Malcolm Wicks writes:
In many organizations, getting to the point where everyone agrees that CRM is really a strategy and not a technology is relatively straightforward. However, having arrived at this agreement, the first action that many organizations took was to buy some technology to help them implement CRM. Why did they do this? What happened to the strategy?
What was the hidden reason?
When asked why they went straight to technology, some organizations said that it offered a "quick" way to make things happen.There is another more significant reason which is never admitted by organizations and rarely discussed. It's simply that many organizations do not have the structure, culture or metrics to successfully implement a CRM strategy across their whole organization.
Mighty metrics
Metrics drive behavior, so a quick way to evaluate some of the risks of implementing CRM across any organization is to look at the current metrics used to drive internal business units. In almost all cases, they are mainly revenue- and profit-based. Therefore the culture tends to be self-centered, often putting business unit needs ahead of wider company needs.
Find the good metrics and measures
The secret of success is being realistic about the challenges and understanding the metrics that drive behavior in the organization. Often just a limited amount of research uncovers the fact that there isn't a joined-up business strategy or a consistent set of metrics across the organization. Buying and implementing technology will not resolve this problem.
Read more