CRM – what’s in a name?

Customer Relationship Management is a term that means very different things to different people, and these perspectives were powerfully contrasted at a Netsuite briefing I attended this week.

On the one hand Jennifer Kirkby, independent analyst and editor of the Customer Management Community, was a powerful advocate of organisations shifting from a product-centric to customer-centric approach.

On the other, Keith Davies, Financial Director, of Endoscopy UK, presented a case study describing how CRM technology had benefited his organisation, the most striking aspect of which was that the very compelling business case for the project was largely driven by efficiencies delivered by the technology, rather than a closer strategic orientation towards the customer.

Which leads me to make a couple of simple points:

One – The shift from a product-centric to a customer-centric strategy, is both laudable, and if well executed, likely to be effective. However, though CRM technology may help facilitate the strategy, it isn’t a pre-condition for an organisation to become customer-centric.

Two – Organisations can achieve very significant returns on investment from CRM without any shift in their strategy towards the customer. A product-centric organisation that introduces CRM effectively is likely to be a much more profitable organisation, albeit still a product-centric one.

I make these points because from experience there are some organisations that see the benefits of CRM technology as only accruing when teamed with a change in customer orientation. The outcome of this misconception is that projects don’t get off the ground simply because the customer orientation shift is viewed as too challenging, too nebulous or too long term to justify the investment. As a result rapidly attainable, highly measurable, efficiency benefits go begging.

ShareThis