Customer Relationship Management

Customer relationship management is defined as “the overall process of building and maintain profitable customer relationships by delivering superior value and satisfaction.” (pgs. 13-14) Last quarter is my Information Systems 300 class, we studied a variety of cases of successful (and sometimes unsuccessful) IT projects within different organizations. One that really stuck out for me was the one about Hilton’s CRM system called OnQ. In order to differentiate itself from its competitors, Hilton invested almost $200 million in the implementation and development of its new customer relationship management program. OnQ costs the company about $60 million per year in maintenance, but has proven to significantly increase revenues ($2.5 billion in 2002, according to www.informationweek.com). Hilton’s OnQ consisted of an ongoing cycle made up of the following:
• Online profile
• Pre-arrival
• Arrival
• In-stay
• Departure
• Post-stay
• Guest profile manager
All of these components helped Hilton deliver “superior value and satisfaction” to its customers because they could communicate with them and welcome them prior to their arrival (Online profile, Pre-arrival), they could tailor their service to their guests upon arrival based on the guest’s previous stays and preferences (Arrival, In-stay), they could expedite the check-out process (Departure), and then they could measure the customer’s satisfaction (Post-stay). This overall process/cycle helped Hilton ensure that they were constantly exceeding customers’ expectations, which in turn results in “building and maintaining profitable customer relationships.” Hilton was also the leading recipient of the JD Powers Customer Satisfaction Awards because of their OnQ CRM strategy.

Aurelie Machefert, Section E