Deutsche Bank UK CRM project to go global

Deutsche Bank plans to extend its UK-based customer relationship management (CRM) initiative worldwide.

And the financial services giant claims its experience demonstrates how to make CRM projects a success.

Deutsche Bank is installing a management information system (MIS) from software supplier Alphablox to improve the quality of data provided to client-facing staff in its equities division.

A London-based team is leading the development, and a pilot scheme will be completed next month. It will be integrated with a Siebel CRM installation and extended to 2500 users by Spring 2002.

Deutsche Bank global MIS co-ordinator Edwin Ball says the system has been so well received that it will eventually be used across the whole company.

"This has senior management attention across the business. The best benefits come from as many users as possible," he said.

Instead of using the MIS tool simply to filter data and pass it on to users, Deutsche Bank is using it as an integral part of its CRM process.

Ball believes many CRM installations fail because they don't look at all aspects of how a company deals with its customers.

"You have to ensure you are looking at the overall relationship covering clients, products and geographic markets," he said.

Ball says problems with CRM arise from trying to capture too much information.

"Data was thrown at users and they had to sift through it. Now they can control what data they need and how they use it," he said.