1.

Today companies are using various touch-points to interact with their customers
constantly. These customers are responsible for spreading electronic word-of mouth
thereby influencing others. You’re the owner of Snackathon, a subscription service that
delivers snacks to homes and offices. Snackathon partners with grocers and other
businesses and also sells directly to consumers. As an organization that has traditionally
been dealing with customer’s offline, you realize the need to move online and dive deeper
into analytics that help you understand why your customers left, if they’re thinking about
leaving, and how you can work to keep them on board. What are the pros and cons of
using analytics to engage with customers effectively? Justify your standpoint.

Answer: Modern organisations are rich with data. Owing to large-scale computerisation
efforts, almost all processes, activities, and interactions within the organisation are available in
accessible databases. This rich data environment has spawned a variety of software applications
that rely on the principles of decision support systems (DSS) and enable organisations to
change their competitive strategy. These applications rely on fast computing architectures, a
large collection of historical data, access to data being produced currently in the organisation,
and computing software that enables complex models to be used for analysis. This approach to
using data analysis is widely known as analytics.

Using analytics is quite advantageous for the companies these days. Firms that have large-scale
on-going transactions, such as e-commerce firms, want to monitor and analyse trends. Software
applications monitor the stream of transaction data in real time, that is, soon after the
transaction data is created, and measure the data for trends. Such monitoring allows firms to
make pricing, load balancing and resource allocation decisions quickly.

Today’s world moves faster than ever before. The way people purchase consumer goods is
changing. The way businesses communicate is changing. The way companies reach clients is
changing. With so much change happening at such a rapid pace, it’s easy for even the largest,
smartest companies to get left behind. Business analytics can help companies avoid falling into
that trap. Using analytics allows businesses to create rolling forecasts of the business and of
the market.

Types of analytics
Predictive analytics: In predictive analytics, the challenge is to use historical data effectively
to predict aspects of the future that are important for the business.
Prescriptive analytics: The purpose of prescriptive analytics is to literally prescribe what
action to take to eliminate a future problem or take full advantage of a promising trend.
Diagnostic analytics: At this stage, historical data can be measured against other data to
answer the question of why something happened. Thanks to diagnostic analytics, there is a
possibility to drill down, to find out dependencies and to identify patterns.
Descriptive analytics: Descriptive analytics answers the question of what happened. For
instance, a healthcare provider will learn how many patients were hospitalized last month.

Adopting and implementing Business Analytics is not something a company can do overnight.
But, if a company follows some best practices for Business Analytics, they will get the levels
of insight they seek and become more competitive and successful. Stronger insights and more
timely delivery of intelligence helps to improve the decision-making process in stride, thus
yielding a more comprehensively consistent and preferable flow of processes over time.

Pros and cons of using analytics to engage with customers effectively

Pros
Gaining a complete insight of the customers: Considering the explosion of channels facing
marketers today, this benefit can't be overstated - bricks-and-mortar locations, kiosks, call
centers mobile, partners, e-commerce, social media and more. A key first step is to develop a
strategy for accessing and integrating customer data and then analyzing multiple sources.
Help companies to become proactive and effective: Marketing analytics can help
organizations anticipate customer and market behavior and respond proactively.
Personalize your marketing and customer engagements: Marketing analytics enable
organizations to explore how customers in defined segments behave differently, and even
predict customers’ likelihood to respond to different offers.
Treat customer data as valuable asset: If customer data weren't valuable, we wouldn't have
hackers continually breaking in and stealing it. But locking it up in a vault is also not the
answer. A balance has to be struck between data access for analytics and privacy and
governance to safeguard the interests of both the organization and the customers.

