Showing papers on "Customer relationship management published in 2001"

An empirical analysis of the antecedents of electronic commerce service continuance

Abstract: This paper examines key drivers of consumers' intention to continue using business-to-consumer e-commerce services. Multiple theoretical perspectives are synthesized to hypothesize a model of continuance behavior, which is then empirically tested using a field survey of online brokerage (OLB) users. Salient results include: (1) consumers' continuance intention is determined by their satisfaction with initial service use, their perceived usefulness of service use, and the interaction between perceived usefulness and loyalty incentives for service use, and (2) satisfaction and perceived usefulness are both predicted by consumers' confirmation of expectations from initial service use. Implications of these findings for e-commerce firms contemplating customer relationship management (CRM) initiatives are discussed.

Engine to present a user interface based on a logical structure, such as one for a customer relationship management system, across a web site

Abstract: A flowchart-based tool can be used to build a logical structure. In the context of a customer relationship management (CRM) system, the logical structure can comprise an ordered set of questions and branching logic that are presented to a customer of the business when the customer contacts the business with an inquiry, such as for a sale or service inquiry or other interaction. An engine can run a session associated with the logical structure, with the session presenting questions, text, graphics, and the like dynamically to customer across a network, such as the Internet and a web site. Branching logic determines the appropriate information to present to the user based on answers to previous questions. The engine allows presentation of the information to the user/customer, by generating hypertext markup language (HTML) files to display the questions or other elements of the logical structure as part of a user interface on a client terminal of the customer.

A Framework for Customer Relationship Management

Abstract: The essence of the information technology revolution and, in particular, the World Wide Web is the opportunity afforded companies to choose how they interact with their customers. The Web allows companies to build better relationships with customers than has been previously possible in the offline world. This revolution in customer relationship management (CRM) has been referred to as the new "mantra" of marketing. However, a problem is that CRM means different things to different people. This article develops a comprehensive CRM model incorporating seven phases: database creation, analysis of the database, customer selection, customer targeting, relationship marketing, privacy issues, and new metrics necessary for evaluating the CRM effort. The article also discusses the implications of CRM for future marketing organizations.

