CRM : A Software or A Culture

Much is written and discussed about Customer Relationship Management (CRM in short) and its implications on the business of any organization. CRM has also led to a large number of organizations developing software for the specific needs of their customers who would use their CRM applications to manage and maintain Customer Relationships.

In the age where customer is the “Emperor”, CRM has become inevitable and the use of the same for any corporate cannot be just ignored. However, CRM is not just a software or a tool to be installed and implemented enterprise-wide. CRM is a culture, a culture that needs to be inculcated from top to bottom and within every employee of the organization, either facing the customer or working at back-end.

Indian industry these days is becoming sensitive to its customers. Thanks to global impacts and to some extent government initiatives to protect consumers and customers. In the world where competition in fierce, it has become very important not only to attract new customers but to retain the existing ones.

This has also demanded the use of a good CRM application properly implemented across all major functions within the organization. Major players like Siebel, Microsoft, Talisma, Oracle have already established their presence in the Indian market and are having large installations for big organizations. However, the cost of software, installation, implementation, customization and training becoming a major deterrent factor for many SMEs, an open source application like SugarCRM (I am a big fan of this tool) and vTiger are also worth considering. These open source tools are free to download and are also easy to customize and implement.

Technology has always been at the center of CRM in practice. For some CRM worked very well while for others it didn't. Those for whom CRM did not work, did shout a lot and blamed the technology or even the concept of CRM, or the CRM vendors, or the users, or all of them.

CRM is not something companies buy. CRM is something companies “do”. Any CRM application is meant for companies to “do” CRM. CRM is also not a fad. It is an underlying principle of interacting with existing and potential customers and it is something all organizations should “practice”. All the employees of any organization need to understand CRM as a Corporate Strategy and not just another box bought in by the CTO.

Author can be reached at spbaag@gmail.com

This article was also publised at www.linkedpune.com/2008/06/crm-software-or-culture.html