Consolidating Touchpoints for Saab Saab Cars USA imports more than 37,000 Saab sedans, convertibles, and wagons annually and distributes the cars to 220 U.S. dealerships. Saab competes in the premium automotive market, and its primary rivals attract customers through aggressive marketing campaigns, reduced prices, and inexpensive financing.

Saab decided that the answer to beating its competition was not to spend capital on additional advertising, but to invest in Siebel Automotive, a customer relationship management system. Until recently, the company communicated with its customers through three primary channels: (1) dealer network, (2) customer assistance center, (3) lead management center.

Traditionally, each channel maintained its own customer database, and this splintered approach to managing customer information caused numerous problems for the company. For example, a prospective customer might receive a direct-mail piece from Saab one week, then an e-mail with an unrelated offer from a third-party marketing vendor the next week. The local dealer might not know of either activity, and therefore might deliver an ineffective pitch when the customer visited the showroom that weekend.

Al Fontova, direct marketing manager with Saab Cars USA, stated he had over 3 million customer records and 55 files at three different vendors. Analyzing this information in aggregate was complicated, inefficient, and costly. Saab required a solution that would provide a consolidated customer view from all three touchpoints.

In 2003, Saab implemented the Siebel CRM solution, which provides Saab's call center employees with a 360-degree view of each customer, including prior service-related questions and all the marketing communications they have received. Known internally as "TouchPoint," the Siebel application provides Saab's dealers with a powerful Web-based solution for coordinating sales and marketing activities.

These tracking capabilities enable Saab to measure the sales results of specific leads, recommend more efficient selling techniques, and target its leads more precisely in the future. Using Siebel Automotive, Saab received the following benefits: Direct marketing costs decreased by 5 percent. Lead follow-up increased from 38 percent to 50 percent. Customer satisfaction increased from 69 percent to 75 percent. Saab gained a single view of its customers across multiple channel

Questions

1. How has implementing a CRM system enabled Saab to gain a competitive advantage?

2. Estimate the potential impact to Saab's business if it had not implemented a CRM system.

3. What additional benefits could Saab receive from implementing a supply chain management system?

4. Model Saab's supply chain.

5. How is Saab's CRM implementation going to influence its SCM practices?