When we say "build for CRM", we mean, build_for_CRM. Right now we are in the midst of advising a retail client on how to integrate their POS system, online gift card sales, loyalty program, and e-mail marketing program. Yes, in a perfect world with lots of money and nothing invested in legacy data stores, we'd integrate this all into one. But, we don't have that luxury, so what's a marketer to do?

Having an integrated database strategy does not mean that you have to have everything in one place to begin with. For example, it's sometimes infeasible to hold all of your customer data in your permission-based, opt-in, ASP hosted e-mail marketing database. However, it does mean that you should consider how you will pull that data in and merge it with sales data to understand which customers clicked, browsed, and purchased based on your marketing (and that's just e-mail, we haven't even touched on integrating loyalty yet!)