A relevant question. Especially for those who are not very familiar with CCM, these tools seem seemingly similar. And, apart from the fact that all three tools send communication to respondents and/or customers, there are indeed major differences. In this article we provide more insight into the similarities, differences and areas of application.

Let’s first take a closer look at the three concepts.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

The purpose of CRM is to manage customer data. In addition to the customer’s basic (name and address) data, all functional and transactional data are also maintained and stored, such as communications, contracts, letters, etc. Nowadays, in CRM tools you also see extensive functionality for storing prospects, lead lists, sales funnels and options to print letters, send emails, post messages on social media and connect to a telephone exchange.

Marketing Automation (MA)

Marketing Automation is mainly used by marketers. Within this tool, leads are segmented, tracked and emailed with the aim of converting them into customers. It is a platform in which you actively work on marketing campaigns. Marketing automation is therefore mainly aimed at approaching groups of prospects and converting them into qualified leads. Marketing Automation tools also use communication channels. The focus is mainly on e-mail and social media.

Customer Communication Management (CCM)

CCM focuses on managing customer communications. It involves creating, managing and delivering personalized communications to customers via all conceivable channels, such as email, SMS, print, WhatsApp and digital platforms. CCM platforms are an extension of ERP and CRM packages that provide data and information with which the CCM platform creates messages and documents using templates and can send them to large groups of customers via the most suitable communication scenario via various channels.

These are important components at CCM:

• creating a wide variety of (complex) documents,
• easily setting up smart, automated, data-driven, closed-loop communication scenarios that promote the effectiveness of communication,
• actually send in an omni-channel way via all conceivable channels, including mail and my environments.

Communication can be automatically enriched with, for example, payment links, accessibility and advanced forms solutions.

Similarities and differences

Both CRM, MA and CCM have functions that facilitate (outbound) communication with customers. MA is strongly focused on lead generation and CRM and CCM are more focused on existing relationships.

CRM is basically aimed at collecting and recording (all) customer data. This includes name and address details, contracts, letters, messages and customer contacts with employees of the organization. In addition, many CRM tools now also contain various communication functionalities.

Marketing Automation helps companies automate repetitive tasks, personalized communications and gain insights by measuring and optimizing marketing campaigns. Good marketing automation software helps you identify your audience, design the right content and automatically activate actions based on schedules and customer behavior. With marketing automation you can approach customers through automated messages via email, internet and social media.

CCM can send much more complex messages omni-channel, i.e. via e-mail, SMS, WhatsApp, a my environment, the government message box and by mail. This makes a CCM platform more suitable for personalized customer communication and more transactional communication where many official messages and documents need to be created, sent and archived..

Cooperation

Both MA and CCM (usually) need data from customers and prospects. After all, without an e-mail address, telephone number or postal address, no message can be sent. Most MA and CCM platforms can be linked to a CRM system, so that CRM can serve as the basis for all customer data. Data generated during customer communication in MA and CCM platforms can then be stored and archived in the CRM system.

In addition, MA will typically be applied to marketing campaigns via email, websites and social media, while CCM is used in ongoing communication with existing customers via a wide range of channels such as email, SMS, the my environment and mail.

Customer lifecycle

If we look at the entire customer lifecycle, from awareness/attract to nurture & grow phase and ultimately any off-boarding, the emphasis is on the different applications in different phases of this cycle.

A lot of time and energy is usually invested in attracting new customers. This is the domain of Marketing Automation supported by CRM. Often fewer resources and money are invested in strengthening the customer relationship, retention and increasing customer involvement with the brand. In this domain, CCM plays a major role by communicating with the customer in a smart and personalized omni-channel way and by integrating communications sent by multiple departments (silos) and reinforcing each other. An important phase in the customer relationship as retention, upselling and cross-selling contribute substantially to the operating result at relatively low costs compared to attracting new customers.

