Answers to Respondent s questions regarding Brand USA CRM Software RFP

Transcription

1 Answers to Respondent s questions regarding Brand USA CRM Software RFP Regarding strategic initiatives, goals & objectives driving the implementation of a CRM platform o The key performance indicators (& metrics) that are most closely associated with the implementation of a CRM platform include:! Increasing program participation (number of new accounts)! Increasing revenue & profitability (dollar- value of new accounts and dollar- value increase within existing accounts; gross margin; bottom line results)! Increasing, measuring and reporting on return on investment (measuring value created by Brand USA marketing services over and above dollar- value of contribution by customers)! Streamlining management of (people/time spent) revenue producing accounts! Increasing ease of account management (people/time spent)! Increasing customer satisfaction (renewal of relationships)! Increasing productivity & cross- functional communications (reduction in time on operational processes; providing clarity to individuals and teams of internal process steps & account status) Regarding core functionality o The key functionality that is sought includes:! Contact management! Sales pipeline management (Lead management, prospect/opportunity management, quote management, account management)! Product/SKU management! Activities management! Built- in (preferably pre- configured out of the box) reports and the ability to build and customize reports! Flexible and easy to use (on/off) administration functions Management of user permissions by individual, group or role; Addition and deletion of users by administrators! Easy import/export, mapping, and portability of data and data labels or objects using common file types or bi- directional, published APIs! Ability to integrate or pass/share data with Quickbooks, Google Enterprise Mail, Microsoft Exchange, and Box! Organization of communications & collaboration by object (lead, opportunity, account, activity, etc.)! A native mobile solution (especially one that is built by & supported by the CRM platform vendor and does not require additional cost beyond the cost of the platform edition)

2 ! Audit capabilities including at minimum: Time, date, author stamps for all entries and deletions! Nice to have: Built- in customer portal for sharing communications, reports, posting of documents, etc. Regarding size number of current contacts & accounts (customers, vendors, other stakeholders) o Currently, there are fewer than 500 accounts to manage, but there are many moving parts required to excel at delivery of service. Accounts average three contacts/stakeholders per account. Each account also averages three product quotes, media sales, along with a myriad of communications to manage campaign details & facilitate timely reporting of results Regarding current platforms & integration with other systems o Currently, Brand USA does not have a CRM platform. Its key back- end platforms include: Microsoft Office (excel for majority of contacts and accounts), Quickbooks Online Plus for Billing/AP; MSFT Office 365; Box; Sonicwall Firewall Protection;Windows Servers. Regarding customer portal/ document sharing o The primary purpose of the nice to have customer portal would be to house documents that are shared per account and to have a customer- centric view of communications, activities, action items and a place to post campaign results, quarterly and annual reports on ROI Regarding more in- depth discovery & the timing of discovery for bidders, selected candidates and the winning candidate o Beyond the information provide in this Q&A document, the RFP allows for candidates that are selected to move on to conduct a web- ex demo of their proposed solution and to discuss with the key stakeholders their particular needs. Only the winning candidate will be afforded the time to do in- depth discovery on site at Brand USA s offices. Regarding number of users/roles of users, key scenarios, preparing a quote, contract terms o In the initial phase, Brand USA foresees 15 to 25 users of the platform across five functional teams Sales (Sales Representatives, Business Development, Sales Operations, Sales leadership, Product Planning); Account Management (Account Managers); Marketing (Brand Managers, Digital & Social Managers); Finance (Accounts Payable, Financial Reporting, Accounting, Finance Leadership); Operations (Process Management, Project Management & IT) o In a subsequent phase, customers of the outputs of the platform such as Marketing Communications (PR, Business Communications, & Government Communications); and suppliers, such as sales agents and vendors, may also be given seats. o All of Brand USA s functions have members that will use the chosen platform. The key teams slated to use the platform in the first phase

