Connecting the border

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Connecting the border

Customer Relationship Management at the

Euregio Tourism Office

Student: Lena Gerding, 301791

First Examiner: Gijs Theunissen

Second Examiner: Adriaan Kauffmann

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Connecting the border

Customer Relationship Management

at the Euregio Tourism Office

Bachelor Thesis

For the degree

Bachelor of Business Administration in Tourism Management At Saxion University of Applied Sciences, Deventer

Author: Lena Gerding

Student number: 301791

Client organization: Euregio e.V.

Client: Ms. Heike Rieger

1st_Examiner: _{Mr. Gijs Theunissen}

2nd_Examiner: _{Mr. Adriaan Kauffmann}

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Acknowledgements

This bachelor report is written as my final assignment for my study in Tourism Management at the Hospitality Business School of Saxion University of Applied Sciences. It was written for the Euregio Tourism Office in Gronau, where I completed a one-month internship before starting the thesis project.

During the thesis project, I aimed to find out the best way to approach customer relationship

management for my client. While this topic was certainly challenging, and caused me to be uncertain about the suitability, I am still very grateful for the opportunity to learn more about both the topic, and especially for the opportunity to grow more professional during the process. I would hereby like to express my sincere gratitude to my first examiner, Gijs Theunissen, who always showed me that there was a possibility to complete this thesis project and who provided me with great professional, but also with personal support. Further, I would like to thank my client, Heike Rieger, who always tried to find the time to help me proceed, and who trusted me in my assignment, perhaps more than I sometimes did.

On a personal level, I would like to deeply thank my family who has supported me during my entire study, and who was always there with kind words and understanding. They supported me in any way they could, no matter how far my way led me away from home, and I know that they will always do so in the future, too. I never would have come this far without them, and I could not be more grateful for all they have done for me. A great thank you also goes to my boyfriend, who never tired of listening to any of my worries, and who was always willing to help me with his opinion on any matter concerning my thesis.

Lastly, my gratitude goes to my study career counsellor, Cora van Triest, whose help I could always count on during the entire period of my study.

Thank you all so much.

Warmest regards, Lena Gerding

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Management Summary

This thesis was written for the Euregio Tourism Office (ETO) in order to give advice on how the way of managing customer relationships can be improved in the new project period that starts this summer, as it was determined that the current approach was not sufficiently efficient and that too little

customer knowledge was accessible. Thus, the thesis aims to answer the management question “How can ETO improve the way it manages customer relationships to ensure that a large number of

companies can make use of ETO's services?”.

In order to answer this management question, a theoretical framework was set up, which aimed to define customer relationship management (CRM). It became apparent that the two main aspects of CRM are customer knowledge management, which includes the management of data, information, and knowledge, and interaction management which deals with the contact and relationships an

organization has with its customers, and which is in a way similar to marketing. The findings of the field research later confirmed that both customer knowledge management and interaction

management are necessary parts of a good CRM strategy.

Subsequently, field research aimed to find out about the needs of ETO, its Dutch partners and its Dutch customers. It was important to not only focus on ETO’s needs, but also on the partners’ needs and the customers’ needs as ETO is highly dependent on its partners and needs to address the needs of its customers to ensure that the willingness to make use of ETO’s services is increased. Thus the research questions “What are the needs of ETO for managing relationships with its customers?”, “What are the interaction needs of the Dutch partners of ETO?” and “What are the interaction needs of the Dutch customers of ETO?” were answered by means of conducting interviews with ETO’s employees, two of the Dutch partners, and two of the Dutch customers.

The most important findings are that ETO needs more efficient ways to manage a greater amount of customer knowledge so that employees can access customer knowledge from any location at any time. This will help to meet the needs of greater transparency and more customizable customer interactions. ETO needs to frequently communicate with both partners and customers, as well as have good and intensive relationships with them. Furthermore, the knowledge and the service of ETO and its partners should be integrated better.

ETO’s partners mostly desire a better focus on the customers’ needs, and want that ETO has better relationships and more frequent communication with its customers, but require that interaction is conducted via them.

ETO’s customers want ETO to show greater initiative in contacting them, and require a greater amount of customization in ETO’s services, as these are currently partially irrelevant for them. Furthermore, customers need ETO to help them in establishing relationships with other customers, by, for example helping them to find and convince other customers who are willing to conduct marketing on the German market with them, or by helping them get in touch with press agencies or other customers that are able to share knowledge with them.

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Subsequently, the research was discussed. It was found that reliability is relatively high due to the structured research. Construct validity is high due to the strong theoretical framework, and internal validity is acceptable, though somewhat limited by language barriers and the fact that interviewees were not asked to confirm the research findings after the research. It was also determined that the research findings are valid only for ETO, though they still might give other organizations a good basis for own research.

On the basis of these findings eight potential solutions to solve the management problem were found, out of which the two most promising ones, the establishment of a B2B platform and the conduction of interest group meetings in combination with a business survey, were examined more closely. This examination took place by conducting a multi-criteria analysis with five criteria, which were the feasibility of the option (including organizational, financial, and political feasibility), the strategic fit, and the potential to meet ETO’s needs, the partners’ needs and the customers’ needs.

The analysis of the two solutions showed that the second solution, the conduction of interest group meetings in combination with a business survey, was the solution that is most suitable to solve ETO’s management problem. This solution is best supported with a CRM system that combines all the data from the business survey and uses this as a basis to prepare, but also to evaluate the interest group meetings.

In order to implement the solution ETO is recommended to first determine a CRM strategy, then enhance its existing capabilities by selecting a CRM system, deciding upon a customer approach strategy together with its partners, then conduct a business survey and deciding upon a meeting approach. After that, ETO can execute its strategy by conducting interest groups meetings, for which ETO first needs to select and invite its customers. In order to continuously improve its services, ETO can follow-up to the meetings with the help of another short survey. By evaluating the success of the meetings together with the employees and the partners ETO can keep adapting its approach to best meet customers’ needs. It is further recommended that ETO considers revising its strategy thoroughly on a yearly basis together with the partners.

In order to facilitate this solution, ETO’s employees need to put a greater focus on organizing

customized interest group meetings that aim at connecting customers. They should also make use of professional training in order to make good use of the CRM system, which they are suggested to employ. Further, ETO is advised to make use of a survey tool that can be integrated in the CRM system to continuously monitor the customers’ needs and satisfaction.

