CRM 101: Maximizing Return on Investment with the SAS® Solution for CRM

During the last decade, the deployment of Information Technology (IT) has been rapidly evolving from a necessary evil to a legitimate business strategy. In the early to mid 1990’s Business Process Reengineering (BPR) was the hot business tool that allowed IT deployment to generate a positive return on investment (ROI) and obtain business objectives. The late 1990’s have brought us another hot strategic business tool, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), which generates rapid ROI and long term profit growth. The business emphasis is on understanding your customer and building loyalty. The IT emphasis is on capturing all customer related data and turning it into decision ready information. Database marketing has evolved from mass to direct/target marketing over the last 3 decades, now emphasizing loyalty and individuality. This paper takes you through an evolution of strategic business tools, marketing as a discipline and information technology as they pertain to CRM. After a discussion of what is CRM, why it is so hot, and the benefits, this paper then discusses SAS Institute’s approach and methods used to identify and obtain the valuable benefits of a CRM culture. Finally we will discuss the necessary business environment, synergistic roles, and deployment of key technology tools necessary to maximize CRM ROI.