The author takes on a cross-functional view of planning and implementing a CRM program from both technical and business vantage points. This book introduces CRM in a concise and easy-to-understand way. It will take on some of the well-worn buzzwords and put them in context and offer real case studies of both CRM successes and failures. It will also cover the range of CRM applications, from sales force automation to help desk support, to marketing automation, to e-CRM, and beyond

On one of those preternaturally warm spring afternoons, when many of their colleagues had forsaken them for the beach, around 500 conference attendees packed themselves into a hall at the Los Angeles Convention Center to hear about Customer Relationship Management. A group of high-profile experts was assembling to deliver a heralded panel discussion on the current and future state of the CRM market. Attendance swelled to standing room only. On the panel were executives from both established and emerging CRM vendors. One panelist headed a company that sold an Internet storefront product. Another ran a sales-force automation company. A third represented a major database vendor. There was a call center system vice president and, to his left, a chief privacy officer. At the end of the line sat a renegade technology analyst. As they began talking, it became clear that each of the panelists had a different perspective on CRM. The president of the database company talked at length about connecting databases to applications, after the privacy officer had finished weighing in on the risks of opt-in marketing. The call center executive discussed new advances in live chat. The analyst inveighed against CRM vendors who didn't offer sufficient analytics, making a few of his co-panelists shift in their chairs. In fact, the discussion topics were so far removed from one another that the panelists might as well have been speaking different languages. As the moderator quickly learned, integrating the discussion in any meaningful way was a more significant undertaking than a mere hour would allow. As with the CRM marketplace, there wasno holistic message--just different conversations. Shuffling out of the auditorium, none of the attendees left with a clear CRM vision they could take back to work and begin promoting. Nevertheless, we all have our eyes on the CRM ball. Aberdeen Group's "Customer Relationship Management: Year 2000 Edition" report predicts the CRM market will grow from $8 billion in 1999 to more than $24 billion by 2003. Such pronouncements--and there are many--represent sufficient ammunition for many companies to target CRM before thoroughly scoping it. The problem is the noise. Companies worldwide are declaring themselves "customer-focused" and forking over millions of dollars on CRM-related technologies. Over-hyped vendor products clash with varied interpretations of CRM objectives, leading many companies to simply automate ineffective marketing and customer support processes. And because many of these processes rely on sporadically gathered data and shoddy business practices ("I can't help you; you'll have to talk to our billing department--and they're closed"), these firms were no closer to building solid customer relationships than prior to adopting CRM. Likewise, customers have more choices than ever before, and a vendor's arch competitor is often--as the current sound bite goes--just a mouse-click away. Without customers, products don't sell and revenues don't materialize. And without establishing customer loyalty, a profitable customer can be as fleeting as a dot-com Web site. Suddenly, customers matter. Thus, banks have succeeded in automating their marketing processes and calculating customer value. Communications companies are busy trying to reduce churn. Retailers and e-tailers alike are launching customer loyalty programs with alarming speed. And everyone has an Internet strategy for stimulating purchases. The only thing many of these forward-thinking companies have in common is their struggle to separate the truth from the hype. This book seeks to mitigate the spin rampant in the CRM marketplace, first by defining CRM and its various components and then by providing a guide to successful delivery of a CRM program. It will serve both as a resource, defining and illustrating key CRM concepts, and as a field guide, directing you in the best appr