I have worked with a number of different Customer Relationship Management Software packages as both a manager, staff member, president, sales executive, Support engineer and passionate technologist. Certainly they each have slightly different features, but the niche is really about Business Process.
It would be interesting to hear your own opinions and experiences (horror stories accepted as well as successes) about CRM in general as I work more and more with the SMB niche and MS CRM. In general my core goal is to work with the IT Infrastructure specialists to avoid many of the misconceptions and billion dollar failed roll outs which have happened in Enterprise.
Three things I think are worth pondering:
First, a software package that adds more complexity instead of enabling simplicity is increasing the business risk of any CRM initiative. A recent survey of CXOs reveals that they seek simpler processes but see technology as adding to the complexity. I don't know all the reasons Ford terminated its program, but I'm betting it became too complex to implement.
Second, when a software package forces the company to adapt its processes to those that the software company considers "best practices" then the software has reduced each client to me-too. A company's processes are what differentiate it from its competitors.
Third, a concern for others is or should be the underpinning of CRM technology. Mature software packages tend to be similar in features so a lot of the success of a CRM project lies more in the culture than in the tech. When we as marketers move from loving our company to loving our customers, we will finally have the breakthrough that makes CRM a reality. When customers realize we love them, they will reward us with their business. Culture must be managed.
Posted by: Dale Wolf | June 10, 2005 at 11:48 PM