There is a great old joke by George Carlin called "Baseball versus Football." It makes some hilarious comparisons between the two sports, both of which I love. The gist of it is that football is a game of attack while baseball is a game of pleasant competition. In football we go after the opponent and in baseball we challenge the opponent but do not attempt to injure them. Football is a game strict time limits. Baseball is played until it's finished, 9 innings, or 19 innings. Obviously, Carlin likes baseball more than football, but it's not necessary to belabor the comparison that he draws to get the point: Competition can take place in two very different settings. As a result of their marketplace, some companies use the football approach and attack. Others take the baseball approach and methodically capture the market. Still others will do both. The question that I wanted to pose is "What CRM solution do you need to support one approach or the other?" Clearly, if you are attacking the marketplace through print, television and aggressive retail campaigns, you need a CRM with some guns. A CRM that can handle a huge amount of data mining, perhaps, because you are probably in a short sales cycle with millions of transactions. You probably need a CRM that can direct the efforts of several large work forces, field sales and marketing and call center, for example. On the other hand, if your game is baseball and you are methodically moving into the marketplace, relying on a direct sales force and/or partner channel, and working a long sales cycle then you need a CRM that can support relationships. You're not really data mining, but you are interested in pipeline reporting and sales forecast. You also want to know how you are discovering new leads, and what marketing channels convert to sales. When you think about these two different approaches it is almost ridiculous to think that a single product designation, CRM, covers both. Maybe one should be called customer and the other client. There are other ramifications, once CRM has been broken down into smaller, more understandable pieces. If you are amassing millions of transactions then an on-demand solution does not sound like a good idea. If you have thousands of transactions then an on-demand solution, with its other inherent benefits like portability, make a lot of sense. In the CRM press you will see CRM in all of its different manifestations mashed up as if it was a single solution for one type of company. Buyers are confused and we can't blame them. A football helmut and a baseball cap and not just different headgear, they denote a completely different approach to the game. | 
