Judging by Gartner CRM inquiries, interest in our fall CRM Summit and readership of this blog, CRM is definitely back on many firms' agendas. However, there is a difference in the focus of CRM today. Not only are more firms recognizing that CRM is a business strategy rather than just another IT project, but many are realizing that there is also a "C" in CRM, or "customer" in customer relationship management. That's why we've chosen the theme of "CRM 2.0: The Next Generation of CRM" for our September CRM Summit in Chicago. It emphasizes the ability of companies to look from the outside in (that is, from the customer's perspective), rather than looking from the inside out (that is, the company's perspective). Balancing both perspectives is critical in this next generation of CRM. The upcoming Summit will look at customer experience management, innovation, customer loyalty, reengineering customer processes and customer analytics as major themes.

We have lots of great content, with keynotes from Fred Reichheld on driving growth through customer loyalty, Don Peppers on customer-driven innovation and Paul Greenberg on business models for the era of the social customer. Jeff Schumacher and Marc Singer from McKinsey have a session on change management and collaboration; Peppers and Rogers will moderate a session on customer loyalty; and Bob Thompson of CRMGuru.com will facilitate a panel on contact center metrics. More than 20 Gartner analysts will have more than 40 sessions across five major tracks: CRM strategy and implementation, sales and marketing, customer service and support, CRM analytics, and CRM technology and architecture.

This year's CRM Summit is the one CRM event you don't want to miss. It has answers to all your questions about the next generation of CRM, whether you are a business or IT leader or CRM project manager. As conference chair for this year's CRM event, I look forward to seeing all of you there.

For more information, go here.

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Who killed the sale?

I hold a credit card and a loan account of a particular company.My records would show that I have been a loyal and no-problem customer for them for the last 4 years. Recently I was called by this company for an employment interview. The placement agent contacted me, she was clueless about the designation, had very little idea about the profile or even the location of the job. The company paid to&fro fairs for the interview and I was looking for a job, so I went for the interview. On reaching their office, I was informed the interview has been postponed by 3 hours as the interviewer has to arrive by flight from another city and the flight was delayed . Completely understandable, these kind of things happen, I decided to wait. 3 hours changed to 4,5,6,7hours, I was still sitting in their office for the interview. At last I was called in for precisely 20 minutes. The Interviewer said he wasn't informed about this interview and was pulled in at the last minute(What happened to the person who was flying down for this purpose? did he get hijacked?). He didn't know the profile for which I was called and was not even aware of my locational preference for the job.After 7 1/2 hrs.of fruitless pursuit, a very disgruntled me left their office. They took 1 month's time to reimburse my flight fare. That too after many STD calls and heated exchanges.

I have preclosed my loan account and returned my credit card. I have also heard similar horror stories about this company and decided I will not have anything to do with them in the future.

Did the company know that I was a customer? Did they realize that processes need to be improved and better standards of professionalism need to be implemented because you never know where and how a customer will have an experience of your brand?

It's good to hear that CRM is definitely back on many firms' agendas. With on-demand CRM, it makes it much easier to implement solutions at a decent cost!

~David

http://www.crmblogger.com

CRM is not technology, it doesn´t matter if a company has an Oracle, Siebel, Asellerator or another kind of solution, perhaps like Frederick Newell use to say we need to migrte the CRM to a new level CMR "Customer manage the relation" but again we need support the operation and database marketing in solutions, like software on demand like Oracle and Siebel or in rent like the Teledialplus CRM suite or others. but at the end, strategy is maybe the most important step to find the best solution and the best way to finally take correct decissions about who could be the way to start a CRM trial.
Ing. rafael Melo, Jr
jr@arriendocallcenter.com

I always trust Gartner material concerning CRM including this interesting blog.

I am totally agree. We are at an era where the CRM tools need to focus on customer satisfaction more than processes. However, this change has to go through the development of a customer attitude, where the companies focus on customers.

2008 will definitely be the year of CRM 2.0. Many editors are just coming out with new version this year and they are truly oriented 2.0: Customer.

Hi Kimberly Collins,

You are saying for the next generation of CRM it sound's good. To get the number one position in the market every Organizations are doing lots of efforts, in those the CRM is also one of them which helps to win.CRM focuses more on customer centric services rather than product-centric services. According to CRM strategy individual customer information are collected and stored in a single server and the authorized employees have a free access to the data anywhere and at anytime.It is one of the best, modern one-to-one interactive and streamlined approaches, which helps enhance sales turnover and profit ratio.
CRM is a cost effective and dynamic tool that provides real time inventory and unique prices ready for the customers whenever they want. CRM also encompasses an automatic tracking facility that monitors and records all your customer’s transactions dome anywhere and at anytime.

Vaibhav Pandey
http://www.vcarecallcenter.com
India’s one and only end to end CISCO based IP network.

I think you are going in the right direction. The customer is the one that we have to ensure is happy. Focusing on what they need and building a solution that is best going to fit their needs is where customer satisfaction begins. There might be some occasions that it will not fit perfectly, but if you show them a work-around, they will be a loyal customer.

I completely agree with what has been said in this article. It is a new era for CRM's. It is an important part of an effective CRM solution to be able to provide customer relationship tools on many levels. A CRM should not only be a way of organizing customer’s and potential customer’s information, but it should also provide an effective and quickly responsive way of communicating ideas and information to your clients.

I feel that you really hit the nail on the head when you mentioned that there needs to be a balance between the customer and business perspective. This is exactly what a lot of companies are finally realizing. The advancement of CRM applications are bridging the gap between these two areas and making it possible to meet the expectations of both groups.

Oh! Certainly.

Not only the interest around the Customer Relationship Management arena has been increased pretty much across the globe, leading B2C players (both Business & Technology) have come forward to understand the essense of CRM in its true sense.

Also, folks have started to realize the key streams of CRM i.e., Analytical & Operational and its associated values. I am sure, the months/years ahead is going to be interesting indeed for Businesses & CRM Consultants..

- Arun Chearie

http://blog.transcentis.com

I feel you've touched upon an important point; although most companies talk about a customer perspective they find it difficult to move beyond CRM from a software point of view and their perspective is purely from a business consideration.

Web 2.0 however has given customers a platform to communicate as equals.

I always appreciate when other's find and understand the value of CRM practices in an organization. CRM is more than a software, it is a practice. The CRM team of any organization (if operated correctly) keeps the company alive, because as we all know it's the customer who dictates the value of the product.

I always appreciate when other's find and understand the value of CRM practices in an organization. CRM is more than a software, it is a practice. The CRM team of any organization (if operated correctly) keeps the company alive, because as we all know it's the customer who dictates the value of the product.