CRM with Machine Learning could boost the hospitality sector

CRM is yet to be utilised up to its full potential, beyond the basic function of customer service and management

Customer Relationship Management ( CRM) software has long been considered the master key to success in achieving business growth. The Hospitality segment, one of the foremost service industry sector, can be perceived to be among the most benefited by the use of CRM. However, when observed closely, CRM is yet to be utilised up to its full potential, beyond the basic function of customer service and management. So far its use is limited to gathering customer feedback and assessing their behaviour so as to modify service and product offerings, while significant areas like employee satisfaction and integrated services approach for an overall brand experience are yet to be looked into through the rich data field of CRM. Listed here with are some key areas which can largely benefit the hospitality segment by effective implementation of CRM:

Service experience The hospitality segment works in perfect tandem with multiple internal and external departments. Right from logistics, housekeeping, entertainment, culinary and wellness offerings to transport, events and customer engagement, all demand the highest level of meticulous attention to detail. CRM can assist in a significant manner here, with every department logging in and record the daily task flow. Further, CRM can also effectively be integrated with Social Media platforms to capture data and gauge consumer sentiment towards the brand. All of this integrated data can then be automated to sync with those of other departments to ultimately help align and integrate the entire process to appear as one synchronised activity, generating perfect results!

Business growth CRM, with all the integrated department records, is a treasure trove of data that can be the key to creating transformative business growth strategies. Areas like vendor management and supply chain for culinary and other departments can be looked into with a fresh CRM perspective to understand effective spending patterns and ROI analysis. Using Predictive analysis, CRM can help improvise services based on customer feedback, streamline tasks and generate a methodical pi- cture of predictive areas with good business potential.

Employee training Apart from customer satisfaction and business growth, CRM can contribute significantly towards objective employee feedback and training. With meticulous data captured across departments, a performance chart of every employee can be drawn which can be helpful in understanding the growth potential of the employee. These can be aptly utilised to nurture talent and offer rewarding growth opportunities to employees, thus building employee loyalty and appreciation.

Consumer loyalty With accurate and timely consumer feedback across a spectrum of services, CRM can help create a realistic feedback mechanism for key customer preferences and complaints. This honest feedback can help improve service delivery standards and work towards generating effective customer experience by accurately managing expectations and delivery. This, in turn, will lead to trust and appreciation among clients, thus creating consumer loyalty.

Enhancing Brand Value Apart from external customers and in- house employees, the vendors and other stakeholders too set to benefit from the integrated, smooth and intuitive functioning of the organisation. From happy customers to happy stakeholders, CRM and its data analysis can help create tremendous value in the service offerings, thus enhancing the brand value of the organisation many folds.

Hospitality, as one of the key service industries, is set to benefit the most from the continuous evolution of CRM. The future, with AI and machine learning, CRM is set to transform businesses, hospitality being in the forefront of new brand experiences.