In short, CRM, MA and CCM have overlapping functionality but differ from each other with their own focus and competencies. The platforms can be used side by side and can reinforce each other, if properly applied and integrated. Use CRM to manage customer data, the analytical power of MA to strengthen marketing campaigns and lead generation, and strengthen customer relationships, brand experience and retention through personalized omni-channel communication with existing customers through the use of CCM.

Eclipse CCMaaS

Eclipse offers a CCM platform as a hosted managed solution. This means that a set-up SaaS platform is ready for you and that you can quickly get started with personalized customer communication. Would you like to know more about our CCM platform? Click here.

Or contact us directly.

Customer Journeys have now grown into the ultimate connectors, rectifiers and silo breakers in organizations. After all, designing the ideal customer journey by definition involves multiple silos that are aligned from one and the same vision of the customer experience. But as long as the underlying applications that the various silos use are not connected, an ideal customer journey cannot actually be set up (properly). The future therefore belongs to tools that make Connected Journey Management possible.

The Customer Journey has now been embraced by numerous commercial and non-commercial organizations. Customer Journeys offer organizations the opportunity to look at their own services from the customer’s perspective and to improve and innovate in a targeted manner.

Customer Journeys are the ultimate connectors, rectifiers and silo breakers in organizations. After all, designing the ideal customer journey by definition involves multiple silos. For example, an energy supplier that wants to offer a potential new customer an ideal customer journey from ‘orientation’ to ‘becoming a regular customer’ must align the following organizational components based on one and the same CX vision:

• marketing (orientation phase);
• sales (in the phase of becoming a customer);
• administration/invoicing (in the phase of becoming a customer and being a customer);
• customer service/contact center (CC) (in the phase of becoming a customer and being a customer).

In a Customer Journey, a customer often goes through a number of processes with underlying systems. However, if you want to manage, improve or monitor a Customer Journey, you will soon encounter the problem that various applications each support/facilitate certain touchpoints in the Customer Journey. Many Customer Journey Management (CJM) tools are often only able to record the Journey, and show (some of) the results of the customer measurements made in this journey (for example NPS scores). They cannot provide insight into what actually happens in the underlying processes. For example, are the scores bad because the website is down? Or because the contact center is understaffed? Both could be the case.

Connected Journey Management

Insight into what actually happens in the underlying processes requires a Customer Journey Management tool or technology that, as an ‘open’ platform, can be quickly and easily linked to and integrated with existing systems, applications and data sources. This makes Customer Journey Management truly data-driven. In our terminology: a CJM tool or technology that enables Connected Journey Management. The reality is that the most commonly used CJM tooling in the market does not currently offer that option. They are separate tools that do not ‘talk’ (bottom-up) with the underlying applications.

This will therefore have to change in the future, because in our view, designing the ideal customer journey is not possible without having (almost) real-time input on the touchpoints in your Journey. A simple illustration of this is the customer who contacts the contact center (= touchpoint), only to be put on hold for fifteen minutes. That waiting time certainly does not contribute to the ideal customer journey – and that is precisely why, as a CX person, you would want to be able to see real-time data about waiting times from the contact center software directly in the Journey, so that you can take action if necessary.

Prioritize better

Connected Journey Management also has another advantage that should not be underestimated. Because many organizations sometimes have dozens of Journeys running side by side and struggle with the overview and (especially) prioritization. Tooling that communicates one-on-one with the various application silos offers many more databased insights into which customer journeys cause ‘problems’ that have a negative impact on the customer experience, so that you can also better prioritize which Journeys in the context of your Customer Journey Management should receive attention first.

In addition to mapping your Customer Journeys in a good framework and a well-designed matching measurement house, Connected Journey Management also requires a number of additional matters. To start with, insight into which process or performance data from the underlying processes, in addition to the customer scores, provide insight into the progress of the Journey – or can even be predictors for the customer experience (for example first time fix in contact centers, or the chance of a seat in the public transport). Sometimes it is good to develop a service blueprint for this. Once it is clear what you need from the underlying processes/systems, set up data links and then completely integrate this data into your CJM tool so that the responsible Journey Management Team always has all relevant information available to assess, monitor and improve the performance of the customer journey.

