【正文】 gram that saved only 50% of vulnerable customers created an expected value of just $774,000. However, if the $100 retention program could save 100% of vulnerable customers。 the same CRM system would create an expected value of$834,000. Of course, offering loyalty rewards to every customer would now create an even greater value$900,000.（3）What are the costs?Todd39。s analysis demonstrated that the$20,000 CRM costs were swamped by the additional expenses of training, data collection, data analysis, information dissemination, and implementation programs. If Ace had failed to include these costs, it would have incorrectly calculated an expected value of $804,000, chosen to implement the system, and actually destroyed value.（4）Which results matter most?Although expected values were necessary, they weren39。t sufficient for the final decision. Several other considerations, including the number of retained customers and fairness to loyal patrons, proved crucial as Todd weighed Ace39。s options.Which include surveys and news letters, to welldefined buyer segments? Now that it has better information on the questions most frequently asked about its products, the pany can use its campaigns to disseminate answers in advance? That, in turn, has reduced the volume of inquiries ing into the call centers. Each day, Brother sends data on types of inquiries and customer problems from the call centers to its corporate parent in Japan, where the information collected helps the pany39。s productplanning, design, and customer satisfaction groups evaluate both product performance and customers39。 preferences and experiences. Brother expects the exchange will lead to improved customer satisfaction and enhanced product performance over time.Used the right way, realtime information can help panies cope with high levels of plexity in their customer relationship cycle, making priorities clear. Molex, an Illinoisbased global manufacturer of electronic and fiber optic interconnection systems, has a large customer base and a vast pipeline of potential orders. At any given moment, the pany is pursuing close to 15,000 different sales opportunities worldwide. For years, Molex used and spreadsheets to keep track of its pipeline, but the resulting data were often weeks out of date. That made it difficult to consistently set sales priorities so the pany could pursue the leads with the highest potential. The lack of updated information also made it hard to synchronize Molex39。s global efforts. Because the firm had so many major customers with operations in different parts of the world, several Molex locations could be working on similar or related programs for the same customer without knowing it.In 2002, therefore, the pany installed a CRM system to manage its order pipeline. For the first time, executives from the CEO on down could see the full range of sales opportunities in real time. That made it possible to measure the real value of those opportunities and get updated information about them 24 hours a day, rather than just a few times a year.The gains were immediate: improved order management, more precise sales targets, and better global coordination of inventory and pricing between regions. Since implementation, both the number and the value of potential sales in the pipeline have climbed significantly, as the sales staff has used the shared information to identify opportunities earlier. Molex39。s management believes it is meeting the original goal of the project, which was a 5% increase in revenues.Once the initial implementation was plete, moreover, management realized that the data being captured could also be used to improve budget planning. The pipeline data now form the foundation of the revenue portion of the budget process, and the pany plans to use the information for parts forecasting and supply chain management as well.（三）The development of CRMAs KimberlyClark, Brother, and Molex found, the data produced by a narrowly focused CRM system often reveal additional opportunities for important business refinements. And those refinements, taken together, can amount to a broad CRM application that extends across the pany. The difference between this sort of wideranging CRM implementation and the prerecession CRM applications is that each step in building the system represents a carefully planned, welldefined advancement in strategic thinking. KimberlyClark started with trade promotion management then extended its tool set to include total retailer customer management and, more recently, consumer management. Brother39。s call centers have enhanced its . marketing and outreach campaigns and even fed its product development and quality control processes on the other side of the world. Molex39。s clear view into its order pipeline has led to improvements in budgeting, procurement, and supply chain management.Smart CRM adopters don39。t rest on their laurels. They rigorously analyze the data their systems produce to identify new, welldefined opportunities to extend the technology39。s power. In most cases, these opportunities lie in activities adjacent to the customer relationship cycle, as the natural path of these panies39。 CRM expansions show.Aviall, for its part, plans to extend its CRM system in two directionsadding upstream links to its suppliers and downstream connections to its customers. These will give the firm an endtoend view of the aviation supply chain, starting with the status of suppliers39。 inventory and extending all the way to customers39。 requirements for parts and maintenance. Because it will enable the firm to better match supply and demand, Aviall expects the expanded system to bee an important source of petitive advantage.It39。s also often possible to extend the benefits of CRM to related business units. IngersollRand, for example, recognized that the customers of its Club Car division golf courses were also potential buyers of its other divisions39。 products, such a