Introduction of CRM. White Paper

Transcription

1 Introduction of CRM White Paper Rainer Wendt, September

2 Management Summary Bringing CRM into a business is no trivial task. Often the consequences are underestimated. However, they are necessary to create a lasting customer relationship management and to successfully orientate towards the customer. Professional Project Management can help to plan and reach this success by using systematic substantiated Business Analysis. IT techniques usually are less important in this case. Typical Mistakes Definition The term CRM is often reduced to the Microsoft software supporting customer management. Ideas like we need CRM only lead to approaches that cannot be defined as projects because they are missing all the typical features. They do not have a certain end. They neither aim to solve a certain problem nor show any professional ways of dealing with the topic, like a proper planning stage or requirements analysis for all the stakeholders involved. CRM means Customer Relationship Management. Relationships with customers are certainly not manageable by simply installing software. CRM is more than that it is a way of effectively adjusting all business activities towards the customer. This includes improving the customer orientation of employees, organizing work flows, and supporting software systems, such as CRM. Experts a trap Frequently, the most experienced IT professionals in a company are asked to look for this software system. It is meant to fit well with other IT systems used and most importantly should be within a certain budget. Phrases such as It must not cost more than 100k are very common. These statements are highly unprofessional and do not distinguish between cost of investment and operational costs. Also the value, the monetary output of the investment, is rarely found in the first approach of bringing CRM into a business. Giving the management of a CRM project to the IT department can lead to fatal consequences. There is the danger of computer professionals working without process analysis or having false ideas about stakeholder management. Even more serious is the possibility of unprofitability and the consequences of this. False approaches when bringing in CRM can lead to annoyance, even to resentment against the project within staff. A second approach is very difficult once this resistance has built up. CRM? Yeah, we got that done last year. It s working pretty well, but no one really uses it. The data mostly isn t up to date because the people in sales don t have time for data input. Scenarios like this are very frequent. The employees actually dealing with the customers and partners do not feel themselves to be a part of the CRM project. No wonder they do not profit from it. 2

3 The company has fallen into a trap of experts. The project managers have put their main point of view on technical features when doing requirements analysis, choosing the software and bringing it into the company. They forgot about things like business analysis or proper project management. Analyzing the requirements given by the work flow of the company and then realizing the project with the members of staff needs more than just technical knowledge of IT. How to free yourself from the trap Once you are caught in this trap, damage to the company is unavoidable. The so called CRM solution only ends up as a new problem for customer relationship management and leads to a rise in costs for the IT department. The business value is not detectable, which makes the entire approach disputable. This perception quickly passes throughout the staff and reinforces the already common opinion of CRM being useless and a waste of money. Effective damage limitation must be started as soon as possible to prevent employees from being prejudiced against the approach. Head Management, IT-Managers, Sales Managers and other important people within the company should communicate and publicly admit the failure of the first approach. However, they also should start a new professionally organized approach. Admitting failures may seem painful, but it is the only way to effectively convince staff. Business Analysis and Project Management Business Analysis and Project Management are the most important features of success when introducing CRM to a company. Business Analysis is one of the most, maybe even the most important, part of a CRM project. During this process, all activities somehow connected to the customer will be analyzed looking for room for improvement, often by bringing in a complete customer relationship management. This analysis can be done in various ways. We use interviews with members of management or staff, workshops, or even shadowing, where we accompany some of the managers during their daily work. This way we find out what potential improvements have value for employees or customers. This may mean a changing the course of actions or bringing in new software. However, it is necessary to complete every single step and to wait till the end until the decision for or against an option is made. After our consultants have understood the problem by talking to employees, etc., they will produce possible concepts. These concepts will then be tested for their use to the company, the monetary worth of the project, and the possibility of realization. This is done within a fully-featured project. It involves a client (sponsor), a project manager, and a project order that will be signed by everyone concerned. The contract gives the authority and the responsibility to the project manager. They can then put in monetary, technical, and human resources to ensure the success of the project. Business Analysis and Project Management must work hand in hand. While Business Analysis deals with requirements, concepts of solution, and the technical and organizational feasibility of realization, Project Management creates the platform: the Project Leader manages a temporary 3

4 company. This means he manages the workforce, the project team, and presents this company to the stakeholders of the project. Integration masventa Business can help your company when bringing in CRM by offering a professional approach covering all stages: Workflows directly or indirectly connected to your customers will be analyzed in areas of functionality, organization, and IT. Our work is of high international standard because we use approaches and practises suggested by the Business Analysis Body Of Knowledge (BABOK ) of the IIBA. Our Project Management is done to the standards of the Project Management Body Of Knowledge (PMBOK ) of the PMI. Our consultants are certified as CBAP and/or PMP. Business Analysis is an integral part of every project 1. New courses of action and solutions may be included in existing processes and applications. When introducing CRM, all stakeholders will be part of the project. In this way, we can reduce a lack of acceptance within the management. 1 What we describe as Business Analysis matches the term Project Scope Management, which is one of the 9 fields of knowledge described in the PMBOK. 4

5 masventa Business is a service company concentrating on customer management, project management, and integration of business applications. This includes business analysis, concepts, management of bid invitations, solution management, feasibility studies, integration of solutions, process management, and training. We also offer software-as-a-service (SoftASA ). This means we provide hosting solutions based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft Exchange, and Microsoft SharePoint. masventa Business GmbH von-blanckart-str Alsdorf Germany Company domiciled in Alsdorf District Court Aachen, HRB Managing Director: Certified Engineer Rainer Wendt, PMP, CBAP Business Analysis Body Of Knowledge, BABOK and CBAP are registered trademarks of IIBA, Canada. Project Management Body Of Knowledge, PMBOK and PMP are registered trademarks of PMI, USA. Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SharePoint are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation, USA. masventa and SoftASA are registered trademarks of masventa GmbH, Alsdorf. 5