CRM is an approach to manage the customer interface across the entire customer experience chain as one coordinated process in order to acquire and retain profitable customers.

Of the CRM÷O two staged concept, the first step is to master the basics of building customer focus. The challenge is to move from a product orientation toward a customer orientation and define market strategy from "outside - in" and not from "inside - out" that is: centered around customers needs rather than around product features. Needs-based market segmentation, measuring customer satisfaction and loyalty, using activity-based costing to understand customer profitability, and setting up customer service infrastructure like call centers, toll-free numbers, etc. are the building blocks for achieving customer focus.

Advanced companies are moving beyond the basics toward the next step of CRM. They are the companies that do not rest on their laurels and push the envelope of customer orientation further by integrating CRM across the entire customer experience chain, by leveraging technology to achieve "real time" customer management and by constantly innovating their value proposition to customers.

HKLC is the expert in Linux who develops the e-CRM solution - M⁴, with its sound experience in advanced database technology, World Wide Web application development, workflow automation, and system integration.

The e-CRM solution - M⁴, consists of the following modules,

1. Member Information Manager

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   • Online Membership Registration
     The customized online registration form captures member÷O personal details and other information such as income range, interest, and preference, to build up the customer database.

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   • Member Profile Management
     Member is able to modify his/her profile and Web information such as email address, login password, etc. online.

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   • Registration System Manager
     The customization of all the registration Web forms is allowed by authorized system administrators using the Registration System Manager.

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   • Member Database Manager
     The member database is maintained by authorized system administrators using the Member Database Manager.

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2. Mailing List Manager

   The Mailing List Manager is the engine to retrieve the list of targeted customers from the database. The resulting list can be stored for different purpose such as printing of labels or use in publishing newsletters and distributing questionnaires. It allows the administrators to make request by one of the following methods,

   • By selecting the required criteria such as age range, gender, income range, etc.
     The resulting list of found customers can be saved in a readable format by Microsoft Excel for modification.

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   • By frequently used categories such as country, age group, interest.
     Instant data extraction can be done by just one single step using these pre-defined fields.

3. Marketing Activity Manager

   The Marketing Activity Manager is the editing tool to generate, customize, and publish articles as newsletters and questionnaires.

   • Newsletter Manager
     A set of pre-defined templates can be created by the system administrators to compose newsletters. Function edit/ delete/ preview/ staging/archive newsletters are also provided.

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   • Questionnaire Manager
     A set of pre-defined templates can be created by the system administrators to compose questionnaires of different formats. Function edit/ delete/ preview/ staging/archive questionnaires are also provided. Each questionnaire is linked to the database to store the results input by the customers.

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   • Publishing Manager
     The Publishing Manager handles the staging process by defining the status of each article stored in the pending queue.

     Newsletters can be customized and published with the result achieved by the Mailing List Manager. They can be distributed by email or sent to an output device in the network for printing.

     Whereas questionnaires are posted online in order to capture the results into the database. They can also be printed out for off-line distribution with the Mailing List Manager. The collected data in which case will be input to the system manually by the administrators via the corresponding online interface.

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4. Management Report Manager

   Statistical and summary reports can be produced by analyzing the database. In order to serve the customers with the most appropriate reports, the Management Report Manager allows customization in producing the content of the reports according to user requirements. It also provides options in the output format of the reports by a set of pre-defined numerical and graphical presentations.