The Crm Handbook: A Business Guide to Customer Relationship Management

Abstract: Acknowledgments. About the Author. Introduction. I. DEFINING CRM. 1. Hello, Goodbye: The New Spin on Customer Loyalty. The Cost of Acquiring Customers. From Customer Acquisition to Customer Loyalty. . . . to Optimizing the Customer Experience. How the Internet Changed the Rules. What's In a Name? CRM and Business Intelligence. The Manager's Bottom Line. 2. CRM in Marketing. From Product to Customer: A Marketing Retrospective. Target Marketing. Relationship Marketing and One-to-One. Campaign Management. CRM Marketing Initiatives. Cross-Selling and Up-Selling. Customer Retention. Behavior Prediction. Customer Profitability and Value Modeling. Channel Optimization. Personalization. Event-Based Marketing. Customer Privacy--One-to-One's Saboteur? A Marketing Automation Checklist for Success. CASE STUDY: Eddie Bauer. What They Did. The Challenges. Good Advice. The Golden Nugget. The Manager's Bottom Line. 3. CRM and Customer Service. The Call Center and Customer Care. The Contact Center Gets Automated. Call Routing. Contact Center Sales Support. Web-based Self-Service. Customer Satisfaction Measurement. Call-Scripting. Cyberagents. Workforce Management. A Customer Service Checklist for Success. CASE STUDY: Juniper Bank. What They Did. The Challenges. Good Advice. The Golden Nugget. The Manager's Bottom Line. 4. Sales Force Automation. Sales Force Automation: The Cradle of CRM. Today's SFA. Sales Process/Activity Management. Sales and Territory Management. Contact Management. Lead Management. Configuration Support. Knowledge Management. SFA and Mobile CRM. From Client/Server to the Web. SFA Goes Mobile. Field Force Automation. An SFA Checklist for Success. CASE STUDY: Hewlett Packard. What They Did. The Challenges. Good Advice. The Golden Nugget. The Manager's Bottom Line. 5. CRM in e-Business. eCRM Evolving. Multichannel CRM. CRM in B2B. Enterprise Resource Planning. Supply Chain Management. Supplier Relationship Management. Partner Relationship Management. An e-Business Checklist for Success. The Manager's Bottom Line. 6. Analytical CRM. The Case for Integrated Data. A Single Version of the Customer Truth. CRM and the Data Warehouse. Enterprise CRM Comes Home to Roost. The Major Types of Data Analysis. OLAP. Where Theory Meets Practice: Data Mining in CRM. Clickstream Analysis. Personalization and Collaborative Filtering. An Analysis Checklist for Success. CASE STUDY: Union Bank of Norway. What They Did. The Challenges. Good Advice. The Golden Nugget. The Manager's Bottom Line. II. DELIVERING CRM. 7. Planning Your CRM Program. Defining CRM Success. From Operational to Enterprise: An Implementation Scenario. Determining CRM Complexity. Preparing the CRM Business Plan. Defining CRM Requirements. Cost-Justifying CRM. Understanding Business Processes. BPR Redux: Modeling Customer Interactions. Analyzing Your Business Processes. CASE STUDY: Verizon. What They Did. The Challenges. Good Advice. The Golden Nugget. A CRM Readiness Checklist for Success. The Manager's Bottom Line. 8. Choosing Your CRM Tool. Maintaining a Customer Focus: Requirements-Driven Product Selection. Defining CRM Functionality. Narrowing Down the Technology Choices. Defining Technical Requirements. Talking to CRM Vendors. Negotiating Price. Checking References. Other Development Approaches. Homegrown CRM. Using an ASP. A CRM Tool Selection Checklist for Success. CASE STUDY: Harrah's Entertainment. What They Did. The Challenges. Good Advice. The Golden Nugget. The Manager's Bottom Line. 9. Managing Your CRM Project. A Pre-Implementation Checklist. The CRM Development Team. CRM Implementation. Scoping and Prioritizing CRM Projects. A CRM Implementation Roadmap. Business Planning. Architecture and Design. Technology Selection. Development. Delivery. Measurement. Putting the Projects Together. A CRM Implementation Checklist . . . for Failure. The Manager's Bottom Line. 10. Your CRM Future. Making the Pitch: Selling CRM Internally. CRM Roadblocks. The Four Ps. Process. Perception. Privacy. Politics. Other CRM Saboteurs. Lack of CRM Integration. Poor Organizational Planning. Demanding Customers. Customer Service That's Really Bad. Looking Toward the Future. The Customer as SME. The Rise of Intermediaries. Digital and Broadband Revolutionize Advertising. The Threat and Promise of Customer Communities. CRM Goes Global. The Coming CRM Backlash? The Manager's Bottom Line. Further Reading. Glossary.

Customer relationship management in financial services: towards information-enabled relationship marketing

Abstract: Relationship marketing is concerned with how organizations manage and improve their relationships with customers for long-term profitability. Customer relationship management (CRM), which is becoming a topic of increasing importance in marketing, is concerned with using information technology (IT) in implementing relationship marketing strategies. This paper reports on a study of the adoption and use of CRM in the financial services sector. In particular, the key elements of CRM are examined in these organizations and executives' perceptions of the main IT components that enable responsive CRM are explored. CRM is classified into five stages of sophistication and a framework for CRM adoption is developed.

Relationship Marketing: Exploring Relational Strategies in Marketing

Abstract: Brief Contents Part I RELATIONSHIPS 1. Relationships in Marketing 2. Relationships 3. Relationship Economics 4. Strategy Continuum 5. Relationship Drivers Part II THE CORE FIRM AND ITS RELATIONSHIPS 6. Customer Partnerships 7. Internal Partnerships 8. Supplier Partnerships 9. External Partnerships Part III MANAGING AND CONTROLLING THE RELATIONSHIP 10. Relationship Technology 11. Relationship Management 12. Back to the Future

System and method for analyzing and utilizing data, by executing complex analytical models in real time

Abstract: A system and method for collecting, filtering, analyzing, distributing and effectively utilizing highly relevant events (such as key business events) in real time, from huge quantities of data. The present invention analyzes both historic and real-time data stemming from operational activity, by interfacing with internal data repositories (such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM)), external data sources (such as suppliers and clients), and real time operational systems in order to create an Active Intelligence Platform. This Active Intelligence Platform is positioned as a layer between the organization's data sources and its applications, monitoring inputs and relaying only the important data items to the relevant individuals and/or systems. This allows individuals and systems to respond immediately and effectively to key events.

