Gartner: CRM applications will fail without customer empathy

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are game-changing technologies, but they won’t help your business leap forward if you don’t also build customer empathy into your customer process design. According to a recent report* by Gartner, “Through 2020, businesses that deploy CRM technology in such a way that it reflects empathy toward the customer are three times more likely to fend off a digital disrupter.”

While it’s still early days for being able to measure the economic impact of empathy in business, it’s worth noting that companies that have successfully disrupted existing business models did so because of the empathy they felt for customers dealing with inefficient processes and experiences.

The report explains why it will be important for CRM leaders to:

• Highlight the potential impact of empathy on existing business models and obtain support from executive leadership to make systems empathetic.
• Focus technology and process investment on empathetic improvement.
• Use the voice of the customer (VoC) initiative to glean a critical understanding of what will drive customer empathy.

The full report is no longer available for complimentary download. Read more about this and other Gartner research on the Gartner website.

*Gartner, CRM Applications Will Fail Without Consideration of Customer Empathy, Michael Maoz, August 2016