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Top > Knowledge Creation Laboratory by CRM(xRM) > [Series Part 6] Group Expansion, Business Succession, and Company-Wide KPI Design — Making EMOROCO CRM Lite the "Foundation of Management"

[Series Part 6] Group Expansion, Business Succession, and Company-Wide KPI Design — Making EMOROCO CRM Lite the "Foundation of Management"

2026/5/11

Hello, this is Matsubara, CRM Evangelist.

Over the past five installments, we have explained how large and medium-sized companies can design, implement, and operate EMOROCO CRM Lite as a "CRM used in the field."

In this final installment, we will explain, from a longer-term and broader perspective, "how to position EMOROCO CRM Lite as the foundation of your business" through three scenarios.

Scenario 1: Expansion to group companies and sales agents
Scenario 2: Inheritance of Relationship Assets in Business Succession
Scenario 3: Designing company-wide KPIs and creating a "relationship asset balance sheet"

Scenario 1: "Group Expansion" - Building a Group-wide System of Interest (SoI) from the parent company.

Why is group expansion important?

In large and medium-sized corporate groups, the parent company and its multiple group companies and sales agents each manage customers using different systems. As a result, inefficiencies arise where "the same customer is managed separately by multiple companies within the group."

By deploying EMOROCO CRM Lite across the entire group, "customer insights for the entire group" will become visible for the first time.

Utilizing templates – Balancing standardization and liberalization

EMOROCO CRM Lite has a template import/export function. This is the core technology for group deployment.

[Group Deployment Template Design Process]

Step 1: Create a "Group Standard Template" at the parent company.
- Template including Layer 1 (company-wide standardized fields)
• Designing a group-wide KPI dashboard
- Group-wide handover protocol settings
• Group-wide weekly SoI-PDCA format

Step 2: Export the template and distribute it to each group company.
- Export from emoroco.com's template management function
• Each group company and agency can import the data and start using it immediately.

Step 3: Each group company customizes the third layer (its own unique components).
- Add fields to match your company's industry and business workflow.
- Set up a workflow specific to your company.
- The first layer (group unification section) will not be changed.

Step 4: The parent company reviews group-wide KPIs on a monthly basis.
Comparison of emotional temperature distribution among group companies
• LTV trends for the entire group
- Status of customer referrals and collaborations within the group

The unique value created by group expansion

[What becomes apparent only through group development]

"Customer referral network within the group":
Number of referrals from parent company A's customers to group company B
A chain structure that "circulates" customers within the group.
→ This makes it possible to calculate "LTV as a group".

"Managing duplicate customer accounts within a group":
Integration when the same customer is managed separately by multiple group companies.
→ We can provide a consistent customer experience as a group.

"Visualization of the activities of agents and partners":
Monitoring the emotional state and contact frequency of customers handled by sales agents.
→ Optimizing relationship management and support timing with agencies

Scenario 2: "Business Succession" - Passing on 30 years of customer relationships to the next generation.

The biggest risk in business succession

The relationships with customers that founders and owner-managers have cultivated are a company's most important intangible asset. However, in many business successions, this asset is lost without being passed on.

[Relationship assets that are easily lost during business succession]

Information in the founder's mind:
"The president of XX company has been a customer since my father's time."
"△△ Company finalizes its capital investment budget every January."
"Mr. Suzuki, the managing director of □□ Company, is someone who values trust over price."
・"Company ◇◇ had a problem once 10 years ago,
The company president at the time accepted my apology, and our relationship was repaired.
Since then, we've had a special relationship built on trust."

→ These are "relational assets that exist in the memory of the business owner."
→ Even if you explain it to the successor in words, not everything will be conveyed.
→ If not recorded, it will disappear when the founder retires.

Business succession process utilizing EMOROCO CRM Lite

[Before succession (started 2-3 years ago): Verbalizing and recording relationship information]

Phase 1: "Recording Customer Stories" (Once a week, 2 hours)
The founder and successor opened EMOROCO together.
The founder talks about important customers.
→ The successor records it in a narrative memo in real time.
→ "A 30-year history with this customer" will be preserved in writing.

What to record:
• The history of the relationship from the first contact to the present day
• Past crises and troubles and how they were resolved
• Values and taboos that this customer cherishes
• Timing and context each year (what happens in which month)
• Information that "only this customer knows"

Phase 2: "Contacting and Observing the Successor" (Starting one year before succession)
The successor accompanies the founder on customer visits.
→ Record your observations in the ICX field after your visit.
→ "The impression of this customer from the perspective of the successor" is accumulated.

