Infrastructure Slideshow: CRM Evaluation: Four Tough Questions to Ask

Enterprises have spent millions of dollars on customer relationship management (CRM) systems since the late 1990s. Too often, though, companies have failed to get the value out of their CRM solutions that they've anticipated. This leads CEOs and CFOs to ask some hard questions about the ROI of their company's CRM choices. To head off the wrath of your top execs, CIOs need to ask their own probing questions before moving forward with any ambitious, CRM-driven proposal. In the book "Harvard Business Review on Increasing Customer Loyalty" (Harvard Business Review Press/available now), contributors Darrell K. Rigby and Dianne Ledingham weigh in on effective CRM planning, pinpointing the four questions that bring clarity to what otherwise could be a muddled process. In the end, it's essential to ensure that much-hyped CRM tools deliver needed, measurable value to the organization, the authors contend. Rigby is a partner with Bain & Company, directing its global-retail practice. Ledingham is a partner in Bain's technology and performance-improvement practice. Here are four questions to ask that will help you make sound decisions about CRM: