The purpose of this case study is to determine if there are any under- or overrepresented industries in CRM case studies. CRM stands for customer relationship management and can be applied as a system to help the sales manager in an industry to control the activities and their customers. CRM enable long-term relationships with customer and to retaining key customer. The top findings in this case study is that the hotel industry is by far the leader of CRM case studies and therefore the overrepresented industry. The underrepresented industries when it comes to amount of CRM case studies is the digital content industry, retailing industry, pharmaceutical industry and the telecommunication industry. The conclusion in this case study is that all the service industries are dependent on the CRM-systems and therefore a lot of case studies have been composed about the subject. Another conclusion is that that CRM-systems cannot be ignored by any industries since the economy is customer orientated.

This multiple case study focuses on the customer relationship management (CRM) processes and the management of customer data within two international business-to-business (B2B) companies based in the southern parts of Sweden.  This study explores and compares these companies’ approaches to CRM in today’s era of social media and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). A qualitative research method in the form of 12 semi-structured interviews were conducted and later analyzed through coding using grounded theory.   The findings of this study show that the companies studied work in both different and similar ways when it comes to CRM, with one having recently implemented a new CRM system while the other relies on their enterprise resource (ERP) system for the same purposes. Neither company are proactively using social media and although both companies have taken action to adapt to the new rules set by the GDPR, neither seem to know exactly how it works. Through its theoretical-, managerial-, as well as social policy implications, this study contributes to the existing research on CRM in a B2B context by providing a contemporary perspective which takes into account the influence of social media and the GDPR.

I modern tid är den så kallade transaktionsmarknadsföringen det paradigm som till största del präglat marknadsföringen. Utvecklingen och globaliseringen har bidragit till att marknaden blivit mer transparant, kunderna ställer högre krav och det räcker inte längre med att endast erbjuda en produkt/tjänst. Företagen måste för att kunna konkurrera, bygga relationer och erbjuda bästa möjliga service, sätta kunden i fokus. Ett sätt för att lyckas är enligt forskningen att implementera Customer Relationship Management (CRM) i organisationen, något som visat sig vara problematiskt och svårt. Ett av problemen är att CRM ofta likställs med teknologi och därför utelämnas flera viktiga delar i implementeringsprocessen. Vårt syfte med studien var att undersöka vilka förutsättningar som vårt valda företag hade för att implementera CRM och vad som krävs för en lyckad sådan. För att svara på vårt syfte använde vi oss av en kvalitativ metodansats där djupintervjuer med, enligt oss, viktiga personer inom företaget och kunder gjordes.Resultatet av studien visar att Menigo har goda förutsättningar för en eventuell CRM implementering det finns dock vissa områden som behövs ändras för att lyckas. Det berör mestadels informationsstrategin och systemstödet. Viktiga slutsatser är att CRM är en heltäckande strategi och den bör därför behandlas som en sådan och inte likställas med enskilda delar av konceptet. Förändringsarbetet tar tid och ett engagemang från ledning såväl som personal är vitalt för att lyckas. / Program: Civilekonomprogrammet

