Technology’s Role in Managing One-to-One Customer Relationships Worldwide at UPS
Business drives technology at UPS and no where within the global company is
this more evident than in customer relationship management (CRM).
In late 2002, a cross-functional team of sales, customer service, information
services and marketing representatives at UPS completed a five-year CRM roadmap.
The roadmap identified specific work streams surrounding three critical business
activities:
1. servicing customers better
2. improving sales force effectiveness
3. developing more effective marketing campaign strategies
While the roadmap outlined a multilateral approach to address aspects of all
three critical activities, the cross-functional team knew a focus on improving
sales force effectiveness with new technology would go a long way in better
servicing UPS customers.
To that end, UPS mapped out its sales force requirements in 2003. The following
year, the company selected, tested and deployed the sales force automation component
of an off-the-self CRM package that was extremely intuitive and required minimal
customization. Naming the system TEAMS (Total Enterprise Account Management
System), UPS trained and equipped 5,400 field sales users in the United States
with wireless laptops in a little more than 120 days.
TEAMS replaces an existing, internally developed system and provides easier,
more cohesive access to other shared systems like the company’s global
lead management system, known internally as SLIM. The immediate availability
of account and product/service information (enabled by the wireless connectivity
of the laptops) allows UPS sales representatives to provide more responsive
service to customers.
No one on the UPS team knows the needs of a particular customer better than
the driver who delivers that customer’s packages. Drivers key sales leads
into the UPS network using their handheld wireless computers known as DIADs
or Delivery Information Acquisition Devices. Sales representatives have immediate
access to this lead information.
In 2005, UPS extended the deployment of TEAMS to additional countries as well
as to all of its business units. By providing visibility into an account enterprise
wide, UPS reduced the chance of channel conflict as well as its time to market.
With each new advance in technology, especially the proliferation of self-service
channels like the Internet and mobile phones, more of the customer relationship
is being managed electronically. Consequently, UPS will continue to look for
ways to personalize these electronic customer experiences. The company’s
ultimate objective is to treat each of its 7.9 million daily customers as if
that customer is the company’s only customer.
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