Brendan Gleeson, global sales and marketing director at White Clarke Group (WCG) believes that, as a practice, CRM is ultimately about the total customer experience. He told Asset Finance Europe: “Some companies see CRM as a bolt-on or addition to their software system. But it is crucial that the entire software system used by leasing companies must be customer centric. Within it there should ideally exist limitless of opportunities for customers to receive a positive experience.”

He adds: “Today’s challenge, though, goes way beyond customer retention. In the post-recessionary environment both commercial and consumer customers expect, and demand, new levels of service excellence. Customer expectation has been transformed, driven by the web, with implied need for speed, instant hassle-free levels of service, and implied zero rework – the ‘remember-me and personalise-me customer’.”

Extend the concept further

“Today finance companies need to extend the concept even further, beyond the customer, to manage the relationship with intermediaries, agents, dealers, showroom staff and sales people – and all done intuitively with the ease of Google-style browsing.”

Gleeson explains that within WCG’s CALMS2 there is ample facility for customers to receive a “sound, straight through intuitive experience”. “Financial services are really custom-made for clients to receive high levels of service,” he stresses. “However, the truth is that such service levels are not all that easy to establish or achieve.”

Nevertheless, Gleeson confirms that research has invariably shown that, where high levels of customer service are concerned, price is not always the most crucial issue. “Price comes lower down customers’ priority level than is generally thought,” he says. “Far more important is the need for them to obtain regular contact, speedy resolution of queries, fast decision making and a perception that the relationship with the leasing company is developing in depth and to their satisfaction.”

The biggest customer

WCG has a valid industry reputation for successfully retaining its long-established client base. “Our biggest customer today is still our oldest customer,” confirmed Gleeson. “We are a partnership-based business. If I don’t believe that I can deliver an eminently successful implementation for a customer – then I shall honestly inform them of that at the outset.”

Gleeson explained that CALMS2 contains a module (Customer and Business Partner Management) that achieves a single view of the customer by providing a centralised component and database which can assemble and manage a single customer view from both the CALMS environment and a company’s internal legacy system. “This ability to be able to provide a single view, “he stressed, “even in situations where the full end-to-end CALMS platform is not installed and where key customer data is held in legacy or third party systems, means that customers no longer need to replace their entire platform to achieve a single view of the customer. This is a powerful tool, which enables superior customer services and operational control. It is also a key component in WCG’s approach to CRM since it acts as the key repository for all customer activity.”