The financial implications of this solution are estimated to be an investment of roughly 30,000 € plus three weeks implementation time over the project period, leading to a working load reduction of 17,5 hours per week. Furthermore, it is expected that this solution will also lead to greater project

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5.2.2. Overview of criteria ... 35 5.2.3. Multi-criteria analysis ... 36 5.2.4. Conclusion ... 38 5.3. Final advice ... 38 5.3.1. Implementation of advice... 38 5.3.2. Deployment of people ... 41 5.3.3. Employment of means ... 42 5.3.4. Financial implications ... 43 5.4. Advice conclusion ... 45 Afterword ... 47 Literature overview ... 49 Appendices ... 51

Appendix A: Operationalisation Customer knowledge management ... 52

Appendix B: Operationalisation Interaction management (marketing) in CRM ... 53

Appendix C: Interview guide ETO interview ... 54

Appendix D: Interview guide partner interviews ... 56

Appendix E: Interview guide customer interviews ... 58

Appendix F: Explanation of core topics in interview guides ... 59

Appendix G: Overview of alternative solutions ... 60

Appendix H: Breakdown of costs of alternative solutions ... 64

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List of tables and figures

Tables:

Table 5.1: Multi-criteria analysis 36

Table 5.2: Implementation investments 44

Table 5.3: Time investments and returns 44

Table A.1: Operationalisation customer knowledge management 52 Table B.1: Operationalisation Interaction Management (Marketing) 53 Table G.1: Multi-criteria pre-selection of alternative solutions 63

Table H.1: Breakdown of costs B2B Platform 64

Table H.2: Breakdown of costs Meetings & Survey 64

Figures:

Figure 2.1: Relation between customer data, customer information & customer knowledge 14

Figure 2.2: Knowledge management process 15

Figure 5.1: A framework for achieving CRM Success 38

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Glossary of terms

AT Achterhoek Toerisme

CRM Customer relationship management ETO Euregio Tourism Office

FTE Full-time employee

RBT Regionaal Bureau voor Toerisme = Regional Tourism Office SME Small and medium sized enterprise

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1. Introduction

In this thesis the issue “Customer relationship management at the Euregio Tourism Office” is

discussed. In order to understand the need for this thesis, the client as well as the reason behind this thesis are introduced and examined in this chapter, which gives the foundation for the following chapters. Further, a reading guide that leads through the thesis is presented at the end of this chapter.

1.1. The client

This thesis is written for the Euregio Tourism Office (ETO), which forms part of Euregio and which engages in the tourism development of the German-Dutch border region.

Euregio is a cross-border non-profit organization which stimulates cooperation across the German-Dutch border (Euregio, n.d.). Its two central goals are to increase understanding of both neighbouring countries and to increase prosperity and well-being of those who live in the border region (Euregio, n.d.). The region of the Euregio consists of parts of the German federal states North Rhine Westphalia and Lower Saxony, of parts of the Dutch provinces Overijssel, Gelderland and Drenthe, and it

encompasses an area of about 13,000 km² with about 3.4 million inhabitants (Euregio, n.d.). About two thirds of the region and of its inhabitants are German, and one third is Dutch (Euregio, n.d.).

Euregio’s vision is that the different sub-regions become one supply area in which both lives and the economy are integrated and strengthened and in which the border does not have a negative and separating impact anymore (Euregio, n.d.). In order to reach that goal, Euregio focuses its strategy on three major areas: sustainable spatial development, economy, and social development (Euregio, 2012). It is financed for a great part by the INTERREG programme, which is a fund by the European Union, the German federal states and the Netherlands as well as the Dutch provinces (Euregio, 2012). In practise, the main activities of the Euregio include, among others, the connection and networking of the stakeholders in the border region, the promotion of border crossing activities and projects, consultancy services and project management (Euregio, 2012).

ETO plays an important part in the previously mentioned activities. It is mostly responsible for

promoting tourism across the German-Dutch border, for developing border crossing products, and for networking and marketing the border crossing tourism supply (Euregio, 2012). In the future, it is supposed to be mainly responsible for coordinating the different partners, by, among others, developing marketing concepts with the tourism sector (Euregio, 2014).

ETO has applied for a new INTERREG V project fund, which is intended to be valid from April 2015 to September 2021. It succeeds the INTERREG IV project fund, which is valid from July 2008 to June 2015 (Euregio, 2014). The two main activities that are planned for the new project are to consult, support, and provide a platform for communication for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the region; and to prepare innovation and to form innovation clusters (Euregio, 2014).

ETO is subordinate to the various regional tourism offices (regionale bureaus voor toerisme (RBTs)) which represent tourism in the different sub regions of Euregio (H. Rieger, personal communication, March 24, 2015). ETO mostly acts as an expert on the neighbouring market, allowing the RBTs to focus mostly on their own home markets (H. Rieger, personal communication, March 24, 2015). RBTs are ETO’s most important partners.

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1.2. Thesis overview

In the following, the reason for the thesis is outlined. It is followed by an explanation of the

management question and advice objective that leads through the thesis, along with the explanation of the research that is conducted for this thesis.

1.2.1. Reason for the thesis

Given that the new project period starts this summer, the focus of the strategic goals of ETO will shift. In the past, a lot of emphasis was put on providing marketing activities. In the future, companies should be motivated and supported to do marketing themselves, which may involve training from ETO, and to be stimulated to form clusters and projects with other companies from both sides of the border (Euregio, 2014). The aim is to connect the tourism sector in the border region and to support SMEs in a demand-driven way (Euregio, 2014). It is expected that this will increase the likelihood of project participation from the companies, which is necessary to meet ETO’s goals (H. Rieger, personal communication, February 03, 2015). In this thesis the SMEs are thus referred to as ETO’s customers, even though ETO does serve other customers, such as tourists in the region, as well.

In order to do this, potential customers and partners, both SMEs and RBTs, need to be addressed frequently, efficiently, and with good knowledge about all stakeholders. However, currently it is very difficult to manage these relationships, as customer knowledge is managed very inefficiently. Data about customers and partners is stored in several different places and researching this data takes a lot of time and is not always fully accurate. Also, agreements with clients are only available to the

employee that has dealt with this client, which is a problem since most employees are not at ETO full-time.

Additionally, on the Dutch side of the Euregio region, there is a disagreement on where the responsibilities of ETO should lie, and how customers should be approached. Dutch RBTs want all offers from ETO to be seen as part of their own offers to the SMEs in their region, and want

communication to take place via them. ETO thus needs to find a way to manage relationships in a way that meets the partner’s demands and ETO’s own needs.

In the new project phase the management of ETO wants customer relationship management (CRM) to be done at a much higher quality. It is crucial that employees are able to research companies

effectively, and from any of the projects, which are supposed to be transformed into clusters of different interests. As ETO’s human resources would currently not suffice to do the connecting activities and advisory services that are planned, an improved way of managing customer knowledge would presumably help each employee to manage both his/her own and other employees’ clients at a high efficiency and customer satisfaction. This will ensure that as many SMEs and regional companies as possible can benefit from ETO’s services, which will expectedly benefit the tourism industry of the Euregio region.

