Like all other things, CRM systems also have few shortcomings that they need to overcome. The technology is still new and has lots of areas of improvement.
Following are the major disadvantages that stops CRM systems from becoming a perfect solution for any business:
Customer Dissatisfaction Although several businesses have implemented CRM systems to focus on customers, several clients are still dissatisfied with its execution.
They term CRM as "technology that delays" or "stops service". For instance, lots of them find automated voice systems (or Interactive Voice Response) as a big headache and look for companies which have eased its use.
As per a recent study conducted by Accenture, receiving poor customer service remains the number one reason why consumers abandon one service provider and move on to another, be it a mobile service supplier or a credit card provider.
Other factors weighing heavily in consumer defections include lack of customised products and senseless corporate bureaucracies.
Authenticity of Remotely Hosted CRM Services Lots of businesses these days tend to contract out CRM. At times, cost becomes the driving factor in outsourcing CRM systems and not the vendor reputation. In such scenarios, it's possible that the CRM service provider can disappear overnight, along with all official records. It is also possible that information kept with the service provider might get used for other purposes.
A good CRM service always allows the company to back up/export data so that the outsourcing company has a control over the information. Also, in some cases corporate and government laws stops the businesses from keeping all client information (such as Social Security Number, Home Number, etc.) at an external location.
Cost and Complexity Involved In Setting Up Locally Hosted CRM Software Frequent technical expertise required for setups and upgrades of CRM systems, makes the businesses pay for ongoing support of the application.
Security becomes company's responsibility, which can cause a few headaches - especially as is the case with many applications, security patches are rolled out and one needs to install them very quickly.
As the business grows, needs from a CRM package also changes and adding these extra features can be quite expensive.
Improper Vision For Tomorrow's Needs Bottom line is that salespeople are only interested in things that help them sell more now.
A sales representative's only resource is time; their most important goal is meeting quota or budget for this month, quarter, or year.
Yes, they are concerned about the long run, but if they don't make quota now, they know that they probably won't be around to worry about the long-term.
It's not completely fair to say that CRM doesn't benefit a salesperson in meeting short-range goals because in some respects it does, but most sales representatives feel that they can be just about as effective in selling in the short term without it.
In other words, the benefits of CRM don't seem significantly greater than the investment of time and effort required to use the system each day.
Training Sales Staff As the CRM is still evolving, businesses are required to devote enough time and revenue in training sales personnel. The workforce should be able to judge how to use the stored data in best possible manner.
If they don't use it (or the information they do put in is out of date, inaccurate, or spotty) then they can be of little value to the company who "rolls up" all this "junk data". Inept call center employees can further worsen the situation.
Essentially, companies that don't provide service representatives with sufficient training or information, or forms that make people fight their way through repetitive, fruitless support systems are going to lose more customers. That's no big surprise.
In a nutshell, bad CRM is sometimes worse than no CRM at all.
For more information visit CRM Software Center - All the general information and resources for everything CRM - Customer Relationship Management. Visit www.crmsoftwarecenter.com. for more articles and info on CRM.
To learn more about this author, visit Casey Gollan's Website.
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