance for testing the new CRM system before going live with it. It would help in identifying any errors, required changes or rectifications in the system before using it for business purposes.

Evaluation
After successful implementation of the CRM system, it is essential to evaluate its functioning to identify the ability to meet target objectives. Some specific criteria can be used for evaluating the system. The annual cost of the CRM must be determined alongside the time taken for actual implementation. Furthermore, the importance of mobility to the team must be analysed alongside the system’s integration with other tools being used in the company. The analytics of the CRM system would also be evaluated based on understanding where it is providing the reports required by the company management. In addition, the degree of scalability and customizability, data access and customer support would also be examined as part of the evaluation process.

Conclusion
The main aim of this report was to implement advanced CRM tool in the core operation of Starbucks. The report concludes that Starbucks have already implemented a CRM tool to establish solid relationship with the customers but the IT team needs to improve the features of the tool to survive in the current competitive business environment. While analyzing the external environment of Starbucks it has been found that many firms operating in the coffee retail chain industry have gained competitive advantage over Starbucks because they are constantly advancing their CRM tool. Thus, implementation of CRM tool and advancing the features of this tool have been recommended that to the CRM team of the firm in order to gain competitive advantage.

Reference List
Agapitou, C., Bersimis, S. and Georgakellos, D., 2017. Appraisal of CRM implementation as business strategy option in times of recession: The role of perceived value and benefits. International Journal of Business Science & Applied Management (IJBSAM), 12(2), pp.18-31.

Elena-Iuliana, I. and Maria, C., 2016. ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE-A CONCEPT THAT SELF-SEEKS TO FIND ITSELF. Annals of'Constantin Brancusi'University of Targu-Jiu. Economy Series, (4).

Farfan, B. 2021. Starbucks Customer Loyalty Rewards Program. [online]. Available at https://www.thespruceeats.com/starbucks-customer-loyalty-program-2892381 (Accessed 15 March 2022).

Hanafi, M., Wibisono, D., Mangkusubroto, K., Siallagan, M. and Badriyah, M.J.K., 2017. Modelling competitive advantage of nation: a literature review. Customer relationship management assignment Competitiveness Review: An International Business Journal, 27(4), pp. 335-365.

Lipiäinen, H.S.M., 2015. CRM in the digital age: implementation of CRM in three contemporary B2B firms. Journal of Systems and Information Technology, 17(1), pp. 2-19.

Rodriguez, M., Peterson, R.M. and Ajjan, H., 2015. CRM/social media technology: impact on customer orientation process and organizational sales performance. In Ideas in marketing: Finding the new and polishing the old (pp. 636-638). Springer, Cham.

Sitejabber, 2022. Starbucks. [online]. Available at https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/starbucks.com (Accessed 15 March 2022).

Zouaoui, F., Triki, A. and Ferchichi, A., 2016. CRM Implementation Process: Application of the Strategic Alignment Model. International Journal of Application or Innovation in Engineering & Management, 5(3), pp.142-152.