The two problems show the need for an integrated CRM strategy that differs from a primarily

stakeholder-focussed strategy in a way that it puts a great emphasis on the way customer knowledge is managed in addition to the pure relationship component. This way, the strategy also takes into account internal processes which do not directly relate to stakeholder needs, by addressing internal

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knowledge sharing as well as external communication and relationship considerations. By first improving the way ETO manages customer knowledge, it can be expected that ETO can address customer needs and establish customer relationships much better. This knowledge can also be used to establish better partner relationships. Furthermore, by considering partner needs, customer needs and ETO needs a more thorough advice can be formed.

1.2.2. Advice objective and management question

In order to facilitate ETO to reach the goals of the new project period the aim of this thesis is to answer the following management question:

How can ETO improve the way it manages customer relationships to ensure that a large number of companies can make use of ETO's services?

In order to answer this management question, advice needs to be given on how to enable ETO to manage more customer relationships, but also on how to use CRM to successfully reach a large number of important companies. For that, both ETO’s needs, the partners’ needs and the customers’ needs must be met. By focusing on these three aspects, ETO is given an advice that allows it to perform CRM in a way that is strategically suitable, but that also meets the concrete needs of the employees who are the ones who will apply it. Including the partner’s needs is the basis for the maintenance of a good working environment with the Dutch RBTs. Additionally, by taking the needs of the customers into account it is ensured that the advice will lead to greater customer satisfaction. This is important since the success of the project period depends on how willing potential and current customers are to engage in ETO’s projects and to use their advice. Since problems in interaction management lie mostly on the Dutch side of the border, the focus is put on Dutch companies and partners.

Consequently, the objective of this report is to give advice on how relationships with ETO’s Dutch customers should be managed in a way that meets ETO’s, the Dutch RBTs’ and its Dutch customers’ needs by writing a CRM advisory report about customer knowledge and interaction management in order to facilitate ETO’s employees to connect and advise its external customers.

1.2.3. Research objective and research questions

In order to be able to give such advice, it is necessary to obtain new knowledge about ETO, its Dutch partners and its Dutch customers. Since the need for knowledge mostly stems from ETO’s internal processes it is crucial to find out what exactly ETO’s needs in this matter are. Additionally, it is important to find out the needs of ETO’s partners and customers, as their satisfaction is likely connected to the overall success of the project, and their likelihood to accept ETO’s offers.

Accordingly, the research objective is to contribute to writing a CRM advisory report about customer knowledge and interaction management by gaining insight on ETO’s, its Dutch partners’ and its Dutch customers’ needs in customer relationship management.

This research objective can be achieved by answering three central questions. The first question focuses on determining the specific needs of ETO and its employees. The second question focuses on finding out the Dutch partners’ needs in interaction so that good cooperation is possible, and the third one focuses on finding out the specific needs of its customers. The sub-questions are meant to specify the needs of ETO, its partners and the customers both in terms of general interaction

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partners should be approached. Analyzing the relationship is important as tension in the relationships was observed. Additionally, it is important to know ETO’s CRM strategy as this is a basis for later implementation, and to know what the needs of ETO for sharing customer knowledge among the employees are since this is becoming an increasingly important bottleneck.

Interaction management is hereby both the umbrella term for all contact between ETO and its partners and its customers in central research questions 2 and 3, but also the more specific term that includes the activities of customer selection, communication, and marketing, in contrast to the relationship needs which are less based on activities but rather on the connection that is desired.

Central research question 1: What are the needs of ETO for managing relationships with its customers? 1.1: What is ETO’s CRM strategy?

1.1: What are the customer knowledge management needs of ETO? 1.2: What are the customer interaction management needs of ETO? 1.3: What are the relationship needs of ETO?

Central research question 2: What are the interaction needs of the Dutch partners of ETO? 2.1: What are the interaction needs of the Dutch partners of ETO?

2.2: What are the relationship needs of the Dutch partners of ETO?

Central research question 3: What are the interaction needs of the Dutch customers of ETO? 3.1: What are the interaction needs of the Dutch customers of ETO?

3.2: What are the relationship needs of the Dutch customers of ETO?

1.3. Reading guide

Following the introduction as chapter one, the theoretical framework, which is presented in chapter two introduces and discusses the core concepts of the thesis.

On this basis, the methodology of the research that was done in order to answer the research questions is shown in chapter three.

Chapter four examines the research findings by first analyzing the results, then answering the research questions and finally discussing the reliability and the validity of the research.

In chapter five, the best solution to solve the management problem is evaluated by means of a multi-criteria analysis. The final recommendations then include a strategy for implementing the advice including a suggestion of the way human resources can be deployed, technology can be used and the financial implication of the advice in order to finally answer the management question.

The advice is followed by an afterword in which the thesis process and the relevance of the thesis for the industry are discussed.

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2. Theoretical framework

In the following theoretical framework, the core concepts of the research questions are discussed in order to gain a clear understanding of the exact meaning of each term.

The objective of the theoretical framework is to contribute to writing a CRM advisory report about customer knowledge management and interaction management as well as to contribute to the research stated above by defining the core concepts “customer relationship management”, “customer knowledge management” and “interaction management (marketing) in CRM”.

Definition of core concepts

ETO has expressed a need to revise the way CRM is done while putting a special focus on the way customer knowledge is managed. According to Chaffey and Wood (2005) CRM is part of knowledge management. In contrast, Zablah, Bellenger, and Johnston (2004) argue that the CRM process consists of two major sub-processes, which are knowledge management and interaction management. Yet others, such as Kotler and Armstrong (2011), as well as Hutt and Speh (2004) consider CRM to be part of marketing. Considering that all of these aspects are closely interlinked, but also that ETO does not want to revise its entire knowledge management process, nor its entire marketing process, this thesis will examine the knowledge management aspect of CRM and the marketing aspect of CRM as the two most significant core concepts of CRM. The marketing aspect of CRM will hereby be called “Interaction Management” in order to avoid confusion, and to stay with the process proposed by Zablah et al. (2004).

2.1. Customer relationship management

CRM can be seen from many different perspectives. According to Chaffey and Wood (2005, p. 104), CRM is “an approach to building and sustaining long-term business with customers”. Kumar and Reinartz (2006, as cited in Ramaseshan et al., 2006) claim that CRM is the strategic process of identifying those customers that are most profitable, while others consider CRM to be a mostly IT based system that allows companies to access and store information about customers (Stone & Woodcock, 2001, as cited in Ryding, 2010; Hillebrand, Nijholt & Nijssen, 2011). Zablah et al. (2004) identify five different perspectives fromwhich CRM is seen in literature, which are process, strategy, philosophy, capability and technology. In conclusion they define CRM as “an ongoing process that involves the development and leveraging of market intelligence for the purpose of building and maintaining a profit-maximizing portfolio of customer relationships” (Zablah et al., 2004, p. 480). Taking all these definitions into account, but also the concrete context of ETO, the following definition of CRM is applied here:

CRM is the continuous process of developing and maintaining beneficiary relationships with customers and partners by using customer knowledge to interact with them according to their needs so that their willingness to use ETO’s services is increased. Additionally, the CRM process of ETO includes using knowledge about its general base of customers in order to connect and advise specific customers.

