Eight Building Blocks for Success of CRM Software Still No Clue to Its Future

In 2001, Gartner analysts John Radcliffe, Jennifer Kirby, and Ed Thompson published "The Eight Building Blocks of CRM." This white paper helped IT leaders understand the impact of customer relationship management in the workplace, while providing a consistent structure by which purchasers could evaluate CRM applications. (Gartner's isn't the only checklist, either.)

In the years since, even Gartner has admitted that the world of CRM has changed. The document itself now contains a disclaimer that it "may not reflect current conditions." For many CIOs, the building blocks remain as important as ever, even though the deployment of CRM systems has largely shifted to the web.

Those eight fundamental "building blocks" remain:

• Vision. Effective CRM software requires support from the boardroom to the basement.
• Strategy. CRM software should not be a destination in itself; it should support broader goals.
• Customer Experience. The customer should drive the tools, not the other way around.
• Organizational Collaboration. CRM should bring departments together, not serve as a wedge between them.
• Process. When used effectively, CRM systems streamline and codify the things that make your organization special.
• Information. The more you know, the better you can compete through service.
• Technology. Customer demands should drive technology acquisitions.
• Metrics. CRM systems should provide clear results while helping other teams track their own objectives.

Nearly ten years after the creation of the eight building blocks, Gartner invited some of the top leaders from CRM software vendors to discuss how their products and services live up to the vision of an ideal CRM system. As Stuart Lauchlan from MyCustomer.com discovered, the vendors could only "agree to disagree."

• Panelists agreed that only about 20-30% of their clients actively measure the ROI from CRM software implementations. They couldn't agree on why large companies can't or won't measure their success.
• Panelists disagreed over the most challenging of the eight building blocks to accomplish. Data, customer experience, and processes came up in conversation as consistent challenges for organizations.
• Roughly half of CRM software will be web-based by 2020, according to panelists. However, the evolution of technology will erase the distinction between "desktop" and "cloud," making the question irrelevant.

Lauchlan provides more coverage of the CRM software discussion, along with Gartner's own insight into CRM challenges over the next decade.