CRMs Just Aren’t Enough Anymore
Why we signed the ‘CRM is not enough’ declaration
The largest CRMs have been around for decades, dominating the marketplace. CRMs easily maintained relationships in the past because they typically helped manage a 1:1 relationship between the customer and the salesperson. Salespeople used CRMs to notate any conversations or interactions. There weren’t many touchpoints, so data management was simple.
In recent years, touchpoints exploded; companies have websites, apps, email campaigns, social media channels, events, and more. Different teams could also be managing each of these channels within a company. In reaction, the largest CRM companies have started tacking on tools (largely through acquisitions) to handle the needs of different teams within a company.
Best-in-breed software has also become increasingly popular. This is software that does one job really, really well. Think of MailChimp for emails or Shopify for e-commerce. These are experts at what they do. Naturally, different teams within companies began branching out and using these tools, not just because they were intuitive to use, but because they provide the best possible customer experience.
In this reality, teams may be using various tools that best suit their needs, but they have no relationship memory with their customer because all of these different tools contain a different set of data.
In reaction to best-of-breed tools coming on the scene, CRMs began locking down the data that customers would upload, limiting the tools that data could be shared with so that it could only be shared with the tools owned by the CRM. This leaves businesses with sub-par tools instead of the tools they actually want to use. Those who venture outside of their CRM are left with data silos across several different tools without the ability to see the full picture.
It’s a pledge for choice, flexibility, and opportunity.
Headed up by Segment, a collective of upstarts founded the ‘CRM is not Enough‘ coalition. This coalition is composed of a group of software providers who pledge to build software under the following values:
- A world of choice, where businesses are free to build a technology stack with the tools that they need, not just the one their CRM suite has chosen for them.
- A world of flexibility, where data can be used across every department to exceed customer expectations, not just in sales and marketing.
- A world of opportunity, where every business can have the technology and ability to be customer-first.
Is your AMS a problem?
We see a very similar problem happening with Association Management Software. For a long time, association management software also worked really, really well. Developed decades ago, when integrating with different software was extremely challenging, it just made sense for you to use one enormous solution that had a module to satisfy all your needs. As time went on, however, and best-in-class software quickly surpassed modules in ease-of-use and capability, it became difficult for organizations to continue to use modules when the world around them was moving forward with the best technology available.
This dilemma is why we’ve signed the declaration. We, too, believe you deserve a world of freedom, choice, and flexibility when it comes to the software choices you make. You should never be locked into one option or forced to choose between substandard tools or data silos. You just deserve better than that, and so do your members.
As associations started branching out and using these best-in-class software options, they started noticing that they no longer could see the full, omnichannel picture of their members’ interaction with their organization. Data became siloed into each tool because their AMS didn’t integrate with any of these tools. With more and more channels being added to your ecosystem, it becomes increasingly crucial for you not to have to settle for modules.
Our pledge is to liberate your data.
Goodbye modules, hello integrations. We wholeheartedly believe that associations should be able to use their data in any application they want. Not only that, but data should also synchronize automatically between applications so that members never have to change preferences or profile information in multiple places. Wicket aims to connect any of your tools so that you still have your single source of truth, your Member Data Platform, and you also have all the tools you love to use. You really can have it all.
Want to learn more? You can read more about the pledge or even sign it your self.
