 |
Soft Economy
Has Little Effect on CRM Re-Evaluation
Press Release
Study Finds That Setting Specific ROI Goals Key to CRM Success
May 22 /McLean, VA / More than 70 percent of executives heading up
"Customer Relationship Management" initiatives inside their companies
have not set clear and specific goals for achieving returns on their
investment in such initiatives, according to a recent business study
on CRM.
The study, "Mastering the Moving Target," sponsored by BearingPoint
(NYSE:BE), one of the world's largest business consulting and systems
integration firms, also found that while a significant number of companies
are re-evaluating their CRM initiatives, the nation's soft economy was
the cause of less than 22 percent of these re-evaluations.
The study also disclosed that, once ROI goals are set, measurement
planning and performance monitoring are key activities to help insure
that CRM initiatives meet anticipated results. Only six percent of companies
surveyed by BearingPoint set specific ROI targets early in their CRM
initiatives, helping them effectively clarify expected results.
"Right now companies are re-evaluating their CRM initiatives due to
their inability to meet business performance expectations, not because
of the downturn in the economy," said Bruce Culbert, senior vice president,
BearingPoint's CRM practice. "In order to meet their goals, companies
need to establish appropriate metrics and a specific ROI.
"When a company monitors and measures the effectiveness of its CRM strategy
against desired targets, tangible ROI can result, driving sales and
enhancing competitiveness and market position," Culbert said.
BearingPoint interviewed 167 diverse businesses representing 14 industries
(ranging from automotive, banking, energy, telecommunications, travel
and healthcare) with more than $1 billion in annual revenue. Overall,
the vast majority of respondents considered CRM very important, but
few had achieved the expected value from their CRM initiatives. Executives
who did have metrics in place were measuring customer, transaction,
and productivity data without understanding the cross-functional impact
or ability to gauge and translate such data into significant ROI.
One key finding revealed by the study is that many companies lacked
the knowledge of how and what they should be measuring in order to determine
the success or failure of an initiative. "Companies may have identified
metrics for measuring the value of CRM, but unless specific ROI targets
are set, success will be difficult to achieve," the study states.
Other key findings:
- 40% of executives indicated that they only had partial organizational
buy-in;
- A distinct difference between B2C and B2B strategies is that the first
focuses on the consumer while the latter focuses on the re-evaluation
of an application/software system;
- Alignment of CRM strategies with a company's overall business strategy
includes a multiple-channel approach such as telephone, Web, direct
mail, and in-store;
- While CRM's importance to overall e-Business has increased, barriers
to overcome include budget constraints, lengthy implementations, and
organizational buy-in.
"The study clarifies how enterprises can turn CRM into a powerful tool
that helps them survive and even thrive in the challenging days ahead,"
said Mr. Culbert, who will be available for press interviews on the study.
Copies of the study are available at www.bearingpoint.com
Click here to view
more current news articles
WE WANT YOUR
FEEDBACK.
Did you find this material interesting?
Do you want more information of
this type?
Comment via FEEDBACK
What related topics would you like to see covered?
What additional information on this topic would you find useful?
Source: BearingPoint Inc.
Please
patronize our many sponsors, affiliates and advertisers today so that
we may bring you more advanced services tomorrow. Have you seen the great
deals from top brand
name manufacturers?
Jobwerx
makes no representation as to the accuracy of information transmitted
herein.
|
|
Other CRM News
Click here
|