CRM at the Speed of Light: Capturing and Keeping Customers in Internet Real Time

Abstract: From the Book: Everyone knows that customers are the critical component of a successful business, if for no other reason than people tell you all the time Countless books have been written about how to make customers happy and acquire new ones Companies do satisfaction surveys, attend seemingly endless seminars, virtually anything to give them a leg up on the competition and make their customer base an impenetrable force, rather than a weakness to be exploited As far back as 1987, when ACT! 10 shipped, managing relationships with software started to change lives-and not just the relationship being managed, either Business professionals began to understand that their weaknesses in everything from memory to accountability could be compensated for, resulting in a professionalism that helped them stand out and close more business ACT! spawned other products for companies of all sizes, and an industry was born: sales force automation (SFA) Since then, customer service, marketing, and e-business have evolved into eCRM and extended those seemingly simple ideas of sharing customer history and information, and turning it into knowledge that enables an entire organization to act as a unit This glue that interconnects the experiences of numerous individuals and groups with your customer is becoming more complex and business-critical every day Every vendor is trying to make their mark, and the waters are becoming increasingly murky Just trying to navigate the numerous new acronyms-PRM, MRM, ERM, BRM-has made a once very clear idea more like dyslexic soup That's why Paul Greenberg's book is such a breath of fresh air Actually, it's more like a wind that blows away the cloudsof hype and marketing mumbo jumbo Finally, there is a consolidated source on this subject that can be used by the novice as well as the expert It's like eCRM university between two covers From the history of what created this market to how to implement the right solution for your size business, it's all here Although most companies use some type of automation for their sales forces, marketing organizations, and customer service groups, at last count only 4 percent of US companies have integrated them and other Web resources like online product configuration and e-commerce This industry has yet to reach its adolescence in the United States and in many parts of the world is just getting out of diapers When there is an enormous amount of change anticipated for an industry, it's best to know as much as you can about its history, so you can get tied in to its present armed with equivalent knowledge of those more experienced Paul has a unique ability to not only bring these historical insights, but also to broaden our perceptions of what relationships are By presenting these insights and pulling together many perceptions of possible paths the industry can take, we may be armed with a better understanding, and thus more adept at taking advantage of the future Pat Sullivan President and CEO Interact Commerce Corporation

Predicting Customer Potential Value: an application in the insurance industry

Abstract: For effective Customer Relationship Management (CRM), it is essential to have information on the potential value of customers. Based on the interplay between potential value and realized value, managers can devise customer specific strategies. In this article we introduce a model for predicting the potential value of a current customer. Furthermore, we discuss and apply different modeling strategies for predicting this potential value.

Predicting customer potential value an application in the insurance industry

Abstract: For effective Customer Relationship Management (CRM), it is essential to have information on the potential value of customers. Based on the interplay between potential value and realized value, managers can devise customer specific strategies. In this article, we introduce a model for predicting the potential value of a current customer. Furthermore, we discuss and apply different modeling strategies for predicting this potential value.

Managing customer relationships in the e‐business world: how to personalise computer relationships for increased profitability

Abstract: Presents extensive research conducted over several years by Ovum researchers posing as customers into customer relationship management (CRM), call centre and e‐commerce strategies and the software required to support them. Aims to establish how companies in the UK can address the need to support multiple channels and where they can make improvements to serve their customers better. Concludes that almost all of the companies surveyed performed poorly and presents three essential insights that companies should take into account for improving CRM.

Conceptualizing trust: a typology and e-commerce customer relationships model

Abstract: A typology of trust concepts would enable researchers to compare results and communicate results more clearly. The typology would be especially valuable if the types of trust are shown to relate to each other. This paper justifies such an interdisciplinary typology and relates the trust constructs to e-commerce actions. It defines both conceptual level and operational level trust constructs. The conceptual level constructs consist of disposition to trust (from psychology), institution-based trust (from sociology), and trusting beliefs and trusting intentions (from social psychology). Each construct is further decomposed into two to four measurable subconstructs. Web vendor interventions designed to encourage customers to purchase goods/services or to share personal information with the vendor are posited to affect these behaviors by influencing customer trusting beliefs and trusting intentions in the vendor.

