Crm Unplugged »

PHILIP BLIGH is the founder, Chairman, and CEO of the Inforte Corp., a customer strategy and solutions consultancy based in Chicago. His extensive experience in customer change, sales, and marketing strategy has established Inforte as one of the nation’s leading and fastest growing strategic consultancies, with an enviable Wall Street reputation. An author and respected speaker, Bligh has contributed to Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter’s articles in the Harvard Business Review and serves as a source for numerous media outlets on topics relating to customer strategy and management. In addition, he is an adjunct professor in management at DePaul University’s Kellstadt Graduate School of Business and is also on the Board of Directors for the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

DOUGLAS TURK is Executive Vice President at Inforte Corp. He has conducted many ROI analyses for customer relationship management and e-marketplace systems and is a leading speaker and writer on the topic of CRM profitability. His contributions have helped Inforte remain profitable as a public company for twenty consecutive quarters and garnert he honor of being named one of Forbes Top 200 Small Businesses.

Experts estimate that more than fifty percent of all Customer Relationship Management (CRM) implementations will be seen as failures from a company’s viewpoint. However, implemented the right way, CRM is useful, profit-enhancing, and even vital to businesses. Focusing on the implementation of effective customer strategy and driving return (i.e., through customer insight vs. simply loyalty), CRM Unplugged demonstrates how CRM should be defined, approached, and profitably applied to any size business.

CRM doesn’t hinge on technology–it depends upon attracting and serving customers in more lucrative ways by changing how the collective parts of a business collaborate on customer activities. Written by two leading experts, this accessible book discusses how to consider technology as an enabler of new policies, processes, and collaboration so it plays a supporting, rather than a leading, role in CRM.

CRM Unplugged offers a variety of lessons learned from real-world companies that have implemented CRM. Since most investments in technology are costly, the dos and don’ts addressed in these cases are invaluable because they help the reader identify the high-impact areas of his or her business. CRM’s big punch is its ability to strengthen these high-impact areas–those parts that comprise the unique competitive advantage of a business.

CRM Unplugged provides best practices for:

• Identifying why CRM is not creating returns
• Creating strategies for successful CRM implementation
• Achieving a positive ROI concerning CRM

Offering the most up-to-date, comprehensive coverage of this hot topic, CRM Unplugged is a valuable, profit-increasing tool for CEOs, other senior managers (such as VPs), and project managers.