软体中的 B2B 关系

RevistadeAdministraçãoFACESJournal

ISSN:1517-8900

faces@fumec.br

UniversidadeFUMECBrasil

RégioBrambilla,Flávio;Dalmarco,Gustavo

MANAGEMENTOFCUSTOMERRELATIONSHIPMANAGEMENT(CRM)TECHNOLOGICALATTRIBUTESINBRAZIL:AB2BRELATIONSHIPINTHESOFT-WARE-MEDIADEVELOPMENTSECTOR

RevistadeAdministraçãoFACESJournal,vol.13,núm.4,octubre-diciembre,2014,pp.40-56UniversidadeFUMEC

MinasGerais,Brasil

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MARKETING

MANAGEMENTOFCUSTOMERRELATIONSHIPMANAGEMENT(CRM)TECHNOLOGICALATTRIBUTESINBRAZIL:AB2BRELATIONSHIPINTHESOFT-WARE-MEDIADEVELOPMENTSECTOR

GESTÃODOSATRIBUTOSTECNOLÓGICOSDOCUSTOMERRELATIONSHIPMANAGEMENT(CRM)NOBRASIL:UMARELAÇÃOB2BNOSETORDEDESENVOLVIMENTODESOFTWAREEMÍDIA

FlávioRégioBrambilla

UniversidadedeSantaCruzdoSul

GustavoDalmarco

PontifíciaUniversidadeCatólicadoRioGrandedoSul

ABSTRACT

Datadesubmissão:05set.2013.Datadeaprovação:03mar.2014.Sistemadeavaliação:Doubleblindreview.UniversidadeFUMEC/FACE.Prof.Dr.HenriqueCordeiroMartins.Prof.Dr.CidGonçalvesFilho.Prof.Dr.LuizClaudioVieiradeOliveira

Marketing

CustomerRelationshipManagement(CRM)representsatechnologicalappli-cationbasedonthephilosophyofRelationshipMarketinganditrecommendstheinteractionwithhighvalueconsumers.RelatingCRMtonewsocialtech-nologies,CRM2.0orsocialCRMdealswiththerelationshipbetweencom-paniesandcustomersusingonlineplatformssuchasblogs,RSS,forumsandsocialnetworksites,amongotherfacilities.Throughacomparativestudyba-sedonqualitativeindicators,thisarticledrawsarelationshipbetweenCRMtheoryandpractice.Intwohightechnologyorganizationsitwasidentifiedthat,althoughtheindicatorsareappropriatetothebusinesspractices,theirusageandunderstandingareorientedbythenatureofbusinessesandbythecompanycharacteristics.Empiricalresultsshowthattechnologystructure,datacollectionandanalysistoolsandinteractivesalestoolsfavorCRM.Inthispaper,fourvariablesaretreatedtheoreticallyandempirically:InformationTe-chnology;Informationtools,wheretheDatabaseandtheStorageofDebug-gedDataareincluded;DataMining;and,theSalesForceAutomationFacilities.

KEYWORDS:

CustomerRelationshipManagement.Technology.SoftwareDevelopment.

FLÁVIORÉGIOBRAMBILLA,GUSTAVODALMARCO

MANAGEMENTOFCUSTOMERRELATIONSHIPMANAGEMENT(CRM)TECHNOLOGICALATTRIBUTES

INBRAZIL:AB2BRELATIONSHIPINTHESOFTWARE-MEDIADEVELOPMENTSECTOR

R.Adm.FACESJournalBeloHorizontev.13n.4p.39-56out./dez.2014.ISSN1984-6975(online).ISSN1517-8900(Impressa)

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R.Adm.FACESJournalBeloHorizontev.13n.4p.39-56out./dez.2014.ISSN1984-6975(online).ISSN1517-8900(Impressa)

