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The need for a formal system to manage customer interactions propelled CIBIL into deploying a CRM package. By Rajendra Chaudhary
Up until early 2009, the folks at Credit Information Bureau (India) Ltd (CIBIL) were using Microsoft Excel to manage their customer interactions. They used the software primarily for servicing existing clients and recording sales activities. However, backward as it may sound to an outsider, it wasn't all that bad. It wasn't as if their customer engagement efforts were failing or that they could not afford to work with Excel sheets anymore. In fact, for CIO Sudesh Puthran, life would have continued peacefully at the bureau without a formal CRM package for at least a few more years. Nevertheless, for Puthran who has a bent for doing things a bit formally, Excel for managing customer interactions just wasn't cutting it.
The need for automation
CIBIL is in the business of providing credit information services to banks, financial institutions such as credit card companies and housing finance companies. Established largely through the efforts of the Government of India and the RBI, it has been in existence for nearly a decade and serves over 150 financial institutions that are its members today. The first of its kind in the country, the bureau has an enviable clientele and enjoys a significant lead over any potential competition.
It was perhaps due to this reason, and the fact that it was in the B2B space and not in B2C, that the bureau never really felt the need to pay attention to a formal CRM practice and it used Excel sheets for customer facing activities. The bosses didn't mind and neither did the service or sales staff. However, not all were as content with the existing setup. Puthran, who had been spearheading the IT efforts at the bureau right from its inception, had a sneaky suspicion that perhaps it was time for them to bring in a degree of formality in their customer engagements and that Excel wasn't necessarily the tool...