A stage maturity model for enterprise resource planning systems use

Abstract: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems dominate the information technology landscape of many companies. Organizations are at different stages in the implementation process ranging from the initial analysis of implementation options, through completed standard implementations and to the sophisticated exploitation of ERP systems using advanced knowledge management, customer relationship management and supply chain management systems. The authors present a maturity model for ERP systems that identifies three stages and this is illustrated using case data selected from the study which is based on 24 organizations in the US and Europe. In Stage 1, organizations are managing legacy systems and starting the ERP project. In Stage 2, implementation is complete and the functionality of the ERP system is being exploited across the organization. In Stage 3, organizations have normalised the ERP system into the organization and are engaged in the process of obtaining strategic value from the system by using additional systems such as customer relationship management, knowledge management and supply chain planning. It is shown that the organizations follow an S-shaped curve, and that most companies are in the middle stage. An analysis of the implications for organizations at each stage of the maturity model is presented which will be of value to practising managers. The implications are categorised as impacts on cost, entropy, complexity, flexibility and strategic competitiveness.

Enabling and measuring electronic customer relationship management readiness

Abstract: This work provides a comprehensive customer-focused evaluation framework that businesses can use to assess their electronic customer relationship management (e-CRM) readiness. The framework is intended to provide a big picture of the overall composition of e-CRM, to facilitate gap analysis, and to support a monitoring and feedback process. Knowledge management, trust, and technology are identified as key enablers of e-CRM. Finally, we propose weighting and rating scales to aid in assessing customer relationship management readiness, and provide examples of their use.

The value creation index

Abstract: There is increasing recognition of the importance of intangible assets. There is also a pressing need for a set of widely accepted metrics by which corporate leaders and the investment community can account for the non‐financial factors that affect value creation in the modern enterprise. Intangibles have always been a driver of corporate performance, and institutional investors take intangibles into account in their analysis and earnings estimates. Managers, by the same token, are increasingly adopting non‐traditional methodologies of measurement. The authors report on the work of Cap Gemini Ernst & Young researchers who have developed a rigorous, comprehensive model, the value creation index. The index combines the impact of key value drivers (e.g. innovation, quality, customer relations, management capabilities, alliances, technology, brand value, employee relations, and environmental and community issues) to form a single measure of non‐financial performance.

Making Business Sense of the E-Opportunity

Abstract: Most corporate executives are by now convinced that the scale and pervasiveness of technological change requires a fundamental review of business strategy. Web-based technology is creating opportunities to rethink business models, processes and relationships along the whole length of the supply chain. Successful e-strategies translate established strategic concepts into contexts in which they previously were not economically viable. For example, in the 1960s and 1970s IBM won the loyalty of major corporate customers through highly paid account executives who provided so-called relationship management. Today that same concept ? now technologically based ? is being deployed to tailor support to individual consumers. But there is still enormous uncertainty within the business community about the future shape of e-business ? as evidenced by the mood swings of the financial markets and the faltering fortunes of even the icons of the New Economy. The sheer scope of potential change presents some challenges: How can executives make sense of the burgeoning e-business ideas, and where does strategic analysis begin? Behind the new e-business language, how new are the strategic concepts? And what form will a company's strategic e-opportunity take? As a platform for answering those questions and exploring the new strategic landscape, author David Feeny constructs a coherent map of the e-opportunity. He identifies three layers of e-opportunity, or domains, that exist within operations, marketing and customer service. In each domain, technology may enable a radical new vision of what a business can accomplish. Although every business should be considering opportunities across all three domains, the potential significance of each domain and of individual ideas within it will vary widely across industry sectors and businesses.

Measuring the impact of data mining on churn management

Abstract: Churn management is a fundamental concern for businesses and the emergence of the digital economy has made the problem even more acute. Companies’ initiatives to handle churn and customers’ profitability issues have been directed to more customer‐oriented strategies. In this paper, we present a customer relationship management framework based on the integration of the electronic channel. This framework is constituted of four tools that should provide an appropriate collection, treatment and analysis of data. From this perspective, we pay special attention to some of the latest data mining developments which, we believe, are destined to play a central role in churn management. Relying on sensitivity analysis, we propose an analysis framework able to prefigure the possible impact induced by the ongoing data mining enhancements on churn management and on the decision‐making process.

