Enterprise Class CRM - Fact or Fiction
I attended a very interesting talk given by Steve Burrows on Enterprise Class CRM solutions last week, held at a local BCS meeting.
What struck me was the inference (intentionally or otherwise) that CRM for a big company was different to CRM for smaller companies. The talk was very informative, however, whilst the case study being presented had undoubtedly achieved the business objectives, it struck me as odd that you might approach a small business implementation differently.
In the enterprise space, a lot is made of a product’s scalability and the level of integration that can be achieved. Whilst sometimes relevant - far more important is a thorough understanding of the problems you are trying to address.
Statistics show that more than 80% of CRM projects fail. I personally believe this is due more to insufficient knowledge (of the business processes) than a poor choice of software.
The concept that an Enterprise Class CRM solution is somehow different to a small business CRM solution conveniently ignores the simple reality that; the most scalable, expensive and complex software package will deliver little business benefit if you don’t have a clear understanding of what you need it to do. Conversely, if you have a thorough and detailed understanding of how your business works and what you need to do to make it more efficient, the simplest and least expensive of solutions MAY be all you require.
The magic ingredient is KNOWLEDGE, knowledge of your business; how it works; how to make it work better; faster; more profitably and effectively. Ironically, CRM systems were originally sold as Knowledge Management systems, maybe that drew too much attention to the fact you actually need KNOWLEDGE in order to achieve success.
