Where CRM Must Evolve Into CEM

Last month I sat through a really interesting presentation on the CRM efforts of one of S.E. Asia's leading banks while at the Asian Financial Services Congress in Singapore. They have clearly developed a very large store of data on their customers and they are using this data to mine for opportunities. Each night they look for changes in account activities, such as large deposits that might portend a change in the customers' financial practices. They then create targeted opportunities lists and distribute them to their branches for the morning opening at 8:00 a.m. This is fantastic-but, what happens next? The branches are directed to contact the customers on the target lists. Then what? Well, the service representatives approach the customers regarding new products. Then what?  

The point is that their CRM initiative is highly advanced with huge technology investments having been made to analyze customer data, while their investments in technology to manage the customer experience has apparently not moved forward in a comparable fashion. The result is that while they can identify potential opportunities, their ability to engage the customer is not at the same level of sophistication. The gaps in the overall customer strategy result in not knowing what occurs when offers are presented to the customer. If the customer finds the offer to be interesting, but not timely, how is follow-up managed? What motivates the branch staff to make outbound sales efforts, which aren't always a natural fit with the everyday activities? And, what about pursuing opportunities through channels other than the branch? 

Balancing CRM investments with CEM investments is the challenge that must be addressed if investments in either are to reach their full potential.