South Africa has relapsed into an environment of high inflation and high interest rates. Companies can respond to the prospect of declining margins in a variety of ways. Cutting spending on infrastructure may be one of them. But in taking that approach, companies must know that CRM is not just software. It does not automatically manage customer relationships. Ongoing work needs to be done to get the returns on investment (ROI).The essence of the information technology revolution has afforded companies the opportunity to choose how they interact with their customers and has shifted the balance of power from producers to customers. IT is not the Holy Grail to customer service. It is just an enabler; a support.

CRM technology on its own does not improve the customer experience. It is the subjective response customers have to direct or indirect contact with a company. Customer experiences can culminate in either satisfaction or disappointment and defection. It encompasses every aspect of an offering: customer care, advertising, packaging, features, ease of use, reliability and so forth. Thus customer focus remains the most sustainable way to ride out the storm in the long run because it puts the customer on your side, helping you to define and create value together. CRM is no doubt, one of the most difficult management challenges there is.

Which CEO would argue against the significance of customer experience or against measuring, analysing and improving it? So how many appreciate that Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and the role of customer service, not as a function in a department in a company, but rather a philosophy and a company-wide strategy that grows a mutually beneficial collaborative relationship with customers? In this context, 10 Innovation Drivers have been identified.

Effective CRM requires a high degree of change to organisational culture, behaviour and collaboration. Without the company aligning its resources to CRM strategy and vision, the risks of failure are high. A "customer" can be poorly defined thus not giving real information on which customers to target and how to discover what they want. The creation, maintenance and deployment of accurate, comprehensive and timely customer information and insight are the foundation for CRM. Strong customer information strategies give organisations the ability to optimise customer interactions and deliver consistent customer satisfaction that bridge the gap between what the company says it stands for and offers, and what the customer experiences.

Customer management is a core business strategy. There is no doubt that companies need to gain a better understanding of what drives customer behaviour, loyalty and satisfaction. When companies truly appreciate that the customers are the real employer, then CRM will come out of the shadows and from being considered as a new “trend” marketing tool, to be a strategic driver of the business. The customers’ power is undeniable.

This is the time to look at your service offering by assessing the effectiveness of your CRM strategy which should outline plans to develop valuable customer relationships and to create a competitive position that leverages a company's resources. Success requires a strategy that supports a company's vision, locates key objectives and creates a measurable plan of action. Endeavours that focus on improving the customer experience are of no value if they do not achieve customer satisfaction and loyalty, especially if they fall short of connecting and anticipating the customers’ needs. There is no doubt that customers can do things now and take them for granted that they couldn't do before, such as moving money without stepping into a bank for months or shopping twenty-four-seven. They also demand unforgivably more from the companies they do business with. It is effortless for customers to compare competing companies in search of better deals or service. Just meeting, let alone exceeding expectations, is the real ongoing challenge.