CRM finally comes of age in China

20th March 2012 may be an important milestone in the development of China's CRM industry. In the ten years that I have been involved in trying to get companies in China to do CRM right, I have been continually undermined by the prevalence and low cost of illegally obtained and resold customer data.

As a result, only the most ethical and visionary companies have taken the time and trouble to build databases of their own customers through traditional means to cultivate powerful long term relationships. Everyone else has used mass spam email and SMS communications in a random, shotgun approach. It was only because of the sheer scale of data freely available in China that this approach had any effect - if you throw enough mud, some of it will stick.

But today, it has emerged all over the news wires that one of Chinas largest and most well known data companies (owned by Dun and Bradstreet, no less) was raided by the police and shut down for allegedly using and selling illegally obtained data (see separate article here: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2012-03/20/content_14867153.htm )

Whilst bad news for New York-listed Dun & Bradstreet, this is great news for those of us who believe that CRM is a strategic play, not a tactical one - even in China.