What gets measured gets better

Some marketers define customer relationship management (CRM) as a company-wide philosophy involving organisational realignment and culture change, as well as technology implementation. In practice, CRM has become inextricably associated with the installation of software packages. CRM, a business strategy intended to gain market share and competitive advantage through improving customer loyalty, has been discredited because of over-reliance on technology. Given the results of IT industry analysts' findings on the way CRM success or failure is measured, if it is measured at all, perhaps CRM systems as well as CRM strategy have had an unfair press. Re-launching CRM step-by-step with a balanced metrics framework, including the customer experience, may be the way forward.