1. E V E L Y N A . B A L D W I N
Speaking of
Global Process Design
www.smtmag.com September 2006/SMT 11
A
s the global business climate
evolves and becomes increasingly
interconnected, the need to sat-
isfycustomersinatimelymanner
on a global scale is a constant. In
the semiconductor industry especially, cus-
tomers are truly global and expect excellent
service in all locations. As the challenges for
our industry grow, process-improvement
tools are available to meet customer needs.
These tools include six sigma and other pro-
cess-improvement disciplines that help add
value, while driving cost out of our own and
our customers’ processes, and customer rela-
tionship management (CRM) — an increas-
ingly important set of tools that is more than
data management and software.
CRM encompasses many things, includ-
ing the entire selling process — both plan-
ning and execution — to earn customer
loyalty. It is a process for integrating all cus-
tomer touch points. If it isn’t an element of
your growth strategy, it should be. CRM is
a customer-centric strategy to grow mutu-
ally beneficial relationships with customers.
It starts with understanding the custom-
ers’ needs and ends with delivering on those
needs. This necessitates highly integrated
sales, marketing, and service functions to
provide superior value to customers and,
properly implemented, should result in sales
and profit growth.
Manufacturers
that set explicit tar-
gets to retain cus-
tomers and make
efforts to exceed
customer-loyalty
goals are considered
customer-centric. They achieve their goals
through superior performance in pricing,
quality, sales, marketing, and customer ser-
vice. Research shows that customer-centric
manufacturers are more than twice as likely
to exceed their goals for shareholder return,
and experience higher sales growth and pre-
tax return on assets and market share com-
pared to companies that do not fit the cus-
tomer-centric profile.
Traditionally, each of the customer-
touching functions has acted independently
to bring individual value to customers. If
you are going to meet the needs of increas-
ingly service-minded customers, these cus-
tomer-touching functions must be brought
together to deliver on your brand promise.
CRM is about achieving a higher degree
of coordination across boundaries — both
business and geographic. This is particu-
larly important in light of recent trends in
the semiconductor industry that include the
blurring of supply chains, the dominance
of contract manufacturing, and continued
growth and investment in Asia. This pres-
ents serious operational challenges. How do
you deal with getting your materials speci-
fied, when the specification is occurring on
three different continents with three differ-
ent supply chains and three different part-
ners working with the OEM? It takes more
than just having a global team, it takes a
global structure and a totally different mind
set, which is no small task. Here is an exam-
ple of the complexity of customer opera-
tions in one division of a global electronics
manufacturer. This company has:
· Two pricing models,
· Three order-entry systems,
· Four account-management systems,
· Four literature-fulfillment vendors,
· Six sample systems,
· Eight customer service groups,
· 14 locations,
· 27 toll-free phone numbers.
When components are specified in one
country, designed in another, and manu-
factured in multiple locations worldwide
involving multiple suppliers and subcon-
tractors, data sharing must be coordinated
across boundaries to ensure hand-offs occur
smoothly. It also is important to capture
every contact with a customer so that those
serving the customer can access all recent
interactions. Successfully resolving com-
plaints to a customer’s satisfaction often
depends on the amount of time it takes to
correct a problem. When information is
shared throughout organizations and func-
tions that touch that customer, problems can
be handled more quickly and successfully.
A CRM effort within one business unit
of the same global manufacturer combined
several customer-touching functions. The
project integrated marketing with field
sales reps and specialized inside sales func-
tions that were developed to support the
account development and inbound cus-
tomer-response activities. Account devel-
opment aligned inside sales reps with field
sales reps, providing joint accountability
for end-user and distributor accounts. An
operational database allowed each of the
integrated customer-touching functions
to serve customers efficiently because of
the ability to access all recent interactions.
Customer loyalty was measured monthly
with a rotating set of customers. Compar-
ing accounts managed in the old model vs.
the integrated process showed significant
increases in customer-loyalty scores and
the number of loyal customers.
Conclusion
CRMisthesuccessfulexecutionofcustomer-
centric strategies through the careful inte-
gration of people, processes, and technology.
The end-state is a customer-centric business
model in which organizational functions
focus on identified customer needs through
integrated processes and sharing critical
customer information through common
tools and information resources. Becoming
a truly customer-centric business can help
create a sustainable, differentiated compet-
itive advantage. SMT
Evelyn A. Baldwin is an SMT advisory board
member and sales manager for 3M Electron-
ics. Evelyn has been an SMTA member since
1988, and has 20 years of experience in the
electronics industry as a material supplier.
She may be contacted at (978) 886-9661;
e-mail: eabaldwin@mmm.com
“Becoming a customer-
centric business can help
create a sustainable,
competitive advantage.”
How to Win Using Customer
Relationship Management