One of the misconceptions that has bedeviled CRM has been the idea that it is simply a technology you buy and implement, thus solving your problems. Technology is a part of scaling your processes for managing customer relationships, to be sure, but in reality it’s a link in a chain of decisions and activities that form your business’ discipline around CRM. Any weak links will cause the whole chain to fail. While the technology decisions are often scrutinized, the most frequent weak link in the chain is not technology. The weak link is too often people.

The emergence of the social customer is forcing businesses to think differently about how they reach the people to whom they sell, and much has been written about ways for businesses to cope with this. However, as is all too common in CRM discussions, the customer is often forgotten as we default to dwelling on processes and software that are decidedly business-centric in their nature. The customer is facing a dramatically changing landscape, too. To use a hockey metaphor, you want to pass the puck to where the other player will be — not where his is now.

To remain successful against the backdrop of complex market dynamics and increased competition, it has become critical for organizations to offer more evolved products and services that are not only cost-effective, but also extendable, scalable and focused on improved customer experience. Cloud computing, in its maturing stage, is seen as a very promising technology of the future that can be critical to lower investment and maximize ROI in the enterprise CRM space.