Who is in charge of customer relationships? Not companies, it is customers!
I recently came across an interesting post in the ittoolbox blog, where the author has used the word CMR (Customer Managed Relationships). It really set me thinking. All we are doing in most CRM applications is maintaining customer information in various forms (interests/interactions/orders/service requests etc). But not relationships!
Yes, the customer maintains the relationship and he/she is in charge and has the power to churn/chose the product/service provider. As they say, 'The customer is not an idiot. Customer are aware of what products to buy and from whom to buy.
Traditional CRM packages provide the capability to store some information and do analysis on competitor’s products, but not to the extent to help customers maintain their relationship with companies. I think companies and users do expect these capabilities from CRM applications. As I said, these CRM applications are just customer information management.
What the user community needs is:
1. Capability to offer the right products and services based on the needs of customers
2. Capability to predict trends and demographic needs
3. Capability to collate information, communicate with the customers on the extent to which features of services/products are utilized and help them to make better use of the product/service’s features.
4. Capability to do some statistical analysis and employ in-built intelligence. (See Vamsi’s post on Intelligence CRM)
5. Of course, established business processes are always important.
Can CRM vendors match up to these requirements and produce such applications that help customers maintain their relationship with the companies? Where do the leading enterprise application vendors stand on these parameters? Do industry analysts address this aspect in their research?
