Effects Related To Information Processing and the Use of Technology on Customer Relationship Management

Transcription

1 International Journal of Management Sciences Vol. 2, No. 1, 2014, Effects Related To Information Processing and the Use of Technology on Customer Relationship Management Amir Ashkan Nasiripour 1, Alireza Soloukdar 2, Sara Moinifard 3 Abstract In service organizations such as insurance, the customer relationship management, in which customer is considered as a part of the provided service during providing service, is more sensitive. The objectives of this paper were to investigate the effect of relational information process and the use of technology in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in an insurance company. The sample of this study consisted of 344 people from among the employees and managers of Iran Insurance Company at branches of Tehran Province; data analysis was performed using SPSS Software. There was a positive and significant relationship was found among orientation variables of customer relationship, relational information process, using CRM technology, customer-oriented management system, and the intensity of competitiveness and dynamics of the environment. There was the highest correlation between the intensity of competitiveness and customer relationship performance (r=0.157 p=0.003) and the lowest correlation was between the use of customer relationship management and customer relationship performance (R=0.157 p=0.003). According to the impact of relational information process and using technology on customer relationship management, this paper has determined that using up-to-date and comprehensive information of the insurer and using CRM technology result in an increase in the insurer and the insured relationship. Keywords: customer relationship management, technology, Information association, insurance company 1. Introduction One of the issues being prevalently discussed in management issues in recent years is customer relationship management which has been taken into consideration along with the expansion of markets worldwide and the increase of competition. Customer Relationship Management has currently taken the central core of the business world. Although, providing service to the customers used to be the low priority of an organization, nowadays organizations have placed their customers at the heart of their activities.( Mehrabi, Babaei Ahari,and Taati,2010) The system of having relationship with customers is a way for collecting the business needs and behaviors of customers in order to help them with building a stronger relationship because having a stronger relationship with customers is the most important key for being successful at any kind of business. In fact, the root concept of customer relationship management is an old principle that is, "the customer is always right", and as a matter of fact, CRM determines its implementation in a profitable way at any time and in different organizational channels. Even in its simplest form, CRM is a way that companies identify, attract, and retain clients and there might be different reasons why many companies will take on the CRM; these factors are such as social, cultural, 1 Department of Health Services Management, North Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran 2 Industrial Management, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran 3 Department of Business Management, North Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran 2014 Research Academy of Social Sciences 38

2 International Journal of Management Sciences technical and commercial developments.... Nowadays, firms consider competition based on product very difficult though possible.(barnes,2010) Technological developments have made it easy for competitors to imitate the features and functions of products. Price which used to be the basis of competitive differentiation can no longer provide sale experience and meaningful service. However, CRM can be a reason for customers for continuous purchase from the company instead of purchase from its competitors. Thus it can be distinguished as a tool for building differentiation. The advent of electronic businesses, organizational dynamics, and the issues of cultural change has fundamentally led the organizational units to focus on the customer. Consequently, a number of organizations have perceived the significance of owning a customer-center strategy including a database of customer s knowledge and an organized collection of customer s data.information technology can have an important role in CRM. IT can facilitate integrating customer s information and building customer s knowledge in organizations. Technological measures of CRM are based on the backup systems of decision and integrated informational sources which take into account the customer s desired value by providing a comprehensive viewpoint of each of the customers and their needs (Jayachandran et al., 2005). Furthermore, the development of CRM is a key step in the implementation of relational marketing techniques that has been one of the phenomenons which has been growing during the recent decades. The implementation of relational marketing through CRM in organization will entail relational strategies such as loyalty and retention of customer for the company.therefore, more organizations have recently invested in CRM which has led to the improvement of organizational performance (Saungweme Percy et al., 2010). In service organizations such as insurance, the customer relationship management, in which customer is considered as a part of the provided service during providing service is more sensitive. There is no doubt that applying new methods and analyzing the issues that are addressed at different s of insurance matters are necessary to achieve this goal. Additionally, according to the statistics obtained from the department of statistics and informatics of one of the branches of Iran Insurance Company which enjoys 107 percent growth of statics in insurance premium issued in 91 than 88 as well as 127 percent growth of loss in 91 than 88 which finally shows the negative performance of the company (statistical report of informatics unit of Iran Insurance Company 1392); therefore, expansion of business knowledge and customer relationship management is among the important responsibilities of the company. Since the empowerment of individuals in this way has a big impact on the prosperity of the insurance business and an increase its penetration, thus the main objective of this paper was to investigate the role of relational information process and the use of technology and its dimensions in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) at an insurance company. 2. Materials and Methods This study was a correlational research. The population consisted of experts and managers of Iran Insurance Company in Tehran; in the present study, questionnaire was used to collect data and in this regard, 344 questionnaires were completed by experts and directors of the company. The relationship between the performance of customer relationship, relational data process, and the use of CRM technology dependent variable and competitive intensity, orientation of customer relationship, customer-oriented management system and dynamism of the environment were assessed using Pearson correlation test. SPSS software (version 18/1) was used for data analysis. 39

