In February I announced the winners of what was arguably the most difficult CRM Watchlist[1] to win. For example, fewer winners by 50% than ever before. No elite winners, and only a couple of winners with distinction. Really hard. Yet, there were winners, and two of them were with distinction.
I was busy flying around, so I wasn't able to start writing up the winners as I have done for most of the 13 years I've had anything even resembling a Watchlist winners group. I had to get out my book (400 pages on customer engagement, and it's called the Commonwealth of Self Interest: Business Success Through Customer Engagement[2]). I had clients to tend to, and endless conferences to attend. All that -- except getting the book out -- is still my excuse, but I've decided it's time to give you the whys when it comes to what made the 13 total companies the Watchlist winners, and the what -- each of the conversations about the company will come with a limited set of suggestions on what they need to do next to sustain their impact.
Before I get to the actual analysis of the two 2019 CRM Watchlist Winners with Distinction, Adobe and Salesforce, over the next week or so, I want to give you some idea of what I have to deal with when doing this -- which also addresses something that, if you ever think about what analysts do, can