TECHNOLOGY
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The origin of Customer Relationship Management ( CRM ) can be traced back to the 1990s , when companies such as Siebel helped gradually drive the evolution of contact management software towards CRM systems . Previously , CRMs were built on hierarchical databases , but these have since been wiped out by SQL ( Structured Query Language ) CRMs . Since then , the likes of Salesforce have moved SQL CRM into the cloud , but the problems that inhibited the platforms 20 years ago , such as inaccurate , incomplete and untrustworthy data , still exist today .
This is a problem that limits the true potential of CRM software . The technology was built for static data while today ’ s business data is , in fact , very dynamic . Information is constantly developing and so can quickly become outdated . The current use of CRM is like using flipbooks to try to watch a movie : the method has become obsolete and overtaken by newer , more efficient forms of technology .
The main issue is that modern CRM platforms , despite their sophistication , focus primarily on processing and consuming data instead of collecting and keeping it accurate . According to Ben Horowitz , we have witnessed the demise of systems of record from the rise of AI . CRMs were built in the point-in-time sales world , meaning that they were built in the days of one-time sales , where
MARCH 2020