Gartner Inc. - Press Release

STAMFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Gartner, Inc. announced the three finalists for Gartner’s CRM Excellence Award, which will be presented at the company’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Summit, September 17-19 in Hollywood, Florida. The award will be given to the company that most clearly demonstrates excellence in their CRM initiatives.

The finalists are Electronic Arts (EA), an independent producer of electronic games, Lennox International, a provider of climate control solutions, and Shaklee, a natural nutrition company.

A team of Gartner analysts evaluated extensive applications outlining companies’ CRM initiatives and selected the three CRM Excellence Award finalists based on the Eight Building Blocks of CRM, a strategic framework developed by Gartner to help companies maximize the probability of success. The three finalists will present their CRM case studies to conference attendees at the CRM Summit on September 17, directly following the opening keynote. The attendees’ feedback as to which of the finalists they feel is the best example of CRM excellence will determine the winner. The winner will be announced during the conference in a special presentation on September 18.

“Excellent CRM project submissions become almost immediately apparent as soon as you start reading them,” said Adam Sarner, principal research analyst at Gartner. “In these case studies, leaders from a broad range of industries clearly demonstrate how an unyielding dedication to combining customers’ needs with solid business goals create highly successful CRM implementations.”

The Gartner CRM Summit will be held at the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood, Florida. The Gartner CRM Summit is the most-comprehensive event on customer strategies and technologies ever held. It offers the latest customer strategies and technologies, how those technologies affect your customer relationship initiatives, and what organizational and cultural changes must occur to meet your company’s goals. The summit hits the critical spot between strategic planning and tactical advice for organizations as they look to grow their customer base, cross-sell to established customers, segment and retain their most-valuable customers and service them more effectively. Additional information is available at www.gartner.com/us/crm. Members of the media can register by sending an e-mail to christy.pettey@gartner.com.