A very frustrating part of my job is helping company owners and managers get over the initial shock of how much effort a successful CRM implementation takes. This investment is almost always underestimated. Most people think that it's just software you install and get trained on and then boom ..... CRM magic happens! Well, that couldn't be further from the truth. I tell my team that we need to build value into the project. By that I mean that at the end of the day the users and managers have to get more out of it than they put into it. A new article from CIO magazine focuses on CRM implementation shortcomings. As the CRM industry continues its 15 - 30% growth, CRM failures will continue. Many of these projects will also go under-utilized. Typically the projects start out with all good intentions and then go nowhere because of this under-performance.  

If you are one of my existing clients or are considering becoming a client please read these articles.  You will catch my drift very soon. 

CRM PROJECTS FAIL BECAUSE USERS SAY 'NO THANKS'  By Shamus McGillicuddy, News Writer| SearchCIO.com

"You need to have enough value in the system for end users to make it irresistible for them to use it," Prevo said. "If you put in a system that is primarily about monitoring their behavior rather than putting in a tool that is about maximizing their behavior, they are not going to see those tools as absolutely essential. Once you do that, you'll get adoption. And adoption is critical."

I also like this insight into what professionals like me bring to the table.....

Prevo said his company has adopted CRM technology from PeopleSoft Inc. in Pleasanton, Calif. When he was preparing to roll it out, he made sure the company's sales organization was a part of the process. "We pulled the salespeople into the room with someone from PeopleSoft and made sure it was a business process intervention and not a technology startup."

10 Truths We Refuse to Learn About Customer Alignment - and CRM By Dick Lee | High Yield Methods

Dick tells it like it is.  He is straight-forward and attacks the organizational issues in order to insure success.