KM as a Facilitator for CRM in a US Print Company

In order to survive in a rapidly changing and increasingly competitive global marketplace it is necessary for organisations to have access to accurate and timely information. The focus of this paper is to present KM as a facilitator for CRM, which in turn enables customer service excellence. The paper uses a large US print company as a case example of how these theories have been successfully applied and have had a positive impact on customer service excellence. Understanding CRM to enhance growth and profitability is not only a priority for large organisations, but a critical area for academic research. This paper uses empirical data from CRM implementation within this company which has been attributed to its success, especially within the customer service department. They have used KM as a facilitator to successfully build their business using customer knowledge to deliver a superior service and products to their customer base. Preliminary findings reveal that at the centre of this success is the strong focus on their customer. The company identifies how strategically significant each customer is and focuses on knowledge about, for and from customers. Customer data is stored in their CRM systems and extracted and transformed into customer knowledge. Lesson learnt from Company A include being focused on customers and the importance of having a business focus on KM/CRM implementations.