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Beware of miracle-cure CRM software.
Client relationship management is the new fad. As with the latest superstar diet and exercise plan, we all know firms that have benefited from developing strong relationships with existing clients, have the ability to win new clients and are lean and fit as a result. We want to be like them. Do we want to go through the pain and take the time to hone our practices into chiselled muscular business machines? There must be an easy way. Is there an equivalent to the electronic gadget with the batteries and sticky pads that will gently tone our business development muscles without effort on our part?
Of course there is. And there are hordes of smart-suited salesmen who will sell it to us. Unfortunately, electronics and sticky pads do not come cheap and the easy solution will require a considerable financial investment. Of course it works and is preferable to all that pain! A solution that involves large financial investment and flashing lights must provide a superior outcome to one that involves pencils, bits of paper and months or years of effort and application.
Beware the sales pitch
Having listened to the slick sales presentation and wondered at the marvellous and complex operations that the client relationship management software can carry out in the blink of an eye, it is often easy to persuade our fellow partners that they should part with large bundles of hard-earned cash as an investment in our future. This system can transform the way in which we interact with our clients. It can enable us to maintain and enhance existing client relationships and to develop new ones. (It can also generate the invitation list for our golf day.)
What we do not realise until too late is that we do not understand exactly what the system will and will not do or how to deploy it, that most of our people will not use it and it will take months to get it working properly. The salesman probably does not understand it either and some of the assurances we have been given about the functionality of the system will turn out to be products of his imagination. (The good news is that the system probably will be capable of generating the invitation list for the golf day.)
Firms waste large amounts of money investing in information technology they may not need, do not know how to use and which may never work properly. Client relationship management is a prime example of an area where this will happen. As with case management and knowledge management systems some firms will end up with a good system they use well. Those firms will make sure they know exactly what they need before they buy and use IT as a tool to support the hard work and effort of the fee-earners in building and maintaining client relationships.
Those considering investing should think of the technology as a treadmill rather than a battery-powered miracle machine. A treadmill can help you get fit and avoid the need for you to spend cold and wet winter mornings trudging around the roads with frostbitten fingers and a miserable expression. It cannot get you fit without the effort on your part. You need to put in the level and intensity of effort required to get you the result you want.
Technology is an expensive tool to support your efforts. It is not a solution in itself.
This article was written by Phil Jepson for In Brief magazine and was originally published in early 2002. It is reproduced here because it remains topical and true both in relation to CRM and other technology related issues.
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