AI

Why CRM often (usually) fails

I read this post over at CRM Blog and I just have to give a bit of a rant.  First of all, here is the post:

CRM Blog: Benefits of Customer Relationship Management

Excellent customer service is about understanding the customer requirements and reacting to them efficiently. CRM helps companies understand, anticipate and respond to the customers’ needs in a consistent way. Implementation of CRM requires and efficient and integrated internal business system. Many businesses benefit from the organizational discipline offered by the CRM. Customer relationship management (CRM) has the following characteristics:

  1. It develops better communication channels
  2. It collects vital data such as customer details and order history
  3. It creates detailed profiles such as customer preferences
  4. It delivers instant access to customer history
  5. It identifies new sales opportunities
  6. It simplifies marketing and sales processes by understanding customer needs.

Lets dissect it, based on some experience with Siebel.  Incidentally, this is in the context of a big bank, with the usual multiple host, and channel systems.

  1. CRM does not provide communication channels – it provides data that must be integrated into the channel
  2. agreed
  3. agreed
  4. Absolutley not;  again the data is there, but its only as instant or even accessbile if it is integrated with the appropriate channel/ desktop applications.
  5. It identifies them .. but that identification is of no utility unless it is appropriately prompted/ levered at the right point of customer interaction
  6. it could do this, but the sales process is baked into existing technology, and unless that technology is changed, then the benefit will not be achieved.

Relevance to Bankwatch:
CRM systems are doomed to failure in big firms, unless the benefits, capabilities and touchpoints are well understood.  CRM as a concept will change your bank, but CRM technology will not unless it is properly integrated, and that integration is very expensive.  In fact CRM technology that is not integrated is an incremental technology cost, and incremental work for your staff. That is the classic double whammy, that will worsen your productivity, and kill the credibility of CRM.

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