The Key Word is
Customer Relationship Management
Presentation at Plenary Session
3rd Nordic Marketing Conference, Helsinki, 13.6.2005
Susanne Hellman-Ketola, Statistics Finland
Development of customer relationships - Statistics
Finland’s strategic focus area
Customer relations management is a tool for developing
Statistics Finland’s information service activities to meet the
strategic challenges set by the agency
Strategic goals
Satisfied customer
 Value to the customer from information and competence
 Development of the customer relationship by networking
 Shift from product orientation to service orientation
- from statistics production processes to services
 Profitability
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Project on development of customer
relationships
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Why?
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Better anticipation of customers’ information needs
Increased interaction with customers
Comprehensive recognition of customer relationships
Value to the customer from information and competence
Better knowledge of the operating environment
Successful product development
Discovery of new customer groups and growth in sales
Management of customer processes and development of detected
weaknesses
A CRM model and practices meeting the quality standards and the quality
award criteria
Profitability
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Development analysis of customer satisfaction
Development of activity
Critical
Other
development areas development areas
Marketing and
communication
of services
Activity/sufficiency, acquisition of
information on novelties/changes,
skills in sales, targeting of measures
Ordering and
planning stage
Ability to understand our needs and to
offer a corresponding product/service,
ability to present different solutions
and possibilities
Implementation
of work and
products
Correspondence of contents with
my needs, sufficiency of
communication
Delivery
Speed of acquisition of
information in relation to my
needs, possible problems or
delays reported in time
Contact persons
Frequency and sufficiency of
interaction and co-operation
Strengths to be
maintained
Ordering easy in general, offers
clear / understandable
Work sufficiently accurate and
detailed
Product or data easy to use and free from
errors
Keeping to agreed delivery
schedules, supply in desired form
Responsibility persons clearly
defined, contact persons easy to
reach
Service attitude, answer given to
questions and inquiries, cooperation skills and flexibility
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Existing CRM-tools made the project possible
Decentralised system - shared customer data
 Helps to co-ordinate joint activities
 Monitoring of customer projects
 More focused direct marketing by means of versatile target
group selection -tool
 Monitoring of customer processes considerably easier - possible
to systematise activities
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Knowledge about previous actions with the customer helps to
plan future actions
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Contents of the customer database - basis for
segmentation
Own customer database
 About 15,200 accounts (principal customers)
 About 23,700 customers
 About 29,000 contact persons
 About 4,600 invoices (year 2004)
Register of potential customers Salesleads
 230,000 establishments
 335,000 contact persons
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Key results of customer analysis
5 % of the customers bring 60% of the income
 The most significant customers have several roles towards
SF
 Customers have several contacts to Statistics Finland’s
different units
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New steps of CRM in 2003
CRM one of the four key improvement areas at SF
 Holder of responsibility for the customer process appointed
- Director of Marketing
 Segmentation of 14,400 principal customers: by class and
by value
 Customer relations management group appointedmembers are holders of responsibility for main customer
segments
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Customers by value segment
Customer rentability
Potential customers
20-40
Present customers
A1
Strategic customers
D
A2
Potentials
A3,B
C
Small
customers
Co pyrigh t In Circle Oy Jo uni Pöl läne n
Strategic
value
Key
Customers
Big and
middlesize customers
200
Value factors:
Reference value,
Willingness to cooperate,
Interaction,
Product
development and
learning value
Profitability
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New steps of CRM in 2004
50 strategic and key customers were identified
 40 key account managers were nominated by the Director
General
 Work of segment groups was started (local government,
central government, enterprises, educational institutions,
research institutes)
 Holder of responsibility for the product development process
appointed - Director of Information Services
 A 10-module personnel training programme was designed and
launched
 Strategic Intelligence System, StatIntelligence was introduced
also as a tool of CRM
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Customer relationship management at Statistics
Finland
Key Account manager/
Key account team
Development of
customer relations
Customer segment
manager/team
Customer relations
management group
Managing of
customer relations
Development of
segment programmes
Identification
and selection
of customers
Practices
and follow-up
Follow-up
/indicators
Follow-up
/indicators
Customer processes
Follow-up
/indicators
Process owner - Director, Marketing
Links
Strategy
Management
Communications strategy
Service strategy
Distribution strategy
Information society
Customer feedback
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New steps of CRM in 2005
Key account managers work actively and in a targetoriented way with their customers
 Marketing and actions are brought into effect according to
the plans of customer segments
 Revision of the web has sharpened according to segments
 theme pages, pages directed primarily to different
customer segments
 Role of the contact persons (29,000) and information of
customer relationship mapping has been taken into use
 Measurement of the CRM process has been designed
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Case: Ministry of Education
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Case: Ministry of Education and National Board of Education
Several roles (4) in relation to Statistics Finland
 STATISTICAL AUTHORITY
 Own statistics production: databases on polytechnics and
universities
 INTEREST GROUP ROLE
 Substance expert on statistics, administrative officials in the
field - effect of administrative changes on statistics
compiling
 Developer of statistics compiling - co-operation partner, e.g.
information contents of data collections examined together
with the Ministry of Education
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Several roles contin.
 CUSTOMER ROLE
 Information service agreements - the paying partner
 Individual information requests, research data
 DEALER AND DISTRIBUTOR OF STATISTICS
 Intranet or Internet statistical services to their administrative
branch
 For example: Placement after education and occupational
data for local governments
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STRATEGIES (2)
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COMMUNICATION STRATEGY
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CHANNEL STRATEGY
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Personal contacts, management level, customer
responsibility person
Interaction continuous
Several channels such as the Internet
PRICING STRATEGY
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Normal pricing, partner benefits, partly joint projects
Towards very large agreements of purchases - general
agreement
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CO-OPERATIONAL MODES
 Management level meetings once a year
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Development and co-operational groups
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Director General, customer responsibility person, persons from
different units (Culture, Science & Technology, Education, Local
government financial statistics, etc.)