2.2. Customer knowledge management

Knowledge can be defined as “the application of expert opinion, skills and experience to data and information for decision making” (Chaffey & Wood, 2005, p. 36). Accordingly, customer knowledge is built on customer information, which is gained through the analysis of customer data.

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Figure 2.1: Relation between customer data, customer information & customer knowledge, own elaboration

According to Chaffey and Wood (2005), customer data comprises of personal and profile data, transaction data and communication data. These are expressed on demographic, transactional, behavioural, relationship and derived levels (Chaffey & Wood, 2005). Chang, Wong and Fang (2014) express that customer information consists of customer preferences, transaction histories and personal backgrounds. Customer knowledge can be split into knowledge about the customer, such as customer needs and the transaction history, and knowledge from the customer, which is the

customer’s knowledge about the company, its competitors and substitute products (Salojärvi, Sainio & Tarkiainen, 2010). For this thesis, the definition of customer knowledge as knowledge about the customer will be applied, as the advice deals with the question on how to manage internal knowledge. Knowledge from the customer is later referred to as “awareness”.

It is notable that all three levels (customer data, customer information and customer knowledge) include the basic aspects transactions with the company and characteristics of the customer. Since transaction history can be counted as customer information instead of customer knowledge since it does not require expert knowledge, it will be substituted by customer transaction behaviour which requires both the information on the transaction history and the evaluation with employee knowledge about the customer. Accordingly, Figure 2.1 demonstrates the connection between customer data, customer information and customer knowledge:

Jayachandran et al. (2005, as cited in Chang et al., 2014) propose a CRM relational

information process which includes

information reciprocity, information capture, information integration, information access, and information use. Information reciprocity refers to enabling customers and employees to interact. Information capture is the storage of the information gained through customer interaction while information integration is the collection of customer information from other departments or companies. Information access is the accessibility of this information by employees, and information use is the employment of this information to adapt products. (Chang et al., 2014)

Due to the fact that the main problem of ETO lies in the inability to capture, integrate and access information about customers (H. Rieger, personal communication, July 24, 2014), these three aspects will serve as the main investigation points for this thesis.

In order to use knowledge, knowledge management needs to be applied. Power (1991) gives the following definition of knowledge management:

Knowledge Management is the distribution, access and retrieval of unstructured information about 'human experiences' between independent individuals or among members of a

workgroup. Knowledge management involves identifying a group of people who have a need to share knowledge, developing technological support that enables knowledge sharing, and

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15 Data collection •Data collection •Data storage •Data access •Intelligence generation Intelligence generation •Information capture •Information integration •Information access •Information use Intelligence dissemination •Knowledge identification •Knowledge generation •Knowledge storage •Knowledge distribution •Knowledge use

Figure 2.2: Knowledge management process, adapted from EKMF (n.d., as cited in Chaffey & Wood, 2005); Zablah et al., 2004; Chang et al., 2014)

creating a process for transferring and disseminating knowledge." (Power, 1991, as cited in Chaffey & Wood, 2005)

A similar explanation of the knowledge management process can be found in the European Knowledge Management Framework (EKMF, n.d., as cited in Chaffey & Wood, 2005), which defines the core knowledge process activities to be identifying, generating, storing, distributing and applying knowledge. In the context of knowledge management as part of CRM Zablah et al. (2004) point out the three sub-processes of knowledge management, which are data collection, intelligence generation and intelligence dissemination. Hereby, they suggest employing CRM technology to store and analyze data in order to generate information, and

furthermore adding the knowledge that resides in employees about customers and their specific needs and characteristics (Zablah et al., 2004). This structure of the knowledge management process differs from that of Power and the EKMF as it encompasses the generation of knowledge from data and information. Figure 2.2 shows the integrated customer knowledge management process that is used in this thesis.

Chaffey and Wood (2005) mention four aspects of data quality, which are accuracy, completeness, validity, and consistency. Accuracy means that the data is correct, completeness means that all relevant data is there (Chaffey & Wood, 2005). Validity means that the data is consistent with pre-set business policies (Chaffey & Wood, 2005). In ETO’s case, this would be, for example, that only customer information from the Euregio region is valid. Consistency means that all data is entered in the same format, for example that all German postcodes are entered with a capital D and a hyphen before the numeric code (Chaffey & Wood, 2005).

Information quality is the quality of structured data. Pragmatic information quality is the value of the information for its users (Chaffey & Wood, 2005). Pragmatic information is of high quality if it is information that the user needs to access (relevance), if the user is able to understand it well

(presentation), if it is up-to-date (timeliness) and if it is accessible by whoever needs it when needed during operations (availability) (Chaffey & Wood, 2005). Additionally, COBIT (2000, as cited in Chaffey & Wood, 2005) note that the quality of information is also affected by efficiency, which is the optimal use of resources for information retrieval. In ETO’s context that would translate into the speed of accurate information retrieval, since ETO’s human resources are very limited, but of course also implementation and maintenance costs. Furthermore, confidentiality and compliance to laws is

mentioned (COBIT, 2000, as cited in Chaffey & Wood, 2005), but for the current issue these aspects are less significant, and will thus not be examined.

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Knowledge quality can be measured according to the ASHEN factors, which are artefacts, skills, heuristics, experience, and natural talent (Chaffey & Wood, 2005). Artefacts are tools in which knowledge is captured. Skills are the abilities of employees, and the term “heuristics” means “rules of thumb” (Chaffey & Wood, 2005). Experience is the knowledge gained through previous failures and successes, and natural talent is the ability of each person that is present without additional training (Chaffey & Wood, 2005).

An operationalisation of customer knowledge management can be found in Appendix A.