Want to know more about the future of CJM tooling? Please feel free to contact any of the authors of this article. We are happy to facilitate your future!

Rob Vogelsangs and Stijn Giesberts, Eclipse Group

Stephan van Slooten, Altuïtion

Examining Eclipse’s CCMaaS solution and the benefits of Customer Experience Management in the Cloud
A Whitepaper by Aspire CCS

Going into 2024, European businesses expect significant growth in consumer digital adoption and remain focused on engendering loyalty and ensuring customer satisfaction through superior electronic interactions seamlessly linked across every touchpoint.
In order to accomplish these goals and meet consumer demand for ongoing personalized and relevant conversations across their chosen channels, these organizations must select a communications transformation partner that will help them stay ahead of a rapidly evolving market.
In this whitepaper, we’ll look at how hosted managed services in the cloud (like Eclipse’s CCM-as-a-service solution) can give enterprises access to innovative customer communications capabilities perpetually on the cutting edge all while enabling them to save money and empower business users so they can achieve new levels of agility.

The white paper includes:

• The evolution from Customer Communication Management (CCM) to Customer Experience Management (CXM)
• Research by Aspire within European companies into:
  • Priorities within (digital) communication,
  • The outlook for digital adoption,
  • Difference in behavior between generations
  • The adoption of SaaS and cloud
• The benefits of CCM in the cloud
• An analysis of CCM tools in general and the Eclipse CCM platform in particular
• Conclusions and recommendations for organizations considering a cloud-native CCM strategy.

Create the ultimate customer experience and put your customer first!

On this page you can download our paper about our CCM services. The goal of this paper is to outline what Customer Communication Management as a Service (CCMaaS) means, and what the implications will be for Enterprises and Service Providers that evolve their IT infrastructures and software implementation preferences.

For readers who are not familiar with the CCM industry, we have provided a brief introduction and reference to more materials. At Eclipse, we define Customer Communications Management as a Service (CCMaaS) as the cloud-based creation, management, and fulfilment of personalized, omni-channel communications at scale. In this context, omni-channel refers to communications that are channel and/or device-agnostic, meaning that they can be sent across physical and digital channels with minimal friction and ideally reach a consumer with a relevant message at any point along the customer journey.

The paper explains the domain of Customer Communication in more detail, with the accompanying challenges and an overview of our solution.

You can download the paper here

Read more  about our Customer Communication Management platform on our website here or read the whitepaper that Aspire wrote about our CCM platform.

For more information please contact us.

Eclipse Group (or “Eclipse”) is a Dutch hosted managed services provider offering a “CCM-as-a-Service” platform along with associated services. These offerings include integration, customization, or specific IT development, as well as hosting and maintenance services.

They have been developing their Customer Communications Management as a Service (CCMaaS) platform since 2019. The CCMaaS platform is a robust, multi-tenant, highly scalable, and full-service SaaS application, currently in production in the Dutch market with some large clients

Aspire, a global analyst and market research firm in the CCM and CXM industry, analyzes and ranks software vendors in regularly updated interactive online grids, called the Aspire Leaderboard. Eclipse has recently been named a Leader on the Leaderboard in the 2023 Communications Experience Platform (CXP) and CCM-CXM Implementation Services (CIS) grids.

“It is an honor to enter the well renowned Aspire Leaderboard. To be recognized as a leader in the Communications Experience Platform (CXP) and CCM-CXM Implementation Services (CIS) grids is a testament to our team’s hard work, our commitment to excellence, and to the strong relationships with our trusted clients and partners,” said Stijn Giesberts, CEO of Eclipse Group. Our major differentiator is the strong CCM cloud platform developed to run natively on Azure. Furthermore, we are leading the way with our very flexible and intelligent scenario management engine, offering advanced workflow automation and out-of-the-box API-based integration capabilities and payment processing, filesharing, forms-based data collection and processing, meta data reporting, job batching, as well as archiving and integration with government portals .

