Bank of Queensland Loses $10M on CRM

When the Bank of Queensland wrote off $10 million on a failed CRM implementation, it sent a clear message to businesses of all sizes: CRM technology is only as good as the strategy, planning, and people behind it. Getting it wrong is expensive.

What Went Wrong

Large-scale CRM failures typically share common traits: unclear objectives, poor user adoption, inadequate training, and a disconnect between the technology and the business processes it's meant to support. The technology itself is rarely the problem — it's the implementation.

When organisations treat CRM as an IT project rather than a business transformation project, the results are predictable.

Lessons for Every Business

You don't need to be a bank to learn from this. Whether you're implementing a CRM system for a team of five or five hundred, the same principles apply: define clear objectives before you buy, involve the people who will actually use it, invest in training, and plan for change management.

Strategy Before Software

The biggest mistake businesses make with CRM is choosing the software first and developing the strategy later. Start with your business goals. Define what you want the CRM to achieve. Map out your customer journey and sales process. Only then should you evaluate which platform fits your needs.

Adoption Is Everything

A CRM system that nobody uses is worse than no CRM at all — it's a sunk cost. User adoption should be the primary focus of any CRM implementation. Make the system easy to use, demonstrate its value to the people using it daily, and provide ongoing support and training.

The most expensive CRM in the world is worthless if your team doesn't use it.