CRM Applications Go Internal
By Pam Baker
As enterprises become more adept at using Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Sales Force Automation (SFA) systems to enhance customer relations, the buzz is beginning to build around using these same tools to recruit and retain top IT talent. The question is, will CRM for internal use be the next big bang in IT or will it simply fizzle?
"There is some validity to the concept, but I don't see a one-to-one correspondence between the care and feeding of IT people and the needs of a customer," says Donna Fitzgerald, an analyst at the esteemed Gartner Research firm in Stamford, Conn.
Perhaps the lack of a direct correlation is merely due to the newness of the idea. To be sure, all the kinks have yet to be ironed out. As a result, reactions range across the entire spectrum.
Some enterprises are already on the bandwagon. "We use our CRM software quite successfully to track our staff as well as our customers," confides Jeff Pelletier, owner and executive producer of Basetwo Media Inc., one of Canada's leading video production companies, based in Vancouver, BC. "'Highrise,' by 37signals, has an option to create 'cases.' We use these 'cases' to keep notes on sick days, days off and any personal or performance issues that may arise. Access to these files is restricted to management who can then comment in the message threads if there are any ongoing issues." (article continues)
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