3 3. Results A. A Nasiripour et al. There was a significant and positive relationship between the intensity of competition and utilization of customer relationship management technology (p = 0.024) and regarding the correlation test (r = 0.709), the more intense the competition between competing companies in the capital market is, the more companies attempt to use technology in customer relationship management. There was a significant and positive relationship between the intensity of competition and relational information process (p< 0.001) and regarding the correlation test (r=0.649), the more intense the competition between competing companies in the capital market is, the more companies attempt to process and analyze the data related to their customers. There was a significant positive correlation between the intensity of competition and the performance of customer relationship (p = 0.001) and regarding the correlation test (r= 0.863) the more intense the competition between rival companies in the capital market is, the more companies attempt to have activities for retention and satisfaction of the customers.there was a significant positive relationship between the orientation of customer relationship and relational information process (p = 0.001) and regarding the correlation test (r = 0.737) the more companies prioritize the demands and satisfaction of the customer, the more they are engaged in processing and analyzing the data related to their customers. There was a significant positive correlation between customer relationship and utilization of customer relationship management technology (p=0.033) and regarding the correlation test (r=0.652) the more companies prioritize the demands and satisfaction of the customer, the more they are engaged in the process and analysis of data related to their customers.there was a significant positive correlation between customer-center management system and information process (p <0.001) and based on the correlation test (r=0.677), the more prevailing the climate in companies is that includes the structure and incentives which create compatible behavior with the culture of customer relationship, the more companies are engaged in the process and analysis of data related to their customers. There was a significant positive correlation between customer-center management and the use of customer relationship management technology (p <0.001) and regarding the correlation test (r = 0.692) the more prevailing the climate in companies is that includes the structure and incentives which create compatible behavior with the culture of customer relationship, the more companies are engaged in the process and analysis of data related to their customers. There was a positive and significant relationship between the dynamics of the environment and relational information process (p <0.001) and according to the correlation test (r=0.766), the more dynamic the capital market is and also the more the internal and external environment as well as the customers needs change, the more the companies are engaged in the process and analysis of the data related to their customers. There was a positive and significant relationship between the dynamics of the environment and customer relationship management technology and regarding the correlation test (r = 0.613), as the capital market is more dynamic and the internal and external environment and customer requirements are highly changing, companies are attempting more to use technology in customer relationship management. There was a positive and significant relationship between the dynamics of the environment and customer relationship performance, (p <0.001) and regarding the correlation test (r = 0.545), the more dynamic the capital market is and the more the internal and external environment and the customers needs are changing, the more the companies attempt to maintain and satisfy the customers. There was a positive and significant relationship between the relational information process and customer relationship performance (P <0.001), and regarding the correlation test (r = 0.593), the more the companies process and analyze the information related to their customers, the more they attempt to maintain and satisfy their customers. 40

4 International Journal of Management Sciences There was a positive and significant relationship between the use of customer relationship management technology and customer relationship performance (p = 0.003) and regarding the correlation test (p = 0.517) as companies attempt more to take advantage of technology customer relationship management technology, they take more actions to maintain and satisfy the customers (Table 1 and 2). Table 1- Mediated the relationship between independent variables and dependent Independent variables Intermediate variable/dependent Using CRM Technology Information processing related Performance of Customer Relationship Intensity of competition Customer relationship orientation Customer management system based Environmental Dynamism _ _ _ _ Table 2 - Dependent variables related intermediates Intermediate variable Dependent variable Performance of Customer Relationship Information processing related Using CRM Technology Discussion According to the positive and significant relationship between the intensity of competition with the use of CRM technology, the relational information process, and the customer relationship performance, this conclusion can be drawn that the more intense the competition between competing companies in the capital market is, the more the companies use the customer relationship management technology, the more they take 41

