Sony Canada already had customer satisfaction scores any company would be proud of, but that didn't stop the organization from revamping its customer feedback system -- and focusing heavily on the Net Promoter Score (NPS).

Sony Canada first rolled out SAP CRM in 2001, segmenting customer data and adding analytics for the call center. By 2003, the company undertook the difficult process of putting all customer information into one repository and doing real-time integration from CRM to the other corporate systems. At the time, in a survey of Canadian consumers, 38% cited Sony Canada as the most trusted electronics dealer, far outstripping the next-highest company, Panasonic, at 7%. In the same survey 47% cited Sony as the perceived leader in electronics. And in a ranking of businesses with the best corporate reputation, Sony came in third after Google and Tim Horton's, a popular donut and coffee chain.

"I think everybody would be happy to have these numbers," said Wayne Ground, CIO of the Canadian division of the electronics giant, who detailed his company’s CRM journey at an American SAP Users Group (ASUG) session at SapphireNOW.

"Even with our numbers, that leaves a lot of opportunity to proceed,” Ground said. “In an era when products are quick to change and new competitors are coming out rapidly, everyone, including leaders, needs to find a way to differentiate wherever possible. We think we can do this with the customer experience."

Customer feedback surveys and the net promoter score became the mechanism. Customers of Sony Canada are now invited to complete online surveys on call center interactions, website visits and retail store visits.