Cons
Compromise with the customers’ privacy: This is one of the biggest disadvantage of business
analytics is that it can breach customer privacy as information such as online transactions,
purchases, or subscriptions, can be viewed by the parent companies. There are chances that the
companies will exchange these databases for mutual benefits.
Misuse of the data: Normally companies collect data regarding their customers; choices and
preferences, buying behavior, pattern etc. Though they collect this data for their personal use
but you never know if this data can be misused in some way. Ultimately, customers will be
suffered in that case.
Proper judgement of selecting correct analytics tool: While doing business analytics, it is
very important to use correct analytical tool to get correct and accurate data. If this is not the
case, less accurate data may impact the marketing strategies of the companies.

Today customer satisfaction is prime concern for all the businesses because of the competition
present in the market especially the retail sector. Retailers try various things to keep the
customers happy. In modern days, retailers take the help of digital modes to track about the
preferences, needs, feedback of the customers so that they can change themselves according to
the requirements and provide customers an unforgettable experience whenever they visit the
stores. In a recent consumer survey, 60% of the consumers said they made a purchase because
of something they saw on a retailer’s social media page. Retailers have begun to capitalize on
this with noticeable increased activity on social media.”

Finally, it can be said that in current scenario, business analytics is must for the companies to
know better about their customers and act accordingly. Though it has some cons as well but
still it should be used. Data allows the teams within a business to better collaborate, to achieve
better results, and outsell rival companies.

2. 10 Street Café is a chain you have started from scratch a few years ago. After breaking
even, recently your cafés are gaining popularity and you are expanding your business.
The growth is rapid and your staff seems unprepared for the increase in volume of
customers and managing the interactions smoothly. On hiring a consultant to help you
improve your customer experience, he recommends to invest in a Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) system. As a consultant, how would you point out the benefits of
CRM system to the client and highlight points to ponder before and during the
implementation of such a system?

Answer: CRM is implemented by the company to provide more velocity to their effort in
maintaining lifetime customer and customer loyalty. CRM can benefit both the company and
the customers. The information stored in CRM helps the company to get more information
about the customers. The customers get the benefit of the desired quality of services. To build
in a great relationship with the customer and to make a successful customer development
process, you need to know upright marketing. Customer care and handling processes are
systematized and marketing budgets can be optimally allocated to target specific groups. On
the long term CRM will allow to maximize the customer life time value of each relationship
where relationship is not the sum of punctual sales of poorly related products anymore but turns
to the delivery of a consistent value proposition accompanying the customer in every stage of
his life.

If customers perceive that a company has a deficiency in any of the factors that positively
contribute to customer loyalty, they may be less loyal. Such factors include customer service,
customer attention, product quality, promises, and competition.
 Customer service – It is expected from occasionally dissatisfied customers. Even if
you have the best customer service team and you resolve problems at the earliest, some
customers will have problems. Leaving this case aside, customer service is one the
major reasons why organisations lose customers.
 Customer attention – It is one the major reasons why a customer, specially a business
customer, decides not to deal with an organisation. You must have noticed that people
move to other restaurants if the restaurant that they first visited is full and they are left
unattended by their executives. Customers can even sacrifice quality for speed.
 Product quality – It is obvious that any company that compromises on product quality
is likely to lose its customers. Though some customers might stay if the price is low, in
the long run the company is bound to have less, loyal customers.

Benefits of CRM system

 It allows organisations not only to retain customers, but also enables more effective
marketing. It creates intelligent opportunities for cross selling and opens up the
possibility of rapid introduction of new brands and products.
 Keeping the customer happy is obviously one way of ensuring that they stay with the
organisation. However, by maintaining an overall relationship with the customer,
companies are able to unlock the potential of their customer base and maximise the
contribution to their business.
 The strategic benefits of CRM allow companies to reduce the cost of customer
acquisition and give established players the ability to react like a new market entrant,
the very people they are battling against. Ironically, the costs of customer acquisition
are increased and the potential of customers can then be capitalised through cross
selling of other products and services.
 Your time is valuable, but so is your customers’ time. And, should your customers
experience a problem that needs resolution, they’re going to be unhappy unless that
problem can be taken care of quickly. With CRM, as soon as a customer contacts your
company, your representatives will be able to retrieve all available activity concerning
past purchases, preferences, and anything else that might assist them in finding a
solution.
  CRM applications are a way to enhance and embellish customer touch points. Touch
points are interfaces at which the marketing establishment of a commercial firm
interfaces, directly or indirectly, with a current or potential customer.

