Supply

chain

management

(SCM) is in

the

management the

of

network
[1]

of

interconnected businesses involved

ultimate

provision Supply chain

of product and service packages required by end customers (Harland, 1996).

management spans all movement and storage of raw materials, work-in-process inventory, and finished goods from point of origin to point of consumption ( supply chain). Another definition is provided by the APICS Dictionary when it defines SCM as the "design, planning, execution, control, and monitoring of supply chain activities with the objective of creating net value, building a competitive infrastructure, leveraging worldwide logistics, synchronizing supply with demand and measuring performance globally." Activities/functions Supply chain management is a cross-function approach including managing the movement of raw materials into an organization, certain aspects of the internal processing of materials into finished goods, and the movement of finished goods out of the organization and toward the end-consumer. As organizations strive to focus on core competencies and becoming more flexible, they reduce their ownership of raw materials sources and distribution channels. These functions are increasingly being o utsourced to other entities that can perform the activities better or more cost effectively. The effect is to increase the number of organizations involved in satisfying customer demand, while reducing management control of daily logistics operations. Less control and more supply chain partners led to the creation of supply chain management concepts. The purpose of supply chain management is to improve trust and collaboration among supply chain partners, thus improving inventory visibility and the velocity of inventory movement. Several models have been proposed for understanding the activities required to manage material movements across organizational and functional boundaries. SCOR is a supply chain management model promoted by the Supply Chain Council. Another model is the SCM Model proposed by the Global Supply Chain Forum (GSCF). Supply chain activities can be grouped into strategic, tactical, and operational levels . The CSCMP has adopted The American Productivity & Quality Center (APQC) Process Classification Framework SM a highlevel, industry-neutral enterprise process model that allows organizations to see their business processes from a cross-industry viewpoint. [6]

CRM means Customer Relationship Management . It can be defined like the art and science of how companies manage their customers. We can also say that it is a way to identify, acquire, and retain customers, a business' greatest asset. Research has shown that companies that create satisfied loyal customers, have more repeated business, lower customer-acquisition costs, and stronger brand value; all of which translates into better financial performance. Nowadays, customers interact with an organization via multiple

communications channels like the Web, call centres, field salespeople, dealers and partner networks. Many organizations also have multiple lines of business that interact with the same customers. The challenge is to make it easy for customers to do business with the organization the way the customer wants (any time, via any channel, in any language or currency) and to make customers feel that they are dealing with a single, unified organization that recognizes them every step of the way. According to one industry view, CRM consists of: 1. Helping a company to identify and target their best customers, manage marketing campaigns with clear goals and objectives, and generate quality leads for th e sales team. 2. Assisting the organization to improve telesales, account, and sales management by optimising information shared by multiple employees. 3. Allowing the formation of individualized relationships with customers, with the aim of improving customer satisfaction and maximizing profits; identifying the most profitable customers and providing them the highest level of service. 4. Providing employees with the information and processes necessary to know their customers, understand their needs, and effectively build relationships between the company, its customer base, and distribution partners. Two examples of this kind of software: LivePerson, an American software which is recognized for a long time thanks to the quality of its products. Nomino, software developed in Quebec.6 Push Technology Internet and information systems allow the company to speak to the customer not as an undifferentiated consumer (mass-media) or as a member of a market segment relatively well defined according to the age, the incomes, but as a single consumer. The Americans call this, direct marketing one to one.

Knowledge Management System (KM System) refers to a (generally generated via or through to an IT based program/department or section) system for managing knowledge in organizations for supporting creation, capture, storage and dissemination of information. It can comprise a part (neither necessary nor sufficient) of a Knowledge Management initiative. The idea of a KM system is to enable employees to have ready access to the organization's documented base of facts, sources of information, and solutions. For example a typical claim justifying the creation of a KM system might run something like this: an engineer could know the metallurgical composition of an alloy that reduces sound in gear systems. Sharing this information organization wide can lead to more effective engine design and it could also lead to ideas for new or improved equipment. A KM system could be any of the following: 1. Document based i.e. any technology that permits creation/management/sharing of formatted documents such as Lotus Notes, web, distributed databases etc. 2. Ontology/Taxonomy based: these are similar to document technologies in the sense that a system of terminologies (i.e. ontology) are used to summarize the document e.g. Author, Subj, Organization etc. as in DAML & other XML based ontologies 3. Based on AI technologies which use a customized representation scheme to represent the problem domain. 4. Provide network maps of the organization showing the flow of communication between entities and individuals 5. Increasingly social computing tools are being deployed to provide a more organic approach to creation of a KM system.

Benefits Scmis Lower supply and storage costs Smooth flow of goods inwards and outwards Better inventory management Powerful delivery scheduling Lean and flexible operation End-to-end visibility of supply and demand A faster response to events in any part of the supply chain

CRM BENEFITS INCLUDE: Sales Automation: Complete control of the sales pipeline by empowering sales teams to effectively manage, forecast and report on all phases of the sales cycle. Customer Care: Ensuring satisfaction in customer interactions and even allowing customers controlled access. Marketing Automation: Tracking ROI of marketing programmes by automating, tracking and analysing every marketing campaign, from one-time e-mail communications to multi-faceted marketing programmes.

The benefits of CRM are clear. CRM allows organizations to build more profitable customer relationships and decrease operating costs. Sales organizations can shorten the sales cycle and increase key sales-performance metrics such as average order size, and revenue per customer Marketing organizations can increase campaign response rates Customer service organizations can increase service-agent productivity and customer retention while decreasing service costs, response times, and request-resolution times The last past years have seen a strong development of CRM among every business.

This is due to the development of computer network in companies. The information systems indeed enable to link all the different parts of a company thanks to networks. As a result, tools have4 emerged that allow to store, to sort, to exchange and to analyse all the information within a company. It is especially the case for customers. Companies use information system in order to improve greatly their CRM. The technology allows identifying a customer like a unique person with an historical business background with the company each time he/she do business with the company and whatever the way (appointment, letters ) used. As a result it secures the loyalty of customers. Information systems also are useful for a marketing point of view. In a nutshell across every sector and industry, effective CRM is a strategic imperative for corporate growth and survival. As we are going to see all customer information are store in databases so that the company knows better its target customer. Benefits of KM Systems Some of the advantages claimed for KM systems are: 1. Sharing of valuable organizational information throughout organizational hierarchy. 2. Can avoid re-inventing the wheel, reducing redundant work. 3. May reduce training time for new employees 4. Retention of Intellectual Property after the employee leaves if such knowledge can be codified