Currently, each SMW branch uses their own information systems to handle their daily
operations. There is no sharing of data amongst different branches or even between the
salespeople in each branch. This leads to extreme data redundancy as the same customer
information is recorded multiple times by multiple salespeople when one salesperson
inadvertently poaches another’s customer. Additionally, the redundant data hampers
marketing efforts and makes direct mail marketing in particular very expensive due to
duplicate mail pieces. Customer satisfaction is at an all-time low because when they revisit,
they are treated as “new” customer given that there is no customer profile readily available
to the salesperson. Furthermore, salespeople earn their income through a base salary and a
commission on each car they sell. A customer that made an enquiry last month with one
salesperson revisits again or goes to another branch and is assigned a different salesperson.
This causes a large amount of conflicts amongst the employees on whom does the customer
“belong” to and who should receive the commission. Additionally, due to the isolated
nature of the data in each branch, when customers make an enquiry about a particular car
brand/model/color that is unavailable in a particular SMW showroom, sales opportunities
are lost. Even the SMW head-office has only a vague picture of which showroom has the
particular item being requested by the customer.