Report: For Asian firms, customer is king
By Aloysius Choong, ZDNet Asia
Thursday, August 26 2004 02:51 PM
Asian businesses see customer relationship management as a key to their growth and success, according to a new report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
In its May survey of 239 senior executives in Australia, China, India, Singapore and South Korea, the research firm found that 42.7 percent saw improved customer relationship management (CRM) as the "greatest opportunity for growth in the next 12 months".
Accordingly, 30.2 percent of respondents indicated that their organizations would "significantly increase" investment in customer relationship management or customer service in the next 12 months.
Local firms, which comprised 50 percent of the sample, had a "slightly stronger interest in CRM and in sales and marketing", according to the study. MNCs, which made up 37 percent of the sample, were more interested in supply chain management. The remaining 13 percent were from the public sector.
"Respondents clearly expect IT applications in business processes to have a major impact on corporate performance in Asia-Pacific," said Richard Martin in the report.
Both MNCs and local firms saw "investment in technology to improve business competitiveness" as a key environmental factor, with 57.7 percent of respondents indicating that this would do most to enable growth for companies in their local markets.
IT, in particular, would impact revenue growth by improving the efficiency of operations, enhancing customer relationships and service, while providing tighter integration of business processes and systems, the companies said.
However, according to the EIU, "investment in IT for IT's sake" was a big no-no, with 8.5 percent of local firms and 8.0 percent of MNCs giving it low priority ratings.
The survey was sponsored by business software provider SAP.
Which of the following areas offer your organization the greatest opportunity for growth in the next 12 months?
(% responses, multiple answers)
| New markets |
52.3 |
| New distribution channels |
28.0 |
| New products/services |
46.0 |
| Diversification |
12.6 |
| Improved customer relationship management |
42.7 |
| Product innovation |
36.8 |
| Process innovation |
22.2 |
| Brand andmarketing |
31.8 |
|
(Source: Economist Intelligence Unit) |
In which areas of your business will IT have the greatest impact on revenue growth over the next 12 to 18 months?
(% responses, multiple answers)
| Efficiency of operations |
56.5 |
| Replacement of older systems |
20.5 |
| Customer service / customer relationship management |
43.1 |
| Tighter integration of business process and systems to enable improved collaboration internally and externally |
32.2 |
| Financial analysis and other enterprise resource planning |
22.2 |
| Supply chain, including distribution and logistics |
19.2 |
| Sales and marketing |
23.0 |
| R&D / New product development |
16.7 |
| Mobile working |
10.9 |
| Manufacturing and production |
6.3 |
| Staff recruitment and development |
5.4 |
| Cost cutting |
14.6 |
| Other |
0.8 |
|
(Source: Economist Intelligence Unit)
|
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