Gartner CRM: Customer relationship management not about technology

Customer relationship management (CRM) isn't just about technology, attendees of the Gartner CRM conference in London were told today.

In a presentation to delegates, Scott Nelson, managing vice president of analyst firm Gartner said that businesses need to realise customer relationships are an integral part of business strategy.

"There's the perception in many organisations that CRM is a technology driven project - install the software and you're done," said Nelson.

Technology is the easy part, said Nelson. More difficult is to have a company-wide vision and strategy, backed up with processes and measured with proper metrics.

Companies must also work to break down silos. Most companies have "CRM applications all over the place, none of which are talking to each other," said Nelson.

But he warned that integrating systems will become more difficult this year. Gartner predicts that a quarter of CRM projects in 2007 will be delayed or cancelled because of a shortage of skilled consultants and systems integrators. "We believe it's going to hold it back in many areas," said Nelson.

He also said companies face a lack of innovations in vendors' platforms. As many will be completely restructuring their applications for the next generation of CRM, there will be a drought of innovation until 2008.

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