Reasons for Failures of CRM Implementations

Customer relationship management (CRM) systems are enterprise systems that facilitate maintenance of buyer-seller relationships with clients in consumer and business marketing channels. These systems permit firms to better tailor their offerings, to increase market intelligence and achieve increased competency in the markets where they operate. Unfortunately, the ratio of CRM failures to CRM successes exceeds 2-1; little is known about why such an important customer support utility might be so seemingly ineffective because there are few studies that deal with CRM failures and the factors leading to or preventing success. Utilizing a grounded theory methodology, this article spans the disciplines of marketing and information systems in the process of inducing the reasons for CRM failure and success. Results indicate that implementation factors play a significant role in CRM outcomes.