Successful CRM. Delivered. Prepare for CRM Success. Our How to start right and stay right!

Transcription

1 Successful CRM. Delivered. Prepare for CRM Success Our How to start right and stay right!

2 ConsultCRM: Prepare for CRM Success Introduction ConsultCRM has years of experience in the area of Customer Relationship Management solutions. We understand what makes a successful implementation, whether on premise or online, and having rescued many clients from some poor ones, we also understand the pitfalls. The following pages provide a useful insight for anyone in the process of introducing a Customer Relationship Management solution into the organisation. It may be that you have had some exposure to the features and functions of one or a number of CRM software solutions, and are excited about the potential. Unfortunately we have seen many examples of clients who become excited about the technology, rush to get started, and then become unstuck because they simply did not consider the basic foundations of their solution. CRM software is a business application. It requires a business focus to implement it correctly. The following pages provide an insight into these essential foundations for a successful CRM implementation. There are many aspects involved in the introduction of this type of solution because you have to consider in equal measure your current level of readiness, the business objectives for your CRM, your existing business processes, your staff, and your technical infrastructure.

3 Avoid cost over-runs and ensure project success The following pages are a series of hints and questions that you can use to check that your project is set up correctly. It will also help you to create your own list of requirements for a new CRM system. In turn, this information can be used as the basis for ConsultCRM to create a system specification and project plan to implement the software. Working with an experienced CRM implementation partner, you can take your raw requirements through a discovery and design (scoping) exercise on site to detail and document exactly what should be delivered, right down to field level per screen. ConsultCRM places great emphasis on this discovery phase because it helps both parties arrive at a level of understanding against which an accurate number of project days to implement the system can be established. In short, it avoids cost over-runs once the project is underway an issue we have seen many clients suffer when dealing with other companies who try to convince them otherwise. Most large organisations have multiple touch points with the customer and by joining up those various interactions they can gain real insight and improve the overall customer experience. ConsultCRM provided us with expert guidance on what would best fit with our business and future requirements. Bibby Financial Services - Group IT Director

4 ConsultCRM: Prepare for CRM Success Understand your business pains Below are some of the more common issues you may be experiencing. Information Challenges Poor internal information sharing regarding clients, prospects, business partners or suppliers Too many paper trails and too much duplicated effort Poor visibility of operations due to inadequate reporting Limited customer insight Sales and Account Management Forecasting accurately, tracking sales activity, targeting proportionate effort at accounts Inadequate client profiling or reporting tools for analysing the client base Inability to effectively support a mobile sales force Inability to cross-sell and up-sell effectively Poor consistency in quote generation and order processing Disconnected from Customer Service, no visibility of complaints or issues per client Disconnected from Marketing - poor collaboration on sales leads, campaign visibility Limited visibility of sales order history, transactions or poor contact history information Customer Service Challenges Inefficient or inconsistent complaint handling Inability to track, monitor and resolve issues consistently Inability to manage support incidents, service contracts or Service Level Agreements Marketing Challenges Wastage from inefficient targeting of campaigns Inability to profile customers and prospects effectively, or segment the data for targeting Poor facilities for lead tracking, qualification and transfer to Sales Inability to track campaigns to see resulting sales opportunities or actual business Inability to use your own data to run mail shots or campaigns Website not being used to maximum effect for customers, prospects and business partners Data Challenges Data currently resides in multiple locations and is not integrated for easy access or reporting Front-office staff cannot readily access the information they need Poor data integrity too many duplicates and errors in addresses No integration with finance or other transaction systems Now consider the needs for each department in the business.

5 Describe your CRM needs per department Sales, Business Development & Account Management Describe briefly the services or products you sell and who you sell to Describe briefly your sales operation structure (teams, territories etc) Describe the sales related profile information you require on companies and contacts Describe the information to be trapped on a Sales Opportunity (e.g. sales stages, other data) Describe a typical sales process and any related departments that are impacted or involved Describe the data held elsewhere in the organisation that is essential in the context of the sales process Describe briefly how you manage documents linked to clients and prospects If relevant, summarise how products, quotes, orders are handled in the sales process Summarise your reporting needs across the sales operation Summarise the key frustrations or inefficiencies in this department and, if possible, what that costs Customer Service Describe your customer service operation structure Describe the type of products or services you provide support for and how this is handled Describe a typical customer service process Describe the information to be trapped around a customer support issue / incident / complaint If relevant, describe the customer service contracts or agreements you operate Summarise your reporting needs in customer service Describe the data held elsewhere in the organisation that is essential in the context of customer service Summarise the key frustrations or inefficiencies in this department and, if possible, what that costs Marketing Summarise how you carry out marketing today, methods used, effectiveness and who you target Summarise your data profiling and reporting needs in marketing Summarise the data situation, location, usage, how clean it is, external sources Summarise the key frustrations or inefficiencies and, if possible, what that costs Access, Mobility and Technical Environment Online cloud or on-premise deployment which will suit your needs best? What are the needs for mobile users and what devices need supporting Data migration: Describe the location and the state of the data that you would use in CRM Describe the existing systems that would need integrating to CRM What data needs to flow between these systems and is this a one way or bi-directional integration? Do you need to integrate to a document management system or intranet? Do you have multiple office locations, remote working set-up? Describe briefly your core technology platform; servers, databases, desktop applications etc

