The introduction of electronic health records (EHR) is becoming an essential trend in the development of modern healthcare. The transition to a unified digital document management system opens up significant opportunities for improving the efficiency of medical organizations. However, along…
You can get most things on sale nowadays, but are they really on sale? Retailers use the excitement of a sale to their advantage by putting things on sale when they really aren’t. Prices are sometimes inflated so that the…
As 2023 draws to a close we can reflect back on one of the most turbulent years for decades. The rise of disruptive technologies like AI, market and geopolitical uncertainties, and the continuing shift in working practices, have all played…
Options trading can be a lucrative venture for investors looking to generate income. With a variety of strategies available, traders can tailor their approach to match their risk tolerance and financial goals. In this blog post, we will explore some…
Still believe that financial management is only for finance professionals, managers, and accountants? In reality, each of us should learn to manage money wisely, maintain a personal or family budget, and plan income and expenses. From a financial perspective, the…
In-app chat is an essential feature embedded within business applications. It allows seamless communication between users or between the user and the service provider. Through this interactive tool, individuals can reach out to others for feedback, assistance, or collaboration. This…
With apologies to Stephen R. Covey. This is the third and last installment of a bizarre update of Stephen Covey’s “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” a national bestseller and much-touted executive management tome of the past decade. In…
With apologies to Stephen R. Covey. This is the second of a three-part installment of a bizarre update of Stephen Covey’s “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” a national bestseller and much-touted executive management tome of the past decade.…
With apologies to Stephen R. Covey. For some strange, nostalgic reason, I recently re-read the 1990 national bestseller and much-touted executive management tome, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” by Stephen Covey. What struck me was how much has…
This is the final installment of a three-part series on how corporations are breaking up their internal technology monopolies. In part one, we looked at some of the broader trends changing the IT spending landscape. Part two discussed the growing…
This is the second of a three-part series on how corporations are breaking up their internal technology monopolies. In part one, we talked about how many organizations are discovering, in most cases, their own IT monopolies are no match for…
Once, not long ago, though strong technical skills didn’t necessarily guarantee employment, they clearly made a techie a highly marketable commodity. In the brave new world of declining IT budgets (in corporate communications jargon, “negative technology spending growth”), technical staffs…
In parts one and two, we covered some of the important trends driving wealth management strategies in the securities industry. In parts three and four, we looked at some of the business drivers for wealth management in private banking and…
In parts one and two, we covered some of the important trends driving wealth management strategies in the securities industry. In parts three and four, we looked at some of the business drivers for wealth management in private banking and…
In parts one and two, we looked at structural trends behind the wealth management craze in the securities industry. Part three discussed specific business challenges driving wealth management strategies in private banks and brokerage firms. Let’s continue that discussion. One…
Parts one and two covered trends in investor psychology and structural industry changes driving the wealth management craze. In this column and the next, we’ll look at wealth management business drivers in private client banks and brokerage firms. Crisis of…
In part one, we covered the widespread shift in investor psychology driving the wealth management trend. In this installment, we’ll continue the discussion, focusing on some of the structural changes affecting the securities industry. Structural Changes in the Industry In…
Wealth management is a trend sweeping the securities industry. Readers of this column would call it something else: CRM for investment firms. That’s what wealth management strategies are. They enable financial planners and stock brokers to develop deeper and more…
This is the last of a three-part series that looks back at some industry forecasts I made when I started this column back in early 2001, which, in some important ways, seems a million years ago. In parts one and…
This is the second of a three-part column that looks back at some industry forecasts I made when I started this column back in early 2001. If you didn’t read part one, that’s just fine with me. It was the…
When I started writing this column a mere 18 months (but seemingly a million years) ago, I cited some key industry trends and made five projections. Given the vast changes in our environment — social, economic, technical, political, and cultural…
When I started writing this column a mere 18 months (but seemingly a million years) ago, I cited some key industry trends and made five projections. Given the vast changes in our environment — social, economic, technical, political, and cultural…
This is the final installment of a three-part series on customer profitability management. To recap part one, though many businesses see changing customer mix as the key to improving profitability — attracting big accounts and shunning smaller clients — smarter…
In this, the second of a three-part series on customer profitability management, we’ll look at a real-life case study in the retail brokerage business. To recap part one: As many businesses look at changing customer mix as the key to…
Conventional wisdom says if you can’t make money on some types of customers, dump them — preferably by sending them to your competition, who will be only too happy (i.e., dumb enough) to pick them up and proceed to lose…
