ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how to generate a business case for customer relationship management (CRM) aligned both to strategic intention and the needs/behaviours of customers and how to identify and plan for the immediate operational benefits of CRM. Once the case is made, the organization must identify and plan the realization of CRM benefits and the Benefits Dependency Network (BDN) is suggested as a tool for accomplishing that. The chapter also shows how to identify and plan for potential future benefits arising from improved operational effectiveness and options for organizational structure to implement CRM strategy. The stand-alone company is presented with a number of alternative structures such as functional organization structure, geographic organization structure, product, brand or category organization structure, market or customer-based organization structure and matrix organization structure. Key Account Management (KAM) is a structure that facilitates the implementation of CRM at the level of the business unit.
