Information
Apple Inc. is one of the largest corporations in known for her high profitability in the global market. In order to achieve success, Apple utilizes the modern technology tools used by the organization to improve productivity and competitiveness. Organizations today make use of technological innovations in most operations. Utilization of information management systems in the organization aim at achieving set goals. Apple Corporation’s mission is to offer the best computing experience in the world through effective innovative hardware, software, and internet services. The company’s vision is to produce high-quality goods and offer high-quality services to customers in order to achieve higher standards in the industry compared to competitors (Jurevicius, 2013).
Apple Corporation has managed to maintain a high competitiveness by using different information systems in different departments. One of the commonly utilized information systems at Apple Inc. is the Salesforce Customer Relationship Management (CRM) information management system. The application of the Salesforce Customer Relationship Management information system software at Apple was implemented as a way of introducing new market trends for the organization to overcome competitors. The system enables the company use individuals to satisfy needs and wants of customers through enhancing products and services and their market (Apple, 2010).
Owner of CRM
Salesforce.com is the manufacturers of the CRM information system used by Apple Corporation. The company is the leader in cloud-based CRM providers and offers best solutions to organizations by helping in improving customer relations. The software serves a wide range of organizations irrespective of their sizes. Users of the system can easily access the software anywhere through the internet access and at a fee specified by the owner.
How the system works from owner’s viewpoint
CRM is developed on the Force.com platform and works through managing different customer interactions in the organization using different media of communication such as phone calls, email notifications, and social media platforms. The system assists users to handle all customer relationships through focusing on marketing, sales, and support operations. The Force.com platform forms the standard object that helps facilitate customer relationships in the organization. The platform creates an application containing numerous operations used in the sales force. Examples of objects found in the system include customer account, contact, products and services offered by the company, activities such as promotions, solution to problems, customer feedback sections, and dashboard showing new activities in the organization. The key elements of the sales cloud are the account, lead, contact, and opportunity (Suyati.com, 2014).
Users of the system and its significance
Organizations that have used Salesforce CRM have seen its benefits. The system offers different editions for various classes of users including groups, professional and enterprises. The organization has a duty of selecting the best edition that fits their needs depending on the nature of production and organizational goals. The system not only gives the detailed report of various sales activities within the organization but also assists in the effective management of customers in all stores and branches worldwide. Apple Inc. customers fall in a better position to exchange information with the company through different ways such as points of sale, promotions, and social media channels. CRM has been the source of success for Apple Inc. since its implementation. Competitors in the phone and computer manufacturing industry have also turned into using the system because of its benefits.
System processes from user’s viewpoint
At Apple Inc., the system collects information of new customers after the customer creates an account in the organization’s website. The customer information collected includes; name, address, and phone contacts after which the customer is issued with a reference number and a password. For easier customer follow-up, the system requests customers to sign up for online surveys, register the products they desire, and register for workshops offered by the company. The system stores the information collected in the company’s database and uses research about market trends, analyze segments, and develop advertisement and campaigning tactics to win the competition. The close interaction between customers and the organization created by the CRM system makes it easier to establish customer demands. Additionally, Apple is able to make quick updates of the system because it is readily available on the internet. However, the management at Apple complains of other new systems capable of performing more tasks and in more efficient ways compared to Salesforce CRM system.
System process from designer’s viewpoint
The design team responsible for the manufacture of the Salesforce CRM system aims at producing software capable of offering solutions to all customer problems in the organization. According to Adrian, the senior product designer at Salesforce, the main aim of designing the CRM system was to make it easier for organizations to conduct businesses to customers globally. The organization has a chance to grow while maintaining a strong customer relationship. The system is designed to automatically track operations within the organization at minimum human intervention. The main tracking activities performed by the system include tracking customer leads, managing emails, assigning different tasks to company employees, and notifying the organization of any customer request, proposal, and complaint (O’Driscoll, 2014).
Essential differences in various viewpoints identified
Comparison
The viewpoints of the system owner, the user, and the designer have a common goal of improving customer relationships with the organization. The user of the system, Apple Inc. provides prove the significance of CRM in ensuring it maintains the close relationship with customers in all stores globally.
Contrast
The product users and the owner seem to disagree on the originality of the system. The owner claims the system is one of its kinds but users argue other innovations are available that are more efficient and productive.
References
Apple. (November 29, 2010). Customer Relationship Management. Retrieved June 22, 2015
Jurevicius, O. (September 02, 2013). Mission statement for Apple. Retrieved June 22, 2015 from
http://www.strategicmanagementinsight.com/mission-statements/apple-mission-statement.html
O’Driscoll, C. (September 9, 2014). Inside the design team at Salesforce. Retrieved June 22,
2015 from http://blog.invisionapp.com/inside-design-team-salesforce/
Suyati. (February 19, 2014). How Salesforce CRM works. And who should use it? Retrieved
June 22, 2015 from http://suyati.com/how-salesforce-crm-works-and-uses/