RESUMO

CustomerRelationshipManagement(CRM)representaumaaplicaçãotecnológi-cabaseadanafilosofiadomarketingderelacionamento,sendorecomendadanainteraçãocomconsumidoresdealtovalor.RelacionandoCRMàsnovastecno-logiassociais,CRM2.0ouCRMsocialdebate-sesobreorelacionamentoentreempresaseclientesatravésdeplataformasonline,taiscomoblogs,RSS,fórunseredessociaisonline,entreoutrasfacilidades.Atravésdeumestudocomparativobaseadoemindicadoresqualitativos,esteartigoapresentaumarelaçãoentreteo-riaepráticadeCRM.Emduasorganizaçõesdealtatecnologiaidentificou-seque,emboraosindicadoressejamadequadosparaaspráticasdenegócios,asuauti-lizaçãoecompreensãosãoorientadospelanaturezadonegócioecaracterísticasdaempresa.Osresultadosmostramqueaestruturatecnológica,ferramentasdecoletaeanálisededadosevendasinterativasfavorecemaoCRM.Nestetrabalho,quatrovariáveissãotratadasteóricaeempiricamente:TecnologiadaInformação;FerramentasdeInformação,naqualobancodedadoseoarmazenamentodedadosestãoincluídos;MineraçãodeDados;e,AutomaçãodeVendas.

PALAVRAS-CHAVE:

CustomerRelationshipManagement.Tecnologia.DesenvolvimentodeSoftware.

INTRODUCTION:CUSTOMERRE-LATIONSHIPMANAGEMENTINTHEMANAGEMENTPERSPECTIVE

CustomerRelationshipManagement(CRM)canbedescribedastheManage-mentoftheRelationshipswithClients.Itisamanagementapproachaimedatidenti-fying,attractingandretainingthebestcus-tomers.Theincreaseoftransactionswithhighvaluecustomersisrecommended(WILSON;DANIEL;McDONALD,2002),

thatis,amarketingorientationfocusedonretainingvalue.Itisalsounderstoodastheautomationandimprovementofbusinessprocesses,associatedtoCRM.Dependingontheorientationoftheresearch,itcanbebothamarketingsubjectandasubjectofthetechnologyarea.AccordingtoDw-yer,SchurrandOh(1987),CRMrepresents

theextensionofexchangerelationshipsthatcontributetothedifferentiationofproductsandservices,whichcanprovidecompetitiveadvantage.Thegoalofthiskindofapplicationistofocusonrelation-shipprogramstoofferthecustomerahighlevelofsatisfaction,higherthantheoneprovidedbycompetitors(WINER,2001).Inthissense,CRMisabusinessstrategy;notonlyasoftwareapparatus(RAGINS;GRECO,2003).Day(2002)mentionsthatitisofhighimportancetomaintainaloyalcustomerbase.Thesecustomersrepresentasourceofprofitstothecompany.

Wilson,DanielandMcDonald(2002)presentCRMasthesetofprocessesandtechnologiestosupportplanning,imple-mentationandmonitoringofconsumers,distributorsandinteractioninfluenceson

marketingchannels.Byhighlightingthisstra-tegiccriterionatfirst,RaginsandGreco(2003)laterwarnabouttheneedtocre-ateanintelligenttechnologyapplicationasawaytoobtaintheeffectivenessofCRMpractices.Asafirststepforacompletesolu-tion,Winer(2001)focusesontheconstruc-tionofacustomerdatabaseadjustedtotheorganization.CRMtechnologicalinitiatives,CroteauandLi(2003),arebasedonsupportsystemstodecisionandintegratedsourcesofinformation.Theymustnecessarilypro-videacomprehensiveindividualclientviewaswellasthecustomerspecificneeds.

FollowingthelatesttrendsinCRMtheo-ryandtheconceptofweb2.0,socialCRM(orCRM2.0)standsasanewmarketingtooltoevaluatecustomerbehaviorandre-lationships.SocialCRMincorporatesanewsetofsocialtoolsandstrategiestoitstra-ditionaloperationalfunctions,meetingthenewconnectivitydemands(GREENBERG,2010).Socialnetworksaredevelopinganimportantroleinprovidingcriticaldatadoimproverelationswithcustomersandbusi-nesspartners(MOHAN;CHOI;MIN,2008).OncetheessenceofCRMisdefined,asitsrelationstonewsocialtools,itstech-nologicalaspectwillbepresentedthroughcentraltopics,whichconfigurethequalita-tiveindicatorsusedintheempiricalstageofthestudy.Afterthat,themethodusedtoconducttheresearchispresented.Final-ly,thediscussionoftheresultsfoundinthecomparisonbetweenorganizationsandtheconcludingremarks.Thefollowingdiscus-sioninthispaperisthetechnologicalelab-orationofaCRMapplication.TheobjectiveofthisresearchistoprovideanappropriateclassificationforcomparativeanalysesthatadoptCRM.Toconsolidatethisgoal,thetechnologicalindicatorswillbegenerated

