Social Media initiatives lead business back to CRM.

Michael Maoz VP Distinguished Analyst 13 years at Gartner 26 years IT industry Michael Maoz is a research vice president and distinguished analyst in Gartner Research. His research focuses on CRM and customer-centric Web strategies. Mr. Maoz is the research leader for both the customer service and support strategies area and customer-centric Web… Read Full Bio Coverage Areas: by Michael Maoz  |  November 17, 2011  |  Submit a Comment Name a three letter business acronym with more negative associations than CRM. Only ERP rivals CRM for the concept of failure, frustration, cost and unfulfilled promise. ERP is the discipline of managing your stuff, while CRM is about managing relationships with customers. Why is there so much rancor about CRM? We have been hearing the litany of derision for a decade: you can’t manage the customer. Correct, but where in the definition does it say you are managing the customer? The aspiration, which requires perspiration, is to manage the relationship.