Why CRM Fails–And How To Fix It

I had the good fortune to read a great article on MITSloan Management Review this summer called Why CRM Fails — and How to Fix It. It’ll be an eye-opener, and maybe a threat, for those of you who are caught up in the day to day business of selling CRM software. The reason is simple — while software plays a role in CRM, the research shows what many of us have known for a long time: software is not a solution.

The authors, Stan Maklan, Simon Knox and Joe Peppard point out that “marketers have bet the family silver” on these investments with nothing much to show for it. We can debate CRM definitions or how many cool features Salesforce.com is adding, but until we understand the true under-pinnings of success in the world CRM and social CRM, definitions will be off-target and features will simply make a business more expensive.

Capabilities

To blame technology for the failure of CRM is too simplistic according to the authors, and I agree.

“The problem is more fundamental: Most senior manageme…