Revision 3.5

Question 1

CRM

Answer 1

Purpose:
To ensure that customer needs are met, data must be gathered, analysed and shared.

Question 2

CRM

Answer 2

Benefits:
Customer relations management (CRM) is a process that tracks how the business interacts with current and potential customers
Limitations:
Software issues, such as limits on data storage size or emails.
Integration difficulties with other
organizational systems.
Lack of training leading to poor data entry and incorrect data.

Question 3

MIS

Answer 3

Purpose:
reports and other documents
spreadsheets and strategic decision support systems

Question 4

MIS

Answer 4

Benefits:
the status of the organisation
areas of improvement, e.g. rising sales
areas of risk, e.g. falling sales, loss of market share personal or group responsibility for success or failure.
Limitations:
cost of creating and installing the system
poor or inflexible design which does not meet current or future needs of the
organisation
data that is out of date, incomplete or incorrect because of poor error checking facilities

Question 5

SOP – Sales Order Processing

Answer 5

Purpose:
Standard operating procedures (SOPs) are detailed step-by-step guides to how functions should be carried out within an organisation to ensure that they are carried out accurately and in the same way each time.

Question 6

SOP – Sales Order Processing

Answer 6

Benefits:
Should always be the same, leaving an audit trail in case of disputes or external investigations by regulatory bodies. SOPs should also be created for business systems such as those outlined above, to ensure that the data and resulting information remains accurate and useful. Software can aid the production of SOPs.
Limitations:
Imposing restrictions and details which result in inflexible practice and a lack of innovation.
Too much time being spent on the admin rather than doing the job.
The necessity of updating the SOP to reflect new statutory or regulatory requirements.

Question 7

Helpdesk

Answer 7

Purpose:
When a user of a large, complex or widely spread system has a technical problem, it is useful to have a knowledgeable person ready to solve it.

Question 8

Helpdesk

Answer 8

Benefits:
Instructions can be given to the user and the issue resolved immediately, but complex problems can be actioned by a technician visiting the location and resolving the problem or providing a temporary fix. This is normally managed through agreed levels of support for departments or customers.
Limitations:
Cost of setting up an in-house help desk with hardware, software and staffing.
Cost of buying help desk services from an external source (third party). Issues with availability of the help desk, for example, the need for 24-hour call out; availability during bank holidays.