Customer relationship management (CRM) is a crowded market. According to Fortune Business Insights, the global customer relationship management software market is projected to grow from $112.91 billion in 2025 to $262.74 billion by 2032, at a CAGR of 12.8%, but growth doesn’t always mean that the customer (the business) is satisfied. Forrester has found that companies are quick to adopt CRM but are finding that they aren’t happy with the results, as their CRM systems are not meeting business expectations. Companies are realising that buying CRM is the easy part. Making it work for the business, that’s where things get interesting.
One of the first things that tends to get in the way of a successful, long-term CRM implementation is alignment. Misalignment is one of the most common, and most expensive, failures in CRM adoption. It’s what happens when the company makes a platform choice without understanding internal needs, capacity or long-term strategy. It’s key to start with the business model first, as this means you get to solve for specific challenges using a CRM that has features relevant to your needs. The problem is that often, generic tools or impressive features aren’t quite the right fit for your systems or user maturity or even your data structures. Without alignment, CRM runs the risk of becoming clunky and messy, and teams will bypass it instead of using it in a way that delivers value.
Another issue that often comes up is that CRM isn’t being used to its full scale and potential. It’s become more of a digital filing cabinet which records and stores data, but the insights trapped within are not being actively used to improve performance. AI features, automation tools and even basic workflows aren’t used so CRM becomes more of a paperweight. It’s just sitting and absorbing information.
Then there’s ownership. A lack of clear internal ownership means no single person or team is tasked with championing adoption or defining processes and this translates into a lack of accountability. And when that happens, CRM becomes everyone’s tool but nobody’s responsibility which translates into poor workarounds, stalled updates, and drift – the CRM just moves further and further away from its original intent.
Compounding all these problems is the user experience itself. With no clear direction, ownership, alignment or reasoning, CRM is being used in completely different ways across disconnected silos. Sales, services, and marketing data are locked away in departments and while this can deliver some value within these silos, ultimately it means that the CRM platform can’t deliver on its actual potential. It struggles to deliver meaningful insights or support connected customer journeys.
Often, these issues then all reveal themselves too late, after licenses have been purchased and users have stopped engaging. The business is left with an expensive technology that isn’t really worth the price tag. However, it isn’t the software that solves these problems; it’s people. One of the most overlooked CRM success factors is finding the right partner to implement it. A good partner interrogates your assumptions, challenges your timelines, asks if departments and people understand the implications of the move, and ensures you have a clear roadmap. You want a partner who understands the nuances of CRM across multiple areas like data readiness, user enablement and local compliance, and who stays around after the project has gone live to ensure that your investment keeps adapting to your needs.
Partnerships also provide clarity in a market full of moving parts. CRM platforms are always changing and technologies like AI and automation are becoming standard features, which means companies often struggle to understand what they need now versus what they will need next. The right partner should help you filter the noise and guide you towards the features that will work, at the right time and with the right structure underneath. This is particularly important in an environment like South Africa where cost pressures are real, teams are lean and cloud maturity is uneven. You want to know how your CRM will deliver and how to future-proof your decision-making, and you want to know that you will get long-term value.
Braintree has built a model that prioritises this level of collaboration, staying involved from early discovery through to post-launch optimisation. The team works alongside clients to build CRM environments that serve the business and ensure that CRM stops being just a product and instead becomes an environment that helps you grow.
