To make the most of relationships with buyers, companies around the world spent $35 billion on customer relationship management (CRM) applications software and services in 2005.1 These investments have generated a wide range of outcomes, but often the payoff has been substantial: boosting revenues, improving the customer experience, and reducing the cost of sales, marketing, and customer service.
The benefits would be greater still if more companies improved the way they interact with customers across channels and product groups—for example, by enhancing coordination among customer service calls, Web site visits, and direct sales. Many retailers track their customers' online and in-store purchases, but few connect the two in order to see the full value of each buyer. Most companies also lack a systematic way to pass leads and service requests from one channel or product group to another, leaving it up to dutiful employees to bridge those gaps by making an exceptional effort, such as that of the bank teller who jots down leads on pieces of paper and hands them to the private-banking team.
Even companies with solid CRM programs in their most important channels usually fail to make these important connections, because the effort involves coordination and...