Big Data: a proposal for enabling factors in Customer Relationship Management

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the potential impact of Big Data (BD) on Critical Success Factors (CSFs) of Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Design/methodology/approach – An extensive and sound literature review about CRM was developed, classifying results within an ad-hoc framework. Evidences were discussed and linked to the existing literature on BD. Then, five propositions linking BD and CRM were formalized. Originality/value – Literature lacks both a thorough review about CSFs in CRM and works dealing with the effect of BD on CRM implementations. Practical implications – According to our results, CRM could require a revisitation of some CSFs if BD is involved. In addition, we suggest that framing BD projects within already acknowledged implementations, like CRM, may help in dispelling the hype around BD, reducing the waste of resources