Stop Blaming the Customers for CRM Technology Problems

Gwynne Young
Managing Editor, CustomerThink
Member

Posted 03-May-2005 09:49 AM
[Posted for Virendra Gandhi]

I read the following quote from a CRM guru: "There are a lot of people who have bought CRM software, but not got the return they expected on it. Largely, it's their own fault and not the software's because you cannot install a business model. You can only install the software. You've to adopt a business model."

I believe that it is easy to put the blame on others and the people who are being blamed here are customers. It seems we are forgetting the maxim that customer is always right, and CRM is all about customers. So we have to get our act together.

Now I'm reading articles about Siebel's struggles. People who are integrating, reporting and working on automation for CRM may be doing well, but nothing is being done on interaction. Can nothing be done to reverse this?

Bob Thompson
Founder, CRMGuru.com
Member

Posted 11-May-2005 10:05 PM
I have mixed feelings about this issue. On the one hand, I think CRM vendors have been unfairly blamed for CRM project problems, because 80% of what makes a project succeed or fail does not involve technology.

But maybe that's a cop out. Shouldn't CRM vendors take more care to ensure customers understand the complete story about what they need to do to be successful? Otherwise, it's a bit like the car salesman saying, "Hey, it's not my problem you don't know how to drive, I'm just selling you a car."

CRM vendors, how do you deal with this issue? Are you selling tools or solutions? And customers, when you buy software, are you expecting consultative advice too?

Bob Thompson
Founder, CRMGuru.com

Graham Hill
Guru
Member

Posted 12-May-2005 09:16 AM
Virendra, Gwynne, Bob

I am pretty much with Bob on this one. But I do think that there is a twist in the tail-end of his comment.

As Bob quite rightly points out, most independent studies (excluding vendor, vendor paid-for and systems integrator studies) quite clearly show that technology is just an enabler of CRM. If an adequate enabling level of technology is available, it isn't a significant success factor for CRM projects. What does drive CRM success is having the right strategy, getting all aspects of the organisation aligned around delivering the strategy and managing the CRM project for business results.

CRM vendors and their systems integrator friends are no doubt guilty of over-selling technological dreams, without putting in place the non-technological aspects of CRM that drive success. But corporate buyers are equally as guilty of buying unrealistic technological dreams without doing their own due diligence to ensure that their CRM projects have a chance of succeeding. To be frank, there is no excuse for making these types of mistakes when planning CRM projects, not with what we know about successful CRM today.

And what is the sting in the CRM tale you ask?

The sting in the tail is that I seriously doubt whether most CRM vendors really understand how their customers' business' work well enough to know how to do deliver a CRM project successfully.

Spurred on by a recent article about Siebel's new Customer Experience Blueprint service, I looked at the related service offerings of a number of vendors. Most of them were somewhat simplistic in their methods and all of them displayed a lack of the systematic understanding of how businesses really work, the sort of understanding that you would need to implement corporate CRM projects successfully. That's why they have big systems integrators as partners. But the systems integrators often have their own problems in getting enough of the non-technological aspects into their predominantly CRM technology project bids. I lost count of the number of times I struggled, often in vain, to get enough non-technological resources into CRM project bids, when I worked for one of the big systems integrators. For too many managers in the systems integrators, the non-technological aspects of CRM projects are just 'nice to haves' if the bid isn't already too expensive!

As they say, "consultant heal thyself".

CRM clearly has a long way to go before what is best practice for some successful CRM implementors, is common CRM practice for the rest.

Graham Hill
Independent CRM Consultant

Jeremy Cox
Member

Posted 13-May-2005 07:19 AM
I agree with Graham. (This is becomming a habit!). It's a case of 6 on one side half a dozen on the other. Too mnay people buy CRM applications without thinking things through thoroughly; equally too many CRM vendors sell through resellers who do not understand CRM. they are unable to support their customers properly as a result. In the mid market space, such resellers should be building alliances with people like Graham and me. The software vendors ought to be doing more of such 'marriage broking'. In the mid market space, the CRM consulting needs to be short and sharp and good value for money. I'm certain Graham and many others can do this.
The Wisdom Network Ltd

Jeremy Cox MA DipM
Managing Director
The Wisdom Network Ltd,
www.thewisdomnetwork.com

Virendra Gandhi
Member

Posted 13-May-2005 10:32 PM
Ok, but the core issue here is that there has to be a common practice for all as Graham puts it.

