Identifying some of the Prerequisites for CRM Implementation from an Organisations Perspective: a Review of the Literature

For an organisation to undertake a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) implementation program it needs to consider a multitude of requirements. Some authors have hinted at viewing CRM within a wider perspective than just customer centric perspectives. The aim of this paper is to discuss the domain and conceptualise some of the requirements of CRM from an organisation’s point of view. An organization needs to develop a roadmap outlining the path to become CRM centric. Therefore an organisation should address, or at least consider, a list of those factors at every stage of a CRM implementation program, for an implementation program to be effective. The main focus of literature in CRM has been customer centric. This paper, being the first stage of much wider research, will focus on the organisation and the internal environment. This paper will identify three information systems (IS) and information technology (IT) requirements in organisations that are integral parts of CRM. These need to achieve a level of synergy for successful CRM. To understand these three requirements (front-end systems, back-end systems, and data-handling technologies) in a CRM project is too great in magnitude at this early stage of the research. This paper begins to draw together the tenuous links between the three requirements of information systems (IS) and information technology (IT) systems.