PodChats for FutureCIO: Improving CRM's value in customer engagement

In a Forrester survey of 250 IT and marketing professionals, CRM or customer relationship management topped (63%) the list of technologies used by marketing. Customer Data Platforms (57%) and Web Analytics (55%) round out the top three.

It is interesting to note that in the same survey, 83% of business leaders admit their MarTech platforms don't work very well together and that 73.5% of CMOs in the survey admit to their company lacking a strong culture of data-driven decision-making.

In the post-pandemic digital economy, what is the value of CRM and how will the solution evolve as other emerging technologies like automation and artificial intelligence come into the picture? 

In today's Podchats for FutureCIO, we are joined by Gibu Mathew, VP and GM APAC with Zoho, for his perspective on the evolving state of CRM innovations.

1.       In the context of today's digital economy, what is the purpose of CRM?

2.       With so many advances and learnings around customer experience, is it still easy to lose customer loyalty and how challenging is it to get this back?  

3.       How do you envision AI and analytics shaping the future of CRM, and what benefits do they bring to customer relationship management? In other words, what would an AI-powered CRM promise?

4.       What needs to happen for organisations to reap the benefits of CRM?

5.       What are the barriers to implementing/deploying an AI-powered CRM? How can these obstacles be overcome? 

6.       What is your advice for CMOs and CIOs to improve the ROI of their CRM strategy?