Background
Dhivehi Raajjeyge Gulhun Private Limited (Dhiraagu) is a company that is in Maldives. It is 48% owned by the government and 52% owned by Cable and Wireless. The main business that the company engages in is telecommunication business. It is one of the leading Internet and LAN providers in the Maldives. Given the connectivity that is seen in many businesses in the world today, there has been the need to have e-marketing in most companies. Dhiraagu needs to incorporate the e-business features that will help to boost the marketing so that the marketing is done both online and offline. With the increasing Internet users, there has been the need to adopt e-marketing to attract and convert the millions of Internet users.
Current situation
There is some effort that has been made by the company in their quest to integrate e-marketing features. The current situation that is found in the company is still wanting, as the applications that have been installed cannot be said to be fully utilizing e-marketing. The use of data mining to understand the behavior of the customers is still in the rudimentary stages. I say this because, although the company understands that the use of e-marketing applications need to use the latest technologies, they still have not employed modern tools like CRM and ERP applications in driving the implementations that are needed (Castaldo, 2007).
Another initiative that has been done by the company is the use of the website to market and sell their brand. They use the website to make themselves known and to inform the Internet users and browsers of the upcoming events and the services that are offered in the company. One thing to note on this website though is that it still basic in design. Little experience can be found from the website. There is the need to integrate the website with modern technologies so that the users can have a wider experience with the website use. This will help the company to have a rich user experience and increase interaction with the customers.
The company uses very remote and traditional methods of reaching to customers. There are campaigns that are made to sell ADSL high packages where the customers in the low-end package are identified and then called for follow-up. This should be changed with the use of Internet by many people (Onkvisit,Shaw, 2004).
Proposed improvement
There is need to have some changes on the new system that is being developed. Top on the list is the need to have online customer relationship management (CRM). This system will help the company a great deal to understand the requirements of the customer. In this dynamic customer behavior, there is the need to know and reply to what the customer wants. The customers are very dynamic, as they will look for what they want. CRM is a tool that uses data mining techniques to get the requirements of the customer so that the company will act on these requirements (Chaffey, 2007).
Another feature that needs to be included is the integration of ERP system. Most ERP systems are known to be online. ERP system is used to integrate the various business functions together. With this system, it is possible to use the data from the various business functions in another function. Example of these business functions includes finance management, accounting applications, customer management, human resource management and payroll processing system (Mahmood, 2000). With the integration of the various systems that are required in any business, it will be easier for one department to use the data and information from another department. This makes the understanding of the customer to be better (Fox, 2009).
Initiatives taken
The company has taken some initiatives towards realizing the use of e-marketing. Some of these initiatives are fault logging/tracking, online communication tools that helps in communicating with the client like online chats and SMS reporting, capability to view and pay bill, alter and manage customer profile, merchant system that s used for online purchasing, and online application for upgrade and downgrade. This can be viewed to be on the right track. These should be geared towards attaining better improvement and understanding of the customer (Florian, 2010).
Conclusion and recommendation
There is need for Dhiraagu to employ the latest and efficient tools to manage and do their business. The most important element in any business is the customer. The customer should be understood and well taken care of as much as possible. This is possible with the use of ERP and CRM. The better the organization understands the customer, the better-placed they are. I recommend that Dhiraagu upgrade their website so that it includes better features that are dynamic. These are the ERP and CRM features. There is a wider gap without the use of these applications. They have brought the required revolutions that have been required thus far.
References
Castaldo, S 2007, Trust in online market relationships. CA, Edward Elgar Publishing
Chaffey, D 2007, E-business and e-commerce management, NY, Prentice Hall.
Florian, D 2010, Current trends in web engineering, NY, Springer.
Fox, S 2009, E-riches 2.0: Next-generation marketing strategies for making millions online, Ar, AMACOM Div American.
Mahmood, M 2000, Impacts of Information technology investment on organizational marketing performance, JIMS, Vol. 16 Issue 4, pp. 1-16.
Onkvisit, S Shaw, J 2004, International marketing: analysis and strategy, Routledge.
