The ratings were drawn from over 1,000 software users and evaluators who are members of CRMGuru.com, a worldwide community of business people interested in CRM. Respondents represented all the positions that typically have good vantage points for evaluating CRM software performance--from senior managers to software users. Data was gathered through an Internet-based survey conducted this summer.
The survey netted more than 2,000 direct-knowledge ratings--meaning respondents are either using, have used, or have evaluated the software systems on which they commented. The eight systems evaluated in the study were chosen because 100 or more of the study participants had direct knowledge of them. Figures ranged from a low of 144 participants having direct knowledge of GoldMine to a high of 574 having direct knowledge of Siebel.
An overall Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) was determined by how survey respondents rated functionality, implementation, support, pricing, and the vendors' customer focus. Industrywide, the CSI was a dismal 63.1 on a scale of 0 to 100. Ease of implementation and customer focus received the lowest scores of 55.25 and 57.49, respectively, in the five specific areas studied.
gh an Internet-based survey conducted this summer.
The survey netted more than 2,000 direct-knowledge ratings--meaning respondents are either using, have used, or have evaluated the software systems on which they commented. The eight systems evaluated in the study were chosen because 100 or more of the study participants had direct knowledge of them. Figures ranged from a low of 144 participants having direct knowledge of GoldMine to a high of 574 having direct knowledge of Siebel.
An overall Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) was determined by how survey respondents rated functionality, implementation, support, pricing, and the vendors' customer focus. Industrywide, the CSI was a dismal 63.1 on a scale of 0 to 100. Ease of implementation and customer focus received the lowest scores of 55.25 and 57.49, respectively, in the five specific areas studied.
The report uses as reference CSI scores by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). The ACSI conducts national customer satisfaction studies every quarter on one or two sectors of the economy in conjunction with the University of Michigan Business School, the American Society for Quality, and the CFI Group.
"World-class products and services routinely achieve [CSI] scores in the mid-eighties and low nineties in this type of survey," according to the study. "[Scores] in the sixties or below are usually 'panic-level' scores that often require draconian measures to turn things around--unless an entire industry...is operating at these levels."
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