Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-1-2002
Abstract
The art of business underwent an upheaval in the last decade as new technologies met better-informed customers. One response to this new business environment can be seen in a recent repositioning from business models focused on products to ones based in customer centric actions. By the mid-1990s, this thinking led to the concept of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and to the explosive growth of CRM software and consulting services providers. After six to eight years of CRM implementations the results remain mixed with about 60-70% considered failures. What went wrong and how can it go right? Practitioners of CRM, whether they are software providers, consultants or other experts, led with technology and tactics. Little guidance concerning organizational change initiatives was found in the initial days of CRM implementations. In the industry literature few if any discussions focus on the enterprise-wide change needed to achieve effective CRM. I believe this constitutes the most important reason for the high failure rates. This paper centers on several Project Managers who managed to get it right. Based upon an analysis of observations and phenomenological interviews I will claim that those who are charged with managing their internal CRM projects retain strong links to their context. They appear to accurately assess their organizations tolerance for reengineering and let the most imperative business needs lead them to a studied selection of external supportive ideas. They effectively exclude extraneous material from those who intrude, including industry thought leaders. Because we are in the early phase of CRM little precedent exists, consequently, Project Managers are forced to rely on conceptual rather then actual experience. Early on they develop a facility to imagine a future state with the new processes and technology in place and they effectively incorporate an internal network for diffusion of the new state. As to practice recommendations, it is the authors thinking that organizations considering CRM need to approach it as change initiative and not technology advancement. In advance of tactics, they must first consider who they are and how CRM will transform their organization. They will achieve the best results through a shift from a focus on ends to the cultivation of the transforming process. In so doing, they will embed the new processes and leverage the diffusion of knowledge in their organizations leading to greater returns on all assets.
Keywords
customer relations
Rights
© The Author(s). Kelvin Smith Library provides access for non-commercial, personal, or research use only. All other use, including but not limited to commercial or scholarly reproductions, redistribution, publication or transmission, whether by electronic means or otherwise, without prior written permission is strictly prohibited.
Department/Center
Design & Innovation
Recommended Citation
Sahm, Patricia A., "Putting Socks on an Octopus: A Qualitative Understanding of the Transformation to Customer Relationship Management" (2002). Student Scholarship. 348.
https://commons.case.edu/studentworks/348