and,later,empiricallyinvestigated.Thesein-dicatorsaretheInformationTechnology;theInformationTools(DatabaseMarketingandDataWarehouse),DataMiningprocess,andtheSalesForceAutomationtools.

TechnologicalIndicatorsrelatedtoCRMThetechnologicalCRMindicatorsbuiltaredividedintofourconceptualsetsforafurtherempiricalanalysis.ThefirstsetshowsthewideviewoftheuseofInforma-tionTechnology(IT).Inthesecondcharac-terization,entitledInformationTools,datacollectionandclientdatastoragewerein-corporated,includingDatabaseMarketing(DBM),DataWarehouse(DW)andtheir

respectivedefinitionsandcharacteristics.SpecifictotheprocessesofDataMin-

ingandrepresentedbytheapplicationoftheDataMining(DM)tool,thenextindi-catorwascreated.Finally,itispresentedthetechnologicalaspectofsales,relatedtotheSalesForceAutomation(SFA)sys-tems,which,inthisstudy,refersspecificallytotheprocessofconversionoftraditionalsalesintoelectronicorautomatedsales.Asafirstconceptualelaboration,theITindi-catorispresented.

InformationTechnology

InformationTechnology(IT)istheum-brellatermthatencompassestechnologiesusedtocreate,store,changeandusetheinformationinitsdifferentconfigurations(PEPPERS&ROGERSGROUP,2004).In

marketingperspectiveShoemaker(2001)statesthatITisthenervoussystemwhichevolvestheformsofmarketingorganiza-tion.InCRM,ITrespondstothecomputerrequirementsofthesystem,representedbysoftwareandhardware.Pedron(2001)postulatesthattheCRMstrategyisclosely

relatedtotheadvancesofITand,throughthistool,itispossibletoseekcustomerloyalty.Nogueira,MazzonandTerra(2004)highlightthatIT,andtheautomation,enabletheprovisionofindividualizedversionsofproductsandservicesaimingtoservethecustomeratareasonablepriceaccordinglytheirspecificneeds.

Bretzke(2000)warnsthat,atthemomentofdefiningandadoptingthesoftwarecom-ponent,itisnecessarytoguidethischoicebasedonthenatureandrelationalmodeltheorganizationintendstoestablishwiththecustomers.Brown(2001,p.161)addsthata“CRMsolutionrequirestheadoptionofnewtechnologiestoreachtransparencyandvis-ibilityinbusinessvaluechainandbetweenbusinessanditscustomers”.SocialCRMisalsoimportantasanewbreedofcustomerrequirecorporatetransparency,authenticityandinteraction(GREENBERG,2010).Boon,CorbittandParker(2002)concludethattheITinfrastructureisusuallydescribedasasetofservices,includingcommunicationman-agement,managementstandardization,safety,ITtraining,managementofservicesandap-plications,datamanagementandadministra-tionandITresearchanddevelopment.

ForHansotia(2002,p.129),ITis“thefa-cilitatingelementintheimplementationofCRMstrategy”.Srivastavaetal.(2002)cor-roborateandcomplementstatingthatthesimultaneousmaturationofITdataman-agement,suchasDataWarehousingandtechnologicalanalyseslikeDataMining,cangeneratetheidealenvironmenttomakeCRMasystematiceffort.Kellen(2002,p.2)proposesthat“theCRMsoftwareisreallyasetofapplicationsforthemanagementofcustomerdata”,whereITenabledchan-nelssuchastheInternet,allowtheone-to-onedialoguewithcurrentandpotential

customers,throughindividualnegotiation(WILSON;DANIEL;McDONALD,2002).