2.3. Interaction management (marketing) in CRM

CRM has frequently been determined to be either equal to, or a successor of a concept of relationship marketing (Ramaseshan et al., 2006; Zablah et al., 2004, Hutt & Speh, 2004) and in general an important aspect of marketing (Chang et al., 2014; Kotler & Armstrong, 2011, Blythe & Zimmerman, 2005). Taking into account that marketing is considered to be the process of creating customer value and building customer relationships to gain value from customers (Kotler & Armstrong, 2011), it can be concluded that the marketing aspect of CRM (or the CRM aspect of marketing) focuses on the actual relationship and interaction between an organization and its customers. This is in contrast to the previously mentioned knowledge management aspect of CRM, which deals mostly with internal processes that only indirectly affect customers. Important sub-aspects of marketing in CRM include thus the process of “acquiring, keeping and growing customers” (Kotler & Armstrong, 2011, p.12), managing customer touch points and channels, personalizing treatment of customers, and creating customer loyalty (Kotler & Armstrong, 2011; Hutt & Speh, 2004; Blythe & Zimmerman, 2005). Hutt and Speh (2004) point out five important aspects of a CRM strategy: acquiring the right customers, crafting the right value proposition, instituting the best processes, motivating employees and learning to retain customers. Interaction management, and thus marketing, is operationalised in Appendix B.

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3. Methodological justifications

In order to obtain the information needed to answer the research questions (“What are the needs of ETO for managing relationships with its customers?”, “What are the interaction needs of the Dutch partners of ETO?” and “What are the interaction needs of the Dutch customers of ETO?”), field research needed to be conducted. It is based on the findings of the theoretical framework, specifically with the intention of gaining information about the aspects of the operationalisation charts (Appendices A & B).

3.1. Research strategy

The research that was conducted is exploratory in nature. Since no previous research was done at ETO regarding CRM, exploratory research enabled the formulation of unbiased insights. This ensured that all options were left open so that finally the advice could be based on a strong research foundation. In order to conduct this exploratory research, a case study design was chosen. The research questions focus on one specific case organization, which is ETO. Accordingly, choosing a case study design ensured that this one critical case was examined thoroughly (Brotherton, 2008). The knowledge that was obtained is inseparable of the specific case context of ETO, which is why a case study design is suitable (Brotherton, 2008). Furthermore, as this research aimed to form the basis for giving advice on how to solve the management problem of ETO, it is not relevant to choose another case or multiple other cases for comparative purposes.

The third research question focuses on the needs of the customers of ETO, which is information that could have been obtained through survey research or through case study research. The benefit of using quantitative survey research would have been that information about ETO’s customers could be generalized more and regarded without its specific context. However, due to the nature of the research question, focussing on relationships, but also on interaction with ETO, a more in-depth qualitative approach was required, bound to the context of the case ETO. Choosing this research strategy gave the basis of a good CRM strategy. Its in-depth findings also enable ETO to conduct a more generalized survey research subsequently, should the need arise.

3.2. Method of data collection

In order to obtain knowledge from the research units, interviews were conducted, as they are

commonly regarded as a good way to obtain in-depth qualitative data (Brotherton, 2008). Brotherton (2008) states that interviews allow asking “why” and “how” better than other research methods, which is helpful since insight about reasons are enquired in all research questions and perspectives

(Appendix B). Additionally, the high degree of flexibility allowed the possibility that additional topics, which did not come up during the operationalisation of core concepts could arise and could be discussed.

For the research question about ETO’s needs, a face-to-face semi-structured group interview with all relevant employees was conducted. Blythe and Zimmerman (2005) argue the importance of including everyone who is involved in day-to-day business with marketing into the development of a marketing communication plan. Additionally, the group setting allowed interviewees to react on ideas another interviewee had presented and to discuss the best option. Even though a group interview has risks, such as that it is possible that participants feel upset if they feel that their opinion is not respected and that participants might feel the need to conform to the group (Boeije, 2010), these risks are relatively

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small. Previous to this thesis several informal orientation group interviews were conducted at ETO’s office showing that the group atmosphere is good and that interviewees feel comfortable in the group setting. Furthermore, during the initial interviews it often happened that one interviewee reacted on statements of another interviewee leading to a greater depth of findings, which is why this type of setting was chosen again. The face-to-face setting allowed an easier reaction to non-verbal communication.

For the research units “customers” and “partners”, face-to-face semi-structured single interviews were conducted. This method of data collection allowed flexibility due to the nature of semi-structured interviews while the course of the interview could be influenced by the content of verbal and non-verbal communication. The semi-structure of the interview ensured that all relevant topics were discussed but that there was also some flexibility to react to other ideas.

3.3. Measurement instruments

The measurement instruments used were interview guides. They were based on the operationalisation of the core concepts (Appendices A and B) and can be found in Appendices C, D and E. Interview guides helped to ensure that all important concepts were discussed during the interviews. As the interviews needed to be compared in the subsequent results chapter, it was necessary to have similar elements in all interviews. An explanation of these elements can be found in Appendix F. The interview guides were only used as a guideline, and not as a script to ensure that creativity was not restricted and a natural course was permitted during the interviews.

Besides an invitation per telephone, and a later confirmation via E-Mail, the interviewees received a guide for the interview previous to the interview in terms of a list of topics that was going to be discussed. Additionally, upon request, the participants of the ETO interview and of the interview of one of the partners received the entire list of questions. This was done to allow the interviewees to think about the topics outside of the interview setting while taking as much time as they might need, so that the likelihood of forgetting to mention something during the interview itself was decreased. Doing so worked well during the initial interviews, and it was requested by the company coach that this would be done for the research interviews, too.

3.4. Sampling

In the ETO case, purposive sampling was applied. Due to the fortunate fact that only a small number of people work at ETO it was possible to include everyone who works closely with customers into the sample. The only group of people that was not included in the sample was assistant employees who were not present at the interview day, and who are not strategically involved in CRM. The sample included six employees; four German and two Dutch employees.

Purposive sampling was applied for the partners’ interviews, too. Here the sample was chosen

according to recommendations by the company coach. This was done in order to ensure that relevancy is given and to make sure that the interviewee had the required knowledge and connections to ETO, but also due to the relatively sensitive nature of the interview. The partner from the region Achterhoek was chosen, which is Achterhoek Toerisme (AT) and the partner from region Twente was chosen, which is Twents Bureau voor Toerisme (TBT).

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The sample of the customers was also purposive and chosen according to the company coach’s recommendations. As not all of ETO’s customers work frequently with ETO, not all of them would be able to give answers to all the questions that were asked, and thus the recommendations of the company coach ensured relevancy. Just as it is important to select the right customers (Hutt & Speh, 2004) the opinions of the most relevant ones should be sought for this research. Still, the sample that is chosen by the company coach was required to have a few characteristics: a high strategic importance for ETO, an established relationship with ETO, and a relevant job position of the interviewee. These characteristics were chosen to ensure the relevance of the data collected. Due to the fact that the partners interviewed represent two Dutch regions, Achterhoek and Twente, the sample of the customers should also include an organization from each of the regions. For Achterhoek, a camping ground owner was chosen. The interview statements are abbreviated with MV. For Twente, a marketing manager of a museum was chosen. The interview statements are abbreviated with RMT. The selection of one customer who works in the profit sector and of one customer who works in the cultural non-profit sector gave the possibility to cover both of these segments, too.