Gotlands Slagteri är ett företag som bedriver produktion av kött och charkvaror. Verksamheten bygger på långsiktiga relationer mellan såväl leverantörer som kunder, och som vilken relation som helst krävs omtanke och underhållsarbete för att de skall kvarstå. Syftet med den här studien är att titta på Gotlands Slagteris leverantörsrelationer och göra en utomstående bedömning för slakteriets räkning, samt att se om dokumentationshanteringen av leverantörerna kan förbättras. Syftet mynnar följaktligen ut i tre frågeställningar; Hur ser nuläget av relationen mellan Gotlands Slagteri och deras leverantörer ut? Vilken leverantörsinformation önskas av Gotlands Slagteri i framtiden? Är CRM-system ett lämpligt alternativ för Gotlands Slagteri att dokumentera information i och hur kan det tillämpas? Metodiken som använts för införskaffande av data har primärt bestått av intervjuer, både med leverantörer och personal vid Gotlands Slagteri. Studiens frågeställningar resulterar i att relationerna över lag ser bra ut. Det viktigaste för leverantörerna visar sig vara att avräkningspriserna per djur inte är för låga. Studien resulterar också i att slakteriet inte nödvändigtvis är ute efter någon ny information angående leverantörer i framtiden, men att det istället går att utöka leverantörers redan befintliga uppgifter genom att integrera annan sparad information. Vid integrering av vederbörande uppgifter talar resultatet även för att CRM-system är lämpligt vid framtida dokumentation för leverantörsuppgifter. Återstående för slakteriet är att avgöra vilken typ av CRM-system som ter sig bäst lämpat, men studiens rekommendation är att satsa på ett egenutvecklat system. Initialt kan systemet implementeras vid inköpsavdelningen som ett slags pilotprojekt för att därifrån expandera programmets funktioner till att även stödja andra avdelningar i verksamheten. / Gotlands Slagteri is a butchery which produces meat and charcuterie. The company is dependent on long term relationships with suppliers as well as customers, and just as in any relationship it is nurtured by tender and care. The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship with the suppliers and see what could be improved upon. In this case, the improvement regards the company’s way of handling information about suppliers, which in turn generate the following questions; does any further information regarding suppliers, valuable enough to be documented exist? How could present information be stored? The information procured attempts to answer what makes suppliers supply to Gotlands Slagteri as well as what the viewpoint of other butcheries is. Via a literature study CRM is proposed as a possible solution and is backed up by a benchmark of what similar companies do (HKScan, KLS, Hälsingestintan). CRM systems turn out to be a recurrent option and could be procured either by buying an already existing product or be developed on your own. The study concludes in there not necessarily being anything new to add as far as information per supplier go, but instead point to the fact that there are some already existing data which potentially could add individual value. Beyond that the study show that CRM could make a strong case as a future feature. The one thing reaming is for Gotlands Slagteri to determine which CRM-system would make the better fit.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore how stores in the retail sector and in business to consumers´ relations, are engaged in the CRM systems use and management. The purpose is also to see if the information that is gathered by the headquarters is transferred down to the stores.   The research follows a realistic philosophy combined with an abductive approach and a qualitative method. The choice of design to this research was an exploratory research combined with a case study strategy over a cross-sectional time horizon. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews with managers in the six different retail stores.      The findings from this thesis showed various results when it came to the use of the CRM system and the amount of information that the stores got access to from the headquarter/partner. None of the stores managed their CRM systems themselves, it was only managed by the headquarters or partners of the retail chains. The amount of information that was transferred down from the headquarters or partners, affected how much the stores used the CRM system. The stores that got much information had more knowledge about the CRM system and used it a lot more than stores that got less information.   The limitations that can be found in this thesis is that it is only a small amount of stores within the retail market that has been examined, this might give a misleading result for the rest of the retail market and the global market as whole.

The thesis deals with a decision making support in CRM systems. The goal of this thesis was to design a module for decision making support in the CRM system using Pentaho analysis tools. The theoretical part contains a description of the data warehousing and data mining with a focus on analytic operations and decision making support. It also contains brief description of CRM systems and possible application of decision making support in these systems. The practical part deals with the description of architecture of CRM system CRMminer and describes the decision making support module in this system.

This study presents a case study that addresses a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system as a key component in managing customer relations for companies. Due to these systems being very complex and needing a complete understanding of the user requirements to support their actions, this user experience can potentially be hindered. This study aims to highlight these challenges by identifying key usability challenges faced by users and suggesting targeted design improvements from a developer perspective.   This qualitative study explored usability challenges within an existing CRM system through a user-centered approach, gathering data from the users of the CRM-system. Empirical data was collected using interviews in a semi-structured form to delve into the user experience and what issues the users was facing. This methodology has facilitated a great understanding of areas that would need further development of the CRM-system. Applying Nielsen’s usability heuristics as an analytical framework, multiple critical enhancements were identified. These recommendations for enhancements are aimed with the goal of simplifying the user interface and the work conducted in it. The active involvement of the users in this study addressed multiple critical factors of improvements in the CRM-system, with the likes of the importance of integrating direct communication tools within the CRM-system to facilitate direct customer interaction. Additionally, there emerged a need for further development of the system’s performance and responsiveness, as well as enhancing its personal flexibility to adapt the CRM-system to each user's individual work process. This study contributes to the ongoing discourse on enhancing CRM-system effectiveness and user satisfaction through strategic design enhancements.

