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AV-14-9265
John Radcliffe
Article Top View
13 December 2001
Eight Building Blocks of CRM: A Framework for Success
CRM initiatives need a framework to ensure that programs are approached on a strategic,
balanced and integrated basis. Such a framework will maximize benefits to the enterprise
and its customers.
Achieving the long-term value of customer relationship management (CRM) requires a strategy involving
the whole business and should be approached at an enterprise level. Only a small, but growing, number
of enterprises are tackling CRM at this level, with most CRM initiatives consisting of departmental
projects or attempts to integrate the work of multiple projects. Executing enterprise-level CRM is not easy.
It requires board-level vision and leadership to drive a “relentless focus on the customer.” It involves
learning new customer management skills, potentially difficult changes to processes, culture and
organization, and grappling with the technology challenges of multichannel alignment, systems
integration and data quality. Even if the board accepts the need for enterprise-level CRM, the quarterly
demands of revenue and profit targets, especially in delicate economic conditions, often mean that,
although CRM is the most important challenge facing an enterprise, it is not seen as the most urgent.
This typically results in a focus on isolated tactical “quick wins” until conditions are better.
Besides lack of leadership, the main reasons that enterprises are not approaching CRM at an enterprise
level are:
• An inability to see the “big picture” and understand the extent of transformation that is necessary
• Lack of a strategic framework to provide the context for the CRM journey
Through 2005, enterprises that use a strategic CRM framework to estimate, plan and promote their CRM
initiatives while building up their capabilities in small piloted steps are twice as likely to achieve planned
business benefits as enterprises that pursue projects without a framework (0.7 probability).
Following extensive analysis, Gartner created the Eight Building Blocks of CRM (see Figure 1) — a
framework to help enterprises see the big picture, make their business cases and plan their
implementation (see “The Eight Building Blocks of CRM,” DF-14-2111). The framework can be used for
internal education and debate in developing the CRM vision and strategies. It can also be the basis of an
assessment of the enterprise’s existing and required CRM capabilities, to help understand its current
position and future strategy.
The framework emphasizes the need to create a balance between the requirements of the enterprise and
the customer. The two central building blocks in Figure 1 (valued customer experience and organizational
collaboration) are joined by a yin and yang motif to emphasize that this is where people meet, build
relationships and provide value to each other. Through 2005, 90 percent of successful CRM initiatives will
have balanced the needs of improved customer experience with improved organizational collaboration
(0.8 probability). Too many CRM initiatives suffer from an inward focus on the enterprise, whereas the