CRM Systems Fail to Deliver

Yet more evidence there’s something intrinsically wrong with the concept and the implementation of CRM systems.

Jim Bekowitz blogs on CRM and related topics at CRM Mastery Inc aka @jberkowitz, Jim posted on Twitter a link to this article

“Never Again” More Than 40% of CRM /Sales Force Automation (SFA) Users Would Not Buy Their current SFA System Again”

Boston, MA (PRWEB) June 29, 2009 — According to a new report by Independent IT Analyst, http://www.independentitanalyst.com, over 40% of CRM/SFA buyers would not make a purchase from the same vendor again.

Independent IT Analyst surveyed 1,242 sales leaders and IT executives in multiple industries in order to provide objective analysis to technology buyers.

Until now the purchasers of CRM and Sales Force Automation (SFA) technologies have not been able to obtain impartial data to assist them in the vendor selection process.

Independent IT Analyst Inc. provides direct feedback on customer satisfaction directly from actual users of SFA systems. Vendors like Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce.com, SAP, GoldMine, and SalesLogix were rated and reviewed by the CEO’s, Sales Vice Presidents, CIO’s, and CMO’s on actual use of their SFA systems.

The 2009 Sales Force Automation Customer Satisfaction Vendor Ranking Report contains specific information such as vendor implementation success/failure rates, return on investment, greatest customer satisfaction, best CRM/SFA user interface, best reports and dashboards.

Happily the research supports a lot of the things we’ve said in the past about the failure of CRM systems.

Of course the failure isn’t anything to do with the technology, even if it’s that old fashioned desk top, client server stuff.

And it isn’t anything to do with the software, even when that can be truly horrible.

The main reason for failure is customer relationship management is an “external” process. Businesses need to be flexible, so they can interface with other people’s processes.

Unfortunately the systems are usually implemented as a way of enforcing “internal” processes, so the accountants can control everything.

Sales guys – the main users of CRM – end up paying lip service to the CRM system, because whilst the accountants can be as rigid as they want, somebody has to be flexible, accommodating the customer.

And that somebody is the sales guy.

For a real life example read I Didn’t Think We Would Win”

Related posts by Steve Reeves

Why Less CRM is More Value

Abject Failure of CRM

3 Reasons Why CRM Isn’t Right For Us

How To Choose A CRM

Get a CRM Built For Your Business – 10 “Ifs”

Reports: Oracle planning more online software (news.cnet.com)
Meet the Open Cloud Manifesto (businessweek.com)
Betting on the gaps in Salesforce’s suite (vator.tv)

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