Apac Bets on ERM, CRM: IDC

Enterprise Relationship Management (ERM) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) have ranked as the highest priorities on the investment agenda of entreprises in India, in line with the rest of the Asia Pacific region, according to a recent IDC survey.

"The investment priorities are fairly similar to that of the APac region, with ERM ranked first. But compared to other regions, the amount of external budgets dedicated to ERM expenditure is lower," Robin Giang, Senior Analyst, Investment and Strategy Research, told ET.

The IT Solution Investment Priority in Asia/Pacific study found that IT solutions are fast becoming strategic business tools for enterprise development.

Organisations across industries and business are turning to strategic solutions such as ERP, CRM and Supply Chain Management to streamline business processes so they are able to eliminate unnecessary costs and better manage inventory, fulfillment, distribution and customer service in order to stay competitive, it says.

The survey, conducted in Australia, China, India, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore, and covering IT decision-making professionals -- CIOs, MIS directors, and business executives -- in over 900 companies in the region, observed that between 2000 and 2001, the percentage of responding enterprises with no external budget for ERM solutions has dropped from 17 per cent to 8 per cent.

The attractiveness of ERM solutions lie in their ability to automate and optimise the management of corporate resources, such as people, finances, materials, facilities and intellectual capital required to meet business objectives by tracking, routing and analysing information concerning these assets, Giang said.

Also, like ERM solutions, businesses view CRM solutions not only a technology but also as a business strategy to maintain sustainable growth through higher levels of customer satisfaction and retention, the study says.

Asia/Pacific businesses are coming to terms with the fact that the customer is now king and they had better revolutionise the way they have traditionally focused on their customers, including how to create and manage customer relationships as well as how to assess the effectiveness of such relationships.

But, despite the strong awareness and even investment intention factors many enterprises still need to be convinced of the value-add and rapid return on investment of a CRM deployment before actual dollar will be spent," Giang added.