CRM and the cataclysmic event…

A couple of posts ago I mentioned a site visit I attended with a client. One of the interesting aspects of this site was that they had installed the CRM system as the response to a near death experience. They were a long established organisation, a recognised brand, and comfortably making ends meet. Then a cataclysmic event occurred, that effectively dried up their revenues. It wasn’t an event of their own making, and it wasn’t foreseeable, but ultimately they only just survived. Rattled by a close shave they embarked on a full review of the business and launched a series of initiatives to improve operational efficiencies, one of which was the CRM project.

Waiting for the cataclysmic event as a cue for change is a dangerous strategy because survival can’t be guaranteed. Organisations can enjoy a dangerous level of success where despite not being optimally efficient, the business still makes healthy profits, and there is no compelling reason for change. However the lead times to create efficient systems are often such that implementing technology as a means to address sudden change is often unsuccessful.

This is a point I’ve made to many firms over the years, sometimes the successfully and sometimes not. However the point becomes increasingly relevent over time. The speed of technologically, environmental, social, economic, and competitive change ever increases. While there’s no antidote for either the cataclysmic event or rapid dislocating change, optimising efficiency at all points in time is a critical necessity. CRM alongside many other technologies has a key role to play because ultimately they create the infrastructure that generates both the efficiencies and the ability to respond and hopefully benefit from change.