-
Do you need a CRM Vendor or a CRM Partner?
John Eccles, 12 August 2016
CRM vendors and partners provide different services, operate differently and think differently. It’s important to know which you need and how to work with either a vendor or a partner to maximise results The CRM vendor The CRM vendor’s business model is selling CRM services: they undertake CRM proj
Read the full article here -
Ten Signs Your CRM System is Not Working as it Should
John Eccles, 02 February 2016
Your CRM system should be delivering outstanding value to your organisation, enabling you to know and serve your customers better and automating previously manual tasks. Your CRM users will be loving it! "It's not quite like that for us" I hear you say. Then perhaps your system is not working as i
Read the full article here -
How to Narrow Your CRM Options
John Eccles, 25 January 2016
You need a CRM system but there are a baffling array of options. You want to quickly sift out those that are not going to work and arrive at a list that is manageable. This blog is for you. I will cover the broad categories of CRM without diving into the minutia of detailed functionality. Size of
Read the full article here -
How to Ensure Your CRM Project Comes in on Budget
John Eccles, 11 December 2015
Your CRM project doesn’t have to be like this! Magnetism has done many CRM projects that were on-time and on budget. But you will need to be intentional because in general, CRM projects are like most projects and most projects go over budget. In July 1997, the proposed new Scottish Parliament bui
Read the full article here -
Key Ingredients in a CRM Business Case
John Eccles, 01 December 2015
A business case for a CRM system must examine benefits and risks involved with implementing CRM and, conversely, not implementing CRM. Provided the benefits outweigh the costs and risks, the conclusion should be a compelling argument for implementation. Chances are your organisation has a Bus
Read the full article here -
What Does A Great CRM System Look Like?
John Eccles, 13 November 2015
Whether you are evaluating your existing CRM system or considering embarking on a CRM project, it is worthwhile to step back and think about what a good CRM system looks like.Not the UI (user interface) although that’s important, I’m talking about what your organisation will be like when a good CRM
Read the full article here -
Stay Involved in Your CRM Project
John Eccles, 29 October 2015
“To get a CRM system customised for my organisation, I need to find a competent CRM software development vendor, brief them on our requirements and leave it to them. After all, they are the experts.” Right? Wrong!! With that approach, you have a high chance of spending a lot of money on
Read the full article here -
9 Tips to Drive CRM Strategy
John Eccles, 06 October 2015
CRM, Customer Relationship Management, is NOT primarily a software technology. Rather, CRM is a business strategy. Hence the rationale for implementing CRM must be because it is a good strategy for your organisation. Here is my working definition of CRM: “CRM is the business strategy to acqui
Read the full article here -
Successful CRM
John Eccles, 10 July 2014
Not all CRM projects are successful! There are a lot of anecdotes and figures about CRM failure out there, many of which are highly suspect at best. I think Bob Thompson provides a realistic view of the CRM success statistics in the 2004 article, Successful CRM: Turning Customer Loyalty into Profi
Read the full article here -
Moving from Contact Management System to CRM
John Eccles, 11 December 2013
In the 1990’s, I was a Goldmine user. I thought it was pretty powerful because I could record details of all my Contacts and email from Goldmine and easily find my emails. I could even, after some effort to set it up, print letters and faxes mail-merged with my Goldmine Contacts!
Read the full article here -
Measure User Adoption of CRM
John Eccles, 17 November 2013
In an earlier blog - User Adoption of CRM – The Key Issue - I laid out the evidence for user adoption of the new system being critical to its success. “By far the most important factor for realizing value from software is effective user adoption.” If this is true (
Read the full article here -
Upgrade to CRM 2013 – Costs and Benefits
John Eccles, 17 October 2013
Dynamics CRM 2013 offers great benefits which I believe will almost always out-weigh the costs associated with the upgrade. Read on to see what a great investment your upgrade will be. The Costs: 1. Infrastructure upgrade This may or may not apply to you. But if your orga
Read the full article here -
Upgrading Customised CRM Systems
John Eccles, 16 October 2013
We all want our CRM system to be up-to-date and have all the features we need to stay competitive. So when Microsoft releases a new version of Dynamics CRM we naturally want to upgrade as soon as possible. But what if our CRM system has been customised? Might it break?
Read the full article here -
Why Customise CRM?
John Eccles, 07 October 2013
One of the powerful features of Dynamics CRM is the ability to customise the system to match the different business requirements of different organisations. Because when it comes to CRM, one size does NOT fit all. (Picture from: http://www.usatechguide.org/blog/one-size-fits-all-wheelcha
Read the full article here -
Count the Cost of CRM
John Eccles, 01 September 2013
"But don't begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it?” Luke 14:28, New Living Translation That is still good advice and it applies to CRM projects as well as building cons
Read the full article here