Finally,Campbell(2003,p.375)statesthatorganizationswhichuseITadoptedit“tofocusontheuseofCRMinsearchofda-tabasesnecessarytoevaluatecustomerstatusandprofitability”.Thesedatabasesrefertocustomerdata,whichcanbeusedintraditionalDatabasesorinconsolidateddatawarehouses,suchasDataWarehouseapplications.Thecharacteristicofthesetoolsissolidifiedintheabilitytogenerateinformationthroughdataincludedinthesystem,orthroughinformationavailablepracticallyinrealtime.FocusingontheseITtools,theglobalindicatorInformationToolswillbepresentedinthenextpartofthetheoreticalfoundation.

InformationTools

TheInformationToolswillbeconcep-tualized,foranalyticalpurposesconsider-ingthreefundamentalgroups,namely,re-spectively:DatabaseMarketing(DBM),asatransactionalinstrument;customerdata,whichpermitbusinessintelligenceinrela-tiontocustomers,andalso;DataWare-house(DW),asthestorageofalreadycon-solidateddata,akindofmemoryofcompa-nytransactions.

ADatabaseMarketing(DBM)isunder-stoodasasetoforganizedandstructureddata,subjecttouse.Inthiscase:thecom-panytransactionwithclients.Peppers&RogersGroup(2004)definesDBMasanysetofmarketinginformation.Itcanbeei-therasimpleshoplistoracomplexsetofcustomerinformation.Theuseofinternetandsocialnetworkseasetheaccesstothiskindofinformation,sincecustomersde-scribetheirexperiencesandtastesthroughblogs,publicprofilesandevencompanies

forums.Nogueira,MazzonandTerra(2004,p.13)statethat“agooddatamanagementisessentialtoCRMpractices”.Itisakindofprocessthatneverendsandthatiscon-stantlyevolving.Customerstransactovertimeand,thesetransactionsaresystemat-icallyrecordedandupdatedintheDBM.Pedron(2001)mentionsthatDBMisusedincustomerbehavioranalysis,inwhichareperformedprocessesofcheckingandclas-sificationofmarketsegmentsandoftheindividualinhisowngroup.

Missi,AlshawiandIrani(2003)statethatthequalityofdataanddatabaseintegrationtoolsisprojectedtointeractiveoperationandmanagementofgreatamountsofdis-tribution.Suchinformationisunstructuredindifferenttaxonomies,thus,allowingcombinations,differentarrangements,aswellasreportsbasedoninformationfromdifferentsources.ThiscanprovidetheCRMoperatorwithaunifiedviewofinfor-mation.AccordingtoDowling(2002),theCRMrunbydatabasepresentssignificantadvancesintheidentificationofprofitablecustomersandanalerttonon-profitableones.ForPedron(2001),theDBMstruc-turepresentsfourmaingroups.Theyrefertocurrentcustomers,potentialcustomers,lostorforgottencustomersand,dealersorbrokers(whoprovideusefulindirectinfor-mationabouttheconsumerpreferences).IntheseDBMsubgroupsupdatedinforma-tionaboutcustomersmustbeincludedtobeusedinCRMinitiatives.

RegardingCustomerData,inCRMitisimportantthattheybereliableaswellasupdatedandavailableintimeforuse.TheuserofCRMsolutionneedsreliablecustomerdatatoperformmarketingandsalesactionsappropriately.ForNogueira,MazzonandTerra(2004)itisimportant

toeliminateproblemsthatcanaffecttheCRMDatabase,suchasredundantanddu-plicatedata.Itisimportanttogiveatten-tiontotheseaspects,sincetheCRMdataadministrationmustconsistinasolidbaseintheuseofnewtechniquesfordataanal-ysis.Attractingandrecordingtheanswersprovidedbyconsumersarethemostcrit-icalpartsintheprocessofidentifyingandcollectingrelevantandreliabledata,eitherinrelationtoestablishedcustomersorinrelationtoprospects.

