How CRM Software Can Help Hotels Through Travel Downturn

A few months ago, I wrote about some B&B's that were using CRM software to compete head to head with large hotel chains. With businesses experiencing unprecedented travel budget cutbacks and consumers thinking twice about their vacation plans, even the most successful hotels are thinking about how they can get through 2009.

Hoteliers who can leverage the right CRM software with the right associate training can help their companies survive a recession. That's what InterContinental Hotel Group plans to do. Tom Seddon, the Chief Marketing Officer for the company behind top brands like Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza, told BrandWeek that his company is banking on help from CRM solutions to grow business.

Hotel operators like Holiday Inn can use CRM software to achieve some important goals, such as:

Building Loyalty. Competition among hotels often keeps rates close for similar properties in a market. By using CRM software to run an effective loyalty rewards program, hoteliers can win more repeat business -- even beating out less expensive competitors.

Recovering Lost Business. Reporting on specific feedback can also win customers back after a hotel stay that didn't meet their needs.

Managing Inventory. By reaching out to regular customers using CRM tools and direct e-mail, hotel managers can minimize the number of unsold rooms on any given night.

Reducing Marketing Expenses. CRM systems can analyze the effectiveness of regular advertising and special promotions. Calculating ROI on a regular basis helps marketers like Seddon eliminate poor performing ads or campaigns.

Hotels may not be able to change the state of the economy, but they can help prospective guests change their minds about heading out on the road this year.

What happens when CRM software hits every mobile device in the world?

That's the question CRM software vendors and buyers are asking after SAP's announcement of a major partnership with Sybase. By teaming up, SAP hopes that it can use Sybase's platform tools to make its CRM systems accessible from any kind of mobile device, from wireless smartphones to dedicated hardware tools.

Building CRM software that works on multiple platforms addresses many of the CIO community's biggest concerns about lock-in. With "consumerization" of hardware choices driving a mix of products in the workplace, partnerships like SAP-Sybase can result in CRM systems ready for universal adoption within client companies. Instead of arguing about how to deploy CRM systems on multiple hardware and software platforms, team leaders can collaborate on developing the kind of training culture required to make CRM implementation a real success.

As more vendors ship CRM systems with multiple interface options, client companies have already homed in on specific tools that let them serve customers more effectively. Many customers already clamor for mobile applications that tie directly into companies' CRM databases, such as trip planners, alert notifications, and mobile banking tools. Enabling customer service professionals to use mobile CRM tools will up the ante for companies who have not yet fully discovered how to leverage CRM into long term profits.

Eight Building Blocks for Success of CRM Software Still No Clue to Its Future

In 2001, Gartner analysts John Radcliffe, Jennifer Kirby, and Ed Thompson published "The Eight Building Blocks of CRM." This white paper helped IT leaders understand the impact of customer relationship management in the workplace, while providing a consistent structure by which purchasers could evaluate CRM applications. (Gartner's isn't the only checklist, either.)

In the years since, even Gartner has admitted that the world of CRM has changed. The document itself now contains a disclaimer that it "may not reflect current conditions." For many CIOs, the building blocks remain as important as ever, even though the deployment of CRM systems has largely shifted to the web.

Those eight fundamental "building blocks" remain:

• Vision. Effective CRM software requires support from the boardroom to the basement.
• Strategy. CRM software should not be a destination in itself; it should support broader goals.
• Customer Experience. The customer should drive the tools, not the other way around.
• Organizational Collaboration. CRM should bring departments together, not serve as a wedge between them.
• Process. When used effectively, CRM systems streamline and codify the things that make your organization special.
• Information. The more you know, the better you can compete through service.
• Technology. Customer demands should drive technology acquisitions.
• Metrics. CRM systems should provide clear results while helping other teams track their own objectives.

Nearly ten years after the creation of the eight building blocks, Gartner invited some of the top leaders from CRM software vendors to discuss how their products and services live up to the vision of an ideal CRM system. As Stuart Lauchlan from MyCustomer.com discovered, the vendors could only "agree to disagree."

• Panelists agreed that only about 20-30% of their clients actively measure the ROI from CRM software implementations. They couldn't agree on why large companies can't or won't measure their success.
• Panelists disagreed over the most challenging of the eight building blocks to accomplish. Data, customer experience, and processes came up in conversation as consistent challenges for organizations.
• Roughly half of CRM software will be web-based by 2020, according to panelists. However, the evolution of technology will erase the distinction between "desktop" and "cloud," making the question irrelevant.

Lauchlan provides more coverage of the CRM software discussion, along with Gartner's own insight into CRM challenges over the next decade.

CRM Software #2 Priority for Top CIOs in 2009

That's according to a recent Gartner survey of over 1,500 Chief Information Officers at the very end of 2008. The #1 priority on their collective list is Business Intelligence software. While some folks would argue that CRM software is a subset of BI, it sounds like the survey respondents make the distinction between the overall strategic components of BI tools and the specific sales and service elements inherent in CRM.

Servers, hardware, and infrastructure items all found homes farther down on the priority list, confirming a few of the running themes of our CRM software blog over the past few months:

• Faced with stagnating revenues, company leaders find it easier to invest in hosted CRM software than in fixed hardware.
• It's easy to trace the ROI on CRM software and BI projects, making them less risky for CIOs to approve.
• With the stalled-out launch of Windows Vista and the pending arrival of Windows 7, many CIOs are happy to sit out a year of hardware upgrades, especially with such a wide selection of platform-agnostic CRM applications.

Reviewing the list of the same CIOs' most pressing business priorities, it's easy to see why so many survey respondents are ready to write checks for stronger Business Intelligence and Customer Relationship Management tools. "Business process improvement" topped the priority list, along with "reducing enterprise costs." Shifts to seat-licensed software tools can certainly address both of those needs. Other top priorities include:

• Attracting and retaining new customers
• Targeting customers more effectively
• Expanding current customer relationships
• Expanding into new markets

Many CRM software implementation teams hope that such high priorities for their specialty will lead to renewed training and development for previously resistant sales and service professionals.