This video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNJl9EEcsoE is a classic, take a couple of moments to watch.  You will enjoy.

Is this the future of CRM?  Sounds a bit intrusive, doesn’t it.  As a customer, it gives me the heebie-jeebies.  I really don’t want all that information known about me by every one I do business with.  I just want companies to know what I feel they need to know to provide me with the service or product I desire . . . but please, no more.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) has the following benefits from what I have researched:

  • More focused “marketing”
  • A way of tracking customer’s buying behaviors
  • A sales tool
  • Builds better customer relationships 

I am not sure how much is too much, but the thirst for information by companies is insatiable.  But in the words of W. Edwards Deming, “Information is not knowledge, let’s not confuse the two.”  Knowledge about customers comes at the “touchpoints” of the organization (or the points of transaction as my Vanguard partners would say).  What this means is that we can be misled by data without understanding the context in which it is used.  In a previous blog, Death by Call Center executives believed (from reports) that sales calls were not being converted into sales when the reality was that they were receiving more calls through the sales line because customers were avoiding their IVR system.

A better (systems thinking) way to get knowledge is to perform “check” (understand purpose, value, flow and constraints) at your touchpoints so the context of the information can be realized.  You can not substitute information for knowledge.  For this reason, I continue to hear about the failure of CRM and the data analytics that go along with it.  These are expensive propositions with software and databases.  Before gambling on a CRM implementation, a service organization should first take time to understand the customer management process.  I believe it is necessary to understand demand, value and flow, something we don’t see from vendors pushing CRM solutions.

Tripp Babbitt is a speaker, blogger and consultant to service industry (private and public).  His organization helps executives find a better way to make the work work.  Download free from www.newsystemsthinking.com “Understanding Your Organization as a System” and gain knowledge of systems thinking or contact us about our intervention services at info@newsystemsthinking.com.  Reach him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TriBabbitt.