At Your (Ser)vice | Nikhil Kabadi

One of the most challenging question I've come across in my profession as a CRM Consultant is being asked what CRM is. (This blog post not being shared with my manager!!!). Really, tell me how differently can I explain what is Customer Relationship Management about? CRM is essentially just that. It is Customer Relationship Management or Managing Customer Relationships or Relationship Management with Customers!!! I have not come across a acronym that so beautifully and completely explains itself. If I was asked what is ERP, then well that is understandable that Enterprise Resource Planning does not really cling a thought and many will need a more descriptive analogy to ERP. One of the major reasons I believe this question crops up, is, for many CRM has become synonymous with technology. CRM is that über-cool software or a mystical tool that will manage the customer relationships and build on customer loyalty whilst the service provider keeps treating the customers like sla...

Georges Pompidou, the famous French politician aptly quoted “ A statesman is a politician who places himself at the service of the nation. A politician is a statesman who places the nation at his service ”. My mother had a chance encounter with these species recently on her train trip to Bangalore. Here is the interesting story behind this blog and yet again a morbid piteous face of what people have made out of this profession ironical to the inscription on Vidhana Soudha * “ Government's Work is God's Work ”. The night my Mother boarded the train I had called to check if she was comfortable and if she had got her berth. As she was travelling first AC, the berth allocation happens at the last minute. Unfortunately; for her she had been allotted upper berth (in spite of she being a senior citizen) and to add to her gyp she had severe lower back pain on that day. Before hanging up she gave me an assurance that she could speak with the Ticket Collector and ge...