3 following implementation include: Sales, Account Management, Marketing, Operations and Finance. o Brand USA will use the chosen platform to operationalize its partner programs, track the status of implementation, and measure and report the results of campaigns to a variety of stakeholders within its ecosystem. Requirements & other process flow documentation for key scenarios, roles & responsibilities, key process steps, inputs, and outputs will be made available to candidates selected to go to the next step in the process. Because Brand USA operates a global business that is often selling in the field from the floor of conferences and events, it would prefer for the selected solution to have a fully featured mobile solution. Minimum requirements for mobile functionality would be the entry of new contacts/leads; visibility of account activity; assignment of tasks; the entry of notes; time, date and author stamps on all entries and deletions. o Brand USA currently employs ~50 people. In the immediate term after the CRM instance is stood up, there are likely to be 15 to 25 users of the platform. Over the course of 2014, an additional 40 to 70 users may be on- boarded, if we include a broader base of current staff, new hires, agents, affiliates and vendors that service and work for Brand USA around the world. o Brand USA has created a variety of flat file templates for pipeline management in sales and finance. These are generic reports and could be easily replaced by reports generated automatically or out of the box by the chosen platform. Candidates selected to proceed to the next step in the RFP process will be furnished with samples of some of these reports. o There will be a need to define user access differently based on function, level, and role, as well as to define external users differently based on role and function. o Contract term Brand USA is looking for the best value for its money. It will look at any and all models from fixed terms of 1-3 years as well as flexible models for scaling costs according to the number of users brought on slowly over the course of Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, etc. Brand USA would like to have a sense for the maximum it is likely to pay for the chosen platform in a given year. o Hardware specifications, maximum load, and other technical details are not required to be a part of the bid (except in the case of crisis management processes and procedures, as detailed below in this Q&A); Brand USA will review hardware specifications and other specifications in greater detail after it has selected candidates to continue to the next step in the process. o All bids should include quotes for go- live support and continued maintenance if these costs are separate from the base cost of the license. o All bids should include quotes for go- live training and continued training if these costs are separate from the base cost of the license. Regarding Decision Criteria

4 o Decision criteria include seven categories that will be assessed primarily along two axises: cost & ease of use. The seven categories are: 1. Ease of administration, maintenance, and set up without a 3 rd party vendor 2. Intuitiveness of the user experience 3. Inclusion of the core functionality (cited above) 4. Cost of the platform/user licenses 5. Ease of data input, mapping, export and portability options 6. Availability of open, bi- directional, published and supported APIs for integrations 7. Inclusion of native mobile platform at no additional cost Regarding implementation o Brand USA would prefer not to utilize or contract with a 3 rd party to set up the CRM instance o Brand USA would prefer to purchase seats or a license to use a SAAS- based platform that is made available via a web browser to Brand USA employees using addresses and passwords as unique identifiers. o Brand USA would prefer the chosen vendor to supply the cloud hosting service for the Chosen platform. o Brand USA would prefer that the chosen platform be secured by industry- standard SSL technology and maintain its own firewall, anti- SPAM, anti- hacker protections so that its database of PII is not exposed to bad actors. o Brand USA does business and runs consumer media in many foreign media markets including the EU, China, Japan, South Korea, South America, Canada, Mexico, among others. The chosen platform must be able to comply with the laws regarding privacy of personally identifiable information including as may be required by some jurisdictions, co- hosting of business and/or consumer personally identifiable information o Brand USA expects candidate vendors to be able to provide at least 95.5% uptime access during business hours, tiered trees for 24- support, and crisis management plans including co- location and documentation of technical schematics and other industry standard QA processes and procedures. o Brand USA does not foresee integrating its accounting system (Quickbooks Online Plus) in the first phase of work. At some later date, after implementation and adoption of the CRM Platform has been smoothed, Brand USA may consider integrating or replacing its accounting system to reduce complexity, gain efficiencies and better facilitate ease of use across both platforms. o Brand USA currently has 25mbps bandwidth brought in by co- axial cable and serviced by Allied Telecom. o When referencing the Cost of Implementation in the RFP, Brand USA is asking candidates to detail how they would recommend a company of Brand USA s size & complexity (the details of which are offered in the RFP and in this Q&A) implement its platform, along with estimates for how many people, how many man hours are typically needed, and if a 3 rd Party

5 is the recommended solution what the costs of such an engagement tend to run for initial development, as well as service costs for ongoing maintenance. o Brand USA has a variety of flat files (CSV, XlSX, etc.) or current databases that can produce flat files for the purpose of importing data into the chosen CRM platform. Brand USA will need to create standard naming conventions for data fields and a QA process to ensure that information is clean and correct before it is imported. To accomplish this task, Brand USA welcomes quotes and will consider the cost to have a 3 rd Party normalize its data and/or to provide instruction and a template so that the legwork may be done by Brand USA staff. Sample data will be furnished to candidates chosen to proceed to the next step in the RFP process. o Brand USA will enlist five to seven employees, representing different functions within the organization, to set up, test, roll out, train and act as champions of the platform o Brand USA would like to have the CRM platform go live by Feb. 28 th, 2014 Regarding competition for the winning candidate o The RFP is open to any CRM Platform vendor to bid upon Regarding the evaluation team o The evaluation team is composed an outside consultant (hired to help Brand USA collect its requirements, organize research, conduct evaluations of candidates, etc.) and Brand USA team members from its Sales, Account Management, Marketing, Finance and Operations teams. There are two C- level sponsors of the initiative. At this time, Brand USA prefers not to publish the names of the evaluation team. Selected candidates will be informed of the names and roles of people after selection.