Customer Management in CMMI

In CMMI-DEV, version 1.2 there is no PA (Process Area) which addresses Customer Management or CRM (Customer Relationship Management) directly and exclusively. This is probably one of the major gaps in the existing CMMI framework. Customer Management should be included as a Maturity Level 2 PA. Remember, the focus of ML2 is to establish the practices around basic management and control. The reason for including Customer Management as a Maturity Level 2 PA is that doing this will complete the triad required for effective management at Level 2. The CMMI framework right now includes three PAs at ML2 that address 2 elements of the triad: Managing the project (internal work stream) - PP and PMC Managing the suppliers (upstream) - SAM What's missing from the above list at present is one more PA as given below: Managing the customers (downstream) - CUSM (CUStomer Management) It's also true that CMMI framework does address this area (but quite feebly) within the wide ambit of the concept of Stakeholder Management. However, a separate and dedicated PA for Customer Management will make all the right difference in positioning CMMI as a true Business Excellence Model.