Call centres reap rewards of CRM

NEWS Call centres are reaping the rewards of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software, according to a study of 800 European call centres by research company Datamonitor. In a report titled 'Perspectives to 2003', it found that call centres have seen a 25 per cent improvement in customer retention after deploying CRM strategies- with some seeing as much as a 55 per cent improvement. This is also translated into a high return on investment. But Steve Morrell, consultant at Datamonitor and author of the report, argues that CRM is not the paradigm shift it is being hyped as. "Internet technologies are going to be bigger and more important than CRM and customers are realising this. CRM is a way of integrating distribution channels, but the Internet is a channel they cannot ignore and are having to prepare for," he said. The survey found that by 2003, 18 per cent of incoming contacts will be through email compared to 5 per cent for 1999. Morrell said the sheer volume of emails being received will force call centres in Germany, Scandinavia and the UK to set up customer service centres to deal with them within 6-12 months, with other countries in Europe following suit.