13 Creating a World-Class Real-Time Engaged Contact Center he perception among consumers is that service quality has gone from bad to worse in recent years. Interestingly, the perceived decline co- incides with the introduction of CRM, a business strategy supposedly dedi- cated to improving relationships with customers. Customer relationship management is a great concept and strategy whose implementation has fallen short in too many companies around the world. Customers don't want to be managed. They want to do business on their terms, using their channel of choice, when they want, and the way they want. The challenge T