6 ConsultCRM: Prepare for CRM Success Preparing requirements for the discovery phase Microsoft CRM has many standard features and types of record, but until the system is configured to reflect your data, your language, your business processes and your management information reports, it remains a generic CRM system. Use this guide for your CRM requirements and to help prepare for the Discovery phase. Contact Management and Account Management Consider the type of information that needs to be trapped and used for the companies and contacts that you deal with (clients, prospects, partners, suppliers, business contacts or individual consumers). Consider how you categorise each of these and what specific profile information or contact history needs to be available to satisfy the needs of all the departments in your business. Is there important data residing in other systems that needs to be integrated into CRM to help all your CRM users to operate more effectively? Related records in Microsoft CRM: Company, Contact, Relationship Links, Tasks, Appointments, Phone Calls Marketing How is marketing currently carried out what methods and what media are used? Do you need to build marketing lists and execute blasts or mail shots? Do you need sophisticated campaign management? What profile information do you need in order to effectively segment and target your contacts. What specific reports does Marketing need? Related records in Microsoft CRM: Company, Contact, Activities, Lead, Marketing Lists, Templates, Campaign Management Sales What data do you store on a sales lead, a sales opportunity, quote or order? Do you provide services or products or both? What is your sales process, and does it vary based on what you sell? How is the sales operation structured and how does it interact with other departments? Does data in other systems need to be integrated into CRM to help sales people operate more effectively? What reports are needed (e.g. forecasts)? Related records in Microsoft CRM: Company, Contact, Activities, Lead, Opportunity, Quote, Order, Products, Linked Documents Customer Service Consider the information that needs to be available for service staff. What data do you need to store on a customer service issue, incident, complaint. Do you need to track service agreements or contracts? Do you have service personnel who go out on to client sites and does this activity need tracking? What are the business processes that surround the way they work and interact with other departments? What specific reports do you need? Related records in Microsoft CRM: Company, Contact, Activities, Case, Contract, Knowledge Base

7 Workflow Automation and Reporting Requirements Consider the business processes and rules that you need to automate across the various departments that will use CRM. You can map in automatic triggers, reminders, s, tasks or sets of procedures that need to be followed. Consider also the management information that you need across the various departments this will determine your reporting needs. Data Migration and System Integration Consider the state of your existing data and its readiness to import into the new CRM system. Where is this data now and how clean or relevant is it? Regarding system integration, consider which systems need integrating, what specific data needs integrating, and the nature of the required integration (real-time or batch update). Your Unique Requirements Many of our clients have unique requirements specific to their industry and these can quickly be configured, once we understand what needs to be mapped in. Some examples of custom entities that we have added into Microsoft CRM for other clients include; commercial properties, investment funds, fee earning activity, subscriptions, projects, vehicles, equipment and machines. Phasing the Implementation We like to keep things simple. Microsoft CRM offers a great deal so it is often best to implement the system in phases. Consider your business priorities and focus on mapping in the requirements to meet these in a phased manner. This ensures a manageable approach. and machines. Discovery Analysis Phase Sales, Business Development & Account Management The most successful CRM implementations are well planned at the outset. In order to set the system up successfully you need to document your requirements and work with experts to plan how best to map these into the system. We call this the Discovery Analysis Phase. The following table summarises what happens typically in this phase: Process Definition By Department Functional Requirements Capture Data Migration Analysis System Integration Analysis Document Write-Up Clarify your business processes. Establish which of these will be automated in CRM. Agree functional requirements per department. Agree reporting needs. Assess the state of your data. Agree plan for data preparation for import to CRM. Agree data to be integrated. Agree integration methods. Write up and agree findings. Draft plan including testing, training and project management. Regardless of your CRM software choice this preparation is essential to your success. How much does it cost? ConsultCRM can provide a free workshop with your senior management team to tease out some early indicative costs to help you understand the order of magnitude investment required. During this process we can also determine what type of project approach will best suit your needs and budget.

8 ConsultCRM: Prepare for CRM Success Implementation Methodology At ConsultCRM we pride ourselves on the transparency we provide to clients when planning their CRM project. We can adopt a number of approaches from the classic waterfall approach as per the SureStep diagram opposite, to more flexible methods of delivery. These more fluid, agile type approaches typically carry more risk as the overall project is less defined at the outset, and they also require substantial input and time commitment from your own staff. In delivering a quality project there are always 4 key considerations: 1 Timeline 2 Deliverables 3 Budget 4 Resource The relative importance of each of these elements can be matched to one of the following: Waterfall Approach Fixed investment Fixed deliverables Variable timeline Time Box Approach Fixed investment Variable deliverables Fixed timeline Iterative Approach Variable investment Variable deliverables Variable timeline Most clients adopt this approach because it follows a logical plan moving from Discovery and Analysis into Design, Develop, Deploy and Operation. See SureStep Diagram opposite. The project is de-risked and has the advantage of a well-planned approach, where all the anticipated resources, risks and assumptions are considered and managed. Working to a defined cost and deliverable, any scope changes fall under an agreed change control process. This approach focuses more on making best use of a defined number of days to suit your budget. The time box is a fixed number of days in which we first agree the priorities with you, and then deliver them. It requires you to have strong internal project management and commit the time of both your staff and your business sponsor to be actively involved throughout. The main risk is the consistent availability of your key staff, your business sponsor, and ability to make important decisions on priorities. This takes a number of time boxes in a sequential manner and iterates the overall delivery. It is a more agile approach. Requirements that are identified but not included in the current time box will be carried forward to the future time boxes. It requires highly active participation from capable staff on your team and very tight leadership to manage costs and priorities. The main risk is lack of project management control or your own inexperience with this type of approach.

