Review
"In the second edition of 'Customer Relationship Management: Concepts and Technologies', Francis Buttle has written the definitive CRM text book. Highly recommended for those seeking an unbiased and comprehensive understanding of CRM from strategy to technology. Buy it, read it, and refer to it often to stay on track for a successful CRM endeavor!"
Bob Thompson, CEO, CustomerThink Corp.
"Francis Buttle's book is a comprehensive, rigorously researched, contemporary overview of CRM that is generously illuminated with many case illustrations. He shows how CRM technologies in support of a well-tuned customer management strategy can deliver outstanding benefits throughout the customer life-cycle."
Sampson Lee, President, GCCRM (Greater China CRM).
"This lucid and content-packed book reads and informs like a charm. Buttle's refreshing treatment of CRM as a core
business strategy is destined to become a classic. Highly recommended!"
Fred Wiersema, business strategist, educator and author, The Discipline of Market Leaders.
"This book is crisp, practical and stimulating. It combines Professor Buttle's considerable insights with practical examples and provides a step-by-step pragmatic approach to the application of CRM in business. The inclusion of an equally pragmatic understanding of CRM technology is an enhancing feature of the book. All senior management would benefit from reading it, particularly those who realise that profitable customers are the company's greatest asset and require foolproof guidance to retain them. Because of its sound academic basis, this book is equally beneficial for management students. Overall it represents a comprehensive reference/guide to business success."
Professor John A Murphy, Manchester Business School, UK.
"Absolutely the best exposition of Customer Relationship Management. Can't think of a better guide to increasing your performance and profits. This book belongs on the desk of every company that is serious about CRM. The wealth of information and insight is astonishing."
Professor Philip Kotler, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, USA.
From the Back Cover
This book provides a comprehensive and balanced review of Customer Relationship Management. It explains what CRM is, the benefits it delivers, the contexts in which it is used, the technologies that are deployed, and how it can be implemented. Rather than being tied to any single perspective, the book identifies and explores four different forms of CRM - strategic, operational, analytical and collaborative. Technology is a key attribute of CRM, but this book puts that technology into a managerial and operational context. Although a number of chapters are dedicated to technology issues, and technology is considered throughout the book, the book is not about technology, per se. Rather it is about how CRM technologies can be used to enhance the achievement of marketing, sales, and service objectives, and support broader organizational goals.
To ensure it is both theoretically sound and managerially relevant, the book draws on academic and independent research. Findings from a wide range of academic disciplines contribute to the book, including marketing, sales, customer service, human resources, technology management, strategy, change management, project management, leadership, operations, management accounting, finance, and organisational behaviour. Supplementing these academic credentials, the book also makes use of research conducted by independent analysts such as Gartner and Forrester, two organizations that conduct leading-edge, state-of-the-art research into CRM and related areas.
The book explains how CRM can be used throughout the customer life-cycle stages of customer acquisition, retention and development. It is liberally illustrated both with screenshots from CRM software applications, and case illustrations of CRM in practice.
Ideal for use as a core textbook by students on CRM or related courses such as relationship marketing, database marketing or key account management, the book is equally valuable for industry professionals. This includes those pursuing professional qualifications or accreditation in marketing, sales or service management, and mid-level to senior managers who are involved in CRM programs and system implementations, whether in a marketing department, the sales force or the service centre.
