Crm Initiative

QUEST FOODS ASIA PACIFIC AND THE CRM INITIATIVE

"Declan, we have to talk," said Mathijs Boeren, marketing director Foods, Asia Pacific, Quest International, as he walked into the Singapore office of Declan MacFadden, regional vice-president, Foods, Asia Pacific, in the early morning of February 28, 2000. Quest, which among other activities created flavors and textures for food and beverage companies had about six months earlier begun implementing a business process re-engineering (BPR) project. This initiative involved the analysis of every facet of Quest's businesses with the objective of finding new and better ways of operating.

MacFadden was responsible for the implementation of the Foods Division BPR throughout Asia Pacific. As part of this effort, he was also championing the development of an information technology-based customer relationship management model (CRM), an initiative he felt was critical for Quest to gain a sustainable competitive advantage with customers in the region. This initiative would offer much more to customers than the company's current Web site, where customers could simply obtain basic information on Quest's global operations and product offerings. Likely, it would contain interactive communications with some processes handled without human contact. MacFadden's ultimate goal was to bring Quest to the next phase of e-business — full interactivity.

Boeren took a scat and began talking:

Declan, I've just come from a meeting with International Snackfoods.1 The director of Procurement for Asia Pacific, Larry Wong, told me that one of our most formidable competitors had implemented CRM technology weeks earlier. Though Wong was somewhat reticent, he did hint to me that the new system addressed some of International Snackfoods' needs for increased transparency, responsiveness and information flow. As far as T can tell, this new system not only tracks orders, but is likely the first stage of a full Extranet. If so, our competitor...