What do Siebel, RightNow, Oracle CRM, Microsoft Dynamics, and Salesforce.com all have in common? The answer is that none of them will change your business and further your CRM effectiveness all by themselves. If you are looking at any of these systems as being the savior for your organization, you are going to find yourself disappointed unless you augment your system with some conviction.

The benefits of CRM are well documented. Business of all sizes have, even in a down economy, made the investment in technologies and processes that will allow them to be more efficient, more effective, and more ROI focused in their sales and marketing activity. The recent economic slide has practically required that business leaders get serious about nurturing their existing customers and establish a sound plan for attracting new ones. However, the implementation of a CRM system does not, by itself, make for a CRM strategy.

The business problems (or opportunities) that drive the implementation of CRM foster deep-rooted convictions of the organization. These convictions represent the foundation from which the CRM strategy needs to be derived. Examples of common convictions include:

• customer retention
• margin retention
• market penetration
• growth rate
• reduction in sales cycle time
• response rate on new leads
• improved service levels
• competitive strategy
• market intelligence
• management of key sales activities
• and on and on and on….

The decisions that you make as part of your CRM solution implementation need to be targeted at accomplishing your strategy as you have defined it. User adoption and overcoming technological hurdles are important, but must not overshadow the core business needs that drive you to this investment.

When establishing your roadmap, make sure to communicate, design, train, reinforce, and manage to your convictions. Make no mistake that your success or failure is going to be more a function of your strategy in accomplishing these goals than it will by features and functionality of your software purchase.

Interesting times.  Yesterday the House of Representatives failed to pass the $700B bailout bill.  The Dow fell almost 800 points during the afternoon, the largest one day loss in its history.  The last time I remember hearing those words was back in 2001, when the Internet bubble burst.  Of course the NASDAQ took a relatively greater hit at the time, but everyone was affected.  

It remains to be seen what happens next for consumers and businesses.  None of us have a crystal ball.  We do know that 7 years ago corporate spending slowed significantly.  For marketing professionals, that meant budget accountability.  More than ever.  The right-brained marketers were searching for their left-brained muses to establish marketing return on investment accountability.

The events of 2001 changed the way marketers had to act (for the better without a doubt).  At very least, 2008 will probably reinforce those requirements.  It also spawned a new set of marketing tools to facilitate budget management and marketing measurement.  Here are a few of my favorites - Marketo, Omniture Closed Loop Marketing for Salesforce, Vertical Response.