December 8, 2003

CRM Growing Fast - But Companies Still Await Payback

Customer relationship management (CRM) solutions have delivered only modest gains in revenues despite millions of dollars of investment, according to a new survey and report from AT&T in co-operation with the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Only 29% of the 237 high-ranking global executives who responded to the survey said they were satisfied with the quality of their companies' customer relationship management (CRM). Other research cited in the AT&T report indicates that more than half of all CRM programs are failing to deliver a return on investment.

Companies continue to invest heavily in CRM solutions in an attempt to streamline their marketing campaigns, improve sales effectiveness, and increase customer profitability -- even though the AT&T report shows these benefits have yet to materialize for many organizations. Gartner predicts the worldwide market for CRM services will grow by an average of 16% a year to $47bn by 2006.

My spin: Ok, so CRM is not working, but (or companies are still awaiting a payback) what should companies do to get their payback? It appears that possibly smaller CRM projects like those done by Icode might be working better?

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