That advantage still lies in relationships, a source of advantage that is difficult to duplicate. Relationships have been the fabric of commerce since business began. And, all companies have some form of relationship strategy.

Technology enables new insight, information management, intelligence and provides customers with access and choice on a scale never seen before. New technologies are enabling marketing strategies that were inconceivable only a few years ago and the technology to come will only accentuate this.

A new market complexity with increased customer choice, new access channels and increased competition have transformed relationship management and marketing challenges. The key question is whether sales and marketing organisations can cope.

New competencies are required to manage a new complexity. Organisational agility, technological awareness, innovation must be supported by deep customer insight, buy-in and commitement to customer value delivery. Longer term strategy must be supported by tactial realism.

Marketing organisations need to adopt new management strategies to gain deep insight into relationship and marketing performance. They must take the lead in enterprise demand chain performance improvement if relationship strategies are to realise their potential.

An abundance of available information, metrics, measures and technology adds to the complexity of marketing decisions but also significantly improves the prospects for effective relationship management and marketing. Far from forgetting relationships we are only beginning to managing them.

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