In
an attempt to better serve the drivers of their vehicles, Mazda is using IT and
CRM to simplify the process of buying and having service done to their vehicles.
After seeing reports that their customers were satisfied with the driving experience,
but more concerned with the technology on-board, the car making company is
using a CRM system to not only speed up the process, but make it less stressful
and more convenient for the owner of the car. In a business in which there are
many competitors for service and repairs, Mazda is making sure that their
dealerships are more attractive than the auto-shop down the street.
The
CIO of Mazda, Jim DiMarzio, first identified the problem that faced the
internal IT management group at the company by noting, “it was new territory for us because, as
employees of an automaker, we don't shop for cars like everyone else--we order
them internally”[1], meaning that they were
unaware of the customer experience of buying one of their cars. To gather data
on customer touchpoints, for example what customers liked and what they wanted
Mazda to work on in the future, the company needed to implement technology that
would harvest both dealership sales information and service information. Jim
DiMarzio comments on the usefulness of this technology, “As a result, we're now
able to see, for instance, that a customer has bought two Mazdas in the past
three years, has been in for service five times and has bought accessories from
us.” Once Mazda has this historical information from customer service, they can
begin to use it in their future customer interactions. As the cars keep
becoming more technologically equipped, so can the IT management better
pinpoint customers. For example, they can now see if someone has a “check oil”
light on, a message can be sent from the car to the CRM system and they can be
sent a coupon for an oil change at the dealership rather than being beaten out
by a local shop. The dealerships make most of their profit on service and
sales, so the easier and cheaper the experience at those locations, the more
profitable they will be.
Something
I would have liked the article to touch upon was the system (if any) that Mazda
had in place before this revelation of a new CRM system. Mazda is one of the
larger car companies in the United States and it would surprise me if they had
no system up until a couple years ago. In an article dated May 10, 2006 from
Capgemini, a French consulting and outsourcing company, I found that the
company worked with Mazda Motors to develop a cross-dimensional CRM roadmap.[2]
The second thing I would have liked mentioned would be any financial
information as to how the new system is being used or if they’ve seen a bump in
revenue.
This addition of Information technology to the Mazda Company should be very beneficial. In fact I believe the strategy and mindset of trying to eliminate other local competition is the perfect amount of motivation to do such a thing. With everything being a competition now-a- day’s people like to feel safe with one particular group and not have to search for outside help. Receiving everything you need at a good rate and on time will make their customers’ lives easier and increase their loyalty to you. The idea of spreading discounts with coupons will only make the customer think, “Mazda is looking out for me.” Not only will that increase revenue and profits but when its time for that same customer to get a new car they’ll easily have Mazda at the top of their list. Even though it may be costly to implement such updates in the Mazda vehicles, these expense will be made back.
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