Excerpt: An analyst with a large technology analytical services company commented that he received inquiries from insurance companies about Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. When asked specifically what they were looking to do with a new CRM system, the insurer said they wanted to manage their agents and overall distribution. After further discussion, the analyst firm noted that the insurer’s use case was more suited for distribution management software than it was for CRM.

Based on what CRM software has become over the past decade or so, it is easy to see why someone would assume that since a CRM solution performs contact management or sales management, it would be the solution of choice for managing agents. Looking at various rankings and reports on vendors for CRM, it seems CRM has become the “Swiss Army Knife” of technology. The idea is that a particular CRM solution can meet the requirements for a myriad of use cases—it can do anything. However, this conception is a pitfall that insurance companies should avoid.