Trends in CRM -3

I was once involved in designing the analytical requirements of a company. The analytics included customer buying patterns, sales trends, receivables aging and many more. All these to be made available on mobile devices and on-demand.  

The customer team was a happy lot as this data was not available before & decision-making on pricing became easier.
However, one gap existed. How many times a customer was turned back for asking for a product/service that didn't exist. 
"It is not practical to capture this data from dealers and franchisees." was the reply I got and the idea didn't see the light of the day. 

The company missed a treasure trove of information. This is the spark for a new product or even for an entrepreneur to jump into a start-up. 
When the company does want to diversify or add a new product, they do not mind spending several thousands of dollars on getting this information. Where in they could have got it for free.

It is a huge change management issue and hence fails to get implemented many a time.