For example, statistics on remedial teaching in comprehensive
schools, cf. development phase and production phase (possible
budget transfer)
Ad hoc groups
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For example, projects on cost-efficiency financing of secondary
level vocational education
Agreement negotiations and monitoring
 Customer event for interest groups and key customers once a
year
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Experiences of SF staff involved in the CRMproject
Deepening the knowledge of one’s segment
 Improved planning for measures
 Increasing one’s knowledge of Statistics Finland
 Developing the monitoring of the operating environment
 Enhancing customer satisfaction
 More attention to the customer perspective
 Systematisation of customer contacting
 Networking
 Blurring the boundary between paid and budget-based activities
 Increasing demand for information service
 Problems with time resources and prioritisation
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Further information in the Appendices:
Segment values
 Classification of customers by value
 Roles
 The duties of the customer process owner
 The duties of the customer relations management group
 The duties of the key account managers at SF
 The duties of the segment groups
 General features of a strategic customer’s relations
programme
 General features of a key customer relations programme
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Appendix.
Segment values:
Central government
 Local government
 Educational institutions
 Research institutes
 Enterprises
 Libraries
 Organisations
 Foreign customers
 Others
 Without segment value
 Citizens
- Large municipalities
- Small municipalities
- Employment and Economic
Development Centres
- Regional councils
- Joint municipal boards
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Comprehensive schools
Upper secondary schools
Vocational schools and colleges
Polytechnics
- End-users
- Resellers
- Suppliers
& other values available in the
Customer Database
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Classification of customers by value segment
and size of the segment
Strategic customers
 Key customers
 Big customer (measured by sales per 24 months)
 Middle size customer (-”-)
 Small customer A (-”-)
 Small customer (-”-)
 Non-active
 Others
 Prospective
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Roles of the contact person
Decision-maker
 Influential person
 Buyer
 Statistics contact person
 Co-operative partner
 Billing contact person
 IT person
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The duties of the customer process owner
To direct, develop and co-ordinate the customer relation process
 To act as chair of the customer relations management group
 To steer the work of customer responsibility teams, persons and
customer segment responsibility persons
 To attend to the sufficiency of the resources also for development
needs
 To help make the customer benefit visible in the organisation’s
processes and decision-making
 To budget and monitor the progress of the project
 To communicate about the project to the rest of the personnel and to
report to the Director General and the Management Group
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The duties of the customer relations
management group
To bear the responsibility for the planning of development measures for
customer relations, setting of customer relation targets, indicators and their
development and monitoring
 To participate in the management of customer responsibilities of key
customers
 To follow the management of selected customer relations and the
development of customer relationships
 To advance the development of main tools used in customer relations
management at Statistics Finland
 To take part in appointing key account managers and in definition of their
duties and in selection of strategic and key customers by making draft
decisions for the Director General and for the Management Group
 To monitor and steer the development of competence related to customer
relationships and support systems (e.g. customer management system)
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Handle other matters related to customer relationships as needed.
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The duties of the key account managers at SF
To attend to and monitor the customer’s needs and development
 If needed, to form a team to attend better to the customer
 To ensure that essential customer data are saved in the Customer
Database
 To perform a customer needs analysis
 To produce a customer development plan on a yearly basis
 To develop the customer relationship towards more long-term
agreements and broader usage of statistical data
 To keep informed on customer meetings and marketing actions
 To monitor customer feedback
 To represent the customer within SF
 To communicate with other key account managers and teams
 To report to the customer segment manager and team
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The duties of the segment groups
To monitor the operating environment
 To draft the segment’s customer strategy
 To steer and monitor the segment’s customer responsibility
persons
 To maintain and develop customers’ segmentation
 To outline and co-ordinate annual marketing and operating
plans
 To monitor the activity by means of selected indicators
 To plan the product and service training needed for
attaining expert service and to organise its implementation
 To prepare outlines for the segment’s product development
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General features of a strategic customer’s
relations programme (1)
The strategic customer is known and the customer relationship is
handled on the personal level
 Significance of mutual competence and product development is
central
 The strategic customer has a responsibility person
 Annual meetings arranged on the director general level
 The whole organisation recognises the status of the strategic
customer
 Customer information is stored in the Customer Management
System
 Information is always given about customer co-operation to the
person or team responsible for the customer
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General features of a strategic customer’s
relations programme (2)
Customer-specific customer care plan is prepared for cooperation
 Development plan for customer relationship is made jointly
with the customer
 Development of the customer relationship is monitored
 General measures: Christmas cards, customer magazine,
customer events
 Feedback from the customer satisfaction survey is collected
personally
 The partner’s financial interests are looked after (e.g. bulk
discounts)
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General features of a key customer’s relations
programme
The customer relationship is handled on the personal level
 The key customer has a responsibility person
 Annual meetings are arranged, director level participation desirable
 The whole organisation recognises the status of the key customer
 A customer-specific customer care plan is made for key customers and
development of the relationship is followed
 Information is always given about customer co-operation to the person or
team responsible for the customer
 Customer satisfaction of key customers is surveyed and feedback is
requested, suggestions for product development essential
 Key customers receive the customer magazine, invitations to fairs and
customer events, Christmas cards
 Customer information is stored in the Customer Database
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