When CRM began to evolve in the mid-90’s every software vendor who had an application that had anything to do with managing customer or prospect data began pitching itself as a “CRM System”. Many of these systems were built to address one particular aspect of CRM, such as Sales Force Automation (contact management, Campaign Management, or Customer Analytics, and could not possibly deliver the value promised as “CRM System”. It was a case of “over-promise and under-deliver”.
Unfortunately, there were no end-to-end technology solutions for CRM at the time, and today, there still aren’t (although we’re getting closer). As much as