Every week, we recount some of the best buzz around CRM and data integration. We’ll review our favorite articles and share the most pressing findings or key takeaways from each.
63% of CRM Initiatives Fail
By: Jonathan Prezant
In an unsurprising finding, Merkle Group Inc. discovered that 63% of CRM initiatives among enterprises fail. While it’s true that the number seems daunting and should be lower, the fact is that without using a comprehensive CRM strategy and the right tools to integrate CRM with the rest of the business, siloed data and poor management will tank your results. This report specifically found that executives viewing CRM as a tactical play rather than a strategic one were far more likely to fail in their initiatives – CRM success requires buy-in at the executive level to work customer insights into the core company framework. According to the study, top reasons for CRM failure include “lack of clear ownership of customer insight (53 percent), lack of management bandwidth (43 percent), lack of executive sponsorship (38 percent), and CRM not being an IT priority (38 percent).” In the era of the customer, companies can’t afford to fail with CRM, and securing executive and IT buy in, along with choosing the right technology to integrate CRM across the business will play a key role in raising the success rate.
Salesforce.com Launches New CRM Product in the Cloud
By: Chris Kanaracus (@chriskanaracus)
In a move to further strengthen its cloud CRM offering, Salesforce is now offering a combined CRM, performance management and B2B information suite. On the business front, Salesforce is hoping to draw more customers into its comprehensive cloud solution by empowering each sales rep to become an “A-player” according to Mark Woollen, Vice President of product marketing, Sales Cloud. Chris also notes that this new product bundle represents a move by Salesforce to refocus on its core sales force automation software business, which diverged recently with major marketing acquisitions like its $2.5 billion purchase of ExactTarget.
Proactively Manage Your Social Assets to Outperform
By: Dion Hinchcliffe (@dhinchcliffe)
Optimizing your customer relations now goes beyond the realm of CRM systems to include social marketing, CRM and customer support. Companies must combine CRM to cultivate relationships across social channels by managing what Dion calls the 3 Cs of social assets: connections, conversations and content. Following the rule of three for this article, Dion lists three ways to better manage social assets: track and manage key social constituencies, monitor and inventory social conversations internally and externally, and maintain an up-to-date social content directory.
Crisis Solutions: Using Data Migration to Recover CRM Records
By: Libby Bishop
With data-driven operations more common than ever before, situations involving data failure have also risen, and the consequences of these failures increase the more companies rely on accurate and timely data. This case study of a Fortune 50 company experiencing data failure across more than 30,000 prospect records demonstrates the benefits of data integration solutions beyond reducing costs and speeding time to value – those solutions can also be used to recover data and prevent future losses. By utilizing a best-of-breed integration solution, C5 saved their client $20-40k up front and likely much more in the long run. To avoid similar situations, companies should embrace easy-to-use integration solutions rather than hand-coding, ensuring data quality and eliminating the need to manually update code for new APIs.
Feds Reach for Cloud CRM
By: John Higgins
The cloud industry truly is poised for explosive growth, as evidenced by the federal government more seriously considering shifting to cloud-based CRM systems. The Department of Commerce leads the charge as it plans an upgrade to its CRM systems and has voiced its desire for an enterprise-wide approach to CRM. This potential for new cloud customers is spurring competition among major cloud players like Microsoft and Salesforce, who incur high costs and risks of procurement for the potential to land highly lucrative government clients. Should the DoC succeed in adopting cloud-based CRM, the path to transitioning federal clients to the cloud will likely accelerate. The question now is not if this evolution will happen, but when.
We hope you had a great week! We’ll see you again soon with a roundup of all the movers and shakers in CRM and data integration news.
