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Here’s something that I have always thought about and it seems am on the same wavelength as Shane over at ITWorldCanada. The issue here is regarding the importance that we need to accord to CRM products and in my opinion also how new a thing is CRM. Sure, the term is not more than a couple of decades old but as a stratagem CRM has existed as long as business and trade has been there.

So, the question to ask is what is it that makes a CRM endeavor a success? How much of it is the software and whether do you really need CRM software at all? To the latter question, lets say we do need the software but how do we then account for the astonishing rate of failure with CRM deployments.

The vendors are never going to agree that its the product. If it is the methodology then perhaps it means that companies are investing too much faith in the software and not bothering to get right the human aspect that involves intuition, lateral thinking, brilliant sales, good follow-ups, obtaining information from data and using it and other such skills.

It is strange that such a crucial aspect of CRM, the human angle, fails one CRM project after another. Its ironical that companies have many aspects of CRM well covered before they go in for a CRM deployment only to see things spiral downward later.

Customer Experience Management, or CEM, is becoming a popular way for industries to capture customer loyalty. CEM puts the focus on the customer rather than the goals of the company, leading to better customer service and ultimately a higher number of loyal customers spreading word-of-mouth advertising to potential customers. Companies that use customer experience management practices strive to make the most out of every interaction with the customer; through advertising, sales, delivery, service and communications. This leads to the “customer-centric” approach that CEM stresses. The customer needs to have the experience that the customer desires and expects at every level of interaction.

Effective CEM plans start with data gathering and analysis and ends with a customer service focused start-to-finish strategy to increase customer loyalty in a financially optimal way for the company. The strategy must give your company an advantage over other industries that are currently implementing CEM programs as well. Probably the most important issue to watch is the involvement of top executives in the CEM program. Goals should be set including the involvement of all levels of personnel in the company. When programs are initiated but not followed through on, CEM cannot accomplish the purpose set forth. Staff from every department should be on board with the planning and implementing of the customer experience management program. Read more