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CRM – the plot thickens Rapid growth but lingering uncertainty
are predicted for CRM in Europe in 2001, Pat Sweet finds. |
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Is customer relationship management (CRM) the new enterprise resource planning (ERP)? While ERP sales have stalled, if not plummeted, in the aftermath of the Year 2000, CRM revenues are going through the roof. For many companies, putting in systems to handle customer contact and support has the priority that replacing the business and accounting systems had in the run up to the millennium. Yet many observers believe the CRM marketplace to be crowded, confused and over hyped – just as ERP used to be. There are predictions of widespread user disappointment unless cultural and process changes accompany the technology-buying spree. The demand the IT industry is currently witnessing for CRM solutions has its roots in companies’ earlier enthusiasm for ERP. By implementing enterprise-wide integrated operational systems, many organisations have improved their data flows dramatically – but not their customer service. Missing the point “As a result of ERP implementations, and the move to e-business, companies are storing data on their customers in ever increasing volumes. But they are just collecting that data, not using it. Essentially, they are missing the point because they just don’t know what exactly those customers are doing,” explains Bob Wild, e-business consultant with Compass Management Consulting. |
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International Consultants' Guide January
2001 |
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Customer
Relationship Management