Customer Relationship Management

68 Customer Relationship Management Nikita Fernando1, Barathakanthan1, Dr. C. Ranil Peiris2 Department of Information Technology, Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, University of Sri Jayewardenepura 1nikitafernan[email protected]m, 2barathkanth[email protected]m 3[email protected] Background Business Domain Software development companies need a CRM system that is tailored to their specific needs. Current CRMs are too generic and do not provide all of the features that these companies need. A new CRM system that is specifically designed for software development companies would help them to streamline their operations and improve their customer relationships. The proposed CRM system would include features such as contact management, ticket management, progress tracking, payment processing, and client chatbots. By integrating all of these features into a single platform, the system would help software development companies to better understand their customers' needs, deliver personalized experiences, and improve project efficiency. Overview of the existing systems Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is essential for software development companies to manage customer interactions, improve satisfaction, and streamline business processes. At present, software companies use various platforms to manage customer relationships such as Salesforce, HubSpot CRM and Zoho CRM. Salesforce offers a wide range of features for sales, marketing, customer service, and analytics whereas Zoho CRM offers a suite of tools for sales force automation, marketing automation, customer support, and analytics. HubSpot provides a free CRM platform that includes contact management, email tracking, and integration with other HubSpot tools for marketing and sales automation. 69 System Analysis Problems with Existing Systems: One of the primary issues is the lack of integration with project management tools. Current CRM platforms typically focus on communication aspects, leaving project tracking and ticket management to separate project management tools. This disjointed setup forces developers and clients to switch between multiple platforms, leading to inefficiencies and complexities in managing projects. Moreover, existing CRM systems often overlook the need for collaboration between developers and clients within the CRM environment. This lack of collaboration features impedes effective teamwork on project development and may result in misunderstandings or delays. Another challenge is the fragmented client view within existing CRM platforms. Clients may struggle to navigate through the system to gain a comprehensive understanding of their projects and communications with the company, leading to potential dissatisfaction. Furthermore, the absence of built-in project management capabilities in current CRM systems makes it difficult for project managers to track project progress, allocate resources, and manage tickets efficiently. Manual processes for developer allocation further exacerbate these challenges, potentially causing delays in project delivery. Differentiation on Problem identification We are focusing on changing the viewpoint to highlight the possible overlooked advantages and untapped possibilities of integration. In a world where productivity and cooperation are critical, the current state of fragmented systems may unintentionally mask underlying inefficiencies and unrealized possibilities. Consider a situation in which disparate systems, while apparently working together, unintentionally produce silos that inhibit creativity and prevent collaboration. Organizations may 70 unintentionally reduce their ability to improve customer happiness and streamline processes by failing to recognize this. Thus, imagining the transformative potential of integration rather than pinpointing the problems at hand is the creative solution. Imagine a single ecosystem in which project management and communication work in perfect harmony to spark a free exchange of ideas and actions. By means of this integration, inefficiencies vanish, complexity decompose, and a cascade of productivity materializes. In this innovative setting, every interaction is a chance to learn, and every group project propels progress. Solution The proposed new CRM solution aims to address these shortcomings by providing integrated communication, project management, and ticketing functionalities within a single platform. By facilitating seamless collaboration between developers and clients, offering comprehensive project tracking capabilities, organizing projects based on client contacts, and streamlining developer allocation, the new CRM solution seeks to enhance efficiency, transparency, and client satisfaction in managing software development projects. There is no need to switch between different platforms thanks to the seamless integration of communication and project management features in the proposed CRM system. By streamlining workflow, this consolidation lowers inefficiencies. Furthermore, it fosters productive teamwork between developers and clients by improving collaboration with features like realtime messaging and client chatbots. Additionally, the system has extensive project monitoring features that let managers keep an eye on developments, assign resources wisely, and handle tickets with effectiveness. A cohesive perspective of their projects helps clients, enhancing their experience and encouraging loyalty. Furthermore, by using automated procedures to streamline resource allocation, the system guarantees faster reaction times and reduces project delays. All things considered, the integrated CRM 71 system greatly improves client happiness, efficiency, and transparency in the management of software development projects. Requirement Analysis Function name Administrator / employee module Client module Project Management • Adding a new Project. • View all ongoing and completed projects. • Update details of a particular project. • View a particular project. • Delete a completed project • Add new Stages for a project • Update a Stage of a project • Delete a stage of a project. • View all ongoing and completed project status Tickets Management • Creating a ticket. • Updating a ticket • Deleting a ticket. • view all tickets. • Creating a ticket. • Updating a ticket • Deleting a ticket. 72 • view all tickets. Report Generation and statistics • Requesting a project report • Downloading a project report in PDF form. • View project statistics Client communication • Send and receive messages to clients • Send and receive messages to employees Objectives of the Application Development Project The primary objective of integrated CRM systems is to provide a single platform for performing all essential customer relationship management functions. Further, this system also aims on providing easiness to user and improving efficiency in managing data. This centralization of customer data and streamlining of workflows eliminates the need for employees to switch between multiple apps or platforms. Additionally, integrated CRM systems connect employees and clients on the same platform, enabling clients to view project status, communicate with employees via chatbot, and raise tickets. 73 System Design Figure 10:Usecase diagram 74 System Development Development Methodology used: As the development methodology, the Waterfall Method was used, and the team followed the stages of the Software Development Life Cycle. The team initially worked on gathering the requirements, specifically functional and non-functional requirements, followed by the design phase. The team came up with data, process and interface designs using tools such as draw.io and Adobe XD. Then the team focused on the development of the project using the proposed framework. Finally, the entire system was well tested manually. Technologies used: Visual Studio Code was used as the development environment. MERN Stack was used to develop the application where Mongo DB was used as a database. React Js for Frontend, while Express Js for middleware and Node Js for backend. Further Git tool was used as a version control as this project is developed as a team. Conclusion The necessary initial steps were taken by designing the UI using Adobe XD and was implemented with React for frontend, Node JS for backend, Express JS for server-side framework and MongoDB as the database. Our system primarily focuses on providing benefits such as enhancing customer satisfaction by providing a better customer experience. This also provides benefits through its unified nature which allows to eliminate the need for ad hoc tools. However, this is not accessible through mobile devices in form of mobile apps and it is depended on internet connectivity. Given said that, we are planning to expand this application for android and IOS users and to add more features such as online payment method and notifications of customer requests. In conclusion, we have identified the need for a specialized CRM system for software development companies. Our 75 proposed system will provide a unified platform for managing all aspects of customer relationships, from contact and lead management to ticket tracking, progress tracking, payment processing, and client chatbots. By integrating all of these features into a single platform, we can help software development companies to streamline their operations and improve their customer relationships.