The State of CRM: Addressing Deficiencies and the Achilles' Heel of CRM

by Raymond Pettit

Now, more than ever, companies are keenly aware of the tremendous benefits associated with understanding current and prospective customers from an economic, attitudinal, and behavioral perspective. Seeing through the "lens of the customer" [4] has emerged as a requirement rather than a "nice-to-have." Strategy and management gurus, such as Fred Wiersema, founder of the Center for Market Leadership at DiamondCluster -- a global business strategy and technology solutions firm -- lament the lack of customers in such a consumer-rich world [2]. Competitors abound, information is in abundance (but quickly becomes useless), and consumers seem to have less and less time to make informed purchasing decisions -- these are but a few of the reasons for this paradoxical situation [7].