This is the fourth in a series of blogs on 2018 trends. You can read about the first three trends here.
The next trend for 2018 identified in the Forbes article is: Stop worrying about Artificial Intelligence. Start focusing on Augmented Intelligence.
By that they mean leverage the data you already have with capable analysts. We could not agree more.
If you have followed this blog very long, you will know one of our repetitive (and languishing) topics is the amount of resources some nonprofits spend on CRM systems compared to the amount they spend on people to gain insights from their current data.
No CRM system will bring your organization insights. I think one of the common misconceptions is thinking: if only I had a state of the art database, all my decisions would be so much easier.
What we have seen over and over again is that you don’t need to have a complex CRM system to enable insights. You just need some smart analysts.
So, before you budget $X million on a new CRM system, try contracting with an analytics company for a year, and see if they can’t deliver the insights you require at a fraction of the investment.