Click here to read. A Philosophical Look at Customer Relation Management by Matt Migliore Enterprise Systems Journal has published an excellent 10 page roundtable article, featuring 6 of the CRMGurus in it's January 1st issue.
Many products are still much too complex or personal to buy online.
This article also quotes all the major CRM analysts as well as Andersen, Siebel, E.piphany and others. As the typical company's management structure flattens and mobile workers are increasingly empowered, communications becomes the glue that keeps a project together as far-flung workers try to work in concert. That means staying in touch with people in branch offices worldwide. The Internet has facilitated the increasingly complex nature of B2B relationships by creating new sales channels, new online marketplaces and new opportunities for partner collaboration. The advent of electronic commerce has forced many companies and their sales entities into corners of business practice they had never before imagined themselves being cast.