Upper Saddle River, NJ, January 27, 2003 – Prentice Hall PTR and HP Books today announced the publication of Customer Relationship Management: Getting It Right by Judith W. Kincaid. This new book bridges the gap between IT and business management, and provides business and IT professionals with critical information about building an infrastructure to make their CRM program a success.

Can you afford to lose your customers? Through the year 2007, a time during which acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers will be imperative to business success, more than 75 percent of businesses will fail to fully meet customer expectations for customer service excellence, according to Gartner, Inc. Businesses that fail to meet customer service excellence will experience an average turnover of 100 percent of their customer base every five years, according to Gartner.

Customer Relationship Management offers business and IT managers tools they need to help define a company’s goals and priorities in CRM, and an overview of the actions necessary to make CRM successful. The book provides readers with a complete, step-by-step blueprint for designing, implementing and managing a successful CRM program. Through real-world case studies, industry expert Judy Kincaid addresses both the managerial and technical challenges of CRM by identifying the elements of CRM that are most crucial to an organization, then implementing infrastructure to deliver on key priorities.

The book is organized around the "CRM Program Life Cycle," which covers all of the work necessary to build a successful program. Part One provides an overview of CRM in the context of the marketplace and overall business activities, and introduces key concepts and definitions. Part Two describes planning and organization that is required before the launch of a CRM program. Part Three tracks the steps of a CRM infrastructure through project development and implementation. Part Four looks at using the new infrastructure to deliver customer experiences. Part Five talks about living with and caring for CRM tools.

The book covers:

• Developing realistic strategic plans and roadmaps customized to your organization
• Getting started fast and iterating small steps to powerful success
• Addressing all customer touch points: Web, email, call centers, direct mail, sales contacts, and tech support
• Establishing realistic expectations and metrics
• Translating your CRM objectives into essential organizational changes
• Designing integrated customer databases and infrastructure
• Understanding the crucial interactions between the technical and management aspects of CRM