Analysis and discussion of issues that impact business

I found this little article on a site pushing e-mail marketing. Consider the source, but there are some interesting thoughts to ponder.

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (CRM) IS an offensive phrase to many marketing executives. Many of you have experienced the woes of over-amplified CRM budgets, failed change initiatives, and over-promised technology. Now, you may be riddled with data and analysis issues based on decisions made over the last five years. Aberdeen Group published an insight report in June of 2002 that called e-mail marketing "The Last Mile of CRM."

Great, CRM has run it's course. What's coming in it's place?

Here's what the writer of the article, David Baker thinks.

Aberdeen very eloquently laid out the argument that e-mail marketing is not a mainstay of CRM suites; rather it is a "point solution." Furthermore, most corporate CRM infrastructures can't support diverse, multi-channel corporate marketing, manage hosted services, and support all its needs. Rather, Aberdeen said humorously, most e-mail marketing departments in companies are "bringing a knife to a gunfight."

So, what's the good news?

As Aberdeen predicted in 2002, now is really an inspiring time because the value proposition of e-mail marketing has emerged as a package of Customer Lifecycle Management (CLM) solutions.

$%&@*#! another acronym.

The view of the customer has changed. More and more companies are looking at long-term customer relationships. Are we in a place where we can deliver, manage and monetize all customer interactions and milestones over many years?

My thinking has always been that long-term customer relationships are always paramount. Remember the old adade? "It's cheaper to keep a customer than it is to acquire one."

In the words of King Solomon: "There's nothing new under the sun."