Improving customer relationship management (CRM) system development for Zain Telecom company

According to our research Zain understands the importance of being aware of customer needs and responding effectively to them. CRM projects help Zain understand, anticipate and respond to the needs of its customers in Iraq, which ultimately leads to improved customer performance. Zain Iraq is currently the industry leader in Iraq with a 52% share of the Iraqi telecommunications market. Still, this is not the end of Zain's path, as Zain established a new business vision in 2019, based on which he intends to become the digital leader in the region. This requires a deep commitment to customers and stakeholders that will enable the Zain to reinvent itself, and transform and move towards its vision. In 2014, Zain Iraq invested in enriching the capabilities of the current CRM system by launching the following: dealer relationship management; sales force automation; CRM analytics; product catalogs; commissioning system [2].

Dealer relationship management. The sales manager is responsible for managing and marketing the sales relationship. This team provides quality services to customers by meeting the business needs of customers and the company. The overall responsibility of this team is to establish sales relationships that create contracts based on the company's established credit risk and profitability models.

Sales force automation . Refers to software programs for sales management. Sales force automation creates an automated workflow that creates a simple process for managing business path, sales forecasts, and team performance. Sales force automation may also be known as sales force management.

CRM analytics. CRM analytics is data that shows the company's sales and customer service performance. CRM analytics also provides customer data that can be used to make more accurate business decisions. Typically, CRM software is used to obtain CRM analytics and automate the data collection and reporting process. CRM is a critical analytics for businesses of all sizes, especially for growing organizations with many leads.

When a company has to deal with a large number of customers at the same time, it is difficult to understand where each customer is in the sales funnel. In this context, analytics tools and CRM collect and track customer interactions and analyze their behavior in the product and website. CRM interprets information analytically and matches practical tips or reports. Analytical CRM helps the company identify the location needed to invest in the company's time, money and resources [1]. Easy user interface, higher acceptance rate and automatic data entry give the company clean data that provides accurate reports to identify opportunities and better forecast.

Catalog of products . A product catalog is a marketing pledge that lists the basic product details that help buyers make purchasing decisions. These details include product features, descriptions, prices, availability, customer reviews and more.

Commissioning system refers to the process of ensuring the ability to track information, which usually requires the use of powerful IT tools.

Given the above activities, it is believed that Zain has been able to make a major change in his CRM system in the last 6 years. To examine this subject, the company's financial situation during the years 2014-2020 can be inspected [3]. Table shows this information.

Table. Zain Iraq Annual Reports

Source: Zain Iraq Annual Reports 2014-2020

According to the annual report on the performance of the Iraqi Zain, there is a sharp decline in customers from 2014 to 2015, but after that, customer growth continues to rise. The same is true for Revenues. It is observed that Revenues have decreased in 2015 compared to 2014 and also has decreased in 2016, but in 2017 and 2018, the trend turns towards increase. In 2020, with the outbreak of COVID 19, the company revenues, compared to the year 2019, has dropped by 12%. The chart below shows these fluctuations for the number of customers and Revenues of the company during the years 2014-2015.

Chart - Zain Iraq customer and Revenues 2014-2020

However, in order to evaluate the company's performance, we should also pay attention to the company's market share in relation to the two main competitors, which increased from 39% in 2015 to 52% in 2020 [5]. Based on the above evaluations of the performance of Zain Company of Iraq, it can be concluded that Zain has been able to use the aforementioned activities in order to develop and strengthen its CRM system to be somewhat successful in attracting. As can be seen, the company's market share has always been increasing as did it customer count, even during 2019 and to the end of 2020. This period coincides with the rapid Corona outbreak, but the number of customers has nonetheless increased by 3%. This indicates the company's success in implementing the CRM system. A glance at the company's revenue, however, shows that the increase in this area has fallen short of the market share and customers indicators. Therefore, it seems that the current activities, while being effective in increasing the number of customers, have high operating costs, which has made the company unable to increase profit performance. Therefore, it is necessary to review the current activities to reduce the company's costs as much as possible in order to achieve a greater increase in revenue. Also, considering the 12% decrease in revenues and the 19% decrease in the company's EBITDA, it seems necessary to revisit the CRM system processes in the company during the pandemic period.

Zain now offers a variety of services to customers with different needs and expectations. The result is customer loyalty. Studies have shown that customers' expectations and experiences have changed, and they want to manage their communications more intelligently. This means that some companies fail in CRM projects. This failure directly jeopardizes their investment and wastes their time. This study shows that Zain has made progress in CRM projects and initiatives. According to the cases, Zain is the leader of a company that is committed to and supports customers. Zain has planned and implemented campaigns to maintain relationships with its customers. These factors helped Zain to make progress in the CRM project, and Zain Iraq is now the leading telecommunications company in the region. This success is despite the years of political instability, increased competition, and the implementation of a new sales tax law, all of which affect the cost of mobile services. On top of all these challenges, the recent outbreak of the Quaid-19 epidemic has posed challenges in the company’s financial performance. Still, the company kept trying to maintain its market share by using support programs and customer relations, and analysis and evaluation of its annual performance shows that it has been able to succeed in this field. Analysis reveals that companies benefit from the correct implementation of a CRM system. Based on this study, it is suggested to use a social network-based approach to develop a CRM system, and to reduce costs simultaneously. The proposed solutions help to develop the corporate CRM system, establish and improve customer relationships to increase competition in a competitive market.

In the future, the activities of Zain Iraq should be based on interaction and long-term customer relationships [4], in addition to emphasizing sales. Therefore, the results of the activities suggested by the author allowed us to conclude that performing social CRM measures can greatly help reduce the company's CRM costs.