Developing CRM for a Growing International Company : The Case of Merus Power Dynamics Oy

The economic downfall has created a challenging market situation, which provides a different operational environment and companies are under pressure to shift to a more customer centric focus. This has laid a base for the rise of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) as a strategy. This thesis was written for Merus Power Dynamics Oy situated in Nokia, Finland. The need for a proper way of managing customer relationships resulted from the fact that for a growing company, relationship building is essential from the start. This led to the objective of this thesis, which was to develop the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool, a part of the Lean System, to make marketing and sales processes more systematic and efficient. A sub-objective was to conduct a training session at the end of the development project, for it was deemed to be of high importance that the system users know exactly how the system is to be used. The research problem was how Lean CRM tool could be developed so it would support the sales and marketing functions of Merus Power. Sub-questions were what kind of data should be stored, and how, as well as how the new database could be utilized. The last sub-problem was whether motivation could be increased by linking sales processes and CRM. This project utilized literature research on relevant topics, such as CRM, customer and service marketing. Additional literature was related to research methods and training. Furthermore, qualitative and quantitative data were also gathered. These were firstly qualitative interviews to map out the current situation, and secondly, as a quantitative survey at the end to find out the results of the training. The results of this thesis project were a CRM tool that supported the sales and marketing processes to the best of the systems abilities. Moreover, a training session was held where an introduction to CRM and its importance was presented, as well as the systems functions introduced. A user guide was created to help the staff use the system independently. Based on the project results, it can be stated that the users have generally understood its importance, and that there is vast potential for the system. Further suggestions were made for the future, which will guide the development process. This thesis includes confidential information which is removed from the published version.