ABSTRACT
Information systems that implement customer orientation strategies are currently discussed as most promising to achieve and sustain competitive advantage. Among the desired benefits are increased customer satisfaction and retention by providing personalized products and value-added services. The main technological enablers are customer relationship management (CRM) systems, which are introduced with substantial financial effort in many organizations. Despite the obvious potentials of CRM, several studies report a high failure rate, and little research is available on success factors for CRM solutions. This article describes the results of a cross-industry benchmarking project, which combines a questionnaire sample with more detailed case studies. The results show that there is no typical CRM project and that successful implementations are rarely based on technical excellence. This research proposes six critical success factors for CRM projects: stepwise evolution, straightforward implementation and long-term project scope, organizational redesign, integrated system architecture of standard components, change management, and top management support. The six successful practice companies show examples of how these critical success factors are applied.
