CRM Software - Holy Grail or Hysterical Hype?
A personal look at customer relationship management
There’s been so much written and said about CRM it would be easy to believe
that customer relationship management software is a cure all for poor
service.
Well, if there is one thing I have learned aboard the voyage of “CRM
Discovery”, it’s that a cure all it is most certainly not!
Yes, organizations have spent billions on this technology, but we have
to ask ourselves has it actually made customers happier?
I’m inclined to think not.
An over reliance of technology is never a good thing. I’m all for
automating process where we can, but given the choice of speaking to a
human being and speaking to an automated robot; I’d go for the good old
fashioned human every time.
So, what’s the hype behind CRM?
Back in the ‘80’s we had ERP, then TQM (I know, I’m getting old!) and
then came CRM. Customer Relationship Management to give it its full
monocle.
And finally, my...
CRM definition
“CRM is the strategy that puts the customer at the heart of the business
and uses appropriate technology to support it”.
How about that? Did you like it? I tried to encompass all the software stuff whilst trying to convey the real basis of customer relationships – the heart.
