Nominations for Gartner, anyone?

What’ll industry-conscious industry pros be thinking about this weekend? Garnering nominations for Gartner, Inc.’s fifth annual Customer Relationship Management Excellence Award, of course…

Nominations will be accepted via an online entry form from any end-user organization that has “exhibited excellence in placing its customers first with successful CRM implementations.” Nominations must be submitted by July 13.

Enterprises are invited to enter and work within a case study framework to describe their CRM initiatives and why it demonstrates CRM excellence.

A team of Gartner analysts and various media partners, will evaluate and select three finalists based on the Eight Building Blocks of CRM, a Gartner strategic philosophy.

The octet is:

• Vision — Building a market position against competitors with defined value propositions based on requirements, personified by the brand and communicated.

• Strategy — Turning the customer base into an asset via delivery of customer value propositions. Provides objectives and how resources can be used in interaction.

• Valued Customer Experience — Constantly ensuring that the propositions have value to customers and the enterprise, achieve the market position and are delivered consistently.

• Organizational Collaboration — Involving the changing of culture, structures and behaviors to ensure that staff, partners and suppliers work together to deliver what is promised.

• Processes — Managing customer life cycle processes and processes in analysis and planning that build customer knowledge.

• Information — Ensuring that the right data is collected and the right information goes to the right place.

• Technology — Involving data and information management, customer-facing applications and supporting IT Infrastructure and architecture.

• Metrics — Involving internal and external measures of CRM success and failure.

Three finalists will be chosen by August 13, and each will be asked to present their CRM use case to conference attendees at the Gartner Customer Relationship Management Summit, scheduled for September 17-19 in Hollywood, Fla. Attendee feedback will determine the winner, which will be announced during the conference.