Fuzzy DEMATEL-ANP-Based Approach for Determining the CRM Readiness Factors

Research in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) in the healthcare sector is in a developing stage and demands further research to get more in-depth insight. We present a comprehensive model to develop and prioritize CRM readiness factors in hospitals using fuzzy DEMATEL-ANP, which helps top managers allocate their limited resources to enhance the required infrastructure for a CRM system. After extracting proper readiness factors, multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques are applied to assess CRM readiness. First, using the fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory approach (DEMATEL), the interdependent relations amongst criteria are designated. Second, the fuzzy analytic network process (ANP) is applied to weigh the sub-criteria. Top management support and structure are the most critical factors which play an essential role in the CRM readiness concept. The importance of top management’s factor has been investigated in many previous works. The structure has been neglected in the previous studies; however, our results demonstrate that it should be considered a crucial factor. This study’s findings can facilitate the CRM system’s adoption process to be employed by decision-makers within hospitals to mitigate the failure rate of the CRM system’s implementation, leading to providing plenty of advantages to the patient association and hospitals. The results of this paper can also have a contribution to the implementation of CRM and artificial intelligence (AI) as an innovative strategy in organizations, particularly hospitals.