The five essentials of communication come as an answer to questions left in wake of ad hoc collaboration. Businesses do it, whether large or small. Sure, ideal would be perfect control of documents as they get passed around and changed. But when deadlines fall due, or when something unexpected is called for by your boss or your clients, it simply needs to get done. The problem, however, comes when it’s time to pull a document back together again after it has been passed around and pulled apart in ad hoc editorial process. All that’s left is questions.

That’s where a content management tool comes in. Since all you were left with were questions, 5 essentials of communication that a content management tool provides are simply answers. Answers to questions “Where is version X stored?” “When was version Y created?” “Who created version Z?” “What changes were made to these versions?” and “How am I supposed to bring them together?”

Here is another question for you: Do these questions sound familiar? I thought so. But when answers are available, businesses want them. So, Adam Smith’s invisible hand has reached into market again to create content management tool, often referred to as Groupware. Let’s take a look at how exactly content management tool provides answers.

Where?

1. Too much focus on CRM vendor and technology. Some companies get too caught up in having best possible CRM strategy out there. Some companies want entire call-centers, On-Demand CRM, Web-based, and Blackberry devices which allow their IT people to enter customer information wirelessly. While these technologies are extremely helpful, too much emphasis on them can lead any company astray. It is naturally very important to select best CRM vendor for your company, but best does not always mean flashiest.

2. Not enough focus on customer. Companies can focus too much on technology and strategy, and not enough on what is at core of CRM: customer. The first letter in CRM stands for “Customer” and so customer should be first when thinking about any CRM strategy. A call-center can be wonderful if it is customer friendly. However, some call centers are too complicated and alienate customer from company. Alienation is exact opposite of what companies want to achieve when implementing CRM. The real ROI of CRM is found in customer retention and acquisition of new customers. In order to have success with CRM, a company must work towards building a strong relationship with its customers. CRM is path through which customer and company can understand each other. Focusing on technologies and ignoring basics of customer service will cause even most technologically advanced CRM strategy to go wrong.