In order to fulfil the promise of anonymity within the thesis, no names of interviewees outside of ETO are used. Instead, the abbreviations of their company names are used. While the name of the partners is mentioned, the company name is abbreviated here, also, in order to ensure better readability of the results and conclusion chapter. For ETO, the last name of the interviewee was used. All interviews were conducted in April 2015, but the date of the interview is not mentioned behind every reference in the research findings chapter to increase readability.

3.5. Method of data analysis

The method of data analysis was the same for all research questions, due to the fact that all of them were answered by means of conducting interviews.

First of all, the interviews were transcribed and translated into English. Subsequently, the fragments of the interviews were grouped into categories of so-called open codes in order to summarize them (Boeije, 2010). This was done to be able to organize the data, and to be able to compare and analyze it in later steps, resulting in a list of codes per research question (Boeije, 2010). Both constructed codes, which were derived from the operationalisation of the core concepts (Appendices A and B) and in-vivo codes, which were generated from the interview transcripts, were used here.

Subsequently, the list of codes was arranged in a code tree by finding categories and subcategories of codes and analyzing their relation to each other. In order to do this, the content of the codes was analyzed again and, if necessary, reassigned to different codes (Boeije, 2010). This process is called axial coding and was done to comprehend the importance of different codes and to further organize the list of codes by giving them a hierarchy (Boeije, 2010).

After writing a code tree, a selective coding analysis was conducted. The aim was to define code categories so that relationships between these categories could be established (Boeije, 2010). The written analysis that intended to answer the research questions could thus be conducted, and relations between the research units could be established. Hereby it was possible to not only compare the research units that belonged to the same group (partners, customers and employees of ETO) but to examine links and differences about the needs and opinions of the different research units, too.

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The results section was analyzed according to the different main topics that were present in the interviews, which are “CRM strategy”, “Customer knowledge management”, “Marketing”, “Interaction management” and “Relationships”. While “Marketing”, “Interaction Management” and “Relationships” all refer to the main point “Interaction management” as indicated in the theoretical framework, this setup was chosen in order to generate a better understanding and a clearer overview of what was said in relation to the different sub-topics. The reason for analyzing the results according to their interest group relevance instead of analyzing the results per interview is that this way it was possible to compare the results of the different interviewees, and analyze them in relation to each other.

Subsequently the answer of the research questions provides a clear-cut view on the distinct needs of ETO, partners, and customers.

Lastly, the theoretical implications were discussed in order to find the relevance of the field research for the theory on CRM.

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4. Research findings

In the following chapter, the results of the field research are discussed. Subsequently, the research questions are answered. Finally, a discussion gives an overview of the validity and the reliability of the research.

4.1. Results

In this section, the results of the field research are analyzed and presented in order to be able to answer the research questions in the subsequent sub-chapter.

4.1.1. CRM Strategy

During the discussion of the CRM strategy it became apparent that the goals in CRM are to increase transparency of customer interactions, to gain a better overview of past interactions, and also to see which activities a customer might be interested in (Brinkschmidt). Furthermore, efficiency and

effectiveness of the work are supposed to be achieved (Kok). For Ms. Rieger, it is especially important that quality and professionalism are improved. Additionally, a new CRM strategy should improve service orientation towards customers and partners, as well as communication within the team (Rieger). Concretely, the CRM strategy should help to achieve the goal of forming ten clusters of companies in the next project period (Rieger).

When implementing a new CRM strategy, the team is ready to spend around two to three months to employ the strategy at the start of the next project period (Rieger). A general great readiness to invest time and effort was observed (“However much [time] is necessary”, Brinkschmidt; “If we profit from it, we participate well”, Kok; “that we all carry it together is a precondition, really”, Hehmann) which is why no significant risks were expected. Investing in professional CRM training is desired, which minimizes risks. In order to increase transparency, both all kinds of customer contact moments and task

distribution should be integrated in the system (Rieger).

In the beginning, the CRM strategy will be used only by the team members of ETO. In the future, it is desirable that partners are able to make use of the insights gathered within CRM, but it is not expected that they will use the same CRM system (Rieger; Porskamp). AT states that it would also be interested in using a CRM system, and in learning from ETO’s experiences in order to gain more customer knowledge itself but also for cooperating better with ETO. The team expects that a CRM system should “present the workflow, maybe from request, generation of offer, contract, invoicing” (Brinkschmidt), offer a good search engine and bundle the data to statistics (Rieger; Hehmann). Furthermore, it is supposed to support the team in selecting customers by both increasing the knowledge about the customers and showing the level of interest of the contact (Rieger). In terms of content, both profit- and non-profit relations should be integrated in the system though not necessarily end customers, thus primarily businesses (Hehmann; Brinkschmidt). Furthermore, the team would like that “at some point of time, everything would be integrated” (Brinkschmidt) meaning that one interface should include every type of technology that is used.

4.1.2. Customer knowledge management

Currently at ETO, customer knowledge is primarily stored in the heads of the employees, in paper folders and with a task management platform called “Basecamp” (Brinkschmidt; Hehmann). Until now only personal and transaction-based information is stored in any way, while communication is not

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documented, except for E-Mail contact which is still quite disorganized (Rieger; Brinkschmidt). Amongst each other, knowledge is shared by writing E-Mails, allotting tasks in Basecamp, and asking in person (Brinkschmidt; Rieger; Kok). However, the latter is difficult since the team isn’t always present in the office which is something that should thus be supported with a CRM strategy in the future (Rieger; Kok). Content should include customer preferences, customer business information, and industry, changed contact details, relationships (“XY happens to know X”, Hehmann),

communication data, and social media insights (Hehmann; Kok; Brinkschmidt). In the future, the extent of information collected and worked with should increase greatly (“the more you know, the better you can approach them”, Kok), and the amount of knowledge about the customer should become larger and easier to manage (Rieger).

The extent to which knowledge about customer interaction is shared with partners differs to the requirements of the partner, and on how much trust there is (Rieger; Kok). RMT states that there appears to be quite a problem in knowledge management between ETO and its partners, as first customers like them had to send all their information to yet another partner, who forwards it to TBT, and TBT is supposed to send it on further which RMT claims is not working so that why all information from them is now also directly forwarded to TBT, though not to ETO.

