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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
CRM Building the Collaborative Enterprise 
These days competition is ferocious. Companies are working harder than ever to find and keep customers -- at a competitive cost. Thanks to investments in ERP systems and supply chain management, quality is up, while costs and cycle times are squeezed to previously unthinkable levels. The trouble is, these optimized production methods and cost efficiencies are available to one and all. Advantage: None. How about exploiting product superiority? Sure, and while you're at it, convince a venture capitalist to fund a new dot-com. The Internet is partly to blame because it accelerates the flow of information and capital to new opportunities. Customers win, while business executives get to pull out their hair.
With recovery from the recession under way, the future of CRM looks as bright as the economy itself, but it's a CRM for wiser buyers and increasingly savvy customers. The economic downturn coupled with the tragedies of September 11 jolted the CRM industry out of its land-grab mentality. Multi-million dollar extravaganzas suddenly had a hard time finding a willing CFO to provide funding. People weren't buying CRM simply because everyone else in their golf foursome was doing CRM, they were running hard-nosed ROI studies on the proposed projects. Sometimes the projects passed, and then the question became, "Why can't we wait six months to implement this?" CRM is not just a buzzword anymore. It's an accepted feature of the business landscape. In this section we'll look at where CRM is now, how it's moving forward in this more sober economic climate, and what we've learned along the way. • Why, despite the shocking "failure" rates of the past couple years, analysts expect more money than ever to be invested in CRM in 2002. • What we've learned in order to avoid a project melt down in the future. • How some of the leading CRM thinkers and practitioners see the field today. • The central importance of collaboration, a win-win approach that should be part of any CRM project. CRM is here to stay. Birthed in the good times, it's gone through the down times with us. It's changed, but so have we. Now it's time to press on with the hard work that must be done. CRM Investment Trends -- Focus on ROI According to an Insight Technology Group buyer study in 2001, over 52 percent of firms bought CRM applications without first planning how they were going to generate a return on that investment. Not surprisingly, 76 percent of those same companies reported minimal or no operational improvements. But the pendulum is swinging back. ITG's managing partner, Jim Dickie says if 2000 was a year of "irrational enthusiasm" for CRM, then 2001 was the year of "unjustified pessimism." Now the stage is set for 2002 to find its equilibrium. We've all heard the grisly statistics about CRM project failures -- pick your favorite number between 50 and 90 percent. But frequently, what was called a "failure" was simply over-inflated expectations. Mark W. Brewer, vice president of global information technology with HB Fuller, expects specific CRM benefits to accrue to his company and customers. For him, CRM's purpose is to "increase value to our customer base, and also to improve internal customer-facing processes." To that end, the company will "interview customers, realign internal processes, find a value for us, and then prioritize the best ROI for Fuller customers and Fuller internally." In addition to taking a win-win approach with customers and stakeholders, companies are also succeeding with CRM by solving a problem or two at a time, focusing on what they do well and not trying to solve "world hunger." The grandiose seven-figure installations probably contributed to a lot of the failures in early CRM, since people were trying to do too much too quickly. "The major trends will be projects that deliver a return on investment within a six to twelve month period," says Nick Siragher, director of London-based Hewson Consulting. Jeremy Cox, principal consultant at ICE Customer Management for KPMG Consulting concurs: "CRM has, to some extent, become a dirty word as organizations have spent small fortunes on CRM applications with little to show for it." Nowadays, organizations see CRM more as a business strategy enabled by appropriate technology -- and make sure the benefits are mapped out before committing funds. While CRM will never be easy, companies will continue to invest in it, because "you don't pick up your marbles and go home if you fail the first time," says Naras Eechembadi, principal of North Carolina-based Quaero. Rule #1 for CRM success: Keep trying. Author: Bob Thompson Contributing Writer: David Sims, SharpAngle.com Print Design: Sundberg & Associates Inc. Produced by: Frank Long, International Media Associates, Sandwich, MA, E-mail: flongima@aol.com ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Bob Thompson is founder and president of Front Line Solutions, an independent CRM consulting and research firm. Mr. Thompson is a leading authority on the role of CRM in the extended enterprise, specializing in emerging CRM-related strategies and technologies for Partner Relationship Management (PRM) and Collaborative eBusiness, an emerging trend that is the fusion of eCRM, PRM and group collaboration tools. Throughout his career, he has advised leading companies on the strategic use of Information Technology to solve business problems and gain a competitive advantage. Mr. Thompson is also the editor and publisher of CRM.Insight, an award-winning CRM newsletter. In January 2000, he launched CRMGuru.com, which has become the world's largest and fastest-growing CRM portal with over 100,000 members. For more information, visit the Front Line Solutions Web site at www.frontlinehq.com or CRMGuru.com at www.crmguru.com. |
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