Thinking about CRM
I used to be an executive for a customer relationship management (CRM) software company. For what it’s worth, I had a great time while I was there and am completely convinced that over the next five years, pretty much everyone will need this type of software.
As a category, CRM software can include a lot of different bits and pieces, but in general it is software that intelligently manages the flow of customer information to and from wherever it’s needed inside or outside the walls of your firm. The other day someone asked me what I thought was important to know about CRM software. In no particular order, here’s what I think.
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The market for the broad category of CRM software has moved into the early majority phase. We can debate this, but the market sizing data and the accumulated market caps of the public companies in the category appear to support this point. This is more than an idle observation as it
has significant implications for everyone in the space. Among other things, it means that vendors need to pay more attention to providing well conceived implementations that are well supported and deliver real business benefit.
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There are a number of vendors with offers that don’t fall squarely into the CRM category as it is presently defined that nevertheless have offers that can contribute mightily to your CRM strategy. Collaboration software, like what Interact sells, would be an example (it’s awesome stuff by the way). Business analytics and business intelligence is another. Value maximization software like what Outcome Software sells is another. Don’t restrict your thinking about CRM to the capabilities offered by the packaged software vendors.
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© Copyright 2008, Kevin Hoffberg
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