Most customer relationship management (CRM) and customer data platform (CDP) programmes still struggle to improve customer outcomes because they are built as systems of record, not systems of action. In this CX Today roundtable, Ben Robinson, Head of Technology at Fair Finance, Amory Somers Vine, Head of Customer Experience at Expereo, and John Cheney, CEO of Workbooks, unpack why that gap persists and what CX and IT leaders can do to close it.
The conversation starts with a familiar problem: plenty of data, too little momentum. Many organisations still treat CRM as a database for a single department rather than a shared engine that helps teams anticipate needs and remove customer effort. Cheney points to the long tail of partial adoption, where platforms hold information but do not consistently drive next-best actions or proactive service.
“For a lot of customers, when we first started with them, it was just a repository of data and often just a repository of data for one bit of the business.”
Robinson expands on why this happens, arguing that many CRM initiatives are designed around internal reporting and functional requirements first, with customer outcomes bolted on later. That creates silos, distorts priorities, and makes it difficult to prove CX value beyond operational metrics.
“Whenever I’ve seen these systems being set up, they’re set up with internal metrics. They’re not actually started with customer outcomes in mind.”
The panel also explores where automation and generative AI can accelerate progress, especially in areas like summarising interactions, surfacing knowledge, and reducing manual effort for agents and service teams. But Somers Vine brings an important CX reality check: even as tooling improves, many journeys still require thoughtful human intervention because cases are not identical, and customers expect context and judgement.
“We still have to have that kind of manual intervention at some stage in the customer journey because every case is different.”
Across the discussion, the message is pragmatic. Actionable CRM is not about adding yet another layer of technology. It is about aligning teams to the outcomes customers actually care about, then connecting data, workflows, and governance so the right people can act quickly and confidently. Do not miss the full conversation for the practical examples and sharper debate behind what it really takes to move from CRM records to real action.
