"CRM Continues to Disappoint" says the headline of this article on SearchCRM.com. In a nutshell, the companies that were surveyed are still not pleased with their CRM implementations, for a variety of reasons. But the reason why these implementations are disappointing is not stated until the very last paragraph:
The survey's dismal results usually reflect poorly conceived strategies that lack a focus on improving a specific set of business capabilities to increase revenues or reduce costs, according to Forrester.
In other words, the companies implementing these CRM initiative never really set clear objectives for the project itself. They've never answered the questions "Why are we doing this?" or "What do we hope to accomplish with this project?"
When I work with my clients on selecting new data management systems, I try to identify four or five core objectives for the selection of a new system. We answer the question "What will the new system do for us that the existing systems don't?" And that way we can measure if we've been successful with the implementation.
Remember: if you don't have measurable objectives, how will you know when you've achieved them? Or as the old saying goes: if you don't know where you're going, you'll never get there.