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The
Indian CRM market is broadly categorised into CRM products (hardware
and software) and services (consulting, systems integration, training,
outsourcing). However, due to the small size of the market, the
majority of CRM solution providers do not have products but act
as consultants and integrators for software like Siebel, Oracle,
SAP, PeopleSoft, SalesLogix, etc; providing consultancy, software
deployment and integration, and training. In fact, if we look at
the overall CRM space, it is the services segment which dominates.
Outsourced CRM services have immense potential, which is being reflected
by the growing numbers of telemarketing, direct marketing, data
collection and market research firms. The demand for CRM professionals
has also increased, though the lack of right training seriously
handicaps the growth prospects of the industry.
Varied
portfolios
 In
India, the major industry verticals expected to focus on CRM are
the financial services, IT services, hospitality, consumer durables,
direct marketing, retail and the telecom sector. Depending on the
verticals, the role of a CRM professional can vary from providing
functional and strategic consulting (defining CRM roadmap), to implementing
(product centric) growth, to even handling customer calls. Says
Ravi Chakravarthy, director of sales, Asia Pacific, Talisma, “The
roles may vary—managing inbound and outbound call centre applications
and operations, generating customer profiles, devising and managing
e-mail response systems to developing and integrating electronic
business applications. Besides this, he could also be involved in
creating data warehouses and data mining applications or even co-ordinating
customer marketing campaigns.”
What
should be the skill sets of a CRM professional? According to Shishir
Kumar, manager, customer service-India of Nortel Networks, a CRM
professional must have fundamental understanding of what technology
can do, how it works and how it can be leveraged to improve relationship
with the customer. The skills are generally a collection of technical,
creative and marketing skills. Integration and customisation of
software is critical because CRM involves tying together an array
of systems, including a number of pre-packaged applications. On
the technology side, experience in databases, messaging systems
and the Web helps. For a product implementation professional the
skills might be more product-specific. The experience requirement
may vary from knowledge in C++ and Java (as integration development
tools) to database architecture, management and development, data
warehousing and data mining, project management, Web-related development
or even ERP implementation. Gourish Hosangady, the managing director
of SAS India says, “The key technical skillset is data mining
which can be effectively implemented only if the CRM professional
has deep domain expertise.”
For
understanding a customer’s behaviour patterns, marketing and
statistical analysis experience is useful, while for “strategic
and functional consulting” soft skills (like command on language
and communication skills) are necessary. Kumar points out that this
is not just limited to the call centre industry, but holds true
in any activity which involves direct interaction with customers.
While
most CRM professionals come from telephony/software backgrounds
and are engineers/MCA/ diploma holders, the industry is slowly witnessing
a change in their backgrounds with professionals coming from varied
fields like marketing, customer service and operations. Another
very significant observation in the past few months has been the
emergence of the post of chief customer officer, which is becoming
as significant as that of the CEO, CFO, and CIO. More and more people
are joining the IT industry focusing on making careers in the CRM
segment.
While
a good business degree should equip one with working knowledge of
CRM, a lot depends on the individual—the ability to tackle
the problems of customers and come up with innovative solutions.
Though knowledge of IT is an added advantage, many experts feel
that it is not a necessity.
Experts
point out that besides lucrative options like business strategy,
CRM IT implementation, data mining, data warehousing, sales force
automation and contact centres, there are other unexplored fields
which can be tapped once an effective training methodology is followed
in the industry. Due to the varied portfolios, providing a singular
career path also becomes difficult. This apart, with the industry
just emerging from its infancy there is a lot of confusion among
prospective CRM professionals.
Training
needs
While
popular brands like SalesLogix, Siebel and Oracle, have certified
programmes, these are very product-specific and consequently not
sufficient. Hosangady believes that most companies are presently
focusing on ROI for solutions they have already invested in, which
is slowing the training focus. While a firm should spend on an average
5 percent of its total CRM investment on training, this is hardly
being followed.
Some
companies have however started adopting a more focused approach.
The recent example is of Tata Telecom, the solution partner for
Avaya, which would be soon launching its CRM solution for the Indian
market. The company provides extensive technical training to its
business development managers and sales consultants on the technology.
Cap
Gemini Ernst & Young (CGE&Y) believes in making an individual
comfortable with various facets of CRM and also taking the individual
through the lifecycle of a project. SAS has an internal training
institute called SAS Global Knowledge and Training Division that
imparts training across SAS offices globally. Arnab Dasgupta, director,
Cap Gemini Ernst & Young Consulting India, says that what is
needed is a broad range of coursework addressing the different requirements
of the market.
A
majority of the companies take people in without any significant
training and the skills are developed on-the-job or through in-house
programmes.
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