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CRM is at a pivotal point. Technology is ready for deployment – including AI – which could change how professionals work. However, companies need to totally reorganise their data – including how it is stored – in order to get the benefit of AI in particular. Deploying AI on messy or siloed data risks bad outcomes, including inaccuracies and discrimination.
We spoke to Thomas Wieberneit, who has decades of experience as a CRM and CX practitioner, about what the next few years will look like and what changes need to happen to ensure a rosy outcome.
Key takeaways
- Companies are not ready for AI deployment for predictive analysis but this is because their data is not accessible and organised.
- Once data problems have been addressed, AI will have a huge impact on sales, service and marketing.
- Data management is often the cause of compliance issues; and these can be costly.
- A change in attitude towards collaboration between different departments could have a huge impact on the CRM industry.
About Thomas Wieberneit
Thomas Wieberneit is an executive, entrepreneur, analyst and consultant with more than 25 years of leadership experience in the software industry, business and IT consulting. Being an experienced CRM and CX practitioner with a unique combination of development-, quality management, and consulting skills, who effectively translates business needs into technology solutions, he brings strong value to organisations.
His achievements over the years include, but are not limited to, building the CIBER ANZ CRM consulting practice from scratch and making it a profitable division from year one, leading the development of the Epikonic solution, a mobile-social engagement platform, as a bootstrapped SaaS start-up.
Thomas also reorganised and drove strategic development of SAP’s Montreal-based CRM development centre, built a test competence centre in India, and shaped QM departments as well as his own boutique consulting companies.
The Emerging Problem of Data Silos in CRM
Q: AI Will Play an Increasing Role in Predictive Analysis. Do You Believe Companies Are Ready for Deployment?
A: I don’t think so but it’s not a technology problem. Instead, it’s a data problem. Cynically spoken, we moved ourselves into the Cloud trap. We came from suites with combined data pots and now we have created data silos. Combine this with decentralised decision making, and we have lots of applications that don’t communicate with each other. This causes lots of redundant and conflicting data.
To efficiently use AI, e.g. for predictive analysis, you need clean data. There’s an additional challenge for small companies and that’s the volume of data that they actually have might be too small to train the AI. At the moment, therefore, the value of AI is often limited due to lacking or “dirty” data.
Q: Is There the Danger That We Could Take Too Much Human Interaction Out of CRM?
A: The cynic would say that deploying any new technology is all about employing less people. However, companies need to remember that the liability is not with a software vendor who sold them that thing which then brought their company into peril, but with them because they took the humans out of the loop.
Whatever technology they adopt, they have the liability and so they need to keep some oversight.
From an optimistic point of view, you can look at when the Rolodex was replaced by contact management systems. It helped efficiency and aided employees. It didn’t necessarily mean that less people were needed. It just meant that they could do the same or better job but with less effort. In fact, if technology allows their company to grow, they might need more people.
“I regard AI as a third, or even fourth, Industrial Revolution. In the shorter run, it’s good for the businesses who start implementing it unless they are doing it horribly wrong, which could lead to the company going out of business. But the majority of companies implementing early will thrive.”
Sorting the ‘Data Problem’
Q: Which Area of the CRM Market Do You Predict Will Grow the Most Dramatically in the Next Two Years and Why?
I would say AI-supported CRM, though this will happen in a shorter time span than two years. It will have a huge impact on sales, service and marketing. What may take a while longer is sorting out the data problem.
Point Solutions are often optimised locally, which harms interaction. This also prevents companies reaching a global optimum (in their processes – as there is no good/consistent data).
The typical example that I usually hear is the Head of Sales asking the Head of Marketing why they are not sending them any leads. The Head of Marketing responds that they have sent gazillions but the Sales Team hasn’t used them. It is a data, infrastructure and cultural issue. This needs to be resolved for growth.
Q: Compliance Is Always a Constant Concern. With Globalisation Continuing, How Can CRM Systems Keep Up??
A: The issue, again, is data management.
AI can definitely help with compliance issues but a neural network is trained using training data. This data is coming from manifold sources. The training of AI systems needs to cater for compliance to multiple regulations (GDPR, HIPAA etc).
For example, in order to comply with GDPR regulations in the UK, they need to be able to prove that someone’s data has been removed from their company’s system. How can they remove data of which they do not even know how it is stored? Maybe, they can deploy an AI to help them find that. Being compliant therefore becomes very difficult.
The Potential Impact of AI on CRM, and How to Prepare
Q: What Single Disruption/ Innovation Will Have the Biggest Impact in the CRM World This Year?
A: A change in attitude towards collaboration and an interrogation of how data is managed. These are not necessarily innovations but they will allow innovation to happen.
Q: What software does every CRM department need to have in place?
A: This depends on where a company’s pain points are. Some companies are service-oriented so they need a good service support software. By this, I mean support for the service processes every company needs to be able to sell. It’s probably advisable to have some CRM sales force automation, for example. The more marketing a company does, it might be wise to have help there too. These solutions could be suites or point solutions.
I would warn against over-tailoring though. Most processes are not a trade secret. Tailoring them will not add any value for their company as the business will be doing what most others are doing; and this will be dictated by best practice. Most reliable CRM software is already quite optimised towards best practices.
Q: Does this change with the size and nature of the company?
A: It will definitely vary from company to company. Smaller companies won’t want to spend thousands, if not even hundreds of thousands of dollars per annum for licenses as well as big implementation costs when there are software packages that pretty much run out of the box.
There will be some configurations that can be customised; but too many companies are focused on how they are different from others and not where they are using standard, industry-specific processes.
I am a one-person company and I use Zoho. I haven’t configured the heck out of it. Actually, what I use is 99% standard and runs out of the box.
Q: What questions do CRM/ CX companies/ departments need to be asking about their work to find the right software to support them??
A: It’s the typical user story question. They need to ask: “Why do I do it?” and not “How do I do it?” If they ask the latter, they are already limiting their solution space. Instead, companies need to focus on what are their objectives. What do they want to achieve? What are the mandatory steps so that they are compliant?
Q: How often do CRM companies need to be doing an audit of what packages they have in place??
A: Companies need to be constantly monitoring. They will never implement a system that fulfils all of the needs of all of their users. They also don’t want to invest too many funds into it. They need to start with a basic CRM package that offers what is important to their business.
This offers a limited level of support for their people; ideally helping where it hurts the most. They can then take it from there. They don’t want to try to solve problems that aren’t going to add any value for their company.
Most packages are sticky because the software companies want to keep their customers on a subscription. Exit barriers are usually fairly high. It is worth checking whether the provider is offering a service that is apt for the size of your company and allows for changing the system later on. I find that smaller companies often gyrate to smaller vendors.