This is the final installment of a three-part series on what CRM is quickly evolving into: EAI and business process management (BPM). In parts one and two we examined the overall trend and discussed EAI. In this column, we’ll look…
This is the second installment of a three-part series on what CRM is quickly evolving to be: EAI and business process management (BPM). In part one, we looked at the trend in broad terms. Here, we’ll look at EAI in…
Your reactions to my recent trilogy about the death of the CRM software fad were voluminous. The recurring question was this: “If the CRM-as-software fad is dead, what’s next?” In review of the current customer landscape, I’d say CRM is…
This three-part column is about the birth and death of the CRM fad. In parts one and two, we looked at the Internet fad and the early hype surrounding CRM. In this, the third and final section, we’ll look at…
This three-part column is about the birth and death of the CRM fad. In part one, we looked at the Internet craze, which in some ways helped spur demand for multi-channel CRM software. In this, the second installment, we’ll examine…
The CRM fad is now officially dead. May it rest in peace. Contrary to the writings of some industry pundits, the demise of CRM is not greatly exaggerated. It’s real. The party’s over. The fat lady sang. It’s DOA. Companies…
In the first part of this two-part series, we looked at Corporate Schizophrenia — the bizarre disease that causes companies to spend a fortune trying to engage, attract, and sell prospects, only to take extreme measures to avoid interacting with…
Many corporations exhibit bizarre behavioral extremes when dealing with consumers. Some businesses spend a fortune striving to engage, attract, and sell prospects — only to take extreme measures to avoid interacting with these same people after they become customers. In…
At the time of this writing, my teenage son has seen “The Lord of the Rings” no less than four times. I’ve seen it with him twice; the second time I brought along one of my daughters to see if…
These are strange times indeed. Much to my surprise, I now find myself on another team entirely in the classic creative (marketing) versus bean counter (accounting) versus nerd (technology) versus suit (executive) political landscape. I should start with a confession:…
In my last two articles, I discussed the “Myth of ROI.” In this installment, I’ll disclose the key for achieving return on investment (ROI) in customer relationship management (CRM). I have suggested that the success of a CRM initiative is…
In the first part of “The Myth of ROI,” I discussed the truth behind the customer relationship management (CRM) package myth: Installing a CRM software package doesn’t generate ROI. Successful business practices do — specifically, those that use software in…
One of the greatest misconceptions about CRM software packages is the popular belief and expectation that, by installing them, purchasers will experience a sufficient increase in profit. This increase is typically expressed as a percent of the investment required over…
Based on prevailing practices in Corporate America, one would think the key to effective management in an unstable and unpredictable global economy is for executives to pound fists on tables, scream at subordinates, and issue terse, threatening memos about increased…
In the first article of this three-part installment, we looked at the most valuable lesson learned to date from customer relationship management (CRM) implementations. That is, implementing new technology without changing underlying processes, incentives, skills sets, and reporting structure constitutes…
By my reckoning, we’re now in the third stage of the customer relationship management (CRM) evolutionary cycle: the agonizingly painful rebuilding phase following the second stage (the horrible crash). The second stage, in turn, was preceded by the first stage:…
This represents the third and final part of a three-part open letter to corporate executives who are struggling with the issue of making CRM successful in their organizations. In the previous Parts I and II of this column, I outlined…
This is the second of a three-part open letter to corporate executives who are struggling with making CRM successful in their organizations. In Part I of this installment, I outlined the qualifications of the three-point pledge and described in detail…
This is an open letter to all you corporate executives out there who are grappling with the hoary task of designing and implementing CRM in your organization. Despite all of what you’ve heard and read about in surveys, research reports,…
While nearly every business would claim that the information it gathers about its customers is a mission-critical, strategic asset, many don’t treat this “asset” accordingly. Most customer data is left lying around in different systems, and in various stages of…
In my last column, I described some “requirements” that many project management experts describe as essential to success in implementing CRM, but, in my opinion and based on my own experience, are really more “nice to haves.” I make this…
Having recently attended a CRM project management conference, I was struck by the convergence of recommended methodologies and practices that project management specialists propound for CRM implementations. While I was encouraged by the fact that some many people in the…
While many pundits predicted earlier this year that CRM — due to its strategic importance — would be immune from corporate budget cutbacks in 2001, this is clearly not turning out to be the case. CRM has been affected by…
Businesses have long realized that not all customers are created equal. But, thanks to digital processes technology, they are just beginning to measure in real dollar terms, just how unequal they really are. Let’s consider just three broad segments of…
I always laugh when some so-called "CRM Guru" denounces hidebound, greedy, stupid corporate executives who refuse to re-align their organization’s management reporting structures and business operations around customers. These CRM "experts" often criticize corporate types for seeing CRM exclusively as…