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Vodafone's CRM Cost, Time Overruns Down UnderBy David Sims TMCnet Contributing Editor Vodafone's massive trans-Tasman (Australia-New Zealand) infrastructure project is "running late, with a potential large cost overrun," according to Wellington, New Zealand-based industry observer Randal Jackson: "In December 2003, IBM (News - Alert) was selected as the integrator for Vodafone's new CRM, billing and provisioning systems in New Zealand, Australia and Fiji. The CRM component was to be based on Siebel, which is used in several Vodafone country subsidiaries." Jackson explains the new systems were to cover 1,100 "heavy" users and 1,400 "light" users in the sales channel. He reports that the project, which is billing-related, "was originally costed at $200 million and was due to be delivered by IBM at the end of 2005. Two sources say the cost is likely to blow out to at least $300 million. One was told by IBM, when the contract was signed, that the deal was worth $200 million." In a Geekzone blog posting in late July, Kiwi tech observer Mauricio Freitas reported "the guys at Vodafone New Zealand brought into the country [futurist guru] Dr. James Cantor," the major event being a lunch in Wellington where Cantor "presented his views on future trends to an audience comprising mainly government officials involved in IT projects, and a minority of IT managers involved in other areas." Freitas wrote that in Cantor's prepared and off-the-cuff remarks at the event, he said CRM (which Freitas identified as "Client Relationship Management") was the first area that can "benefit of a wireless paradigm," in Freitas's words, since "the main benefits would customer intimacy, responsiveness and business intelligence. Other areas that can benefit are supply chain and logistics. And government, of course." One wonders if Cantor spoke much to CRM project installation as well. Evidently not too memorably. David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. For more articles please visit David Sims’ columnist page. |