Rethink promises CRM turnaround

NEWS Customer relationship management projects have failed in the past because they have been product driven rather than business driven. This is the opinion of Tom Black CEO of CRM consultancy Detica, which is attempting to buck this trend with the introduction of an interactive customer relationship showcase. Black told silicon.com: "Clearly the market has failed to live up to expectations and I believe in the past it hasn't been sufficiently focused on the customer. To reverse this trend we need companies to start thinking in a customer centric way." Gartner backs up this assertion with a very worrying outlook for CRM having recently said that 65 per cent of current CRM projects are unsuccessful and it predicts this will rise to 80 per cent with in two years. Black believes this projection is due to bad practice in the past and in an attempt to curb bad habits his company is showcasing its new physical environment to educate potential CRM users. Up and running since May, it consists of two rooms, the first of which is a think tank, with awareness workshops trying to break through vendor jargon. The second room is a demonstration suite, where scripted scenario's are run to the guest company's customers over the phone, email and internet with Detica aiming to show how all these channels can be integrated to a single view of each customer. Black said Detica is encouraging companies to follow up on their CRM projects and through this showcase is attempting to show potential clients that the essence of CRM success is from "customer repurchase rates and customer loyalty".