Surprisingly, what is found, missing in all discussions, is that a customer (lets call him main customer) is also a customer of his suppliers, now these suppliers have also their own CRM software's, so does the main customer as also the main customer's "customer's" now there is no part of CRM which is seamless between all these three. What is actually lacking is that "a part of the software" of all the three should be compatible or as someone has put it the "software has to talk to each other". I would call this "seamless the part" and as Graham (I believe) put it "the non-technological aspects", at least this has to be a common factor for all, irrespective of Domain constraints.

This being seamless will also create an environment as common as Windows operating system so when the staff or people actually working on it, change jobs, they need to be retrained only the tailor made part adopted by the new employer. Easy acceptance by these people is more than half the battle won. This will greatly solve the problem of adopting or implementation of the CRM software and will enable all users to be interactive and universal, apart from the reporting and application part, which need not be interactive. Once this is possible I believe the Y2K demand or the mad rush to make the system Y2K compatible would be miniscule compared to the demand for marriage broking (as Jeremy puts it), systems integrators and vendors and developers will have for CRM software.

The immediate requirement is to have a set of common standards for CRM to the benefit of all.

Jeremy Cox
Member

Posted 15-May-2005 12:31 PM
I certainly believe common technology standards like xml and web services support value chain/networks. As for common CRM practices, I don't think this is necessary or even healthy. The ability to differentiate requires some uniqueness. There is a lot of commoditization going on, so conformity is not a good strategy.

However for firms to gain from CRM applications, they must figure out how they are going to use them and for what purpose. If they cannot be bothered to develop a customer strategy, then they deserve what they get.

As for vendors,if they wish to 'walk the talk', then I think it is encumbent on them to provide strategy support—usually through 3rd parties.

Jeremy Cox MA DipM
Managing Director
The Wisdom Network Ltd,
www.thewisdomnetwork.com

Dick Lee, CRMGuru Panelist
Advisory Board
Member
Picture of Dick Lee, CRMGuru Panelist

Posted 15-May-2005 04:24 PM
Folks—one key considerations seems missing from the discussion thread—that's the learning curve. Back in the 1990s and perhaps through 2000 or thereabouts, premature buyers of CRM technology could legitimately complain (about vendors), "they should have warned me." But not today. And not for the past several years. I think we can fairly classify premature software purchases over the past several yearsd as "self-inflicted injuries." Clients who still don't get it about redesigning the business beforte redesigning systems support have their heads buried deep in the sand. It's hard to feel too much sympathy for these laggards.

Author Dick Lee is founder and principal of High-Yield Methods, a Twin Cities-based consulting firm specializing in helping clients achieve customer-centricity through CRM and proper alignment of process and technology. Dick is the developer of the Visual Workflow approach to business process improvement.

Helmar
Member

Posted 20-May-2005 09:15 AM
Graham wrote:

This is so true, but this by implication means that CRM gets "disconnected" from the same vendors who were driving the CRM=software madness in the first place.

The situation as I see it became a big mess of companies looking for an IT quickfix (why they believed it existed in the first place is beyond me) and a dearth of proper (read:holistic) CRM consultants.

Adding insult to injury is the current and rather persitent drive for quick results, whereas the real CRM is about building something solid, something sustainable, rather than giving management and shareholders instant gratification.

This raises the point if CRM can actually be implemented in a public company, with marketing-competence-challenged management, under constant pressure to meet short-term goals rather than the freedom to build for the future. I shall leave you with these thoughts.

On Dick Lee's comment: if it's true that there are that many laggards in top management positions with their heads buried in the sand, then it's no surprise the real CRM could never really leave its positive mark on both companies and customers. At the same time this means for a complete corporate overhaul, but this is probably far too optimistic to expect from people with their heads in the sand, acting under constant pressure and from a knowledge base that is at least 30 years out of date.

Helmar

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Helmar Rudolph helps companies succeed with their CRM-related business transformation process by utilising his unique "Diamond CRM" framework.

http://www.helmar.org