Bakgrund: CRM säljs ofta in som ett verktyg för att uppnå kundlojalitet. Forskningen är tvetydig på om sambandet mellan CRM och lojalitet gäller, och en rad problem som sägs hämma CRM-satsningar tas upp. Trots svårigheterna med CRM är ordet fortfarande lite av ett buzzword, och aktuellt än idag. CRM har utvecklats mycket sedan 1995, då begreppet först myntades, men innebörden är det samma: det är viktigt att fokusera på kunderna och bibehålla den kundbas som finns idag. Klädbranschen har upplevt en nedåtgående trend, och har endast vuxit online de senaste åren. E-handel är ett område där företag är extra utsatta för konkurrens, och ett sätt att hantera detta är att försöka bibehålla befintliga kunder. I studien undersöks svenska små och medelstora e-handelsföretag i klädbranschen ur ett fenomenologisktperspektiv; deras upplevelser och erfarenheter av CRM-lösningar och dessa lösningars påverkan på lojalitet. Syfte: Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur e-handelsföretags CRM-ansvariga ser på sina system och hur de upplever att deras CRM-lösningar bidrar till lojala kunder. Metod och genomförande: Studien har en fenomenologisk och hermeneutisk utgångspunkt, med kvalitativ och induktiv forskningsstrategi. Metod för datainsamling är semistrukturerade intervjuer med åtta fallföretag i Sverige som bedriver handel med kläder online. Resultat: Studien visar att fallföretagen upplever allt mer konkurrens, samt att kundernas beteende blir allt mer utmanande. Intervjupersonernas uppfattning är lojalitet är viktigt, då kunder som återkommer är lätta att påverka, vilket är bra ur ettkostnadsperspektiv. Studien kartlägger också vilka former av CRM-lösningar som används idag, och konstaterat att småföretag använder relativt enkla lösningar. Slutligen upplever intervjupersonerna att deras CRM-lösningar har någon form av påverkan på kunderna, men att system som erbjuder till exempel personlig anpassning av kommunikation skulle bidra ännu mer då kommunikationen anses bli mer relevant. / Background: CRM is often proposed as tool for achieving customer loyalty. However, research conducted in this field is ambiguous on the correlation between CRM and customer loyalty, and many obstacles that hinder CRM projects are found. Despite the difficulties associated with CRM, CRM is still a buzzword today and the concept is present. The acronym was introduced in 1995 and has since developed a lot, however, the concept still has the same implication: it is important to be customeroriented and maintaining the extant group of customers. The apparel retail sector has experienced a decline, with growth exclusively in the ecommercechannel. E-commerce is a sector where companies are exposed tocompetition, and one possible strategy for dealing with the competitiveness is focusing more on maintaining the base of extant customers. In this project Swedish SMEs running e-businesses in the apparel retail sector are studied by using phenomenology, in order to assess their experiences of CRM systems and the systems’ perceived impact on customer loyalty. Aim: The purpose of this project is assessing how the CRM managers of e-commerce companies experience their CRM systems and the systems’ perceived impact on customer loyalty. Research method and execution: The project is based on phenomenology and hermeneutics, and uses a qualitative and inductive approach. The method used to gather information is semi-structured interviews with eight e-commerce companies in the apparel retail sector. Results: This study shows that the companies experience a high level of competition and the customer behavior to be more challenging. The people interviewed consider loyalty as important, due to the fact that recurring customers are more easily influenced, which is cost effective approach. The study also maps the current use of CRM systems and finds that small companies use relatively simple solutions. In the end the people interviewed express that they perceive that their CRM-systems influence the customers to some extent, but point out that solutions that provide customized communication would have a greater influence due to increasingly relevant content.

This thesis deals with customer relationship management and detailed analysis of examined company's customer satisfaction. The thesis goal is to emphasize the importance of CRM as a factor in the development of care for corporate clients and based on the results of analysis, to suggest possibilities for further development of care for corporate clients in the examined company. The proposal part of the thesis contains a complex solution to the problems that were identified in the examined company's current customer relationship management.

The need for information in real time and the technology development has become more fast and more efficient. Companies today need to be more responsive to their customers to stay on top. Also, companies’ business processes need effective support from information technology solutions. The fit, or alignment, between the business process and the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system design is crucial in order to leverage efforts within marketing and sales. If there is a misfit, companies do not take full advantage of the potential that CRM systems can leverage in terms of better managing relationships with customers, which in turn may result in higher rates of closed deals. The main purpose of this bachelor thesis in Information Systems is to identify and describe critical success factors influencing on the degree of alignment between a business process and a CRM system from an organisational perspective. The sub-purpose is to identify and describe the influence of process−system alignment on performance. The IT company Apica has been used as the case study company in the bachelor thesis. Apica is suitable for this study since it has already adopted a CRM system related to its sales process. A research literature-based analysis model was developed in order to be able to more precisely investigate the chosen purpose. The intention is to review critical success factors that influence the success of the process−system alignment. In the chosen qualitative approach, a semi-structured interview guide was developed, based on the analysis model. Five interviews with co-workers in the case study company were conducted. The analysis of the collected primary empirical data has led to the following conclusions. A high degree of process−system alignment concerning a well-defined and functional business process in relation to a CRM system has a positive influence on the company’s sales process performance. A higher degree of process−system alignment can improve the company’s process performance, increase the sales force productivity and lead to better decision making. According to the findings, the positive outcome of a process−system alignment depends mainly on three factors: management commitment, data management, and system integrations. The empirical results also suggests a new finding: A successfully aligned sales process with the CRM system also lead to knowledge sharing. Knowledge sharing contributes to that salespeople learn from deals made in the past. The historical data help salespeople in managing customer relationships, which may lead to shorter sales cycles and larger deal sizes, which implies increased sales.