Forthedataobtainedtobevaluableforthecompany,Pedron(2001)statesthatthevalueoftheprocessofmarketingcommu-nicationsliesinthefactofbeingnatural-lycircular,thatis,thecustomerdataarecollected,analyzedandstored.Foreverynewinteraction,datamustbeimmediatelyupdatedintheDBM.Thus,itispossibletoknowtheresultofmarketingactionsandtoadjusttheotherplansbasedoncustom-erresponsesintimetomakeotherem-ployeesofthecompanyalsounderstandthecustomerbasedoncustomerhistoricalrecordsofinteractionsandtransactionswiththecompany.

AccordingtoBoltonandSteffens(2004),theabilityoforganizationsthatem-ployCRMtounderstandcustomerprivacyandpreferencesthroughoutthetransac-tionsguidescampaignsandprocessestocentralization,marketingplans,customerdatamanagementandminimizestherisksofnotknowingtheprofileofexistingorprospectivecustomers.ForMcKim(2002),datahelpfindwhatisnecessaryforeffec-tivecommunicationwiththecustomer.Inthissense,CRMmeansamarketingactionofhigh-touchtypeandnotonlyahigh-techaction.Thepurposeofusingcustomerdataistobetterserveandnotonlytohavea

technologicalapplication.TheuseofthedatainsertedinacustomerDBMisdirect-lyrelatedtostrategicdecisionmaking.ForBretzke(2000),theCRMstrategyallowsthecompanytobecometargetedtotheclients,aprocesswhichisconductedbyusingtheexistingcustomerdatabytheITstructure,enablingtheachievementofasustainablecompetitiveadvantage.AshighlightedbyHansotia(2002,p.121),the“CRMisessentiallyanintensiveeffortwithcustomerdata”.

Missi,AlshawiandIrani(2003,p.1607)saythat“theessenceoftheCRMsystemimpliesunderstanding,controllingandop-timizingbusinessanddatamanagement”,andCampbell(2003)saysthatforcustomerdatatobeusedproperly,theymustbecon-vertedintoinformationandthisinformationmustbeintegratedintobusinessprocesses.Afterthat,customerknowledgemustbedeveloped.Theinternalcompanyprocess-esgenerateandintegratecustomerspecificinformation,whichprovideidealconditionsforcompaniestodevelopspecificrelation-shipstrategies.Shoemaker(2001)saysthattheinteractionsbetweencustomersandtransactionsinprocessprovideanabun-danceofdataandinformationthatmustbetransformedintocustomerknowledge.Thesoftwaresofcustomerknowledgeprovidetoolsavailableforthemarketingactorstomanagetheprocessoftransformingdataintoknowledgeand,thus,developtheap-propriatecustomercategorization.

AccordingtoBoon,CorbittandParker(2002),thedatausedincustomersegmen-tationcanincludeanumberofevents,forexample,buyingpreferencesandhabits,income,education,statusandfamilysize,amonganumberofpossibilitiesindataar-rangement.Wilson,Daniel,andMcDonald

(2002)reportthatthesegmentationcanbeseenasasimplificationofthecomplexmessofdealingwithalargenumberofin-dividualcustomers,eachwithspecificneedsandaspirationsanddifferentpotentialval-ue.Inotherwords,Srivastavaetal.(2002,p.18)statethat“customersegmentationisthedivisionofthetotalpopulationofcus-tomersintosmallergroups,calledcustomersegments”.Companiesneedtobeselectivewhencorrelatingandintegratingdataintheprogramsandmarketingeffortsbygatheringappropriatecustomerinformation,therebydevelopingindividualmarketingprograms(PARVATIYAR;SHETH,2001).

Concludingtheconceptualdevelop-mentofinformationaltools,DataWare-house(DW),accountsforthesupplyofreliableinformationthatsupportsthepro-cessofdecisionmaking.ThefundamentaldifferencebetweentheDWandtheDBMisthatintheDBMdataarecurrent,thatis,theyareconstantlychanging(dynamic).IntheDW,consolidateddataarestored,usuallyrepresentingtheannualexerciseorothercompletedperiods(static).

