Walking Through the Maze

Managing E-service is also an important component of these applications, notes Desisto. "When customers send you E-mails, the system should be able to process it and automatically respond, given the rules that have been entered into the system, with a personalized E- mail reply, or route it to the appropriate person," he comments. Scott maintains that it's important to be able to provide and manage content, such as frequently asked questions, properly to help customers online before they have to contact the company. "The customer should also be able to log into a site and track the status of an order," he adds. Scott points out that applications that can track customers that require on-site service, dispatch the appropriate employee to take care of the problem, and record if and when the service was carried out, are also very useful.

While all these are helpful and attractive features, the success of any CRM rollout still comes down to keeping great expectations to a minimum. Managers who map out a realistic plan for a CRM software implementation — and set realistic goals — will save themselves a lot of aggravations. Cautions Scott: "It's important for managers to realize that this is something that is going to span many different departments and will require significant sign on, so that when it is implemented, it really matches what the company set out to accomplish."

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