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Q:  Is CRM Dead?
 
This is a common question these days - but it's also a misleading one. The short answer - absolutely not.
 
But it really depends on how you define CRM.
 
For those who (incorrectly) define CRM as a set of technologies, then yes we are in a period where unkept promises and undelivered solutions are catching up with the vendors who sold them. The existing set of technologies (primarily sales, marketing and customer service applications) that make up the 'CRM market' are seeing a major decline in revenue and a very skeptical buying community. Buyers these days are subscribing to the adage 'fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me' - and it is going to be very hard for many of the existing CRM technology companies to survive. Buyers aren't buying, and when they are they are looking for solutions that can demonstrate real value via real case studies and referenceable customers.
 
However, for those who (correctly) define CRM as a set of business practices oriented around enhanced customer relationships, the idea of CRM being 'dead' is ridiculous. Clearly the underlying technologies - and the companies who provide those technologies - will undergo significant consolidation and change in both the short- and long-terms. However the concept of enhancing relationships with your customers, and using technology to support those relationships, will never go away. At least not as long as companies have customers.
 
Think about it - the only people who have any interest in pronouncing CRM 'dead' are the technology vendors who need an excuse for missing their revenue targets, or those who have experienced less-than-optimal results and need to vent.
 
We are clearly in a market backlash - and the CRM industry has brought this backlash upon itself. But the market will recover, and new leadership will emerge. This leadership, and the form it will take, are the topic of this week's CRM Leadership Summit.
 
Over the next few years, the names will change - and so will the terminology. Perhaps all we need is for Gartner to create a new 3-letter acronym, and more seriously for companies to re-recognize the fact that customers remain - and always will remain - critical. Then we can all feel better, get over our technology hangups, and get on with our businesses.
 
I will be doing all I can to move that process along. And I hope to see you in San Francisco.
 
Chris is founder and Managing Director of Reservoir Partners, an innovative research, advisory and management consulting firm that helps our clients develop and execute high-impact Marketing and Relationship Management strategies. Chris is a co-chair at DCI's CRM Leadership Summit held Oct 29-31, 2002 in San Francisco.