How Citibank Saves with CRM

Citibank cut back on custom coding when it installed

Siebel's customer relationship management (CRM)
software. The move is paying off.
Companies such as Citibank, looking for good software to manage their relationships with customers,
are caught in a dilemma: to customize or not to customize?

Businesses need to tailor software to meet specific needs and distinguish themselves from their
competitors. But customized code can lead to problems when it's time to implement new releases of
customer relationship management (CRM) applications—especially with major upgrades, such as
Siebel Systems' Siebel 7.

So, what's a company to do?

At Citibank's Global Corporate and Investment Bank's e-business unit, which serves midsize and
Fortune 2000 corporations, the answer was: curb the customization urge.

Susan Andros, vice president of Citibank e-business, managed to hold customization to 5% of the
Siebel code implemented in her division. The result: The e-business unit completed the fastest and
most economical Siebel deployment of all of Citibank's divisions, according to Andros. At the same
time, the e-business unit still produced more detailed and accurate sales reports and forecasts, using
standard Siebel e-finance modules, Andros says.

Citibank is banking on the benefits. Andros has committed to the following:

 Customer time: In 2001, Citibank e-business staff spent only 50% of its time interacting with corporate
customers. Goal in 2002: increase this to 75%. This means more opportunities to cross-sell other bank
products such as trading systems, e-commerce systems and services.
 Revenue per sales rep: In 2001, the unit was generating an average of $10 million in revenue per
sales rep in North America. Goal for 2002: at least a 10% increase in this number.
 Reporting efficiencies: In 2000, administrative staffers took 21 days apiece to generate historical
reports. In 2001, after Siebel 6.2, North American staffers each spent only 20 minutes per month on this.
Goal for 2002: more reports with a wider scope in those same 20 minutes.

And that's before the Web-enabled Siebel 7 arrives, which Andros plans to have in use in her division
by June 16.
Citibank installs e-learning tool. (CRM).
Publication: Bank Systems & Technology Format: Online
Publication Date: 01-JAN-03 Delivery: Immediate Online Access

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Article Excerpt
CitiFinancial, the retail-lending arm of Citigroup, was suffering from a case of tunnel vision in its contact center.
Although agents were effective at selling the products they knew, they left 50 others unsold. As a result, the company
was missing out on revenue opportunities.

Executives placed the blame on inadequate training. "We needed to increase our agent knowledge and skills while
reducing the time it took us to deliver training," said Wendy McCandless of CitiFinancial.

CitiFinancial turned to Knowlagent, an Atlanta-based e-learning provider, to improve agent knowledge and skills
before they adversely affect customer service. In short order, CitiFinancial was able to increase cross-sell and up-sell
effectiveness, doubling monthly sales from $2.4 million to more than $4.4 million.

Knowlagent has allowed CitiFinancial to hike agent training without moving anyone into a classroom.

"The training was delivered right to the desktop and addressed individual knowledge and skill needs," said
McCandless, "[making] it easier for the agents to understand the material and immediately implement it into their
customer interactions."

CitiFinancial's problem is not unique. Millions of...

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How Citibank Saves with CRM.
Article from: Baseline | February 4, 2002   | Copyright

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Companies such as Citibank, looking for good software to manage their relationships with customers, are
caught in a dilemma: to customize or not to customize?

Businesses need to tailor software to meet specific needs and distinguish themselves from their competitors.
But customized code can lead to problems when it's time to implement new releases of customer relationship
management (CRM) applications--especially with major upgrades, such as Siebel Systems' Siebel 7.

So, what's a company to do?

At Citibank's Global Corporate and Investment Bank's e-business unit, which serves midsize and Fortune 2000
corporations, the answer was: curb the …

Read all of this article with