Managing Customer Relationships in Uncertain Times 9 of 13

Option 7: Operational efficiency and growth

Companies invest in customer relationship management solutions as much for operational efficiency as revenue growth. In our study with students from the Harvard Business School several years ago we found that companies listed efficiency and revenue growth almost equally as the driving reason for investments in customer relationship management.

In the short-term economy, operational efficiency will dominate the investment decisions at many companies. Many police departments in the U.S. have adopted the motto “To protect and serve.” This is the correct view for most companies today: protect the base and serve the customer.

The natural instinct in discussing efficiency is to cut costs. This may be the correct decision for many companies. However, efficiencies are only operational if they are sustainable. Investing in better processes, training and technology may be a more effective efficiency path for other companies.