According to Metagroup, CRM can be classified into three types - i.e. operational CRM, analytical CRM, and collaborative CRM. In financial industry, operational and analytical CRMs are the two dominant types. Moreover, the recent proliferation of e-commerce has meant eCRM-supported services are available even on the intemet. With intemet access readily available at their fingertips, today's customers increasingly expect their needs to be met through various channels such as telephone, internet, e-mail, chatting, mobile phone, etc. Unfortunately, the response from the corporates have been mediocre at best. This needs to be addressed promptly, given Gartner's forecast that the internet is likely to change the customers' lifestyle significantly over the next 3 years. What is necessary is an integration model which centers around collaborative CRM, and at the same time, which brings together all the existing customer contact channels supported by both CRM and eCRM, thus providing solutions to meet the changing needs of the customers. Unlike the existing `static' model which is primarily based on analytical and operational CRM, the new model should serve as `front-end engine', capable of delivering customer satisfaction and services through appropriate channels. Corporates should be able to draw lessons from analyzing the integration model that is based on the actual cases presented in this paper.
