Agile Business Change Blog Thoughts on Agile Strategic Business Change and Agile Delivery

12

MAY

We need CRM?

12 MAY 2011 | Posted in contact management, CRM | Author Anthony Flack | 1 Comment

“We need CRM”, I have heard this statement frequently when speaking with Not for Profit / Membership and Financial Sector organisations. When I dig a little deeper and explore with clients what is really required, then the possible dangers of the ubiquitous CRM solution become evident. Simply investigating with the client, what the target business improvement is will start to steer the dialogue in a more effective direction.

When I ask clients about their intended use of the CRM, I usually get a variety of responses. One client that comes to mind responded with “CRM things” and I established that the organisation had not really given much strategic thought to the decision and had already started to talk with potential suppliers.

More recently I was impressed and refreshed by a client who stated “do not tell me I need CRM, because I do not”. This client then explained that he needed to get all his client related data, collected, cleaned and stored effectively in one place, with client friendly update processes and built in data quality rules. What this client required was assistance with the management of data from the business systems which would allow them to have better contact management. Organisations are like people, as individuals we often buy something to make us feel better or to solve a perceived problem. When considering purchasing a CRM it is beneficial to identify the cause of the problem and explore potential solutions, before you buy.