Gartner Says Knowledge Management is a Key Factor in Long-Term Success of Customer Relationship Management
Analysts Say Enterprises Will Begin Focusing on Collaboration and e-Learning
STAMFORD, Conn., May 5, 2003 — While more than two-thirds of successful customer relationship management (CRM) programs will have integrated advanced knowledge management (KM) practices in their CRM processes by 2005, Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB) analysts said there is still confusion about what KM is and what it can do for CRM.
Gartner analysts said that KM has been slow to develop in CRM processes. In 2003, most CRM products that claim to support KM include mostly knowledge-base (k-base) management. While these k-bases do improve internal productivity and even provide customer value in self-service environments, they rarely offer competitive process design or distinguished service capabilities.
"CRM requires far more sophisticated forms of KM, such as collaboration, active knowledge sharing among CRM professionals, engaging customers in communities, and using e-learning as a customer value-added service," said Kathy Harris, research vice president for Gartner. "Ultimately, CRM needs KM to enable innovation and collaboration among and between customers, employees and business partners."
There is substantial progress toward KM in sales and marketing. In marketing, sophisticated business intelligence and other knowledge-intensive processes are fundamental requirements in campaign creation and support. Collaborative processes for knowledge dissemination are rapidly emerging in sales and support and e-learning is becoming an essential part of sales team support.
"CRM uses many emerging e-learning techniques. Sales is a hotbed for major account sales simulations, and customer service and support employs simulations to develop customer service techniques," said James Lundy, research vice president for Gartner. "Marketing uses e-learning processes to educate the customer in business skills, in products and services, and to enable the customer to select the best product by modeling their requirements against product specifications."
Over time, CRM should integrate sophisticated KM across all the CRM domains — marketing, sales and service. These knowledge-intensive investments can return both tangible and intangible business value. "In marketing, KM will enable more effective reuse of internal knowledge, around and within high-value marketing resource management (MRM) processes, and is key to driving broad marketing user adoption and ongoing utilization," said Claudio Marcus, research vice president for Gartner.
"In field sales, good indicators of the need for KM include frequently having to get back to a customer with critical information, having to start from scratch when configuring a product, proposal or history for a client or prospect, and not knowing who can help in solving any of these business problems," said Dale Hagemeyer, principal analyst for Gartner.
More analysis is available in the Gartner research Spotlight "The Case for Knowledge Management in CRM." This spotlight features reports that look at the shifting landscape in CRM as enterprises look at knowledge management and issues such as engaging customers in interactive learning, collaborative selling, and peer problem resolution through communities. This Spotlight can be found on Gartner's Web site at www.gartner.com/pages/story.php.id.3687.s.8.jsp.
Additional information on the CRM industry is available in the new Gartner CRM Managers Membership Program. Gartner recently launched a robust new research tool for CRM managers designed to help address the issues and trends managers face that are critical to the success of their CRM initiatives. The Gartner CRM Managers Membership Program combines the full power of Gartner research, consulting and software tools into one package. Included in the membership program are market analysis, decision support tools, newsletters, bulletins, and access to analysts via a Web portal designed specifically for CRM managers.
About Gartner:
Gartner, Inc. is the leading provider of
research and analysis on the global information technology industry. Gartner serves more
than 10,000 clients, including chief information officers and other senior IT executives
in corporations and government agencies, as well as technology companies and the
investment community. The Company focuses on delivering objective, in-depth analysis
and actionable advice to enable clients to make more informed business and technology
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emphasis on outsourcing and IT management. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in
Stamford, Connecticut, and has 3,700 associates, including more than 1,000 research
analysts and consultants, in more than 75 locations worldwide. For more information,
visit www.gartner.com.
