Even Forrester Research Agrees with Me

Forrester Research is an independent technology and market research company. Forrester recently released a list of its CRM “best practices.” The list includes the following:

Build strong executive sponsorship of the program. (See my article “The People Factor.”)

Have business units lead CRM with support from IT. (Again, see my article “The People Factor.”)

Put in a governance structure that fosters accountability and decision making.

Define your objectives and processes first then apply the right technology.

Follow a realistic pace for the rollout. (Again, see my article “The People Factor.”)

Define data requirements and data quality approaches early. (See points #3 and #4 in my article “Five Steps to Ensure the Success of Your Database.”)

Foster user adoption.

Place a high priority on software usability. (See my article entitled “The Two Most Important Things to Consider When Choosing Your AMS.”)

Simplify the CRM platform.

Actively manage the vendor relationship. (Again, see my article entitled “The Two Most Important Things to Consider When Choosing Your AMS.”)

Forrester based this information on interviews with 22 executives to determine this list. I’m pleased to say that with the exception of the “governance structure” concept, I’ve been promoting all of these ideas to my clients for the past eight years. I’ve written about most of them (the links next to the bullets).

So now you know, it’s not just me saying these things. Even Forrester Research has (finally) figured it out.