CRM - System or systematic?

CRM introduction or upgrading projects involve a huge number of people and departments.

By Hanno Wolfram on Aug 30, 2009

CRM introduction or upgrading projects involve a huge number of people and departments. Supposedly the most important question is about the objective of doing so and what the intended benefit of CRM systems might be. Is it about return-on-investment and total-cost-of-ownership only?


 A quote from the website of the world's #1 CRM provider tells us:
"Therefore the main objective [...] is to offer pharmaceutical companies marketing and sales divisions a better understanding of where drugs are sold, who prescribes them and why."
The hidden agenda behind this might as well be the measuring of field force activities, (vulgo: KPIs), their individual contribution to results and the convenient comparison of the collected data in globally used company dashboards. So far about the system. If this is the true objective, then I believe that no one should be surprised about the fact that prescribers hardly know about on- or off-label indications of the drugs they prescribe.  http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-08/uocm-ouo081809.php# 


What might be the missing systematic then?


Wikipedia tells us that: "Customer relationship management (CRM) consists of the processes a company uses to track and organize its contacts with its current and prospective clients."


So there you can read CRM is about processes. If additionally you consider the "R" in the middle of the acronym, it is about managing relationships.


Therefore a paying proposition could be that we think more about the real benefits of a CRM system and start considering and calculating(!) the value such a system will add to relationships granting a true competitive advantage. Thinking about "relationship" as a value by itself is backed by neurosciences, telling us that [prescribing-] decisions are a lot more based on emotional grounds than on p=0,005!


The best way to achieve a new or rather come back to the original idea of CRM, might be to clarify the objective (process wise followed by strategy and operations) before planning to introduce a CRM system.


What about if an objective would sound like this:
The objective of our CRM-system is to optimally serve our prescribers and other stakeholders creating and supporting a lasting and robust relationship between them and us!


If this would be the statement on top of all these proposals, presentations and papers around such a project, the CRM-system would be introduced to serve the underlying systematic and clarify the major objectives marketing and sales are striving to achieve.


At the very end of this specific chain of value there will be a human being, best described as "the only living contact between the company and the prescriber or stakeholder". The field force would then play a major role in the project of designing, introducing, and rolling-out CRM-systems. It will be theirs, because it will help them to become better. They need to be asked and be trained not only in how to handle a software, but how to create, maintain and improve a relationship, best possibly being served or supported by their CRM system.


Let me know what you think!