Getting CRM Right Is Harder Than It Looks

CRM systems are one of the most widely adopted categories of enterprise applications. However, despite being a mature technology, businesses often struggle to realize its full potential, leading to low-value outcomes compared to other technologies.

As shown in Figure 1 from our full report, CRM Adoption Trends and Customer Experience, adoption is high, while investment is moderate compared to other technologies in our Technology Trends study. However, despite this, economic success and satisfaction with CRM are relatively low.

As businesses strive for consistent branding and deeper customer relationships, CRM systems have become essential tools for delivering tailored experiences and fostering long-term engagement. CRM is a strategy and technology that helps businesses manage a wide range of customer-facing functions, including sales automation, marketing, customer service, and social media engagement. Organizations leverage these systems not only for operational efficiency but also to meet strategic goals such as personalized marketing, improved customer segmentation, and integrated sales and marketing efforts.

However, many businesses face challenges in achieving strong ROI and TCO success with CRM systems. Common obstacles include the high implementation and maintenance costs driven by system complexity and customization, as well as integration issues with existing platforms that create data silos and reduce efficiency. On the human side, insufficient employee training often leads to underutilization, while poor data quality and limited analytics capabilities hinder strategic decision-making. The latter is especially crucial as technologies are becoming more data-driven with the use of ML and LLMs. The rapid pace of technological advancements also means that CRM systems can quickly become outdated if not regularly updated and optimized, leading to dissatisfaction and a poor value perception.

So, what is the solution? While digital commerce and social media have expanded CRM’s ability to capture and analyze customer data, the integration of AI, especially predictive analytics and generative AI, has significantly enhanced its potential. Agentic AI, in particular, offers a powerful way to overcome common CRM challenges by automating complex tasks, improving data integration and quality, and generating insights. These capabilities help reduce friction, boost user adoption, lower operational costs, and ultimately unlock the full value of CRM systems.

“CRM is essential but often underdelivers,” said Waynelle John, research analyst for Avasant, based in Los Angeles. “The real value comes from removing the friction and addressing integration issues, improving data quality, and making the system easier for people to use.”

The full report provides an overview of key concepts in this space. We also examine CRM adoption and investment trends, providing data on how many organizations have the technology in place, how many are in the process of implementing it, and how many are expanding implementations. We then look at the ROI experience, the TCO experience, and the type of applications that are the most popular.

This Research Byte provides a brief overview of our study, CRM Adoption Trends and Customer Experience. The full report is available at no charge for subscribers.