ABSTRACT
Ignoring the human element can bring a CRM initiative to its knees. Customer relationships are not managed, controlled, or even enabled by CRM tools, instead they’re managed, controlled and enabled by people — the company’s employees. In the same vein, most employees feel they already understand what the customer wants, so they don’t want an added burden of keying information into some piece o f CRM software to tell them what to do and how to do it. Conversely, personnel who don’t know or care what the customer wants, might use the CRM system, but only to perpetuate old workflow and old habits. While neither situa tion constitutes an outright CRM failure, either will cause a CRM initiative’s pro jected ROI to take a nose-dive.
