• by July 24, 2001

New Jupiter CRM (customer relationship management) research, reported in a recent press release, shows that 74% of businesses will spend more money on CRM infrastructure in 2001 than they did in 2000—with a majority committing to increasing their spending by as much as 25 to 50%. The report goes on to say that the number of individuals seeking online customer service will jump from 33 million in 2001 to 67 million in 2005. Jupiter analysts warn, however, that companies must build a consistent customer experience across all channels.

"Although the current state of the economy is causing companies to cut costs in many areas of their businesses, customers still expect the same level of service," said David Daniels, analyst at Jupiter Media Metrix.

Key findings from the CRM research include:

- 63% of companies use customer satisfaction metrics to measure the return on investment (ROI) of their CRM investments, compared with 33% that view cost savings achieved by reducing service staff as the best measurement of return.

- According to a Jupiter Consumer Survey, only 41% of respondents were satisfied with the state of online customer service.

- According to the report, disparate corporate goals and separate business units will lead companies to invest between $3 billion and $4 billion over the next two years in redundant CRM solutions that fail to unify the customers' experience.

Read more here at the Jupiter site.