UK Business News

Business secretary Peter Mandelson has attacked the ‘lazy assumption’ that Britain doesn’t make anything anymore, while visiting a company in Cambridge that specialise in Touch Screen technology.

“The reality is British manufacturing employs more people than the financial services sector. We are the sixth biggest manufacturer on earth and manufacturing is one of biggest exports and for that reason it’s critical for Britain’s fight back to growth and for the decades after that.” says Mandelson.

He adds that UK manufacturing has changed over the last thirty years but what he believes has emerged from that transformation is a World leading 21st century manufacturing base.

Mandelson has announced the latest government initiative to pump £150million into a package of ‘major new measures’ aimed at helping manufacturers take advantage of new technologies, particularly in the aerospace industry.

When the modern-day organisation has Customer Relationship Management as one of its key resources, it is in possession of an integrated information system which can be used for all planning, scheduling and controlling of pre- and post-sales interventions.

From its tentative beginnings in the late ‘80s, CRM has become increasingly intuitive and capable of being tailored to individual organisation’s needs. Finding an appropriate package is the challenge CEO’s face. And all the advice available points to the crucial need to bring on board those members of the workforce whose daily work practices will be most affected by the advent of CRM. To this end, it is advisable to include representatives from finance/management, sales, marketing, customer services and IT in any CRM team.

With its impressive umbrella capacity, CRM takes care of an organisation’s handling of potential as well as signed-up customers. This capability extends to management of the sales team, of the firm’s call centre and marketing, as well as virtually every aspect of technical support. Obtaining a strong handle on customer behaviour, as all organisations know, is the key to profitability. CRM is used as a means of enhancing that profitability and long-term growth.