I looking at an entry on Communities of Practice in Wikipedia today. Out of interest, I typed "CRM" into the search box. It produced a long list of entries starting with C, R and M. Clicking on the entry for Customer Relationship Management, the first thing I saw was a disclaimer from Wikipedia saying:
! This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject
The entry itself was a mind-numbing mish-mash of CRM mumbo-jumbo, written with CRM as technology in mind. There was precious little in the entry about how we at CustomerThink, dare I say it, how you as CRM practitioners think about CRM today.
- About the primacy of understanding what customers really value.
- About understanding your company's capabilities to deliver value to customers.
- About developing a strategy to deliver value, through the company's capabilities, at a profit.
- About integrating the whole organisation, delivery partners, even customers into the delivery process.
- About stitching value delivery touchoints together into an end-to-end customer experience.
- And about how delivering value through the customer experience creates real brands for customers.
What I call the C4EB model of CRM, as in Customers, Capabilities, Cashflow, Collaboration, Experiences and Brands.
In short, IMHO the Wikipedia article is a very poor description of CRM.
So here's a challenge to all of CustomerThink's many readers.
What do you think CRM really is?
Post a response and get the conversation going.
Graham hill
Independent CRM Consultant
Interim CRM Manager