The Aspire Leaderboard also shows that Eclipse has recently undergone some strategic changes and is focusing on innovative aspects of CXM like the investment and creation of its own intelligent form solution offering flexible, secure, and easy to use data collection capabilities based on password-less authentication leveraging magic links. There are also very interesting developments in the area of artificial intelligence where this is being positioned for migration projects, content creation, translation and customer journey building.

“In our evaluation of Eclipse, we were impressed by the strength of its CCM cloud platform, particularly its ability to run in either single-tenant or multi-tenant SaaS mode based on a combination of own and third-party technologies, while providing a flexible solution that can be adapted to the needs of its enterprise customers,” said Kaspar Roos, CEO & Founder of Aspire. “Eclipse is proving to be an ambitious player that is poised for further expansion.”

 

About Aspire

Aspire Customer Communications Services is a boutique consulting firm specializing in the Customer Communications Management (CCM), Customer Experience Management (CXM), and Customer Journey Management (CJM) industries. Through deep market expertise and global insights, Aspire works with Software, Services and Solution providers, and Business Advisories and Private Equity Firms to help them achieve their CCM goals. Find more information about how Aspire is helping organizations navigate the complexities of the customer communications world at Aspire | Customer Communications Services (aspireccs.com).

April 2023

New York and Amsterdam based Private Equity Firm Novidam Capital Partners* has acquired the
stock of the Netherlands based company, Eclipse Group. A part of the existing Management Team
will be joining the ownership.

Eclipse Group is a Hosted Managed Service Provider in the Customer Communication Management
domain. Eclipse assists their clients in transforming their customer communications processes and
experience from analog and physical point solutions, to a digital first approach where all customer
communication is integrated into one platform.

The Customer Communications Management as a Service (CCMaaS) solution is a unique, highly
scalable, and full-service, SaaS application, currently in production in the Netherlands and venturing
outwards. A representation of clients are KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, De Nederlandsche Bank, Aegon,
and multiple governmental agencies and large utility companies.

CCMaaS enables companies to communicate efficiently through all possible channels, control all
customer communication through one platform, and reduce cost by shutting down costly legacy
systems & point solutions, while improving NPS and employee satisfaction. This is what makes
Eclipse Group and CCMaaS unique and sets itself apart from competition.

From the solid base which is already there, Eclipse Group and Novidam Capital Partners will further
expand in Europe and into the United States, pursue a high-growth and innovative roadmap, and
continue the trusted relationships with existing clients and partners.

“I’m very proud of the progress we have made over the years. With the new capabilities of our
CCMaaS solution we are ready for the future. Together with Novidam Capital Partners and our new
Board Members we are positioned well to take the next steps in our journey”, said Gijs Le Blanc, the
company’s CTO & co-Founder.

“I’m honoured to work together with the outstanding Eclipse teams in the Netherlands and
Macedonia. Looking at the special technology Eclipse provides and the many happy customers we
have, I’m more than confident that we will succeed in helping our existing and new clients in bringing
their Customer Communications Management processes to the next level” said Stijn Giesberts, the
company’s newly brought in and fresh CEO.

“We are very excited to partner with Eclipse. Together with Gijs le Blanc and the existing team, and
under Stijn Giesberts’ leadership, we intend to remain the number one provider in the Customer
Communication Management domain; adding services, reaching more departments within our
existing client base, and, expanding internationally”, said Alexander Schuil, NCP’s Managing Partner.

*Novidam Capital Partners (NCP) is a values-driven investment firm focused on tech-enabled service
companies. NCP works with exceptional management teams and entrepreneurs and helps them grow
superior and sustainable companies, fostering long term partnerships