4.1.3. Marketing

Customer loyalty is considered to be important as it both shows that previous cooperation was successful, and also increases the knowledge about a customer (Kok). It is also very important that communication is good and frequent, as it gives feedback and “is [their] right to exist” (Brinkschmidt). AT agrees that customer loyalty is very important and that even though the offer might not be

important for all companies, those that profit from it should make use of it. TBT is a bit more careful and says that customer loyalty shouldn’t be important, but rather that the customers’ needs are met. TBT thinks that if customers think that they can “do that [themselves] for a substantial part” (TBT) then they should do it themselves, and only get back to the offers if they really need help. Both think that customers will participate again if they see the advantage for participation immediately (TBT; AT). When it comes to the customers asked, both state that they would make use of the offers of the RBTs and ETO again, but would like more funds (MV) or an offer that meets their needs (RMT). RMT specifically states that the offer currently is not relevant, but should it become relevant then RMT would

participate. MV also mentions that while it knows the offers of ETO well, most other similar companies are not in contact with ETO and have less time available.

In terms of the content of the offer, ETO wants to personalize its offer to the customers by having a look at their individual needs and giving advice on what service would fit best (Hehmann). It wants to have offers that are “at the forefront” (Rieger), but ETO also wants to make sure that its offer is within its responsibility, so that companies do not receive services that commercial institutions could offer also (Rieger). ETO does want to offer services that are mostly based on providing assistance on

cooperation (Rieger). It is important for ETO that the services remain flexible so that they can always be adapted to meet the customer’s needs and allow a flexible positioning (Rieger).

TBT states that the offers that TBT and ETO offer together are not sufficiently customized yet (“It’s still too much of a collective platform [...] insufficiently adapted to the needs”, TBT), which is in line with the issue that was constantly present during the RMT interview: the fact that ETO does not sufficiently

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represent the cultural sector, and does not have offers that appeal to a cultural institution like RMT (“we don’t participate in [their offer] because it just doesn’t help me. These are not my customers”, RMT; “[the offer] could be a lot more important [...] Euregio and TBT together focus entirely on the tourism market of the overnight recreation”, RMT; “the project of the Euregio doesn’t provide for that yet”, TBT).

In terms of customer needs, the answers differ. TBT and AT both mention that customers really need to be made aware of the advantages of cooperating and of the issues they need to consider before

entering the German market. AT mostly considers the direct economic advantage and impact by receiving more German visitors to be the most important customer need. MV says that it requires support in marketing, and thus also financial means, and no educational activities such as courses while RMT is “looking for someone who can help [it] to communicate with all those cultural companies at the other side” (RMT). This is surprisingly in contrast to ETO’s assessment that companies such as RMT would not need that (“ultimately the big players find each other anyway; we, of course, have to assist where no one finds each other”, Rieger).

Both the partners and the customers are of the opinion that these needs are not always met. AT says that “the needs are bigger than [they] know at the moment [...] more potential, definitely” (AT). TBT says that the customers need to be stimulated to make use of the offers, but that TBT and ETO together are taking the first steps in meeting these needs. MV is of the opinion that needs would be met better if German employees worked with Dutch customers on how to approach the German market, instead of Dutch employees. RMT says that its needs are not yet met, but that it trusts that if ETO and the RBTs together focus on offering services that are relevant, RMT trusts them to meet those needs, too.

The importance of the joint offer is to be considered quite high though (AT; TBT). Both MV and RMT say that the offers could be more important if their needs were addressed better.

Awareness of the offers is considered limited (AT; TBT). MV and RMT both are very aware of the

services that are offered, but MV says that this is not the case for most other camping grounds (“We are an exception, yes”, MV). AT says that this is due to the fact that AT was not yet able to even

communicate its own offers sufficiently as it is a young organization still, and that thus the border-crossing offers weren’t well-known either. AT thinks that integrating the offers of ETO and AT better would help with this. TBT expects that personal communication with more customers and organizing meetings more frequently would help to increase that awareness. MV also mentions that awareness could be improved by letting ETO join the meetings that AT offers more often, and vice versa.

4.1.4. Interaction management

In terms of interaction management, it becomes clear that the only selection of customers ETO makes is when they consider which customers might be interested in the offers, often “with the help of [their partners]” (Brinkschmidt). Customer attraction mostly happens by consulting them and by sharing knowledge, such as creating awareness of the size of the neighbouring market and thus convincing them of the business advantage of engaging in the neighbouring market (Kok). A subsequent

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development of guest numbers (Rieger). No internal evaluation seems to take place, though, which is in line with the limited selection of customers.

In the past, interaction with customers was quite difficult due to limited time availability, as contact with customers was mostly just initiated when ETO offered something new, and often follow-up acquisition did not take place (Brinkschmidt). Interaction was mostly managed via electronic sources such as Microsoft Office, E-Mail, and sometimes WhatsApp (Hehmann; Brinkschmidt; Rieger). In the future this is supposed to change in a way that a much larger number of possibly interested customers are approached in kick-off events during which they will receive information on what is generally possibly in the next few years, what the advantages of cooperating are, and subsequently the level of interest is noted and used to make further acquisition (Rieger). This is in line with the proposition by TBT which is to first do general research on all customers and see who is interested in the offers, and then work with those who are interested (TBT). Interaction is also possibly going to take place via LinkedIn groups (Kok). Partners help during the interaction with customers by supplying addresses and answering requests (Brinkschmidt). However, it became apparent that ETO experiences quite little support from the Dutch partners (“In the Netherlands, they don’t [help]”, Kok; “from own initiative nothing happens though, unfortunately”, Brinkschmidt). In contrast, both partners state that interaction should go via them (AT; TBT). MV is very satisfied with communication possibilities and states that it just directly interacts with ETO instead of going via TBT, while RMT says that communication possibilities “basically aren’t there”.

Regarding initiative, ETO expects that customers contact ETO if they want to make use of the services (“that’s the basis, that is what we assume”, Brinkschmidt), but RMT wishes that the initiative comes from ETO instead (“I just expect a pro-active attitude towards us from Euregio and not the other way round. So I expect that Euregio comes to me and asks about how can I represent the region in Germany better with your product”, RMT). MV thinks that their good awareness of ETO, which is better than of other customers, is related to the fact that they are very proactive. Accordingly a more pro-active approach from Euregio can help to reach more companies.

Interaction with partners mostly takes place via E-Mail and a few meetings per year by engaging in several working groups, but initiative usually doesn’t come from them (Rieger; Brinkschmidt). In the future, that is supposed to change as ETO employees are intending to work at the location of the partners several times per week (Rieger). Partners themselves, as well as one of the two customers interviewed, mentioned this as a great possibility to increase interaction and accordingly improve the relationship between ETO and its partners while simultaneously increasing customer satisfaction by integrating the offers better (“Yes. Well, I think that that is really better because then [...] there is more involvement from the RBTs, then [...] they see ‘okay it’s a direct colleague of ours’ [...] And that also creates the feeling that ‘it’s something from us’, and now it’s too much of ‘it’s something of Euregio’”, TBT; “we look for a model in which the people from Euregio perhaps work a lot more from here, so that you can bring the German market subservient to the customers much better,” AT; “the entire problem in this entire region is just that incredibly many people are busy with the same thing [...] it’s going to change, I think, by putting it all much more into one department, and that seems to be very sensible to me”, RMT). Moreover, AT says that interaction already works very well.

