3
The Analyst's View of CRM
3.1
Why do analysts matter?
There are firms that both reflect and influence the way that companies and
individuals think about the use of technology. They provide research services,
advise companies regarding IT strategy, help make vendor selections, and
influence the direction of IT submarkets. They are important for a number of
reasons. They can, through their influence, define new markets, which results
in certain vendors dominating those markets. And their influence in CRM
markets is acutely felt. As we discuss in this chapter, CRM, for many of the
analysts, is the new enterprise resource planning (ERP). CRM can, logically,
stretch from all customer touch-points right back to supply chain systems. Its
tendrils can extend into every corner of the enterprise; as a result, there are
likely to be rich pickings for the analysts.
However, with regard to CRM, the role of analysts is even more compli-
cated. To some extent they defined the category because they needed it. In
the case of marketing research firms they provide CRM services them-
selves~through customer satisfaction research and, increasingly, outsourced
CRM services. The people employed by market researchers, technology ana-
lysts, stock analysts, and management consultants move from firm to firm and
refine their knowledge of the category (or confirm their prejudices). Analysts
like CRM as they like no other type of software.
When we take a closer look at these key influencers we see that there
are (for sake of argument) six types of companies that can and do exert
this influence: IT analysis and research companies, management consulting
companies, research consulting companies (including marketing research),
industry IT analyst companies, stock analysts, and academic institutions.
Figure 3.1 shows how they are positioned.
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