Impact of Digital Applications on Organizational Structure

The Impact of Digital Applications on Organizational Operations

The development of the digital applications has had a drastic impact on how organizations operate particularly their engagement with their customers. The traditional model was characterized by the presence of a contact person or a representative to link manufacturers and large scale buyers. The increased application of technology on both sides; the manufacturers and the buyers has completely transformed the operations in varied ways. The revolutions in the organizational operations has greatly affected the roles of individuals within the companies. The organization design in many setting has changed in that the employees that served in various positions have been compelled to take up new roles in order to remain relevant in their organizations.

The Changes in the Education Sector

The changes rendered some positions irrelevant and the affected employees were forced to take up new duties to help the company realize its objectives. One of the sectors that have been greatly affected by the changes is the education sector. The adoption of digital applications by the educational institutions have had a direct impact on the services offered by the book manufacturers. The development has introduced new roles in the operations of the manufacturers because the process of book acquisition has changed completely. Initially, the books were sold by the publishers through their dealers that had outlets for books. The learning institutions were supposed to contact the book stores who would then order the books from the publishers to supply to the institution. The publishers only needed a representative to link them to the dealers (Rowley 32). The selling process was very simple that other departments like marketing, sales, customer management, and accounts were not fundamental. The academic institutions’ migration to digital books has made the selling process complicated and the publishers must now have direct connections to the institutions. Such functions were not there initially, as such, there is need to introduce new positions to serve the demand for the services. The higher levels of sales have resulted in the need to have a more advanced sales and accounts department tom handle the customer issues and management of funds respectively. Some of the companies that were affected by the transformation include Amazon, Cisco, Blackboard, Dell, and SalesForce. The research paper will focus on the changes in the organizational structure after the changes that have emerged as a result of adoption of digital books by learning institutions.

The Adoption of Marketing Strategies

The publishers have been compelled to adopt the marketing and customer connection strategies that are used by other industries. The fact that there were no direct connections between the publishers and customers suggest that they had no proper strategies to deal with customers after the product sales in a complex sale cycle. Many industries have proper plans to keep in touch with their customers across the sales cycle to ensure that they maintain high standards of services. The most important aspect for manufacturers is to maintain a strong contact with their consumers in order to respond to various concerns that might emerge after the sales process (Martens 18). Prior to the full adoption of digital communication strategies by manufacturers, the organizations used to have people who would make direct contacts with consumers to seek for their opinions and identify the key areas that need to be improved. In the digital era, the services are still available as main strategies of managing customers after the sale but they are done through digitalized communication channels. The organizations have established several platforms over which customers can direct their concerns and get in touch with the manufacturer. The orders are made by customers through more advanced techniques and all transactions are performed via the digital means (Rowley 44). The industries ought to have online presence in order to ensure that they handle all the issues affecting customers within the shortest time possible. The publishers have also adopted similar strategies to manage their customers in order to keep in tune with the current market demands that require strong association between the publisher and the buyers.

The Role of Customer Relationship Managers

The organizations have different positions that have been established to handle different sections of the company. Customer management is one of the most important aspects of a firm because it determines its future. The manner in which customers are managed determines their likelihood to come back for more products. A majority of the organizations that directly with customers for instance Amazon have a customer relationship manager that is responsible for managing customers. However, in some organizations, the account manager can also play the role of customer management. The basic function of a customer relationship manager is to ensure a strong relationship between the company and customers (Trivedi 74). The managers are responsible for building and continuing the positive customer experiences for stronger future relationships. The basic aspect for the managers is to understand the psychology of the customers as well as their needs because the knowledge helps to implement strategies that reinforces brand loyalty to ensure that the potential buyers continue to prefer the organization for their supplies. However, similar functions can be done by account managers because they also act as links between the company and both potential and existing customers. They address various issues affecting the customer and offer necessary advice to find a solution to issues that can affect the relationship between an organization and customers.

The Importance of Account Managers

The position of the account manager is considered as fundamental in any organization particular companies that deal with services like publishing and selling the published materials to the relevant individuals (Ledingham 96). The position is occupied by a sales professional that handles a variety of duties that are designed to manage the relationship between the company and clients in addition to developing new businesses from existing clients. There is a close connection between the marketing department and the account manager because all of them deal directly with the clients. The main difference between the marketing team and the account manager is that the former seeks to bring clients on board and the former takes over. The competition in the publishing sector has made the position of an account manager important because the position holder determines how the organization relates with its customers. Account managers are associated with maintaining long term associations with all clients through addressing the key issues affecting them.

The Duties of an Account Manager

Client communication is a key duty of an account manager because he acts as a link between the customers and the company. The account manager functions as the face of the organization because the person is the only person that should communicate directly with clients. The duties associated with account managers compels them to behave in a manner delivers positive customer service experience (Littler 01). The effectiveness of the position involves paying attention to customer needs and directing them to improvement of goods and services. An account manager is expected to manage the expectations of the clients by addressing and responding to their diverse needs. An account manager is also obligated to maintain quotas through exceeding or maintaining the expected amount of sales. The ability to achieve this function is highly dependent on the aptitude and competitiveness of the person. Account manager is also required to give a report concerning the sales that have been achieved within a specified period. The reports are supposed to indicate whether the company is on the right track or not in regard to achieving its goals. When the sales are below the target of the company, the account manager is in a better position to explain what could be the reasons for low sales and the most appropriate interventions (Trivedi 86). The occupier of the position is among the senior management team members and they report to the top management concerning the progress of the firm in relation to offering quality services and products and achieving the sales targets.

The Skills of an Account Manager

The key skills of an account manager include strong interpersonal skills that helps them to create strong relationships with potential clients. An account manager should possess traits that make them polite, diplomatic and friendly. Communication skills are fundamental and an account manager ought to have excellent written and verbal communication skills. The communication skills ought to be supplemented by negotiation skills that helps to convince eligible customers (Ledingham 112). Generally, an account manager must have managerial skills that helps to solve different challenges that might arise the everyday engagements of the organization.

Works Cited

Ledingham, John. "Account Manager/Account Management." Encyclopedia of Public Relations, 2011.

Littler, Dale. "Account Manager." Wiley Encyclopedia of Management, 2015, pp. 1-1.

Martens, Marianne. Publishers, Readers, and Digital Engagement. Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2016.

Rowley, Jennifer. Information Marketing. Ashgate Pub, 2007.

Trivedi, Pankaj K. "Customer Relationship Management- The Indian Perspective." International Journal on Customer Relations, vol. 3, no. 2, 2015.