6.3. Building an Operational Infrastructure

The operational infrastructure within most companies was developed to support and/or automate a specific business function. Because companies grew up in functional silos, they developed their computer systems and other infrastructure along the same functional lines. There exists little ability to connect information or processes across these silos.

A key to real CRM success (i.e., making life better for your customer, not just implementing a CRM capability) is that customers expect seamless integration across all your company's touch points. It's really not rocket science. Who wants to have one customer identification number while talking to the call center, and a different customer ID for logging on to the Internet? Who wants to be treated like a top customer when you make an airline reservation, but treated like a dog when you were too late to get an upgrade so you have to sit in the back of the plane? Nobody! In Part 3 of this book, we will examine specific methods of integrating pieces of the infrastructure across the entire organization.

Each of these common barriers is manageable. There are no quick fixes, but with planning and organized effort, these barriers can be overcome. Now that we've talked about how to minimize these three barriers, let's look at how to overcome our organizational silos and gaps. We will learn in Chapter 7 what it takes to set up a CRM organization that has the best chance of driving success.