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| Gartner Says CRM Application Suites Will Be the Key to CRM Success by 2006 |
| Gartner Analysts Discuss Industry's Future at CRM Summit |
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ORLANDO, Florida, September 10, 2001 - Customer relationship management (CRM) application suites are receiving a muted response from customers, but CRM suites will prevail and, in fact, be the standard for CRM success, according to Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB).
"Central to presenting a satisfying customer experience will be a suite of CRM applications that define a consistent set of business rules for customer interactions, both direct and self-service, across channels and throughout the customer life cycle," said Michael Maoz, vice president and research director for Gartner. "For large and midsize enterprises, these CRM software application suites will emerge as the standard for achieving mastery of CRM by 2006. But unless supply chain processes are integrated with CRM, these systems will remain inadequate." For a long time, enterprises have had two choices when it came to CRM systems: They could buy best-of-breed components and spend large amounts of money to integrate them, or they could develop their own and spend large sums of money on programming and support costs. There was not a third option. This has changed with the emergence of the CRM application suite. CRM suites are combinations that offer elements of sales, marketing and customer service in a unified, preintegrated package. While there is considerable upside to CRM application suites, Gartner analysts said enterprises are finding themselves in a quandary. "On the one hand, the concept of suites seems too compelling for enterprises to ignore. In fact, the sales process often promises lower total cost of ownership, faster deployment and greater long-term productivity," said Scott Nelson, vice president and research director for Gartner. "However, the lack of maturity of many of these suites is such that many enterprises feel the risk is too great. Waiting too long can put them at a disadvantage in the market, but moving too fast may cause them to make expensive mistakes." Gartner analysts said the average business has lost more than half its customers during the past five years, resulting in earnings that are nearly 100 percent lower than what could have been achieved with as little as 5 percent improvement in customer retention. "A major factor in customer defection is the inconsistent behaviors that employees demonstrate throughout the customer life cycle in marketing, sales and service," Maoz said. "Inconsistencies also appear for specific functions, such as customer service, depending on whether they are delivered over the Web, in person or through a call center." Gartner analysts have examined some of the major CRM suites available, and they have released a series of reports on this subject. An overview of this research is available in the CRM Research Spotlight "CRM Application Suites: Less a Dream...Not Yet Reality." This Spotlight is available on Gartner's Web site at http://www.gartner.com/1_researchanalysis/focus/crm_sl.html. The outlook for CRM is being discussed at Gartner's CRM Summit, which runs September 10-12 in Orlando, Florida. Gartner analysts are presenting more than 30 cutting-edge presentations on all aspects of CRM. All the major CRM suite providers will exhibit their offerings at the summit. More information is available at www.gartner.com/crm/usa. Gartner, Inc. is a research and advisory firm that helps more than 10,000 clients understand technology and drive business growth. Gartner's divisions consist of Gartner Research, Gartner Consulting, Gartner Measurement and Gartner Events. Founded in 1979, Gartner, Inc. is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, and consists of 4,600 associates, including 1,400 research analysts and consultants, in more than 80 locations worldwide. The company achieved fiscal 2000 revenue of $855 million. For more information, visit www.gartner.com. |
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Contact: Danielle Westling 203 316 6754 Gartner danielle.westling@gartner.com |
Contact: Tom McCall Gartner 408-468-8312 tom.mccall@gartner.com |
