There are several design ideas evident in top CRM systems. After 20 years of CRM, 2 very different types of design now clash. Most prevalent is traditional programmed process CRM. ‘Low-Code’ changes the landscape along with the COTS ‘No-Code’ designs.

Since May 2018, BPM’online as a ‘Low-Code’ competitor has emerged as the only product in the Gartner ‘Magic Quadrant’ classed as a ‘challenger’ (copyright Gartner). As a ‘Low-Code’ competitor, it is introducing a new customisation/personalisation paradigm which is the disruptive technology due to upset the established order.

A new kind of enterprise resource management and planning is taking shape with Smartsheet. For the basic needs of managing a project, providing a Gantt chart for presentation to management, reviewing resource demand and timing, Smartsheet handles the basics so intuitively that even the simplest project portfolio benefits fromthe Smartsheet way of managing projects. In recent years, organisations with larger portfolios have found that their dependence on Gantt charts and spreadsheets has been a problem. When there is a need to re-shape future financial commitments, greater visibility, greater detail, and new tools to look at alternatives are needed.
User quote: “I got my team rallied around Smartsheet and what we’ve been able to do in a relatively short period of time is move from an organization that didn’t know what they were spending on project budgets to an organization that knows exactly what they are spending.” (Read the whole story?)

Chris West’s style is comfortable and not crunchy……It’s a gentle walk through the ‘SME wisdom forest’ that will leave you energised, amused and encouraged. You may also feel that your business instincts and intuitions about the unknowable have been imperceptibly enhanced. Enjoy!!

There is concern is that over 20+ years enormous amounts of money have been spent seeking the CRM relationship benefits like customer-centric culture, but staff claim they can’t use the system and senior management are asking difficult questions about why the data they were promised isn’t there. Could it be as simple as the breakdown of user engagement that has caused so many organisations to fail to get the CRM benefit? Centralisation of process ownership may have contributed. There are certainly suggestions from the Edinger survey in HBR that corporate objectives and demands for more management reporting of performance data have resulted in staff resentment. Is it possibly also a human factor that very few people who are efficient workers, are fully conscious of all their capabilities and slick working practices. The prototyping method provokes the articulation of unconscious activities, where a business process interview possibly does not. Can it be that fundamental?

The Centre for Management Consulting Excellence is drawing together views of how management consultancy practice will need to evolve in coming years. On 28th February the Technical Symposium 2019 will take place at Coventry University London Campus. Simply repackaging the “same old same old” is not enough. The rapidly changing business environment means that consultants need to upgrade their services and develop new ones if they are to survive....