The role and nature of scrm in Australian private sector: an exploratory study

Social Customer Relationship Management (SCRM) is an emerging concept that includes strategies, processes and technologies to link social media with the existing approach to traditional CRM. It is a corporate strategy for engagement with customers rather than simply a technology upgrade and not a replacement of traditional CRM. Even though the body of knowledge on the subject is vast, it is scatted due to the lack of research on this topic, especially in Australia. This paper reports a survey-based study conducted to investigate the current level of SCRM adoption by Australian companies, including the objectives for SCRM adoption, types of social media used with SCRM, SCRM implementation-related activities and barriers related to SCRM implementation at the early stage, using a sample of 1,060 Australian companies (comprising 597 SCRM adopters and 473 SCRM non-adopters). The findings highlight that SCRM adoption has been relatively superficial and usually not supported by a formal integrated strategy and policy framework. Even so, it appears that Australian companies are increasingly taking advantage of social media to manage customer relationships. This study serves as a starting point for research into SCRM implementation in the private sector to build up confidence among shareholders and investors for adopting such initiatives.