*SPECIAL REPORT: The Price of Loyalty
A special report on the costs of CRM technology
What’s the difference between a root canal and CRM implementation? A root canal is more fun and it’s over at some point. That’s the conclusion we drew while researching this special report on costs. The agony is documented in our opening story on the hidden costs of CRM. Many firms find the tab growing because they discover new needs as they go along. Eddie Bauer, for example, started a whole new upgrade less than six months after completing a $5 million initiative. No need to fret: Spending for the second program also didn’t go a dime above $5 million. Of course, this raises the issue of how you sell these investments to upper management or determine when they will start to pay out (a critical matter during an economic downturn). Writer Richard H. Levey explores some of the formulas used for determining ROI on technology purchases
