Connected CRM: Implementing a Data-Driven, Customer-Centric Business Strategy

Chapter 9 Organization and Leadership

Permission Is Not Sponsorship

When many companies think about customer relationship marketing (CRM), they seldom fully consider the organizational implications: getting leaders aligned behind CRM, getting work groups to work together, identifying job design and skills, defining organizational processes, and creating incentives. The organization component of Connected CRM (cCRM) is the enabler that aligns the company to the customer vision and ensures cCRM functions are performed across the enterprise. Organization is the most misunderstood and underappreciated aspect of CRM. It's difficult to quantify and goes hand in hand with the taboo subject of change.

There isn't a big organization database to build. There isn't a downloadable organization app; there's no standard blueprint. Companies aren't really ever sure they're doing it right. And let's face it, organizational discussions are uncomfortable. Yet, deep down, we all know they're important.

Here's why: Organization is the secret sauce for CRM success. If you're adopting a cCRM approach, it's really the organizational elements—as much as the infrastructure—that make the difference between success and failure. Research done several years ago identified that sponsorship, assessments, and funding, although critical, will get you only 8 percent of the way there (see Figure 9.1). Adding to it a disciplined approach to data and projects—the expensive stuff—will get you to the 40 percent mark. ...