ICT and e-Business in the Pulp, Paper and Paper ... - empirica

Pulp, paper and paper products
e-Business W@tch also asked companies whether their ICT system had links to that of
customers. About 15% of medium-sized and 25% of large firms in the P&P industry said
that they had established such links. This need not be directly related with collaborative
CRM, however. It is also possible, that these links are part of an integrated e-commerce
scheme between companies, e.g. via dedicated EDI connections.
A majority of those companies that use a CRM system reported that it had been "very
helpful" or "rather helpful" in marketing (82%), for developing new products/services
(63%) and for improving customer service (83%). These figures are quite similar to those
for the telecommunications industry, a prime user of CRM (see Exhibit 3-34). However,
the comparison also shows that telecommunication companies are slightly more
'enthusiastic' about CRM: the percentage of companies that find CRM "very helpful" is
significantly higher than in the P&P industry, where more companies feel it is merely a
"rather helpful" tool.
Exhibit 3-34: Perceived usefulness of CRM systems – a comparison between the P&P and
the telecommunications industry
100
Pulp & paper
Telecommunication
80
60
40
46
43
36 35
29
32
20
0
36
20
47 49
38
60
Effectiveness
of marketing
activities
Development
of new
services
Improving
customer
service
Effectiveness
of marketing
activities
Development
of new
services
Improving
customer
service
"Very helpful"
"Rather helpful
Base (100%): Companies using a CRM system, without "Don't know". N (for P&P industry, EU-10) ~ 135
Weighting: in % of enterprises. Questionnaire reference: F3a-c.
Source: e-Business W@tch (Survey 2006)
78