The Implementation of Customer Relationship Management within Taiwanese Banks

More and more organisations and companies have realised that they need to put their customers at the front and centre of their businesses, and to support an effective customer care process, while customer relationship management (CRM) becomes essentially about better managing all aspects of a company’s relationship. CRM is not a new concept for organisations or companies. Nowadays, many businesses such as banks, insurance companies, and other service providers realise the importance of CRM and its potential to help them acquire new customers, retain existing ones and maximise their lifetime value. Particularly within the mass consumer banking sector, where customer numbers are large, these need to be managed systemically by information technology applications. Senior bank staffs, from seventeen Taiwanese banks, were interviewed about their understanding and performance of CRM. This finding discovers that CRM systems have been applied for at least two decades in Taiwanese banks. Specifically, banks often provided their CRM experience for their marketing strategies in order to evaluate valued customer and create customer relationship portfolios by understanding individual needs and preferences. However, the result also indicated that CRM has provided limited success expected. More specifically, the finding suggests that people-driven CRM is capable of the responsibility of the executives or front-line service staffs. Banks should apply not only the technological aspects of CRM, but also people-driven aspects in their marketing strategy. Customers, employees, and bank managers are all key parties in this process of CRM implementation.