Other posts on the Cartner CRM Summit 2007 can be found here.
A prediction from the Gartner conference: Up to 25% of CRM implementations in 2008 will be postponed due to human resource shortages. Simply put, there are not enough “CRM experts” available to meet the demand. The result will be not only delayed implementations, but increased consulting costs (i.e., higher hourly rates).
Anecdotally I’m already seeing this in the association management system (AMS) market. In the past six weeks I’ve sent out three separate RFPs on behalf of clients. Typically I send RFPs to no more than five vendors (sometimes fewer). For the first time in my many years of sending RFPs, in one case, I actually received only one response on time. Three of the vendors were late responding, and the fourth chose not to respond. With the other two RFPs, I also had vendors choose not to respond and had late responses from some of the vendors.
I always give vendors two full weeks to respond. In the case of the late and non-responders, almost all of the vendors said they were so busy they were having trouble responding. This is good for the vendors, but a potential problem for associations. As the talent glut er…shortage (h/t David Gammel) continues, vendors will have even more trouble responding to the needs of their current customers.
How about you? Are you noticing a greater delay in response from your vendor? Is there a noticeable degradation in customer service?