Artificial intelligence applied to customer relationship management: An empirical research

Abstract

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) involves collecting and intelligently using data to build a consistently superior customer experience and enduring customer relationships. Companies using CRM systems have been invested by the opportunities offered by Artificial Intelligence (AI), which has become essential for businesses to survive. In a market where customers are becoming highly sophisticated and search for unique experiences, academics and practitioners claim that AI is the next step in the evolution towards a novel and more efficient CRM. Despite there is an emergent need to clarify how AI-driven applications can transform CRM and be an essential ingredient of a successful modern CRM business process, the literature lacks an analysis on how AI would transform CRM fundamentals considering all CRM strategic processes. Moreover, there is a lack of scientifically validated frames and best practices for the implementation of AI in CRM, as well as empirical evidence about the enabling factors, challenges, and barriers. Therefore, this study explores how companies strategically develop an AI application in CRM, advancing knowledge relating to the impact of AI in marketing strategy. This study aims to build a realistic understanding on how the implementation of AI applications in CRM occurs and change the CRM strategic processes. Besides, we expect to find interesting insights on which organizational capabilities drive the success of the implementation of AI applications in CRM, and to explore the enabling factors, challenges, and barriers that can be used to establish a well-defined AI-driven transformation setting. This is explored through the lens of resource-based view theory. To achieve the research purpose, we are performing a qualitative multiple case study, particularly suitable for how questions and to understand a real-life company phenomenon in its natural setting, on companies using CRM systems that have implemented an AI-driven application to improve customer management. At this moment, the research is in the phase of defining the case study protocol and cases selection.