Re-visiting Re-inventing #CRM

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A little more than a year ago I wrote a lengthy post in which I tried to describe how I believe CRM needs to be re-invented, disrupted and more closely aligned to the needs of organizations struggling to become customer-centered. The CRM market today is defined as a software category, and really nothing more. I felt then, and I still feel now that as technology migrates to the cloud, and the services we have historically provided (install, upgrade, maintain software) are becoming irrelevant and less valuable, we have an opportunity to hit the reset button and redefine what CRM services should really be.

Many of us have always known what should have been offered; but simply could not change the inertia of vendors who had a product to sell and customers who wanted to believe success could be easy. You might be wondering why I’m focusing my attention on an industry that is clearly still growing; and that’s a good question. The reason is simple: I’m trying to figure out where the puck will be in the future, because I already know where it is today. I’m not the only one; any new app coming to market is an attempt by someone to fulfill an unmet need in the market. The problem is that these new entrants are constrained by the current perception, and definition of the CRM market.

The market for CRM is much larger than we think; but you have to think differently in order to see it. My original post was designed to explain this. A year later, vendors and their channels still try to convince us that there is a correlation between business growth, and their technology.

This simply is not true; but I will save that for another post. The following, however, is a follow-up presentation that I’ve never had the opportunity to give; so I’m sharing it with you here. I still have a lot of work to do on presenting my view, so I look forward to any suggestions or comments you might have.


This post was written as part of the IBM for Midsize Business program, which provides midsize businesses with the tools, expertise and solutions they need to become engines of a smarter planet. I’ve been compensated to contribute to this program, but the opinions expressed in this post are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

Republished with author's permission from original post.

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