The Search for Strategic Advantage from the World Wide Web

Abstract: The rapid growth of the World Wide Web has opened up a new avenue for companies to market products and services and to disseminate information. Two hundred and twelve companies responded to an e-mail survey about their reasons for conducting business on a Web shopping mall. Most of them were seeking to create strategic advantage. A structural equation model is consistent with the view that they expected to create strategic advantage through improved customer relations resulting from greater business efficiency and better information access and flexibility. The research (1) underscores the significance of improved customer relations as a predictor of Web-based strategic advantage, (2) highlights the importance of information access, information flexibility, and business efficiency in contrast to alignment, information quality, communications efficiency, and systems development efficiency in the Web-based improvement of customer relations, (3) confirms and extends a framework for future study, and (4) stimulates future study about how the Web can enhance competitiveness.

Managing customer relationships through E-business decision support applications: a case of hospital-physician collaboration

Abstract: Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a valuable concept for hospitals to establish long-term physician relationships. Given predetermined reimbursement amounts, clinical interventions by physicians can significantly impact hospital profitability and quality. Therefore, disseminating quality and cost information to physicians can build lasting relationships, while insuring financial stability. This paper presents a CRM approach adopted by a hospital through a web-based Physician Profiling System (PPS). We discuss physician involvement in PPS development and present a high-level cost-benefit analysis. Post-deployment results indicate that PPS strengthened relationship with physicians, improved efficiency of clinical operations, while simultaneously improving patient satisfaction.

Introducing and developing a Product-Service System (PSS) concept in Sweden

Abstract: Business challenges today are becoming more numerous, and more urgent. Many companies are expanding beyond their traditional product and market boundaries, while others are forming new alliances or outsourcing supporting functions to other producers. The concept of product-service system (PSS), analysed in this study, has the potential to improve companies’ competitiveness and provide new business opportunities. It gives the possibility to find new profit centres for companies, to establish closer and longer relationships with customers, to organise feedback from the sale and use phase back to the design phase, to apply a systems approach that widens the scope from one company to a chain of companies collaborating on providing a function to the customer, and to incorporate environmental considerations into the system design. This feasibility study presented the PSS concept to a range of Swedish companies from different industry branches and engaged them in discussions about the pros and cons of the concept and about the potential benefits and foreseeable problems with the introduction of the concept to business. The main finding of this feasibility study is the acceptance of the PSS concept (functional thinking) by companies. The main conclusion is that the product-service system concept seems to be a feasible business strategy, which could be adopted in several industry sectors. The study indicated that the PSS concept requires a new way of strategic business thinking, but also that it could utilise some of the existing practices in companies as a starting point. The study revealed three groups of companies, which are familiar with the functional sales idea and who also have the potential for improvement in this area. The functionality idea has been explored mostly by utility companies in business to business interactions, driven by low margins in a deregulated and highly competitive market. Companies, producing chemicals of different sorts, are also familiar with selling functionality of chemicals and chemical management services to other businesses. Provision of chemical services is driven by strict regulations and high costs of chemical management for clients. Companies, producing durable consumer goods, have somewhat varying familiarity with the concept, but can envision the possibilities of the concept application to their products. Three models for introducing the PSS concept to these groups of companies were developed. The study showed that it is difficult to create general, widely applicable PSSs. Usually product-service systems are very much specialised, depending on the product characteristics, organisational structure, chain actors, network support and infrastructure in place. Besides, product-service systems would be likely to differ considerably depending on the type of customers they are provided to: business to business, business to tradesman, or business to customers. Most of existing examples confirmed that the functionality-based arrangements are introduced exclusively as a possibility to find new business opportunities. The potential environmental improvements associated with the PSS concept do not serve as a key driver for companies, partially due to the few attempts made to evaluate economic and environmental effects of selling functions. What is clear is that services are not environmentally superior to products per se, thus, it is important to ensure in the future that existing functional arrangements and newly developed product-service systems are more environmentally apt than corresponding products. Analysing the way companies market themselves, it could be concluded that functionality, customer relations and added value through additional services has become almost a fashion. There is, however, a difference between how companies represent themselves and how far they have proceeded in practice. While quite a few examples of functional sales were found in business to business relations, very few attempts can be named in business to customer interactions. Existing attempts show that it is more difficult to develop functional alternatives for consumer products, and therefore, special attention is needed in this domain. The largest challenge seems to be to make the value of the function provision more attractive to customers as opposed to owning products. Instruments and practices are needed that would allocate higher status to buying services than owning products. There is an urgent need to develop a methodology for the practical introduction and development of PSSs in companies based on real cases. Demonstration projects can stimulate introduction of the concept and help companies to find networks and partners. Authorities may assist in investigating possibilities of developing economic incentives facilitating the shift away from selling products and towards providing service. They may present functional thinking at the policy level and encourage the retention of ownership of durable goods by producers or sellers in order to support the PSS concept.. (Less)

Get inside the lives of your customers.

