William Band
William Band
beat depend sector software struck
One of the things that struck me is that software vendors have been beat up in this sector for a while. But the consultants they use and depend on heavily don't come out as well as I thought they might.
budgets change clarity companies ended establish firmly fixed lack open price rather requests scope starts trouble
Companies should firmly establish budgets, change requests and fixed price rather than open ended contracts. The trouble often starts with a lack of clarity in scope and definition.
aim align both
Both of these initiatives aim to align each company's offerings with the SOA world of the future.
benefits capture companies struggling
Basically, companies are still struggling to capture benefits from CRM.
buyers carefully choose commitment enterprise partner selection understand
Selection of a CRM vendor is a marriage, not a date. Enterprise buyers must think carefully about the vendor partner they choose and understand the long-term commitment of these decisions.
mature people
It was a surprise. CRM is a mature industry; the people in it are pragmatic, so there shouldn't be a lot of surprises.
companies customer cycle gone improve mature software trying useful
CRM is not going away. It has gone through a cycle of over-inflated expectations, to the sense that the software is not useful at all to a more mature stage, with companies always trying to improve their customer interactions.
criteria looked nearly product select terms
When these organizations looked back, in terms of criteria they did or would use to select CRM software, product capabilities were not nearly as important as most once thought they were.