Phase 3: "Gradual transfer of responsibilities to the successor" (starting 6 months before the succession)
The successor will visit the least important customers first, one by one.
→ Before the visit: Read "This customer's story" on EMOROCO.
→ After the visit: Record the "continuation of the story"
→ Track customer reactions with EMOROCO (changes in emotional temperature)

[Post-succession (6-month intensive monitoring): Confirmation of maintenance of relationship assets]

Weekly checks after succession:
- Changes in the emotional state of the key customers (top 30 companies) that were taken over.
- Confirmation of the task of early intervention for "customers whose emotional temperature has dropped".
- Check the quality of the narrative notes recorded by the successor.
(Is the continuation of the story recorded?)

KPIs for the first six months after the succession (as reviewed by management):
• Retention rate of key customers (top 30 companies)
- Changes in the distribution of emotional temperature compared to before the succession
- Number of referrals to successors (compared to the time when the company was founded)

Why EMOROCO CRM Lite functions as "business succession insurance"

Typically, business succession allows for the transfer of "customer lists," but it fails to transfer "relationships with customers." The relationship information accumulated in EMOROCO CRM Lite—narratives, changes in emotional intensity, values, and cultural context—is the most realistic way to pass on "the relationship with customers itself" to the next generation.

Scenario 3: "Designing Company-Wide KPIs" - Managing Relationship Assets as Key Performance Indicators

Financial KPIs alone do not reveal the "health of customer relationships."

Large corporations primarily use financial KPIs such as sales, profits, and growth rates as their key performance indicators (KPIs). However, financial KPIs are merely records of past events and have a limited ability to predict future events.

The health of customer relationships—including the distribution of emotional temperature, the contact rate of top-performing customers (LTV), and the rate of missed follow-ups—are "leading indicators" that predict future financial KPIs.

Designing company-wide KPIs: Integrating financial KPIs and relationship KPIs

[Company-wide Integrated KPI Dashboard (Monthly, for Management)]

Financial KPIs (lagging indicators):
• Company-wide sales (compared to the previous month and the previous year)
• Gross profit margin by business unit
• Number of new customers acquired • Number of customers who churn
・Average LTV (Lifetime Value per Customer)

Relationship KPIs (leading indicators):
- Company-wide emotional temperature distribution (percentage of hot/warm/cool/cold)
→ When the percentage of those below "Cool" is increasing
Signals predicting a decline in sales in 1-3 months

• Contact rate of the top 20% of customers by LTV
→ When "contact with important customers is decreasing"
Leading indicators showing increased risk of withdrawal

• Follow-up contact rate (monthly contact rate for all customers)
→ When it falls below 60%
Signals indicating a decline in the activity level of the organization's sales activities.

- Customer retention rate after a change in the person in charge
→ When it falls below 75%
This indicates a problem with the handover process.

• Percentage of new customers acquired through referrals
→ When it's "increasing," it's a signal that relationship assets are growing stronger.

"The Balance Sheet of Relationship Assets"—A Proposal for a New Management Indicator

In CRM 4.0-style management, we propose having a "relationship asset balance sheet" as a management indicator, in addition to the financial balance sheet (B/S).

[Relationship Asset Balance Sheet (Quarterly Update)]

Assets section:
Code-S (Irreplaceable Partner): __ Company
← High emotional temperature × High LTV × Proven referral record
Code-A (Deep Trust Relationship): __ Company
← Emotional temperature warm × Continuous period of 3 years or more
Code-B (Good Business Relationship): __ Company
← Emotional temperature warm × duration 1-3 years
Code C (Surface Transaction): __ Company
← Emotional temperature below Cool or insufficient data

Total assets (weighted average of all customer relationship scores): __ points
Compared to the previous quarter: +__ points / -__ points

Risk section:
"Important customers with an emotional temperature below 'cool'": __ Company
"Customers with last contact more than 90 days ago": __ Company
"Follow-up not performed after change of person in charge": __ Company
"High LTV (Lifetime Value) but declining contact frequency": __ Company

Growth section:
"Customers who improved their Code this quarter": __ companies (Code-C → B: __ companies, B → A: __ companies)
"Customers who were referred": __ company
"Customers with increased co-creation capital": __ companies

By reviewing this balance sheet quarterly, you can identify early warning signs such as, "Sales were good this quarter, but relationship assets are deteriorating."