Nogueira,MazzonandTerra(2004,p.3)conceptualizeDataWarehouseas“thege-nericnamefortheinfrastructureofonlinedatastorage”,whichisusedtostorecus-tomerinformationsuchastransactions,phonecalls,purchases,invoices,amongothers.ThereissynchronybetweenDWandtransactionaldatabases,althoughdataarenotchangeddirectlyinDW.Animport-antaspectistheneedfordatatobetrans-formedintoinformation,sincetheyarees-sentialtoCRMpractices.DataWarehouseisimportantduetoitsfunctionalitytostoreinformationinonlyonecentralloca-tion,whichislaterusedinbuildingthecus-tomerimage.Itisatoolthatseekstomap

andunderstandthecustomer,bycentraliz-inginformationandbybeinglinkedtotheorganizationchannelsanddepartments,inparticularcustomercontactpoints,thecaseofsalesrelationships.

DataWarehousehasareasontoexistduetotheperceivedneedtointegratebusinessdatainonlyoneplace,sothattheyareavailabletoallusersinvolvedinthedecision-makinglevelsoftheorgani-zation(ANGELO;GIANGRANDE,1999).

AsPedron(2001)pointsoutthissystem-atizationprovidestheorganizationwithwaysofknowingwhothecustomersare,whattheirpreferencesare,thelikelihoodofnotdoingbusinesswiththecompanyanymore,aswellaswaysoftrainingthecompanytomeettheneedsandprofilesofotherpreferencesbythesecustomers.Customerknowledge,saysSwift(2001),configuresthestorageofhistoricalin-formationindetailandclient-centered,allowingthecompanytobeagileandresponsivetothemarket,enablingsolidmarketingdecisionmaking,suchasthedeterminationofimportantpointsthatrequireresourceallocation.

ForBrown(2001),DataWarehouseisfundamentalandunrestrictivefactortothecustomizationandcreationofone-to-onemarketingenvironment,throughwhichitispossibleforthecompanytosubstantiallyincreasecustomersatisfac-tion.Srivastavaetal.(2002)saythattheimplementationofDataWarehouseisanessentialsteptotheanalyticalCRM,wheredatasourcesaredesignedforoper-ationaluse.DayandBulte(2002)explainthatCRMdependsontheorganizationalqualityandperformanceintheextractionandsharedmanagementofinformation,which,convertedintoknowledge,canbe

usedinconsumerservice.Theconversionofdatasourcesintoinformationisaresultoftheanalyticalprocessesperformedbythecompany,suchas‘DataMining’.

DataMining

DataMining(DM)isresponsibleforan-alyzinginformationinaDatabasebyusingtoolsthatseektrendsoranomalieswithoutpriorknowledgeofthemeaningofdata.ItisanessentialprocessinCRMstrategies,especiallyinelectroniccommerce.Inshort,Dataminingistheprocessofextractingandcrossingrelevantinformation,wherecus-tomerbehaviorpatternscanbemapped(PEPPERS&ROGERSGROUP,2004).

Nogueira,MazzonandTerra(2004,p.3)saythatDMis“aprocessforextractingandpresentingnewknowledge,notpre-viouslydetected,selectedfromdatabasesfordecision-makinginaction”.AngeloandGiangrande(1999)sayitcanbedefinedasadataextraction,whenrunindatabase,aimingatobtainingusefulandunknownin-formation.Bretzke(2000)describesDBMasatoolusedinsearchofmoreprofitablecustomersorcustomersegmentsmoresignificanttothecompany.Themainadvan-tagesofusingitaretheabilitytoguidethedevelopmentofproductstocustomers,re-ducethedistancefromthefinalconsumer,offerproductsandserviceswithcompeti-tivepricesand,addextravalueforcustom-ersthroughsegmentationandanalysisofdifferenttypesofcustomers.

Datamining,Srivastavaetal.(2002),representsananalyticalneed.Itsprimaryfocusintheinnovativeknowledge,previ-ouslynonexistentorunavailable,usedinordertopredictthefutureandautomatetheanalysisofthedatasets.ForPaasandKuijlen(2001),DMiscrucialtotransform

transactionaldatastoredininsightsaboutthecustomerneeds.

