(Norwell, MA) January 22, 2003…. According to recent research by CAP Ventures, published today in a landmark report entitled You Can't Build CRM Without Content, 2003 beckons to be a year of widespread integration of dynamic content software systems and CRM. 40% of organizations with CRM programs underway, spanning all industries, are planning for integration this year. Based on this integration, organizations will achieve consistency and economy in their communications and collaborate effectively with prospects, customers, and channel partners through increasingly global demand chains. In short, the integration of dynamic content systems with complementary CRM applications allows organizations to put what they know and learn about their customers into action to enable the realization of CRM strategies. To validate this belief, CAP Ventures conducted a comprehensive research project in conjunction with CRM magazine. The responses from over 1,200 user organizations, technology vendors, and systems integrators overwhelmingly confirmed the seven key tenets critical to the integration of dynamic content software systems and CRM applications: 1. Organizations must approach CRM strategically.  2. CRM goals are customer-focused, but measurement is lacking.  3. Segmentation and personalization are important elements in CRM strategy.  4. Organizations must achieve consistent communication with demand chain participants across channel touch points.  5. A comprehensive strategy includes the integration of CRM applications and content systems.  6. Web self-service is an efficient way of providing multifunctional CRM.  7. XML is a key process and application integration enabler.  CAP Ventures’ research, which is detailed in the report entitled You Can’t Build CRM without Content, confirms that three quarters of organizations have or are planning a formal CRM strategy. Furthermore, 85% of respondents have implemented or are currently planning for the capability to segment customers and service them accordingly. These organizations have also implemented or are planning dynamic content software systems, defined by CAP Ventures to include content management, collaboration, publishing, and portal systems, to support their strategies and initiatives.  For example, personalization provides one of the most tangible examples of the increasing role that dynamic content will play in comprehensive CRM strategies and successful application deployments. A requirement for effective segment-based marketing, personalization is a primary link that binds dynamic content and customer relationship management.  “Cleary, respondents on all sides of the market concur,” commented Michael Maziarka, Director of CAP Ventures’ Dynamic Content Software Strategies Consulting Service. “61% of users view the integration of content systems and CRM as critical or very important. 75% of solution provider and integrator respondents are being asked for integration by their customers. It’s a natural and mandatory connection that is now coming to fruition.”  CAP Ventures’ research report analyzes the key trends of CRM with respect to dynamic content, addresses CRM strategy, outlines the components involved in various initiatives, and describes how dynamic content technologies can and are being used by leading organizations in this context across a variety of industries. The report also defines the content “touch points” where content systems plug into the various CRM components, providing the basis for gains in customer satisfaction, customer lifetime value, and marketing, sales, and service cost efficiencies. The 80-page report includes core analysis, detailed survey results, and four in-depth customer benchmark profiles. It provides education and guidance for those organizations investigating or defining customer relationship management strategies.  A more comprehensive stakeholder package, which includes the report, in-depth spending analysis, access to the primary research data tables including vertical market segmentation, and a personal review session with the CAP Ventures report team is due for release in February 2003. This version is invaluable for those organizations with product or service offerings positioned to complement or integrate CRM or end user organizations who desire a comprehensive view of the data. To learn more about the study or to make a purchase, please contact Keith LaVangie at (781) 871-9000, ext. 132 or [email protected].