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VJESI DM Leadership Panel - Survey #4
And now it is report card time.
Were the values espoused in the CRM "movement" all talk? Do the customer relationship values still exist in this difficult economy? This month's VJESI Leadership Panel helps to sort through the hype from day-to-day reality. Eighty percent of the panel participants are at the VP level and above.
Myth #1: Good DMer's have always used CRM.
Myth #2: CRM is a business philosophy that drives organizational processes and software expenditure.
Myth #3: CRM is about integration of all phases of the customer interaction process and creation of a seamless information network that allows the business to speak to the customer intelligently.
Myth #4: Everyone within the organization must take responsibility for CRM if it is going to work effectively.
Myth #5: Training is key to success of CRM initiatives.
Myth #6: CRM integration is easy to accomplish.
Myth #7: CRM brings satisfaction to customers and businesses.
Myth #8: The ROI on CRM is hard to measure.
Myth #9: There are no privacy issues raised by instituting CRM.
Myth #10: CRM has happened and there is no need to discuss it further.
The VJESI Leadership Survey is designed to gather the collective wisdom of the direct marketing leadership in addressing business challenges in today's unprecedented environment.
If you want to opt-in and be part of one of the upcoming panels, send an email to vjames@victoriajames.com with OPT IN SURVEY in the subject line. All answers are tabulated in the aggregate and analyzed to produce a big picture. There are no direct quotes or attribution. Detailed versions of the survey results are at www.victoriajames.com/SurveySays/survey4results.html.
Thanks for your participation!
March 12, 2002
CRM - The Myth Vs. Reality
By Victoria James
CRM has become a fashionable buzzword that promises a win/win result in loyal customers and increased revenue. The customer is king and queen and exceeding his and her expectations is what business is all about. Each organization defined CRM for itself. Vendors developed technological tools for data mining and analytics to "make it work."
Reality: Hhhumm.... Well may be so in the ideal, but 49% say they
are just beginning or at the start of CRM initiatives within their
organizations. It is not high on the strategic priority list for 18%, 7% state that it doesn't fit their business model and 2% think it is a luxury.
Reality: 56% of the panel believe that CRM IS a business philosophy while 28% view it as a set of processes and 8% as tactical software tools that fit together to make things talk to each other. Three quarters (75%) of the panel will continue to spend the
same amount as in the past on these initiatives or INCREASE their spending
in 2002.
Reality: Of the variety of customer touch points within an organization, such as sales, marketing, customer service, billing and fulfillment, 69% of the respondents said that a minimum of three core technologies were integrated to create their CRM initiative while 18% integrated five or more technologies to achieve integration. And 6% do not have any of their systems talking to each other.
Reality: Respondents showed that where there was a CRM evangelist within the organization, then CRM initiatives became reality. In fact, 69% said that was true for their organization and that the evangelist was generally the SVP/CMO or President. There was also a very high correlation between having a CRM evangelist and the status of the initiative.
Reality: True. 87% provided user training to support the integration of the new systems with 69% developing the training in-house and 31% having it provided by vendors. In fact, it took 81% between 4 and 12 months for users to be trained and comfortable.
Reality: 80% think this is somewhat to very difficult to achieve and only a handful 12% think it is fairly easy to accomplish. In fact, 69% are still working on it. 19% took two years to accomplish CRM integration, whereas 12% did it within six months to a year.
Reality: Businesses are still questioning whether the time and trouble worth it.
More than half, 58%, said they are somewhat satisfied and 24% are not sure
YET. About 12% were not at all satisfied and one respondent responded philosophically to this question saying, " It remains an ongoing process, one should never be satisfied with it." No matter what the level of satisfaction, 94% are working to integrate their online initiatives with their system-wide integration. And 75% have their CRM initiatives include prospects as well as customers.
Reality: Direct marketers know how to measure. Everyone (100%) is using some form of measurement. 12% measure cost savings, 26% measure revenue enhancement and 9% measure customer value improvement. 53% measure all three - cost savings, revenue enhancement and customer value improvement.
Reality: A majority (69%) felt that they did need to address
Privacy issues as a result of CRM - which largely takes the form of
publicizing the policy on use of customer data through postings on the web site, active emailing to inform customers of the data use changes that are taking place within the organization and communication of their policy on most printed mail.
Reality: CRM is "happening" in the DM world - slowly but surely - respondents report that it's a bit painful, takes time and commitment, requires an Advocate at the top and may or may not pay off. What do you think?