Points to check before implementing CRM system

 Customer relationship management is based on a rigorous segmentation analysis. It is
designed to achieve specific marketing goals. CRM cannot be implemented without
conducting segmentation analyses and determining marketing goals. Sometimes
companies make the error of delegating customer relationship management to the chief
information officers. It is important to have a strategy of customer acquisition and
retention in place and see if a CRM software package would be helpful in implementing
the strategy.
 Before CRM technology is installed, the focus of the organization must be oriented
towards catering to the customer. If a company wants to develop better relationships
with its more profitable customers, it is advisable for the company to have processes in
place which will help meet customer needs in a better way. CRM also affects the
existing relationships in and among various departmental structures, product, or even
different internal structures and these structures should accordingly be restructured to
focus on the customers.
 Before you implement a system that requires an upfront cost or a recurring cost to
maintain, you need to run the numbers to gauge the potential return. How soon and to
what degree will this system positively impact acquisition and retention rates? How
will it provide further revenue to achieve the return you want to achieve?

Points to check during implementation of CRM system

 Support from top management: When you are implementing CRM system in the
organization, it is most important that you get complete support from the top
management else you cannot get success. Co-operation should be there between
employer and the employee.
 No proper planning: If the proper planning is not there while implementing CRM
system then CRM system will not fetch the expected benefits. Companies have made
many mistakes in implementing CRM. They did not research what customers wanted
and only focused on the processes they could perform faster. They assumed that the
initiative did not require top-management involvement and cross functional
coordination and that it could be handled by IT managers.
 Data migration: Many organizations have information stored in older systems that
they wish to move to the new CRM. This information is oftentimes organized
differently from the new CRM system, requiring some effort to relocate. Focusing on
migration strategies early on can help ensure a smoother transfer of information down
the road.

If companies can avoid these pitfalls, implementation of CRM can be profitable for the
company as well as its customers. Contingent on customer requirements, CRM highlights the
importance of catering to the needs of customers and ensuring maximum value added returns.
Failure to do so will lead to dissatisfied customers. American Express and Barclays Bank have
been able to improve customer profitability by no less than five percent resulting in a 25–30
percent rise in profit.
3. Technology at the dining table (apps like Uber Eats, Swiggy, Zomato) is gaining firmer
ground in India. Placing orders for food online is popular, especially among millennials,
leading food delivery platforms to embrace analytics in a big way to better read fast
changing consumer behavior, minimize errors and enhance customer experiences. The
primary reasons for this growing popularity can be attributed to the rise in the number
of digital natives, improved internet connectivity, competitive pricing, quick delivery,
variety of restaurants on-board, simple user interface and availability across different
platforms.
a. How do you think these companies use analytics to give customers a great experience,
unlock business growth and drive operational efficiency?
b. Define Social Media and explain how these companies use Social Media to increase
their business? Is it a wise choice to use social media to connect with customers?

Answer: a) In all businesses, Customer is the king as you cannot survive in the market without
good customer base. It is the duty of all service providing companies to take special care of
their customers as sales is not the only motive but there should be excellent after sales service
as well. Simply finding customers should never be the only objective of marketers for building
an effective marketing strategy. Instead, they should seek to ‘identify, create and maintain’
valuable relationships with customers. Companies should treat customers as their first priority
as they are the reason of your existence; it is your duty to make them fully satisfied. Hence, it
is necessary for service organizations to persuade customers to convey their feedback so that
amends can be made.

