Putting the customer back in focus

CRM has been in and out of fashion for many years now.

Ever since Tom Siebel founded Siebel Systems back in 1993, CRM has been a trendy label.

Tom Siebel decided he needed some clever software to better support his core skillset: Sales. Now Tom Siebel is a salesman, and a very good one at that. What differentiated him back in 1993 to start such a succesful company is that he understood sales and the technology opportunities that were available at the time. 

Tom successfully combined business process knowledge and technology, but never allowed technology to take over. Still today, now Oracle Siebel, the software is hugely successful because it has allowed business requirements and process (yes, as crudely as that) to take the lead. This has resulted in carefully shaped industry verticals, based on best practice.

There is still a long way to go. Modern business requires full control of the customer experience and that means maximum integration, transparency and customer self-service. It requires not only vertical industry specialisation but horizontal process integration and adaptability to enable full control and transparency. 

There are those who are getting it right, even small and medium sized companies have seen the light and they dare to pack their bags and head for the land of ‘cool’ , satisfied customers.

But still there are companies who regard CRM as a fashion accessory, a flavour of the month, a “nice-to-have”. They argue that their customers do not need to be nurtured, don’t require a good experience  because of the type of product they are buying, the market or the industry vertical they are in. 

As customer demands and technology developments continue to exponentially raise the bar in delivering the optimum customer experience, these companies will very quickly find themselves out of options and potentially lagging so far behind that catching up is near impossible.

Don’t get caught naked on the high street shopping for a scarf is my advice to you.