We must be careful in how we interpret these scores. Some organizations base their strategy on customer knowledge and want to serve customers as far as possible with individualized products and services. For this 'customer intimacy' strategy, one must have CRM in place. An organization with a cost-minimization strategy needs this less. Organizations operating in a niche market may also be less inclined to focus strongly on CRM. However, our research does not explore whether higher or lower scores correlate with a more or less explicit CRM-related business strategy.

For most participants the scores for the various CRM areas differed greatly. This implies that only few insurers had an integral approach to CRM that involved all the various areas. It also means that the results of CRM efforts might be negatively influenced by low achievement in one or more CRM areas.