Software vendors have been searching for the next big thing ever since Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) turned out to be a lot tougher to implement than advertised. They seem to have found it in customer relationship management (CRM), the buzz phrase du jour at e-business expos and sales conferences. Interface with customers across functional silos in real time! Leverage the customer-centric paradigm for strategic advantage! Convert clickstream into revenue stream! Siebel Systems, PeopleSoft, EDS and hundreds of other companies are pushing products that promise to ignite sales, engender loyalty and leave CRM-less competitors in the dust.

Amidst the frenzy, it's worth keeping in mind that CRM is just technology, not a talisman that can create an immediate, lucrative bond with customers. No technology, no matter how many customer "touch points" it encompasses and how well it integrates with existing systems, is of any use to a company that can't envision how it wants to interact with current and prospective customers. And humans, by definition, must remain an integral part of any attempt to automate those interactions. Computers don't engage in relationships (at least at this stage of cyber-evolution); people do.

So what do customers really want?

Many companies are so busy grappling with CRM selection and deployment (see Taking on CRM) that they don't consider their overarching customer relationship strategy--just what they're try...

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