Dataminingtechniqueisalsoconsid-eredwhenusingapproachingsocialCRM,sincesocialnetworksarespreadovertheinternet.Fromsocialwebsitescustomersbehaviorcanbeobserved,improvingcom-panies’capacitydodifferanddeliverspecif-icservices(MOHAN;CHOI;MIN,2008).BoltonandSteffens(2004)alsostatethatitisnecessarytoknowwhatkindofcus-tomerdataareidealtobecollectedbythecompanytomakeavailablecompleteinter-actionsatthetouchpointsbetweencom-panyandclient,whereisnecessarytopro-videtheappropriatekindoftreatmentandpersonalizedservice.Fletcherstates(2003,p.249)that,inCRMsystems,“companiescollectandusecustomerinformation”,inordertoincreaseprofitmargins.Thereisadirectrelationshipbetweendataanalysisandthesalesprocess.Havingthisprerog-ativeinevidence,thetheoreticalstageiscompletedwithSalesAutomation.

SalesForceAutomation(SFA)

InthedefinitionproposedbyPeppers&RogersGroup(2001),SalesAutomationorSalesForceAutomation(SFA)referstothesoftwaretoautomatethesaleforce,includingtheprocessesofcontactman-agement,forecasting,salesmanagementandgroupsales.Hansotia(2002)arguesthatthemainoperationalfocusofCRMisthetechnologicalplatformthatsupportscustomerinteractionsandsalesautoma-tion.Shoemakerreports(2001)thatmostCRMsoftwareprovidersarerootedinSFA.Inthiscontext,itispossibletoun-derstandthatCRMisdesignedtoincreasesalesandbusinessmanagementfunction-ality.TheprimaryfunctionsofCRMdirect-

edthesalesforcearethecontactman-agement,locationofaccounts,accountadministration,incomingorders,proposalgeneration,supportpresentation,techni-calsupportandthesalesprocess.

OneofthemajorpapersonSFA,Spei-erandVenkatesh(2002,p.98),describesthat“automationtechnologiesofsalesforceareincreasinglybeingusedinsup-portofCRMstrategies”,andthattheirtoolsareoftenimplementedtofacilitateCRMprocesses,rootedinthephilosophyofRelationshipMarketing.Byimprovingthespeedandqualityofinformationflowamongsalespeople,customersandthecompany,SFAtoolssupportbusinesspro-cesses.SFAtoolsvaryincomplexityanddegreeaccordingtotheintegration,em-phasizingineachcasetheorganizationalandexistingITinfrastructure.

ForSpeierandVenkatesh(2002),someorganizationalcharacteristicscanhavesig-nificantinfluenceonITimplementation,consequently,affectingacceptanceofSFA.Asstudiesingeneralshow,salespeoplere-actreasonablypositivelytoSFAtoolsim-mediatelyaftertraining.However,thisinitialresponsebecomesnegativeafterlongerpe-riodsusingthetool.Qualificationandtrain-ingprocesses,intenseintheearlyadoptionandlaterneglected,canexplainthisdown-fallinemployeeadherenceintheautomatedsales.IntheopinionofSpeierandVenkatesh(2002,p.110),“companiesneedtoproactive-lyevaluatehowSFAtoolschangetheroleofsalespeopleandtoidentifythemoreap-propriatecapabilitiesofthesesalespeople”.Theauthorsalsostatethatsalespeoplemaythinkthattheirroleisthreatened,becauseadministratorswillhaveaccesstothesamecustomerinformation,favoringcontrol.Theorganizationsmustbeawareofthese

perceptionstomakedecisionsofatechno-logicalnaturetoavoiddifferencesbetweenmiddlemanagementandsalespeople.SFAtoolscangenerateexcessiveconflictswiththesalesstaff.Theseconflictsresultinsignif-icantorganizationalcosts,possiblefinanciallossandpossiblelossofthemostvaluableemployees.Ifthemanagersunderstandandcontrolthepotentialityofthisconflict,anddealwithitproperly,companiesmayhave