It's not hard to see why few, if any, big bangdeployments succeed. David Bradshaw of market analyst firm Ovum inWakefield, Mass., notes the happiest ERP and CRM customers start withmodest goals. And those with the highest ROIs use any number ofdifferent vendors' applications - even competing suites - in differentdepartments.

"The impression you get when you talk to CRM vendors is that theircustomers are using their software to mediate every interaction withthe customer," says Bradshaw. "That is fiction."

So why do CRM vendors continue to score the big bang projects and whyare CRM failures on the rise?

"This is where vendors are really better than buyers," AMR's Shepherdsays. "They structure their products and pricing to preventincremental deployments. They'll make a strong case that if you buyjust the piece you need now then come back for more, the money may notbe there." More fear.

So here's where we stand: The software evaluation now includes severalvendors, all of whom offer too much functionality in configurationsthey won't scale down. Enthusiasts inside the buyer company areup-selling. Executives overseeing the evaluation are about to becaught unawares by their own emotional decision making. The vendorswill exploit this and may well be planning a sneak attack contractsigning.