The Impact of a Crm System on a Pharmaceutical Organisation
Introduction
In pharmaceutical sales, the traditional approach for increasing market share has been brute force – more reps, more calls, and more talk time. But now, the sheer number of reps has caused physicians to severely limit access. As a result sales strategies must evolve from quantity to quality through targeted messaging. (Hall, 2004) In December 2006, the marketing VP for Sanofi-Aventis stated: “We are so far behind other industries but the good news is that CRM can change marketing practices.”
With the above indications of the importance of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in mind, I am going to discuss the implementation of a CRM system in a pharmaceutical organisation.
Definitions of CRM and CRM systems are wide ranging and vary depending on the situation to which they are being applied. The definition that I feel is appropriate for the purpose of this report is given below:
CRM is an information industry term for methodologies, software, and usually internet capabilities that help an enterprise manage customer relationships in an organised way. It focuses on leveraging and exploiting interactions with the customer to maximise customer satisfaction, ensure return business, and ultimately enhance customer profitability
(Choy et al, 2003)
Aside from the academic research detailed in the reference section, I have interviewed a Customer Relationship Manager who was recently responsible for overseeing the implementation of an integrated CRM system to a UK division of Johnson and Johnson and drawn on my own experience at the same company.
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Technology
In IT terms, CRM is an enterprise-wide integration of technologies working together, such as data warehouse, Web site, intranet/extranet, phone support system, accounting, sales, marketing and production. (Stefanou, C. J., Sarmaniotis, C., Stafyla, A., 2003)
Most businesses use an Application Service Provider (ASP) to deploy CRM solutions. The ASP hosts and manages a software application
In pharmaceutical sales, the traditional approach for increasing market share has been brute force – more reps, more calls, and more talk time. But now, the sheer number of reps has caused physicians to severely limit access. As a result sales strategies must evolve from quantity to quality through targeted messaging. (Hall, 2004) In December 2006, the marketing VP for Sanofi-Aventis stated: “We are so far behind other industries but the good news is that CRM can change marketing practices.”
With the above indications of the importance of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in mind, I am going to discuss the implementation of a CRM system in a pharmaceutical organisation.
Definitions of CRM and CRM systems are wide ranging and vary depending on the situation to which they are being applied. The definition that I feel is appropriate for the purpose of this report is given below:
CRM is an information industry term for methodologies, software, and usually internet capabilities that help an enterprise manage customer relationships in an organised way. It focuses on leveraging and exploiting interactions with the customer to maximise customer satisfaction, ensure return business, and ultimately enhance customer profitability
(Choy et al, 2003)
Aside from the academic research detailed in the reference section, I have interviewed a Customer Relationship Manager who was recently responsible for overseeing the implementation of an integrated CRM system to a UK division of Johnson and Johnson and drawn on my own experience at the same company.
?
Technology
In IT terms, CRM is an enterprise-wide integration of technologies working together, such as data warehouse, Web site, intranet/extranet, phone support system, accounting, sales, marketing and production. (Stefanou, C. J., Sarmaniotis, C., Stafyla, A., 2003)
Most businesses use an Application Service Provider (ASP) to deploy CRM solutions. The ASP hosts and manages a software application
References: Alt, R., Puschmann, T., (2005) ‘Developing customer process orientation: the case of the Pharma Corp.’, Business Process Management Journal, 11, 4, 297-315 Bose, R Bull, C., (2003) ‘Strategic issues in customer relationship management (CRM) implementation’, Business Process Management Journal’, 9, 5, 592-602 Carlesson, C Chen, I. J. and Popovich, K. (2003) ‘Understanding customer relationship management (CRM) people process and technology’, Business Process Management Journal, 9, 672 – 688 Cooley, R.W., Mobasher, B., Srivastava, J Giga (2001), "Seven out of ten CRM projects fail", computing, 16, August, 27 Hall, J Ma, C., Chou, D.C., Yen, D.C. (2000), ‘Data warehousing, technology assessment and management’, Industrial Management & Data Systems, 100, 3, 125-34 MacSweeney, G McGuire, S. (2006) ‘Sanofi-Aventis VP touts value of CRM’, Medical Marketing Media, 14, 36, 26 Myron, D., (2007) ‘Eat Your Vegetables’, Customer Relationship Management, 11, 7, 10 Payne, A., Christopher, M., Clark, M., Peck, H. (1999), Relationship Marketing for Competitive Advantage, 2nd ed., Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, . Stefanou, C Xu, M., Walton, J. (2005) ‘Gaining customer knowledge through analytical CRM’, Industrial Management & Data systems, 105, 7, 955-971