Analytics play a key role in providing a great experience to the customers whenever they deal
with the company. These days we find so many online food ordering app like Swiggy, Zomato
etc. We find it good option to have variety of food on daily basis and that too home delivered
at competitive prices after discount. As these apps are adding many customers on daily basis,
they also have to manage all old and new customers by observing their buying patterns, choices,
preferences, particular buying frequency etc. Analytics help these companies to have clear
insight about the customers’ data.

Analytics offer many benefits to these companies such as:

Reduce waiting time: Using data analytics, you can track data like food preparation time,
delivery location, GPS, and real-time traffic updates to help dispatch drivers, find the most
efficient route, and reduce average wait time. In addition, leverage big data and predictive
analytics to estimate how many drivers you’ll need on a particular day to make sure you have
the right amount of manpower to handle the deliveries.

Customers’ recommendations or particular choices: Using analytics you will also have the
idea about what customers are ordering regularly. You can also compare a customer’s habit
and preferences with data from other users to suggest menu items that they may also like. Make
it easy for customers to reorder their favourite dishes and offer ideas that are timely and
seasonal.

Demand prediction: Demand forecasting is quite important in all the businesses as it helps to
draft various marketing strategies. Analyze browsing history and customer orders to predict
demand, such as volume and popular menu items at specific day and time. Use predictive
analytics to estimate how many customers will order a particular dish, when and from where.
You’ll be able to better forecast customer demand, manage inventory levels, and cut delivery
time to increase customer satisfaction.
Business growth: Leverage customer data can help you optimize your service, boost sales,
increase efficiency, lower cost, and gain a competitive edge. And it doesn’t have to be as
intimidating as it sounds if you have the right tools and technologies.

In food delivery business, there must be centralized platform that offers customer relationship
management, customer data management, and personalization so you can improve customer
satisfaction and increase ROI.

b) The social media on the Internet has become crucial in the marketing arena as more and
more people are joining social Websites like Facebook and Twitter. In recent years, the
popularity of social networking sites has shot up in a phenomenal way, attracting millions of
visitors who stay logged in for hours, in many cases, all day. This has made these sites
important for e-marketing, especially given the fact that a large number of tech savvy customers
obtain updates about products and services from social networking sites such as Facebook,
Twitter and LinkedIn. Rather than seeing your company as "trying to sell" something, the social
network can see a company that is in touch with people on a more personal level. This can help
lessen the divide between the company and the buyer, which in turn presents a more appealing
and familiar image of the company.

I have already mentioned the importance of social media for businesses in above paragraph.
Food ordering companies use social media to increase their business as social media offers so
many benefits to them such as:
 Popularity: With the help of social media, popularity of your business is increased.
More and more customers aware about you and order the food online.
 Increased sales and profit: It is clear that when your business is popular among the
customers, you will have more revenue and more profit.
 Traffic: If you have done the social media marketing wisely, built your audience and
done the search engine optimization on your company’s site or app properly, you will
naturally get traffic to your website or mobile application.
 Latest offers and schemes: Company may advertise and promote its latest offer and
schemes via its social media networks which will ultimately be helpful in getting more
customers.

Using social media to connect with customers

Using social media, you can find your potential customers. One of the key advantages of social
media for businesses is that it enables you to interact with your customers. Going through the
tweets and Facebook updates that are posted by your customer base gives you insight into what
they need. This is useful for helping your company formulate marketing strategies that address
their needs.

Social media streamlines the process of providing and receiving feedback from your
prospective buyers. If your customers have concerns or problems with what your business
offers, they can let you know in a timely manner. Social media gives customers a convenient
and accessible way to express what they feel and gives companies a chance to respond. You
can use social media creatively to advertise your products and services without making your
customers feel like they are overwhelmed by your marketing campaigns. Statistics indicate that
the way people utilize social media and interact online influences their purchasing decisions.
It can be said that online food delivery business is need of the hour and quite popular in most
of the cities. When these business have a presence online, social media marketing is must for
them.