Nearly Half of Large Enterprises Can’t Trust CRM Data as ‘Single Source of Truth’ 

SAN FRANCISCO — In a statement on customer relationship management (CRM), a new report says that 47% of large enterprises believe they can’t rely on their CRM data as a “single source of truth” on customers.

The report, “The State of Enterprise CRM Data Management: 2021,” shows that the “high expectations for actionable insights from CRM data are rarely being met,” according to Odaseva, an enterprise data platform for Salesforce. 

The report by Forrester was released last week and commissioned by Odaseva.    

The inability of many enterprises to benefit from CRM data is caused by two key challenges, the report indicates: The majority of enterprises lack the basic foundations of data management, and struggles with data security requirements are reducing the value of CRM data.

“More than three-quarters of large enterprises admit that they’re lacking fundamentals in data management, and this is preventing them from unlocking the full value of their CRM data,” said Sovan Bin, founder and CEO, Odaseva.

“And yet, most enterprises, 64%, expect that the number one benefit of CRM data is an improved customer experience. There’s a clear disconnect here — and it must be addressed by rethinking data strategies, so CRM data becomes useful and actionable.  

“It’s essential to actively increase data literacy in business and technical domains. Organizations must invest in data security and protection, while ensuring continuous value through data continuity.”  

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Key findings from “The State of Enterprise CRM Data Management: 2021”

CRM data priority vs. reality

• 85% of respondents said they are prioritizing data insights for business decision-making
• 44% are unable to perform advanced customer analytics with CRM data
• 40% are unable to use CRM data to drive improved personalization   

A lack of basic CRM data management

• 78% said that gaps in their data management prevent them taking full advantage of their data
• 64% find it challenging to actually move CRM data to platforms where it could be valuably used
• 63% struggle to link data to business outcomes, with no metrics to track data insights to actual results

Data security limits CRM value 

• 53% of businesses with a federalized data management structure said it’s their biggest limiting factor — often because a desire to reduce risk can suffocate useful projects
• 55% said that determining the appropriate level of security and privacy for CRM data is a primary concern

Turning CRM data into actionable insights

• Invest in skills to manage data more effectively: 52% reported a lack of specialist data skills  
• Focus on improved data continuity: 82% said the impact of improved data continuity is either “critical” or “very high”
• Clear up data security: 51% of enterprises are still challenged by the need to determine the impact of data protection regulations on their data

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Report methodology 

“The State of Enterprise CRM Data Management: 2021” is presented by Forrester on behalf of Odaseva.

Forrester Consulting supplemented its research with a custom survey of information and data architects, enterprise architects, technical architects, and domain architects. 

The professionals were located in several key geographic markets: the U.S.; Europe, Middle East, and Africa; and Asia-Pacific. 

They worked at enterprises with at least $300 million in annual revenue and at least one enterprise CRM solution installed. 

The survey was conducted in August 2021.  

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