Trends 2007: Customer Relationship Management

Customer relationship management (CRM) is now a core element of enterprise competitive strategy. Organizations of all types are striving to improve their customer experience. Decisions about new spending on CRM must take into account significant changes in the vendor landscape. In 2007, important considerations driving customer-facing process improvement include: 1) getting more value out of CRM technology; 2) coping with the rise of Social Computing; 3) meeting increased demand for end user mobility; 4) making greater use of business process management-centric solutions; 5) resolving customer data management challenges; and 6) adapting to global standards and service-oriented architecture (SOA). Enterprise buyers should invest selectively in high-value upgrades, focus on customer-process optimization, and demand vendor support to optimize existing CRM infrastructures.