CRM Failures: Businesses Failing to Use CRM Software to Full Potential
June 4, 2008 by Jimson Lee
I think there is an error in my headline today.
It should read:
Businesses are still failing to use their SOFTWARE to its full potential.
How many IT projects fail after 1 year? How many White Elephants or “Islands of Databases” do you have in your organization?
This picture best describes why most projects fail, including CRM implementations.
Here is a press release from DMC Software which may appear to be a plug for their consulting firm, but they do make a good point.
Businesses are still failing to use their CRM software to its full potential
CRM systems have revolutionized how businesses manage their data and relationship marketing, however, many organizations are still failing to get the most out their CRM software. The key to getting the best return on investment is seeking expert advice and undertaking structured training, says CRM software specialist DMC Software Solutions.
CRM software is a big business today. Over 40% of businesses in the high technology, aerospace and retail sectors across the US and Europe have invested in CRM software, as well as two thirds of telecom operators and over half of financial services, pharmaceuticals and transport.
There are obvious advantages to using CRM software; it’s a large part of relationship marketing today. And in today’s competitive market it’s difficult to comprehend that businesses can survive without it, but many businesses still have their fair share of CRM software related issues.
The big problem with CRM systems is selecting the correct CRM software for company needs and getting the right amount of advice and training to ensure it reaches its potential. Resources are easily wasted without careful consideration and help, warns CRM specialist DMC Software Solutions.
A recent survey highlighted some of the main problems with CRM software – these mainly stemmed from choosing the right CRM software, dealing with the right software supplier to help them get the most out of their software and issues with integrating their CRM data with their other software systems.
In fact, 67% said that finding time to chose and evaluate their CRM software was a major issue, 51% said that synchronising data was a major issue and 43% said that they were using less than half of their CRM systems functionality.
“One of the main risks involved in a CRM investment is businesses ensuring they have the right CRM software and the right supplier to be able to provide them with adequate training and business advice.
The CRM software must be feature-rich to provide a company with much more than just a database solution, but at the same time it must be easy-to-use and it must provide real-time integration with other business software and data,” says DMC Software Solutions Marketing Manager Rebecca Haines.
Many CRM software suppliers claim to be experts in the CRM business, when in fact CRM is not their core business software and their understanding of relationship marketing is actually very weak.
“It’s important for businesses to choose a supplier who really understands CRM and can not only sell the benefits of the software but actually understand them and help to implement them in each unique business model,” Rebecca continues.
“It is also important for businesses to think outside the box when it comes to their CRM software – no two organizations use the same processes and should therefore look beyond out of the box solutions. The scope of customization is extremely important and worth the additional investment to ensure it’s an exact fit”
About DMC Software
DMC Software Solutions is a specialist in training, supporting, supplying, customisation and implementing Sage CRM business solutions and the full range of Sage integrated accountancy software.
Keeping over 2400 customers in the UK and Europe satisfied, the DMC Software team has received a number of awards from Sage UK over the last six years including Sage Circle of Excellence Award 2007 – testament to the outstanding customer service they provide.
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2007, 2008, business, CRM, CRM Failures, CRM Implementation, CRM Systems, customer, Customer Service, customers, data, helpdesk, implementation, integrated, integration, management, market, Marketing, process, relationship, service, software, solution, solutions, source, support, system, systems, Technology
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It is for many of these reasons that we decided to go a different route and design our own web-based, realtime CRM solution. It allows the the telemarketing firm to update prospects and us to check them from any computer with an internet connection. It has proven to be invaluable.
A customizable CRM software package is the king in this respect. In my case I’ve found that Enterprise Wizard (www.EnterpriseWizard.com) is a real “twelfth man”, driving us on to ever better results. After bad experiences with monolithic CRM packages this has been more refreshing than I can possibly express in words.