|
by Joshua Greenbaum, Contributing Editor   | Abstract: | As selling against suite-based applications gets harder, the new era of CRM demands tighter integration and optimization of customer data. |
These days, when someone asks me what the latest trend in supply chain management software is, my answer is the customer record. And I'm bound to give the same answer when asked about any other software category. While the industry has bandied around the idea that universal integration with the customer record is a good idea, no one predicted how pervasive it would become or what the ramifications would be for vendors and software buyers. For the software buyer, making the customer record the nexus of a host of essential business processes is spurring huge investments in anything that speeds up and simplifies the integration process. This is a major reason why we're seeing both service architectures and such solutions as master data management topping the "tire-kicking" list of CEOs and CIOs alike. Even more important is the buyer's newfound understanding of how business processes can be significantly improved by tight integration with key applications that touch the customer record. Similarly, new technologies and initiatives are all being deployed with this customer-centric view in mind. [Click to continue] |