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A general requirement seems to be a more integrated communication chain (“border crossing marketing becomes part of the regional offices”, AH; “we wish that this communication chain is

integrated in all directions”, Rieger; “marketing [...] should be an integrated part of the organizations of the RBTs”, TBT; MV; RMT) which was mentioned in every interview conducted. MV suspects that

competition is the reason why this is not working well yet and that they should come to each other’s meetings. The partners do expect that this integration will work better once ETO employees work at the partner’s offices (AT; TBT).

4.1.5. Relationships

The relationship with Dutch customers appears to be good. ETO mentions that it depends on the customer; that you had a good relationship with one and less contact with another, and that contact sometimes takes place via the partners, and sometimes directly (Kok). It is important that good relationships exist with the customers (“our right to exist”, Brinkschmidt; Kok; Hehmann) The customers asked both said that the relationship is really good (“Quite good and quite intensive [...] they’re all good acquaintances”, MV; “Well, quite good. [...] they are always very helpful”, RMT). The partners had a differing opinion about this, while AT considered the relationship between customers and ETO to be very limited and wishes it would be better (“it is just limited for the SMEs in the Achterhoek, too limited, according to me”, AT), TBT considers the relationship to be good, but is unhappy that customers experience ETO as an independent unit instead of as part of the RBTs.

The relationship between customers seems to be important for all parties asked. RMT says that they would like ETO to bring together the customers of the region which is their “largest problem [...] the establishment of contacts in the German speaking area” (RMT), by for example bringing together all marketing managers from the cultural institutions from the entire region or also providing funding in joint campaigns. MV says that they hardly cooperate with customers across the border for the time being, but that it “should become more intensive” (MV). MV expects that ETO works to get “more cooperation of Dutch and German companies together” (MV), but also that ETO should help customers on the Dutch side of the border to join forces in doing marketing in Germany together. The partners also think that this is important, and AT mentions that similar companies could be brought together to do marketing together, but that it needs to be organized by the partners and ETO. TBT and ETO both mention similar matchmaking like that, which should allow knowledge exchange (TBT; Rieger; Hehmann; Kok). This should be supported by a B2B platform (TBT). AH and RMT also mention that German customers could participate in existing campaigns of Dutch customers.

It is clear that ETO wants to have good relationships with their partners, and appears to be very

understanding of their attitude (“[good partner relationships are] the most important thing, really [...] if we do not have good contact and no trust then the project isn’t working [...] actually, we’re working for them”, Kok; “it wasn’t meant reproachfully, we would act in the same way”, Brinkschmidt). TBT and AT both say that the relationship with ETO is good, though limited in the case of AT (“they always have cooperated well, so according to me it’s great”, AT; “We have good contact with the office of Euregio”, TBT).

However, there seems to be some dissatisfaction in the way ETO presents themselves to the customers and in the way ETO coordination takes place. TBT is unhappy that customers still see that contact takes place from ETO instead of via them, even if ETO mentions that they come in the name of the partners

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(“they present themselves as employees of the Euregio, then they do say that they come in the name of the RBTs but [...] companies do often see that the contact was with Euregio”, TBT). TBT believes that if employees from ETO actually work there and are able to communicate better with TBT then they can “much more easily think about things” (TBT) and integrate the offer for the German market to the entire offer of the partners. They could then also be the contact person for customers to present the services available for the German market (TBT).

This goes in line with the partners needs, which are “direct involvement [...] within the organizations of the RBTs, shorter lines of communication, knowledge [...] about the German and Dutch market” (TBT; “bind expertise to our organization, that we are able to offer a better offer to the SMEs”, AT). TBT further mentions the expectation that ETO handles the administrative work and the financial sources. ETO also says that the contact should be in the name of the partners, even if they do the work (“we are the service providers for the partners [...] their extended arm”, Rieger; “it’s not really about who does the work but in whose name the initial contact is established with the companies”, Kok).

4.2. Research conclusion

After having analyzed the research findings in the previous chapter it is now possible to answer the research questions “What are the needs of ETO for managing relationships with its customers?”, “What are the interaction needs of ETO’s Dutch partners?” and “What are the interaction needs of ETO’s Dutch customers?”. Further, the theoretical implications of the research findings are presented.

4.2.1. What are the needs of ETO for managing relationships with its customers?

In the following paragraphs, the four sub-questions that deal with the needs of ETO in CRM are answered. Thus ETO’s CRM strategy, the customer knowledge management needs, the customer interaction needs and the customer relationship needs are discussed.

What is ETO’s CRM strategy?]

ETO’s CRM strategy goals are to increase transparency of customer interactions, to gain an overview of past interactions, and to increase internal communication. Furthermore, ETO wants to become more professional, improve the quality of its services, and increase efficiency and effectiveness of its employees. Through this, service orientation and the possibility to meet the customers’ needs are supposed to be increased. Concretely, CRM should help to achieve the goal of forming ten clusters of customer partnerships.

ETO has quite an extensive amount of time available to implement a new CRM strategy, namely two to three months, and is willing to make use of professional training to make full use of it. Furthermore, ETO wants automation to take place in CRM which means that for example during implementation, its customer data are automatically added to any technology that is part of the new strategy.

The CRM strategy will initially be only used by the employees of ETO, though the possibility should remain to include more members, such as other partners, as this was deemed possible both by ETO and by one of the partners. The technology used to implement the CRM strategy should present the entire workflow of request of service, generation of the offer, and invoicing of the contract, and also integrate all contact moments with customers and the tasks of employees. It should also have a good search engine, generate relevant statistics of, for example, the overview of services provided in a

Connecting the border

Connecting the border

Customer Relationship Management at the

Euregio Tourism Office

Student: Lena Gerding, 301791

First Examiner: Gijs Theunissen

Second Examiner: Adriaan Kauffmann

Connecting the border

Customer Relationship Management

at the Euregio Tourism Office

Bachelor Thesis

Acknowledgements

Management Summary

Table of contents

List of tables and figures

Glossary of terms

1. Introduction

1.2.1.

Reason for the thesis

1.2.2.

Advice objective and management question

1.2.3.

Research objective and research questions

2. Theoretical framework

3. Methodological justifications

4. Research findings

4.1.1.

CRM Strategy

4.1.2.

Customer knowledge management

4.1.3.

Marketing

4.1.4.

Interaction management

4.1.5.

Relationships

4.2.1.

What are the needs of ETO for managing relationships with its customers?