5 A. A Nasiripour et al. action to process and analyze their customers information, and the more they attempt to take actions for maintaining and satisfying their customers. In their research, Jayachandran and colleagues presented the intensity of competition as one of the environmental factors affecting relational information process with the emphasis on the necessity to maintain the customers (Jayachandran et al..2005) Considering the positive and significant relationship between the dynamics of the environment with the relational information process, the use of CRM technology, and customer relationship performance, it is concluded that the more dynamic the capital market is, and the more the internal and external environment and the customers needs are changing, the more the companies try to process and analyze their customers information, the more the companies use the customer relationship management technology, and the more they attempt to take actions for maintaining and satisfying their customers which is in accordance with previous studies by Keramati Meshki.( Keramati, Meshki,and Shirkoohi,2010) Regarding the positive and significant relationship between the orientation of the customer relationship with the relational information process and the use of CRM technology it became clear that the more the companies prioritize the demands and satisfaction of the customer as their first priorities, the more they process and analyze their customers information as being confirmed in Jayanchandran and colleagues that there is a positive and significant relationship between two variables of the orientation of the customer relationship with the relational information process and the use of CRM technology.( Jayachandran et al..2005) Based on the positive and significant relationship between customer-center management system and relational information process and the use of CRM technology, it was determined the more prevailing the organizational climate in companies is that includes the structure and incentives which create compatible behavior with the culture of customer relationship, the more companies are engaged in the process and analysis of data related to their customers. Taking into account the positive and significant relationship between relational information process and customer relationship performance, it was determined that the more the companies process and analyze their customers information, the more they take actions to maintain and satisfy their customers. Relational Information process may also increase the learning of customer relationship through providing further understanding of the organization's efforts to respond to customer s demands and the increase of their satisfaction and loyalty. According to the positive and significant relationship between customer relationship management technology and customer relationship performance it was determined that the more companies move to take advantage of customer relationship management technology, the more they take action to maintain their customers. These results are consistent with the results of the research by Khadem Shariat.(Khadem,1999) 5. Conclusion According to the research hypothesis, the competition in the capital market requires companies to use tools that can help companies to achieve competitive advantages; one of these tools is to use information technology and information process related to the customers and to prioritize the demands of customers. Nowadays the information technology has a very wide role in providing desired services to the customers; in addition, as the company s knowledge of its customers is higher and it is more aware of their needs and expectations, it certainly is more successful at providing more desired services. According to the findings of the present study, the effect of relational information process and the use of technology on customer relationship management by using the up-to-date and comprehensive information of the insurer and the use of CRM technology are found. 42

6 References International Journal of Management Sciences Barnes, J. (2001) Secret of Customer Relationship Management, Mc Grraw-Hill, New York, USA. Dehmardeh,N., Shahraki, A.,lakzaei,M.(2011) Identifying and Ranking the influencing factors in the process of implementing customer relationship management system (CRM), Journal of Industrial Management, Faculty of Humanities, Islamic Azad University, Sannandaj Branch, 5(11):91-100(In Persian). Jayachandran,S., Sharma,S., Kaufman, K., Raman,P.(2005) The Role of Relational Information Processes and Technology Use in Customer Relationship Management. Journal of Marketing, 69(4): Keramati,A., Meshki,H., Shirkoohi,S. N.(2010 )Identifying and prioritizing risk factors in CRM implementation projects in Iran. Modiriyate bazargani Pazhosehname. 51.(In Persian) Khadem-shariat, S.(1999) Valuation and classification of customers using Customer Relationship Management (CRM)", MSc Thesis, Tehran University(In Persian). Mehrabi J., Babaei Ahari M., Taati M. (2010).Presenting an Integrated Model of Implementation of Customer Relationship Management Concept in Bank Mellat, Journal of Development & Evaluation,2(4): Saungweme Percy,W., Visvanathan, N., Watson, C.(2010). Relationship marketing: Strategic and tactical challenges for SMEs. African Journal of Business Management. 4(13): Turban, E, Mclean, E., Wetherbr, J, Information Technology for Management: Making Connections for Strategic Advantage, 2nd Ed.New York; Wiley. 43