Entrepreneurship & Innovation

There was a time when managers used to think that their business can run on ERP alone. Later the view changed from ERP alone to CRM and ERP combination where the data generated/ stored by the ERP is converted to knowledge by the CRM and then to insights by the analysts.

Now it’s the combination of analytics and CRM which is creating waves. And these are some really exciting waves.

FMCG companies pay billions of dollars to get data from the stores and then analyze them to look for patterns in consumer behaviours and purchasing patterns. This helps in predicting the sales patterns and in turn planning production and planning scheduling. The stores have gone a step forward to make use of this data in optimizing the space utilization in the shelves to maximize the returns per “foot shelf”. In a few cases (I have not worked on such assignments till now) the retail stores charge companies based on the sale these shelves offer. The additional revenue is shared between the store and the manufacturer: All possible due to the new age Analytics.

 In an assignment with a leading telecom player I worked on a solution where the last three to six months data for the customers could be analysed to identify the patterns of use by different users. The CRM then runs a match between the use pattern and the products available. This gives the list of Customers Vs the Products they should be using to make the best use of the offers and schemes available.

I have even proposed this solution to the Libraries (none of them implemented it though). There is huge amount of data available in every library. One can analyze this data to find the frequency of issuing books on various subjects. This will help in optimizing the space in the library shelves. Also in case of private libraries and book stores, the management can contact the customers who might be interested in purchasing/ issuing the new arrivals.

The CRM in combination with Analytic provides a great solution for forecasting, scheduling of production, resource optimization, revenue maximization and many other exiciting opportunities. Keep exploring!