Getting CRM right

By Susan Breidenbach
Network World, 09/11/00

Insight Technology, a consulting firm in Boulder, Colo., has been benchmarking customer relationship management projects for eight years. It reviewed 202 CRM projects last year and found that nearly one-third of the companies reported no return for their efforts, while slightly more reported only minor results. Among the successful projects, Insight has found six universal traits:

• Executive sponsorship. Assign a corporate executive to work daily with the CRM team and serve as visionary and tiebreaker.

• Processes first. Before considering technology, identify the weak spots in your customer-interaction processes.

• Technology fit. Pick technology that meets the most pressing needs, but look for an extensible architecture that can address future problems.

• Expertise. Evaluate internal technical skills honestly, fill any gaps with new hires or consultants, get help with systems integration, and provide training and help-desk support.

• Start small. Implement a relatively simple CRM component first, especially if the user community is not particularly computer-savvy.

• User buy-in. As soon as the CRM project starts, initiate an ongoing campaign to sell users on the concept.

Additionally, Insight found that companies spent on an annual basis an average of $9,894 per user on software, hardware, customization training and support. Respondents achieving the best returns on their CRM investment spent $16,003 per CRM user per year.

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