Clarifying the Situation: The Possibility of a Failure. Analysis
According to the case study offered by McKeen & Smith (2012), the Minitrex Company suffers from considerable imperfections. Because of the unresolved IT problems and the unwillingness of the head of the company to improve the work of the IT specialists, the quality of the services offered by the company and, therefore, Minitrex’s entire reputation among a variety of clients is in peril.
Analyzing the way in which failures occur in Minitrex on a daily basis, one can possibly come to a certain conclusion about the nature of the above-mentioned imperfections and the means to fight them.
First of all, it is necessary to mention that the company maintains a constant contact with the customers, allowing the latter to learn about the slightest changes in the company policy or the new services that the company comes up with as soon as possible. With such an efficient system, Minitrex can always feel certain that the clientele will have the offered services and will be satisfied with the company’s high standards.
However, because of the unstable work of the IT personnel, the company sometimes fails to mark certain clients as those who have already been informed about certain news, which leads to the fact that people receive two and more calls from the company’s officials about the same news, which is quite irritating.
Moreover, according to the research, the сcompany departments are quite detached from each other, which means that each department focuses on their own needs: “’The company is always promising better systems,’ thought Degas, ‘but when it comes down to it, no one can agree on what to do’” (McKeen & Smith, 2012, 234).
Hence, it can be concluded that, with the IT services which Minitrex has at present, the possibility of problems with informing the clients on the company news grows increasingly high. However, according to what the researchers say, the company can possibly avoid the problems by implementing a new CRM strategy.
The Steps towards the Implementation of the CRM Model
As it has been mentioned above, the only possible solution that can help the company solve the complexities within and function efficiently is to implement the CRM model (Stone & Woodcock, 2000).
However, according to what McKeen & Smith say, there can be considerable obstacles on the way (McKeen & Smith, 2012). Hence, a specific implementation tactics should be developed to introduce the new model of functioning in the most efficient way.
To start with, a plan for each department to act should be drawn (Raju & Parthasarathy, 2010). It is important that each department had a clear task and a plan on how to complete this task. Moreover, the standards for task evaluation should be presented (Cant, Strydom & Jooste, 2009, 27).
Further on, Bettman should make the company processes more integrated (Cobb, 2005). Establishing closer relationships between the departments, Bettman will be able to prevent such misunderstandings as double or triple calls. Finally, each of the departments must provide a weekly report on their accomplishments to Bettman.
Therefore, with the help of the above-mentioned changes, the company will hopefully start functioning in a much better way. Even though one cannot foresee all the nuances and eliminate the slightest possibility of mistake, the chances to fail will be as low as they can possibly be.
Reference List
Cant, M. C., Strydom, J. W., & Jooste, C. J. (2009). Marketing management. Cape Town: Juta & Co.
Cobb, C. G. (2005). Enterprise process mapping. Milwaukee, WI: ASQ Quality Press.
McKeen, J. D., & Smith, H. A. (2012). IT strategy, 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Raju, Satya & Parthasarathy (2010). Management text and cases, 2nd ed. New Delhi: PHI Learning Private Ltd.
Stone, M. N., & Woodcock, L. M. (2000). Customer relationship marketing: get to know your customers and win their loyalty. London, UK: Cogan Page Publishers.