Abstract: Many companies have become adept at the art of customer relationship management. They've collected mountains of data on preferences and behavior, divided buyers into ever-finer segments, and refined their products, services, and marketing pitches. But all too often those efforts are too narrow--they concentrate only on the points where the customer comes into contact with the company. Few businesses have bothered to look at what the author calls the customer scenario--the broad context in which customers select, buy, and use products and services. As a result, consultant Patricia Seybold maintains, they've routinely missed chances to deepen loyalty and expand sales. In this article, the author shows how effective three very different companies have been at using customer scenarios as the centerpiece of their marketing plans. Chip maker National Semiconductor looked beyond the purchasing agents that buy in bulk to find ways to make it easier for engineers to design National's components into their specifications for mobile telephones. Each time they do so, it translates into millions of dollars in orders. By developing a customer scenario that describes how people actually shop for groceries, Tesco learned the importance of decentralizing its Web shopping site and how the extra costs of decentralization could be outweighed by the higher profit margins on-line customers generate. And Buzzsaw.com used customer scenarios as the basis for its entire business. It has used the Web to create a better way for the dozens of participants in a construction project to share their drawings and manage their projects. Seybold lays out the steps managers can take to develop their own customer scenarios. By thinking broadly about the challenges your customers face, she suggests, you can almost always find ways to make their lives easier--and thus earn their loyalty.

Winning the battle for customers

Abstract: A financial organisation's ability to retain its customer franchise faces ever-greater challenges from new competitors in the market-place, both locally and globally. Retention is not just a function of keeping customers happy. More than ever, organisations need to know what risks they run of losing customers: which customers, how many and why. Additionally, both the new players in the market and the traditional players need to know how and where they can win new customers. This paper focuses on a new approach to these issues based on global findings. The focus is on the UK banking industry, comparing the new players in the market using direct channels with the traditional high street banks.

Enterprise application integration-the case of the Robert Bosch Group

Abstract: Today, most organizations are using packaged software for their key business processes. Enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain management (SCM), customer relationship management (CRM) and electronic commerce (EC) systems enable organizations to improve their focus of using information systems (IS) to support their operational and financial goals. This article argues that the need to integrate these packaged software applications with each other as well as with existing or legacy business applications drives the need for a standardized integration architecture to more flexibly implement new business processes across different organizations and applications. To illustrate the components of such an architecture, a case study undertaken at the Robert Bosch Group provided necessary empirical evidence. The Robert Bosch Group has evaluated different enterprise application integration (EAI) systems to achieve a standardized integration architecture. The article describes a reference architecture and criteria for the classification of EAI systems which are derived from different integration approaches.

Bankers' Perspectives on Internet Banking

Abstract: In every industry, E-commerce is revolutionizing the way business is conducted. New business models are replacing outdated ones and organizations are rethinking business process designs and customer relationship management strategies. Banks are no exception to this transformation. This study examines bankers' views on providing banking services to customers using the web. Specifically, it addresses issues such as the strategic need for Internet banking, its effect on customer-bank relationships, and customers' experiences in Internet banking. Data collected from 75 banks show that most banks do not yet offer full-fledged Internet banking. However, most have plans to do so. Furthermore, bankers see Internet banking as a strategic opportunity that can reduce transaction costs, enhance customer service, increase the customer base and improve cross-selling opportunities. Also, Internet banking is perceived more favorably by banks that offer it compared to those that do not.

Customer relationship management in practice – A qualitative study

Abstract: This paper reports the results of a qualitative study into the implementation of data-driven customer relationship management (CRM) strategies. Seventeen companies are investigated and three short case studies are presented. It is found that clean customer data are essential to successful CRM performance and that technological support for data acquisition, analysis and deployment are not widespread. Clean customer data enable CRM strategies to be both more effective and more efficient, yet not all companies are investing in improving data quality.