| Companies suffer as high as 60--70% failure rates in implementing CRM systems because of the integration problems. The primary objectives of this paper are to (1) examine what factors affect CRM implementation success and (2) understand the collaboration issues of CRM, ERP, and other back-office applications.; This research suggests several factors to guide companies for a successful CRM implementation. These factors include the establishment of CRM committee, end-user involvement, sound end-user education, the establishment of proper reward system, the adoption of module-by-module installations, maintaining in-house CRM engineers, the utilization of web-based infrastructure, detailed system specification, and less CRM customizations.; The findings of this research suggest that companies adopt CRM technology to achieve different strategies. First, for the overall success CRM implementation strategy, management should pay more attention on the establishment of CRM committee, end user involvement, maintaining in-house engineers, and minimum customization of CRM system. Second, if the major goal of implementing a CRM system is to "improve customer satisfaction", management should emphasize three factors: the establishment of CRM committee, end user involvement, and the adoption of web-based infrastructure. Third, if the goal of implementing a CRM system is to "improve operational efficiency", management should notice three factors: the establishment of CRM committee, the establishment of reward system to encourage users' participations, and minimum customization of CRM system. Fourth, if the goal of adopting CRM is to "improve system integration", management should prioritize three factors: the adoption of web-based infrastructure, good documentation of system specifications, and the adoption of module-by-module implementation methods. |