9 Customers are looking for partner companies that can bridge the gap between their business demands and technology capabilities. They need to trust in someone that can act as an expert adviser for their long-term strategic technology plans. As a Microsoft Gold partner, ConsultCRM can offer its customers the reassurance of a truly professional organisation with the backing of Microsoft s resources. David Brown, Dynamics CRM Lead for EMEA, Microsoft

10 ConsultCRM: Prepare for CRM Success CRM Project Success Checklist The project must be owned internally to drive it to completion. Lack of ownership leads to frustration, delays, and staff indifference, because no-one is leading and directing the internal effort. Agree the business objectives and the business priorities for the CRM system. (With this in place, there is always a reference point to sanity check when internal disputes arise about what should be implemented, when, and how it should be implemented.) Designate a Project Sponsor and Project Manager. Agree who decides on your internal priorities and resources. Create a small CRM project team comprising motivated end user representatives and your IT personnel, with a project manager empowered to make decisions. A business analyst sitting between IT and the business can sometimes also be helpful. Commit staff time - particularly for the initial discovery / scoping and design workshops. Their input dictates the CRM system specification and therefore the functionality and reports they will have when the system goes live. If they are not directly involved, the final delivered system may not meet expectations. Work in manageable phases. Following the discovery and design phase, there should be agreement on the business priorities, based on the agreed business objectives. The output from the discovery and design exercise is a specification document. This includes the project plan and the accurate final quote for the project days needed, all parties involved will then know the detailed field and screen designs, the data migration effort, the workflow processes to be mapped in, the integration needs and approach, the detailed reporting needs and the staff training plan. Only then do you really have a true picture of the project days required. In summary, don t short-change the discovery phase. Quick Wins - Consider the what s in it for me? aspect for your end users. What particularly useful capability could be deployed quickly to help ensure their early buy-in? Do not underestimate data migration. It needs a commitment of time and effort from you to ensure the new system does not go live with data that has not been cleaned and deduplicated. Consider a small pilot project (if appropriate), with a limited user group and project team to iron out the wrinkles on a small scale to begin with. You could treat this as phase one and roll-out fully later, and aim to implement some particularly useful facilities for end users to create some quick wins. Avoid constantly changing the personnel on your CRM project team and avoid introducing more and more requirements or reporting needs in an unmanaged way. Keep things simple to begin with. Work in manageable phases. Commit time for the end user training and the system administrator (technical) training. Commit time for carrying out User Acceptance Testing where end users trial the system through a series of scenario tests to confirm system performance. Once the system is live and in use, schedule a review session 2-3 months later, and consider offering staff refresher training. Review your CRM solution every 3 to 6 months you will almost always find a better way to do something following this review. Your business evolves constantly and the CRM software constantly improves, so do not leave the CRM system lagging behind through neglect or insufficient staff training.

11 About ConsultCRM ConsultCRM is a Tier One, Gold Certified Microsoft Partner with extensive experience in CRM business process, system integration and Microsoft Dynamics CRM. We are a Microsoft UK Strategic Partner and a Technical Acceptance Partner for Dynamics CRM. We can help you plan and scope your CRM project as well as install the system, configure fields, automate processes, assist with data migration, create reports, integrate existing systems, train your staff, and provide ongoing support. ConsultCRM is the trusted Microsoft CRM partner for multi- bn organisations, small consulting firms, large and small manufacturing firms, medium size technology companies and a host of finance and professional service organisations, and we look forward to working with you. Microsoft relationship Our strong relationship with Microsoft brings you the benefit of direct access to the highest level of expertise around Microsoft Dynamics CRM, as well as early insight to future developments to help you plan more effectively. We now have an excellent platform of integrated information that will better serve the enterprise. ConsultCRM have been tremendous in helping us through the implementation process and Microsoft CRM is proving itself through its ease of access, familiar Outlook interface and transparency of customer interactions. Project Manager for Scania UK

12 Get in touch If you would like to know more about ConsultCRM and how we can help your business, please contact us: The Coliseum Watchmoor Park Riverside Way Camberley GU15 3YL Golden Cross House 8 Duncannon Street Strand London WC2N 4JF E info@consultcrm.co.uk T +44 (0) F +44 (0)