CRM IS BACK : BUILDING CUSTOMER DATABASES IS THE KEY, BUT BUDGET CUTS AND COMPLICATED SYSTEMS HAVE DELAYED THIS RELATIVELY EASY TASK

The ideal of one-on-one customer relations management (CRM) is still far from reality because of cost-cutting and unforeseen hurdles to creating workable databases and linking those that already exist to create meaningful links to favored customers. Many efforts fail because they try to customize the data in too much detail. Institutional barriers are another problem, as airlines operate on a logistics basis, with the goal of filling flights first. Online travel agents seem to have an advantage because they are building their e-commerce enterprises from scratch and can build in more customer-relevant functions. Two other possible tools are expanded use of call centers to contact individual customers with promotions and models that help select customers most likely to desire a specific service. Efforts to cut costs by sharing data among carriers are hampered by proprietary concerns.