Series Summary: Why EMOROCO CRM Lite can become the "management foundation" for large and medium-sized enterprises

Throughout this six-part series, we have presented an overview of how large and medium-sized companies are utilizing EMOROCO CRM Lite.

[Summary of the 6-part series]

Part 1: Why we fail
Separation of designers and users, inconsistencies in uniform design, and the heavy cost of changes.
→ Structural causes of the emergence of "CRM that doesn't fit the field"

Part 2: Why EMOROCO CRM Lite is so appealing
No-code optimization, scalable cost, self-hosted.
Loosely coupled collaboration and inheritance of CRM 4.0 relationships
→ Addressing the challenges faced by large corporations in 5 ways

Part 3: Optimization Design by Business Unit
Design template for a 3-tier structure (unified, headquarters, and business units) and 4 business types.
→ Achieving a balance between company-wide standardization and departmental autonomy.

Part 4: Data Governance and Security
Self-hosted, loosely coupled architecture, multi-layered security roles
→ Meets the three conditions for the IT department to determine if it is "suitable for employment".

Part 5: SoI-PDCA in Large Organizations
Role-based dashboards, weekly decision cycles, and cross-sectional views.
→ Transform from a "reporting culture" to a "judgment culture"

Part 6: Group Expansion, Business Succession, and Company-Wide KPIs
Template deployment, inheritance of relationship assets, and design of leading indicators.
→ Position CRM 4.0 as the "foundation of management"

EMOROCO CRM Lite is presented as a "CRM for small and medium-sized businesses starting from ¥1,500/user per month," but it is a CRM with enterprise design philosophy at its core.

For large and medium-sized companies, "being used in the field," "ensuring the transfer of relationship assets," and "enabling data-driven management decisions"—these are not determined by the size or price of the CRM system. They are determined by the design philosophy and the mechanisms for implementing it in the field.

EMOROCO CRM Lite delivers its design philosophy and mechanisms in a form that enterprises can use.
EMOROCO CRM Lite Product Page

List of series:

[Series Part 1: Why CRM hasn't taken hold in large and medium-sized companies]

[Series Part 2: "Making Enterprise Functionality Simpler"—5 Reasons Why EMOROCO CRM Lite Will Resonate with Large Enterprises]

[Series Part 3: Optimized Design by Business Unit—Achieving a CRM that "Doesn't Impose a Uniform Approach Across the Entire Company" with No-Code]

[Series Part 4: Data Governance and Security—Potential Opened Up by Self-Hosting and Loosely Coupled Collaboration]

[Series Part 5: Enterprise SoI-PDCA—How to Implement Weekly Decision-Making in Large Organizations]

Person who wrote this article

Shinsuke Matsubara

Arcus Japan Representative Director / CRM Consultant
Click here for detailed profile
He has worked as a system engineer, architect, and consultant at Accenture and other companies, an evangelist at Infragistics (Microsoft MVP for Dynamics CRM (now Microsoft MVP for Business Solutions)), and a solutions specialist at Microsoft (in charge of Dynamics CRM products).He currently leads a service team specializing in CRM, supporting CRM implementation and business launches for companies of all sizes.At the same time, he works as a CRM evangelist, spreading the idea of "true" CRM through events and article contributions.
Having learned CRM at Accenture, and having advocated and globally popularized CRM 2.0 (platform-based CRM) at Microsoft, he is a legitimate successor to CRM and the longest-serving active CRM expert (CRM consultant/CRM doctor), having received an award at Worldwide.
Since then, as a leading expert in CRM who advocates CRM 3.0 (Personalized CRM) and CRM 4.0 (Creative CRM), he has been interviewed and received numerous awards both domestically and internationally from publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, TIME, WORLDCOM, Mainichi Shimbun (Weekly Economist), and Nippon Cultural Broadcasting. He has also been selected as a representative company of the Kansai business community by "Keizaikai" for four consecutive years.
book:Versatylist - How to become a "1 in 1" talent by age 35

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[Series Part 6] Group Expansion, Business Succession, and Company-Wide KPI Design — Making EMOROCO CRM Lite the "Foundation of Management"