Step by Step Approach to CRM Implementation

John Eccles, 14 October 2012

The greatest risk of CRM project failure is to tackle too many business processes or too much functionality at once. 

It can be like trying to eat an elephant at one sitting. It can overwhelm end-users.

I recommend a strategy of incremental improvement: start small, achieve some successful outcomes and then move on to the next goal.


For Example…

Phase 1: Starter Pack

The purpose of a CRM Starter Package is to get up and running quickly at minimum cost.  You could just buy a license and start from scratch, but the benefits of a Starter Package will almost always outweigh the cost. The most basic CRM Starter Package  from Magnetism includes simplification of the system (to make it less intimidating and easier to use), some system enhancements, system configuration and installation.  It also includes 2 tickets to the official Microsoft Training Course 80442, Introduction to Dynamics CRM 2011 and 3 tickets to any of the official Dynamics CRM Applications courses.  A system “walk through” and 8 hours of support is also part of the pack.

Phase 2: Customisations

When Phase 1 is operational, your users will get experience with the interface, will quickly learn to use Accounts (Organisations) and Contacts, track emails and perhaps use some of the powerful Sales, Marketing and Customer Service functionality. But they may find that with a few changes to the system, they could capture valuable information. There may be data that they cannot extract easily via Advanced Find and export to excel. The out-of-the-box dashboards may not represent the critical KPIs well. And there may be opportunities to automate some processes via workflows.

Now is the time for the second phase. This will require analysis and documentation of requirements followed by design and development. Don’t forget more training to ensure system users know how to use the system well. The objective is to unleash the full potential of CRM for the processes covered. This should be a relatively simple project to specify so the risk of changes and rework is low.

Phase 3: New Module

The next step may be to utilize CRM for a process not already covered. Perhaps Project Management, or Sales Agent Management or Event Management or HR Management. There may be a packaged CRM add-in solution that will do what you need. For example, at Magnetism we use a Project Management system called Forth Module. An add-in will be the lowest cost option, but may not meet all your requirements. In that case, the solution will need to go through the analysis, design, development and deployment track. By now, however, you will be familiar with CRM and be well placed to ensure that the solution is what you really need – including the workflows, reports and dashboards. You will be far less likely to get into a project that is not properly specified and incurs the additional cost of changes or fails to deliver what users expect.

Phase 4: Integration

A further phase may be to integrate with some other software such as an Accounting system. There are pre-built connectors from CRM to some Accounting systems and this should be the first option to explore. For example Magnetism offers a connector from Dynamics CRM to Xero.

A Connector may not be available off the shelf, so you may need to explore a Custom integration. This will require some analysis because there are different ways to transfer data to and from CRM and different associated costs. For example, you may only require that certain information is transferred to CRM every night and this will be less expensive than a purpose-built connector.

The integration with the other system should avoid inefficiency due to double data-entry and errors due to different data in the two systems. But that is not all. You will now have more data available from within CRM that can be used to provide a more complete picture of your Clients. To realize the potential of the integration, you will want to revise or develop new reports, dashboards and workflows. Perhaps you will want to take training courses on Workflow Development and Report Development so you can be more self-sufficient and better equipped to the most from your system.

Summary

A step-by-step approach to CRM implementation provides a safe, low-risk path to utilizing the full potential of CRM to make your organisation productive and effective.

*Image from http://gradstudies.bwaldner.com/WebQuest/WQ3.htm