Customer Insight: In the Pursuit of Bringing Back 'C' in CRM

The Republic of Korea is one of the leading nations conducting global research in the areas of IT, communication, transport, civil engineering, and more. As a high-tech powerhouse, Korea has readily embraced changes in technologies. However, as these changes reflect on the CRM activities, enterprises must explore new avenues to manage and accumulate their CRM data. In the wake of these technology transitions, basic customer information like names, email addresses, and purchase history of their customers is no longer enough for CRM. While modern CRM entails clickstream data, web log, SNS, and location-based data, the challenge for enterprises boils down executing data integration, analyzing structured and unstructured data together, and developing an omni-channel marketing strategy. Besides, this shift to a more integrated and sophisticated data-gathering process, coupled with the heightened need to leverage social media to build customer relationships, is transforming how businesses leverage CRM solutions and services. Amidst this data integration overloop, brands have evidently lost sight of the most critical element in the CRM: the customer.

Having realized this gap and its adverse effect on businesses, a Seoul-based CRM service provider Customer Insight (CI) is putting the ‘C’ back in CRM for more than a decade. Harold Jeong, CEO of CI, says, “CRM is about the customers. The most important word in CRM is customer, rather than management or relationship.” In pursuit of reminding businesses of the importance of a customer-centric approach, CI—a trusted CRM partner in Korea— offers a one-stop-shop for a three-fold service: outsourcing, consulting, and developing. Banking on its patented business methodology titled Insight-Strategy-Interaction- Measurement (ISIM™), CI helps businesses achieve their strategic goals by placing customers at the pole position. CI provides clients with total CRM services such as CRM strategy consulting, CRM system build, periodical consumer analysis, campaign execution, training, and change management.

From logical arrangement and integration to the strategic use of customer data, CI’s services incentivize its clients for creating sound customer strategies, help them convert prospects into loyal customers, offer unique insights on customer behavior, and a lot more. Today, CI excels in delivering services to industries such as retail, fashion, cosmetic, and ecommerce.

The intensive consulting services designed by CI include data integration, single view, creating new variables based on existing data, loyalty program, location-based service plan, contact development, and experience management.

Additionally, CI also develops highly-customized CRM solutions as per its clients’ requirements. In 2012, after partnering with Microsoft Korea in the CRM domain, CI built a system that can effectively utilize their CRM strategy by using Dynamics 365, Power BI, and Azure Service. To that end, CI’s CRM system is oriented toward a ‘Strategy Embedded System’.

On the outsourcing service front, CI implements its CRM strategies under an annual contract. By becoming a partner or staff member of a client’s CRM department, CI provides segmentation or aggregation of right target, measurement or evaluation of campaigns, and more as a part of the contract.

However, to gather data and design customer-centric CRM services is not a cakewalk in Korea’s dynamic market, which has a history of coping with complex economic environments—the Lehman Brothers financial crisis in 2009, the big data craze in 2013, and the recent digital transformation issues. Also, since government-sanctioned technologies emerge on a daily basis, the CRM activities of enterprises are significantly affected.

Despite these challenges, CI has been unstoppable, primarily because of the dynamicity it holds in its ability to navigate through the changing market structure. Jeong says, “To cope with the changing and industry-specific needs of customers, we have inflated our business portfolio to develop real-time recommendation models using machine learning techniques. We have also given importance to analyzing unstructured data (click logs or IoTs) that represent current customer needs.” In collaboration with Microsoft’s SQL, Power BI, Data lake, HDInsight, Databricks, and Machine Learning from Azure Service, CI has been able to offer top-notch analytics services and attain a distinct position in the Korean market.

Associated with some of the top MNCs in the world, CI has delivered its CRM services to various businesses per their specific requirements. As an example, Nike Korea leveraged CI’s one-stop CRM hub to succeed in its pursuit to deliver better messages to members through various efficient channels such as SMS/LMS, mobile push, and email. CI could fetch this service by organizing the end customer/members’ data from the online store of Nike Korea, and by creating new variables on analyzing online web clickstream for right targeting. This exercise also facilitated Nike Korea to raise the forecasting level for sales and customer behavior.

Although it has facilitated the birth of such efficient and market-aligned CRM services, there is a lot more that separates CI from its competitors. Rather, it is the commitment to the happiness of its employees and the satisfaction of its customers that CI takes pride in. Jeong adds, “I have tried to create a working environment where employees don’t feel any stress from upper management. The only stress they can put on themselves is a result of their own efforts while serving clients because the client comes first.”

With its C-centric CRM services and high employee- and client-retention rate, CI has moved beyond its country’s boundaries to deploy its services. “It was 2009 when we first experienced market outside Korea as the strategic consultants for the adiCLUB. Recently, a Vietnamese company has approached us for developing customer strategy employing CI consulting services. We want to expand farther and share our knowledge and experience with the other Asian countries,” concludes Jeong.