

However, despite huge investments numerous studies in business practice illustrate that many CRM projects fail to achieve their objectives (Becker et al. dollars in 2012 is estimated (Marketingcharts 2008). dollars in 2007 to up to 6.6 billion U.S.
#Contacts journal crm pc software#
Apart from a growth forecast of Germany-wide IT investments in CRM to more than 2 billion Euros by the end of 2010 (Seidel 2008) an increase of global revenues from license sales of CRM software from nearly 3.6 billion U.S. ( 2008, p. 23), nearly 85% of the companies surveyed have implemented CRM systems. According to a comprehensive study by Sackmann et al. This is linked to the many implementations of CRM systems Footnote 3 that can be observed in practice, in order to ensure synchronization and operational support for customer-related processes within the “classical” core areas of CRM (marketing, sales, and service). Developments in information technology Footnote 2 not only allow for the collection and distribution of customer information within the company (Goldsmith 2004, p. 11), but also make it possible “ attain customization, the essence of the customer-centric orientation, through the deployment of sophisticated customer relationship management (CRM) systems” (Stefanou et al. In the light of a value-based management it is therefore not surprising that interests and corporate decision making are increasingly focused on the relationship to the customer.Ĭustomer relationship management (CRM) has emerged as an important research field especially within marketing Footnote 1 and business and information systems engineering (BISE) (Hippner 2005, p. 131 Riemer et al. Especially in crisis situations such as the current financial and economic crisis, the importance of solid customer relationships and a balanced customer portfolio for the company’s survival becomes apparent. Therefore, many companies consider customer relationships as key assets (Kumar et al. Moreover, and due to the evolution of marketing from a product- and transaction-oriented to a customer- and relationship-oriented perspective, there has been an increasing focus on customer relationships both in research and practice in the past two decades (Elmuti et al. Today, many companies operate in stagnant markets with a high degree of competition, increasing customer demands, and easily substitutable products and services. Thus, in addition to a mutual alignment of marketing and IT, a value-based analysis, planning, and controlling of CRM-activities requires the development and implementation of standardized performance measurements and their adequate IT-support. Furthermore it outlines the specific challenges of a value-based CRM for the cross-functional integration and collaboration of marketing, financial management, and IT. The paper provides an overview of the state of the art of CRM in literature as well as current practices in companies. In fact an adoption of a customer-centric orientation within a value-based management requires not only a cross-functional integration of different business departments but also a selectively adjusted collaboration of those departments. However, despite huge investments many CRM projects fail to achieve their objectives as the complex and interdisciplinary nature of CRM is not addressed adequately. CRM thereby focuses on establishing and maintaining profitable relationships with the customer using modern information technology (IT) and has emerged as a major research field in business and information systems engineering. One major development within business practice is the increasing interest in customer relationship management (CRM) in recent years.
