Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a complex and critical component in today's technologically yet also relationship-driven world. As organizations create the foundation and development for its delivery, those leading the efforts must simplify the complexity. Defining to leadership what CRM strategy, CRM technology stacks and Customer Relationship management tactics are and why they are important requires collaboration. This leads to multiple conversations that require strong leadership and openness to create enterprise-level change.
These changes and conversations happen simultaneously as you’re dealing with deeply-rooted cultures and processes, along with antiquated administrative systems that hold core data hostage. The harmonious blend of doing things differently while meeting the needs of ongoing business demand is challenging. However, this is a necessary process for a successful CRM launch. To compete in the marketplace, you must be adaptable, and strong CRM capabilities make this possible. Changing customer expectations and market conditions, new regulations around customer data, and innovative competition makes a solid CRM strategy essential.
CRM is a marathon, not a sprint. The primary goal is understanding the course. The first step in getting there is starting out strong. The key to that foundation is relationship management within your own organization. Internal partnership is imperative in moving CRM forward. Decisions are hard, agendas are can be hard to overcome and slow down collaboration, and broken relationships are hard to rebuild. One unchanging truth is partnership and collaboration lead to success. Marketing, IT, and the business all have different challenges and agendas, but CRM should be a shared goal with an appreciation for the greater gain of the enterprise. Respect for those individual disciplines and their successes will improve departments through more empowered associates and will move everyone forward together.
Strong executive support is imperative from the beginning. At OneAmerica®,our CRM initiatives involved culture change, which needed executive validation.