Critical events and next best activities in relationship marketing: Best practices beyond advanced analytics

Customer relationship management (CRM) systems are the backbone of effective marketing efforts. Yet some research has found that such systems can suffer failure rates as high as 75 percent, thus negating their value to their organizations. This interview explores both the promise and the problems of CRM applications. Because effective CRM implementation requires thorough organizational integration, particularly in the use of data warehousing techniques, both academic and managerial perspectives are brought to bear as the discussants detail the evolution of CRM applications and where their challenges lie. And they highlight some best practices of eventtriggered CRM uses. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.