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In this day and age one can think that nothing new can be invented in the CRM software field. We have established players on the market; some of them claim to own more then a half of the entire CRM market. It is still unclear to me how it is possible for every software vendor to own half of the market, but this is not the topic here.
The software vendors abound and well established, customers keep hearing about the benefits of the CRM software and how a particular software package will improve their ROI and increase efficiency. Of course, what we don�t hear about is how many of these implementations fail. Obviously it is not in the interests of vendors to advertise this; on the other hand no IT manager would readily admit the failure. So in most part, the CRM failures remain private matters. Only through a direct polling and by directly approaching the customers the Gartner Group was able to compile a statistical report on the amount of the failed CRM implementation for some major CRM vendors. The numbers are astonishing. The Gartner estimates about 70% of all CRM implementations failed in 2001.
Let�s look at the some more obvious reasons behind the failures. Let�s disregard the economic reasons and the other administrative issues that prevented the implementation to finish successfully, because these things are within the control of the customer. Let�s focus on the product, the CRM software itself. Today, 100% of the CRM software market is comprised of the �packaged � solutions. Let�s define the packaged CRM software: The packaged CRM software is software that is written by a vendor in order to accommodate as many customers as possible. See the problem with this? It also has the �core� code, including the way it connects to the database, the way the data is stored, and the screens (GUI) design. The core code is �closed�, in other words, customers cannot modify it. Reason for the closed core functionality � this is the proprietary code developed and owned by the Vendor. On the other hand by closing most of the functionality and allowing customers customizing the surface layer only � vendors are trying eliminate any support problems, since all �custom� systems are essentially the same.
It has been written a lot on the benefits and pitfalls of the CRM packaged software. The concept of the packaged software was designed by vendors in order to maintain profits and cut costs on support. There is essentially very little difference between a leading CRM package and, say, your favorite word processor application. One-size-fits-all approach is the only approach that used to make sense to vendors, and up until recently it was up to the customers to do a due-diligence on the various packages to determine their rigidity. The smart customer would not look for what the package can do out-of-the-box, but how closely can the package adapt to the custom processes the customer identified. Unfortunately, this is exactly where customers failed. Vendors do a great job selling their packaged software, pitching �industry-standards� and �enterprise-guidelines�. But the truth lies on the surface � each decent size customer enterprise is unique enough, to make the implementation of any packaged CRM software a nightmare. The bigger the enterprise � the harder it would be to implement the packaged software. Works the same for the smaller companies � they are as unique as the Fortune-500 enterprises.
True leaders in the CRM market are always on the lookout for the new ways to adapt to a changing customer demands. Customer demands are driven by the market conditions, due-diligence on the particular product and budgets. During the bubble time, it was ok to buy prepackaged software, pay top-dollar for it, and then pay almost twice as much for the consulting services and then fail during implementation to deliver the system that conforms to the requirements. Right now companies new to the CRM market are making their buying decision based on the very strict budgets, ability to fulfill their requirements and length of the implementation time, since it directly affects the budget. While leading CRM software vendors are trying hard to compete for the new business by cutting costs and offering discounts and by throwing in additional out-of-the box functional modules, not a lot of things changing in the ability to accommodate the software to the customer�s specs. At the same time there are a lot of companies with failed implementations on their hands and depleted budgets and unfulfilled requirements to have a fully functional CRM system.
We are starting to see some movement from companies like Siebel and Peoplesoft, the two biggest vendors in the CRM market, in the direction of changing the technology towards more openness and less rigidity. Both of the companies are pursuing migrating their flagship products to Java 2, making them more flexible and open and easier to integrate with, while still keeping the core closed. It is in preparation for this technology makeover that Tom Siebel stated �CRM is dead, there is no market for CRM�. The point Tom Siebel was making is that the market for the traditional CRM is disappearing fast, as more customers demand what they deserve for their money � 100% accommodation for their custom requirements, fast and under budget.
Market is ripe for the new concept in CRM software; conceptually packaged software has become obsolete and more and more enterprises realize this fact, whether they are new to the CRM field or existing customers with failed implementations or even the ones with current production CRM systems. As always when market conditions require a change � there are early ventures and start-ups that are at the fore-front of the development and research. This is where there is a huge advantage for start-ups � they can adapt quickly to the new market requirements and foresee the opportunity and a need for a change well before the well-established vendors start pouring money into their development processes. The benefits for customers to look into these front-runners� products are obvious � these smaller companies possess the most advanced technology, they are fast to change their code and adapt to the customer requests. They also don�t have the huge enterprise overhead that allows new companies to offer substantial savings. There are of course traditional risks associated with partnering with a smaller company. There is a risk of losing the support if the company goes out of business, and the customer is left with proprietary technology, unable to maintain it.
But let�s look at some of the new companies entering the market and how the answer the new market requests and what they have to offer instead of the obsolete packaged software? Enter the Queplix Corp. � New Jersey based company, principals of which spent years in CRM consulting as well as software development for some of well-established CRM software vendors. Their product - QueWeb Development Platform� completely replaces the traditional CRM software concept. QueWeb boasts a new approach in dealing with CRM systems. How is it done? Well, it is all in the name � �Development Platform�. It might even scare some IT managers away from investing into the software that needs to be �developed� after it is bought, but let�s analyze this.
Typical CRM package implementation consists of several phases: one of the longer and more expensive one is customization. Customization consists of several sub-stages: first removing the unnecessary functionality from the package courtesy of the one-size-fits-all concept, then conducting gap analysis and then jumping through the hoops trying to shave the corners of the package to make it fit into the corporate business processes model. And don�t forget to design the training for the users switching from older legacy systems or other failed CRM packages to a new GUI. What do you get in the end? You paid a premium price to a software vendor for the licensees, twice as much to a consulting firm which tried their best to customize the package and finally you have something that conforms to about half of your original requirements. What if you could just a base software, that is completely open just in case you have requirements that require changing it, and at the same time, without any limitations on how to implement it? This is what Development Platform means. It allows you to order a customized package, have it built in front of your eyes in a matter of weeks on your server, test-drive it and then buy it. Needless to say the goal behind this concept in the CRM � is to achieve a 100% fulfillment of any custom requirement from any customer. Queplix will even help you identify your requirements and put them on the paper. Notice that there is no consulting company in the middle. Have a Do-it-yourself IT department? No problem: Development Platform is all open industry Java 2EE, without any closed core or any proprietary software, so a developer proficient in Java can easily customize the system.
Why is this a new concept? Well, this concept is not necessarily new; it was just never applied to a CRM field before. This concept was pioneered by Red Hat Technologies in the field of Operating Systems, where it proved itself as a viable competitor to well-established OS market dominants.
With the birth of new companies like Queplix which develop the products with the new and revolutionary concepts - we are witnessing a revolution which is taking place in CRM field, with its old fortresses about to fall.