Amongst IT companies there are many that see CRM as installing technology, integrating it with other technology and then moaning at clients that have bought this technology because it is not utilised properly.
This translates into 'geeks' versus 'technophobes' and the demarcation lines can be more paranoid than those between the newbie 'nuclear kids', India and Pakistan.
If there is no mindset regarding the importance of customer relationships already existing in a company, no amount of technology will change things. In other words if employees already take their time in getting back to clients and customers with answers this will be exacerbated online.
Furthermore, the old concept of market research is critical in the decision making process. An organisation needs an understanding of their target market so it can decide whether their existing as well as potential customers will use email and the Internet to lodge queries and seek information.
Many companies go into the CRM line with the idea that their customer base will grow with them online. Many of these companies have these systems sitting idle never ever to be utilised.
South Africa does not have a high percentage of Internet users. Somewhere below 10% of our population regularly utilise this medium and of those there are many that don't buy online for security considerations.
All this boils down to the basics. Know the market and cultivate a culture of customer care within the organisation. Henry Ford could have told us this for nothing. To him and many old timers it was so obvious as to be not worth talking about.
In this 21st century however, with our complicated methods and theories for doing business it needs to be talked about again and again and again.
Technology can only add value to existing business structures. People can conduct their business with other people via machines. Machines for the moment do not conduct business with humans and cannot interact with each other without human support and maintenance.
